Frequent visitors to this blog and my website are likely aware that my grandfather, Dr. William Edgar Geil, was the first person ever documented to have walked the entire length of the Great Wall of China. He did this in 1908. After writing books and touring the world with stories of this and other adventures, my grandfather fell into obscurity. He died in 1925 after … Continue reading A Living History of the Great Wall
This updates and replaces a post from August 8 2022, a few weeks after the journey described here had first begun. The Lindesay brothers, Jim & Tommy, have now completed their 3,260 kilometer traverse along the entire length of the Great Wall of China, walking and jogging the whole way. They documented their journey in videos included here. Latest update — March 19, 2023: Added … Continue reading Two Brothers Walk China’s Great Wall End-to-End
“William Lindesay OBE is a British geographer, a research fellow at his alma mater, Liverpool University, and a recipient of The Special Award of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs. After a milestone journey of 2,500 km on foot along the Great Wall in 1987, Lindesay returned to China in 1990 to retrace sections of the Long March. Since 2000, he has dedicated himself to the Great Wall in … Continue reading Review: A Story as Compelling as the Great Wall
My brother John, an occasional Guest Author here, posted the following a week ago on Facebook. I thought it would be interesting to share here. He talks about our maternal grandparents and particularly our grandfather, Dr. William Edgar Geil (1865-1925). Our grandfather was the first person of any race or nationality documented to have walked the entire length of the Great Wall of China — … Continue reading Nuku’alofa: Tonga and My Grandparents
◻︎ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2017 If you haven’t checked out my website section on William Edgar Geil & the Great Wall of China, I hope you will. It’s an astounding story. In that section of the website I talk about William Lindesay, a British native now living in China who has devoted his life to the Great Wall of China — it’s history and it’s … Continue reading Drone Flight Over the Great Wall
My grandfather, Dr. William Edgar Geil, was a missionary and explorer throughout the Middle East, Africa, Asia and elsewhere. In 1908 he walked the entire length of the Great Wall of China, roughly 1500 miles. He is the first person ever documented to have done so. Dr. Geil and this history are largely forgotten despite the fact that he wrote 10 books and documented his … Continue reading My Grandfather & The Great Wall of China
