I’m visiting the William Lindesay family in China for two weeks as they take me to points all along the entire Great Wall. You can read the backstory at my website or here on my blog along with all my posts while in China.
Jiankou Great Wall, China
Thursday, September 17, 2026
10:53 PM
Updated 10/2/26
It’s been another busy day as we have now left Beijing and moved into the mountains underneath the Great Wall. We started this morning in Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, and are now at “The Barracks,” where William Lindesay and family lead WildWall Weekends.
Tiananmen Square
Approaching Tiananmen Square is an experience in itself. We encountered multi-layered security points that surpassed anything I’ve encountered when flying. Once through the last checkpoint we came to this familiar building, the Gate to Heavenly Peace.
William Lindesay translated the signs on both sides of Mao’s picture [may be unavailable due to Internet issues]:
The Forbidden City
Next we walked through to the Forbidden City, known in modern terms as the Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasty.
I won’t try to explain here the Forbidden City, its history or architecture as these are outside my knowledge. Suffice it to say it’s a cool place — though it wasn’t a cool day! It was a sweltering 81° with a Dew Point of 65% under a blistering sun.
Arrival at “The Barracks” & the Jiankou Great Wall
After a brief rest back at William’s house, we headed out for the mountains and “The Barracks,” home base for the next few days.
We enjoyed wine, food and conversation until it was bedtime for everyone — but me. Blog time!
That’s it for now. More tomorrow.
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