I’ve been following the excellent and fascinating blog posted by Brendan Fletcher of a walk along the Great Wall of China.
The most recent is his best post to date.
Just east of the town of Shikong, the Yellow River takes a turn to the north and the Great Wall turns with it. For 90 kilometres the wall runs south to north along the foothills of the Helan Shan, an isolated mountain range with peaks as high as 3500 metres.
Historical details on the Helan Shan wall are sketchy (in English, at least). About all we have been able to find out is that Sanguankou, a series of fortifications about 40 kilometres west of Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia, was built in 1540. Presumably the Helan Shan wall was constructed around the same time.
You might see the odd photo or two of the Helan Shan wall in the better books on the Great Wall, but it’s not especially well known to tourists. Which is a shame, because it is probably the most impressive section of wall in the west, and it’s located reasonably close to a nice tourist town in Yinchuan.
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