Why go this far
Jinshanling is the wall for people who have already seen the wall. It lies in Luanping county in Hebei, on the far side of the Miyun reservoir, roughly 130 kilometres from central Beijing - a long morning's drive - and what it offers in exchange is density and variety rather than proximity. In ten and a half kilometres there are 67 watchtowers and 5 passes, with three signal towers, and almost no two towers are alike.
Morning - the drive and the eastern approach
There was a wall here from 1368, when the general Xu Da built along the line on the founding of the Ming, but the section you walk took its present form after 1567, when Qi Jiguang arrived as commander of the Ji garrison and rebuilt the defences with brick facing and hollow watchtowers. He stayed sixteen years, and Jinshanling is where the results are least interrupted. We arrive by late morning and go up, deliberately, from the eastern end, so that the walk west gives you the long view of the ridge rather than the reverse.
Lunch
Lunch at the foot of the wall, or a packed lunch on the ridge if the group prefers to keep walking.
Afternoon - the towers, one at a time
This is a walk of looking up. Tower interiors were built with different ceiling systems - a boat-roof, a four-cornered coffered ceiling, an octagonal caisson, a domed vault - and the shapes are not decoration; they are structural answers to spanning a room inside a wall, and they were also a way of marking rank. Along the way your guide points out the features that are found here and almost nowhere else: horse-blocking walls that stop a rider at the gate, screen walls that force an attacker sideways along the parapet, a screen carved with a qilin, and courses of bricks stamped with the name of the kiln and the year. It is the least theatrical and most informative stretch of wall within reach of Beijing, and by mid-afternoon the light on it is the reason photographers come this far.
On the walk
The ridge walk is five to six kilometres and continuous, up and down, on original stone and brick with some unguarded edges; it is not suitable for anyone with a fear of heights, unstable footing or limited stamina. There is a cable car which most groups use in one direction, and a longer, easier option that uses it in both and walks only the central two kilometres. Because the drive is long, we usually start early and are back in the city in the evening; a departure directly to the airport is possible with a late flight.
Meals
Lunch
Accommodation
Day programme - no hotel night included.
