Pair is first to walk 3,000-mile length of Great Wall

With only a few words of Mandarin and some satellite photos to guide them, a British couple have become the first people to walk the entire length of the Great Wall of China.

The 3,000-mile trek across some of the most inhospitable terrain on Earth took Tarka L’Herpiniere and his girlfriend, Katie-Jane Cooper, 167 days, walking up to 30 miles a day. Their journey took them from baking deserts where temperatures peaked at more than 40C (104F) to snow-capped mountains where it plunged to minus 35C. Between them the pair lost [84 pounds] (38 kg) in weight and more than an inch in height from carrying 66-lb back-packs day in, day out. Only 1 per cent of the Great Wall is open to tourists. Much of the rest has been eroded, buried beneath desert sand or plundered for building materials, and for long stretches the couple had only a shadow on the satellite pictures to follow.

Related Links

Chasing the Wall (National Geographic)