Tiger Leaping Gorge walk

Despite being cosy with an electric blanket, quilt and blanket, I had a poor night’s sleep, waking at 3 and that was it. We had an early breakfast of apple pancake with honey and good black coffee. The idea was to set off early as Leon, our Chinese guide thought it might take us 8 hours. Up a bit then a concrete road for a bit before getting to a nice dry path wending along the side of the mountain. After 2 hours we got to the half way rest stop for a cup of tea and a communal loo with a view. There was a short stretch of concrete road being built to extend tourist facilities. After that is was a narrow track, sometimes quite rough over rocks. Saskia, a young Dutch woman, walked with us as she is not confident on steep slippy bits. Eventually we had to climb up a steep bit where we met a fierce wind, then came to quite a narrow section with a long drop, where we were told to be careful as someone had slipped to their death last year. We crossed a stream at a place under a waterfall and continued to traverse. At last it was the tricky long descent. Some rough rocks and slippy scree on a steep incline ensured I took a lot of care. Mr C helped Saskia as I was fine with my sticks. We took our time, and it was a long descent. The walk was only 11km and we reached Tina’s guest house, our home for the night, at 1.30, having taken 5 hours and 15 minutes, and 17,500 steps. The views were spectacular, despite the mountain tops being in cloud. I am pleased that I did it though of course my ankle is stiff and sore now. It was a challenging walk by any standards.

The sun came out so we sat and admired the view of the steep mountainside opposite the gorge, before having a late lunch of noodles with some strips of veg. This cost about £1.50 and the Well-deserved beer was £1.

Our wet room is permanently wet as the loo is leaking, but the shower was hot. However the room is so cold that my knees were knocking with the cold by the time I got dry. The wind is howling but we have to brave it to get down three floors and across a few yards to get to the dining area.