Epic Hikes of the World ( PDFDrive )

My uncle and I step gingerly out of our hotel in the ancient Chinese capital
of Xī’ān, wondering incredulously how our legs seem even stiffer than
yesterday. We go to cross the road. As we approach the curb we turn in
unison through 180 degrees, step backwards down on to the road, turn around
again, and cross. It’s three days since we climbed the 60,000 steps carved into the
granite crags of the mighty mountain, Huángshān, and our jelly-like thigh muscles
still won’t allow us to walk down curbs forwards.
Huángshān is one of China’s most celebrated mountains. Its archetypal granite
peaks and lonely, twisted pines have inspired poets and painters for generations,
and it was the promise of that quintessential ancient-China landscape that had
drawn us to its famous rocky slopes a few days earlier. What we hadn’t counted on,
though, was quite how frazzled our legs would become after climbing up and down
14 miles (22km) of stepped pathways.