Not many people can say they enjoyed their own birthday by celebrating it with a run at Badaling. Terry was joined by youngest daughter Tammy (herself a former Chorley AC member).
The locals were somewhat bemused, but clapped and waived as both Terry and Tammy tackled all the watch towers at Badaling, and afterwards went for a delicious meal at a Beijing restaurant offering snake, scorpion and other delicacies.
The next day Terry ran the section from Beijing to the Olympic Stadium along the canal banks of West Beijing.
The 17th March saw both of them tackle the very tough section from Jinshanling to Simitai where the wall is not renovated and some of the inclines and descents are over 70 degrees. The narrow steps (3 inches wide and 36 inches deep) meant at times they were reduced to scrambling up the hills.
As they approached Simitai the route produced a sting in the tail with an incline nearly 80 degrees and over 100 steps. Brilliant run though!
Other runs on the tour included two at Xian, home of the terracotta Warriors, and it’s own wall around the city.
After a 19 hour train journey they arrived at Chengdu, home of the giant panda sanctuary, and were able to recharge the batteries before moving to Chonquin railway station with 20,000 others to get the train to their river cruise on the Yangtse. Not to be outdone Terry was able to run on the carpeted upper deck as the boat headed towards the Three Gorges Dam.
After departing, they travelled via Guilin to Yangshou. Great running country beside the river, and it meant Terry could get three days of running in – mainly up hill to see the martial arts academies. The final night at Yangshou saw them offered the delicacies of snake, dog or eel.
The final stop was Hong Kong, and a number of runs around the area. The highlight of this area has to be the MacLehose trail in the New Territories. High hills but very run able.
After three plus weeks and plenty of running they returned to the UK.
What next- who knows? Certainly the Silk Route or the Gobi Desert look inviting.