GREAT WALL OF CHINA THE USUAL: THE ALTERNATIVES: ALSO TRY:

The Mutianyu and Badaling sections of the Great Wall – both within an hour of Beijing – receive more than 10 million visitors each year. In addition, many sections around Beijing and in nearby Hebei province have been heavily ‘restored’ (read: utterly smoothed over) in recent years. In short: pick your destination with care.

Escape to the wild wall. The locally based Great Wall Adventure Club (greatwalladventure.com) claims to be the only company legally allowed to camp on these ancient barricades. It runs two-day trips to remote stretches near Gubeikou, where travellers can bed down in an old watchtower at night.

Another option is Wildwall (wildwall.com); this company’s owner, William Lindesay, has written extensively on the fortifications, and his Chinese wife and two sons complete the hosting team. Travellers joining his tours stay at an old converted schoolhouse in Huairou district, around 67km north of central Beijing, enjoying homemade food and walks on remote stretches of the wall with this hugely knowledgeable guide.

Remember, though, that the various stretches of the Great Wall reputedly total 21,000km long – that’s a lot to explore. Head to Shanhaiguan to see the waves of the Bohai Sea lap against the ‘Old Dragon’s Head’ – the eastern end of the wall – at Laolongtou, then head a couple of hours’ drive north to Dongjiakou, where some of the bestpreserved stretches of wall provide a picturesque backdrop for a challenging and remote ramble.

For more solitude, head to the wilder west: the ‘Last Gate Under Heaven’ at Jiayuguan in Gansu, the Ming-dynasty western terminus of the Great Wall. Still today there’s more than a whiff of Central Asia about the place – and with good reason: the original barrier here was built to protect the Silk Road trade flowing between the ‘Stans and Xi’an through the Gansu corridor, with the Tibetan plateau to the south and Gobi Desert to the north.

( The Mingdynasty Jiayuguan Fort guards the western end of the Great Wall, which snakes perhaps 2,000km east through Simatai ( north of Beijing wanderlust.co.uk March 2019