Day 42

A successful start to the day as Rachael and Tom had found a driver who was willing to take them right across China on a simular arrangement to the previous taxi.  Contract was signed and we were away before 9am.

Roads were very smooth all the way, but at the cost of nearly £12 in tolls.  We arrived at our tourist destination for the day (the western most end of the Great Wall). earlier than expected so were able to pay a very leisurely visit to the wall, fort and museum.  I hadn't really realised how many dynesties were involved in building the wall, how many different sections of wall there are and how many years they were built over.

This section marked almost the extreme westerly reach of China in 1372 when the fort was built.  It was built here as there is a relatively narrow valley between two mountain ranges so with a fort and some wall and ditch building it could be defended relatively easily.

It looks nothing like the picture postcard version near Beijing, being made of mud and straw.

We had planned to camp this evening but wrongly left the choice of site to Tracy and Rachael and Tom's driver. The first site was a stoney riverbank next to the toilet and a railway bridge in the town.  Then we headed out of town on our choice of road to be told by the driver that we wouldn't find any where on this road and were persuaded to turn round and leave the town on a different road.  As we got closer to town, the driver decided that actually there were wolves near that road and we'd have to camp in town.  An hour and a half had gone past by this time and our relaxed evening of camping was rapidly disappearing, so there was a unanimous rebellion from the fare payers to find a hotel in the town.

Tomorrow night we camp, but we'll select the site.

Lat 39 44.40 N
Long 98 30.56 E
Town Jiuquan

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