Epic Hikes of the World ( PDFDrive )

© Tina Manley | Alamy
at Old Dragon Head, the Great Wall meets the Bohai Sea
SHĀNXĪ’S WILD EARTHEN WALL
For a more ‘out there’ Great Wall hike, venture to the dusty loess landscape of
Shānxī province to seek out the long-forgotten rammed-earth stretches of wall that
sidle their way sporadically across the region. The wall here is less spectacular than
the handsome bricked sections that soar up into the mountains around Běijīng, but
the remote countryside location makes for fantastic rural-China hiking. Find your
way to Weilucun, a village 30 miles (50km) west of Dàtóng. You’ll see the wall
north of the village; turn left (east) when you hit it, and follow its stumpy beacon
towers for around 4 miles (7km) to the village of Bataizi, where a striking churchtower
ruin warrants a little of your attention before you grapple with your ropey
Chinese to find a taxi to Zuoyun, the nearest town with a bus station.
Start // Weilucun
End // Bataizi
Distance // 4 miles (7km)