Beijing Revisited, The Great Wall

We could not leave China until my friend Sheila had seen the Great Wall, a feeling I could well understand from my first visit to China back in 2011. Once again we chose to visit Mutianyu, where we found a lot has changed since our last visit! 

Where before there were a few stalls selling souvenirs, clothes etc. there is now a new large area with restaurants, shops and stalls at the main drop off area, before climbing up to the cable car station.

Going up in the cable car :)

This decorated tree stands near to the actual entrance of the wall, which can be seen on the left of the photo. 

It is quite a steep climb up to the actual wall from the cable car, but well worth it for the views :)

On the Wall, I am sure I have a photo taken in roughly the same place on my last visit, with not one person in sight!

One of the Guard Towers, seen through the trees.

I have seen the Wall before, but it is still an amazing sight :)

I think my friend was down there somewhere!!!

My lovely daughter Alice, and I on the Great Wall :)

Just amazing views wherever you look, and it was a beautiful clear day with a lovely cool breeze.

Going down,

Once down there, looking back up :)

I nearly managed to get a photo with no-one in it :)

I damaged a ligament in my knee at the end of last year, so I was being very careful, and didn't want to go too far, especially down steep steps with no hand rails, and my daughter has been on the wall so many times now that she wasn't worried about going too far, so instead we left the wall, and found a lovely shady spot in one of the new cafes next to the wall, where we sat and watched the world go by while we ate ice dream, and drank tea while we waited for our friends to come back. 

A Great Wall butterfly! I have no idea what sort of butterfly it was but it was lovely to see it at the top of the mountain :)

A last view of one of the Guard Towers on the way back down :)

It was great visiting the Great Wall again, but I had honestly forgotten how much climbing uphill was involved even with the cable car, however, I managed it, and was glad that I did, it was every bit as wonderful as the last time I visited :)