Max Pearson

We gradually got used to it.

But every day we endured great fatigue and thirst, and in the winter, freezing temperatures.

But looking back, the hardest part was psychological.

It was the same monotonous drill every day.

Plus, we were three young men in our 20s, spending every day together for more than 500 days.

Think about it, even a loving couple don't spend that much time together.

It makes you a bit crazy at times.

Wu Deyu was a poet and had an artistic temperament.

Zhang Yuanhua came from a military family.

He had a soldier's character, which was very obvious.

I was somewhere in the middle.

So these differences between us did lead to quite a few arguments.

For decades, communist China had been developing a new way of living.

The focus had been on forging ahead and forgetting about the old ways and customs.

There wasn't much interest in history in the early 1980s, and large parts of the wall hadn't been walked on for years.

The three friends had to rely on local people in the remote villages that they came across for food and supplies.

But the biggest problem on a daily basis was water.

It was a real problem.

It wasn't possible to carry sufficient water every day, especially in summer when you sweat so much.

But the whole route is up across the highest ground, which isn't where you find water.