HIKER Gordon Pratt will soon be going on a walk for charity - along the Great Wall of China!

For the intrepid hiker of Banbury Avenue, Oswaldtwistle, is jetting off this weekend to the Orient to get his first sight of one of the wonders of the world.

And the exotic location will certainly be a dramatic change from his usual stamping ground in the Lake District. Gordon will be walking the wall - the only man-made structure visible from space - to raise money for Scope and already has £2,000 in sponsorship from friends, drinking pals and suppliers to his business, Fresh Fayre, in Accrington.

Gordon, 51, explained he would not be walking the entire length of the wall - some 1,500 miles. Instead, he and more than 100 other charity walkers from throughout the country will tackle various sections.

He decided to join the exotic hike after seeing an newspaper advert.

He said: "I'm really looking forward to it. There will be 106 people on the hike from all over the country. I'm doing lots of training at the moment and I'm walking in the Lake District at the weekends in preparation

"I've never been walking anywhere like this before, and my two children, Philip, 21, and Andrew, 17, think I'm mental for doing it. The temperature will be about 25c, so the weather shouldn't be too bad."

Gordon leaves for China on Sunday, arriving in Beijing on Monday afternoon for the first 65-mile hike. After a four-hour drive to Chengde they will walk the lesser Wall before driving to Miyun.

On Wednesday and Thursday the group will walk from Jinshanling to Gubeikou to Simatai, which will take around 13 hours.

These parts of the wall have high ridges with numerous watchtowers, with areas of the structure overgrown with vegetation. At Jinshanling the wall zigzags up, inclines and straddles between peaks like a suspension bridge.

At Simatai the group will climb to the Simatai ridge, where the highest watchtower is a favourite spot for panoramic views of Beijing. However, it can only be reached by negotiating a narrow section of the wall.

On Friday the group will walk the wall at Mutianyu, which will take some six hours. They will have to climb 1,000 steps to reach the wall.

On Saturday, Gordon and his companions will walk for six hours along the wall at Ba Da Ling, the first section of the wall to be renovated. It is located only 65kms from Beijing. The group will then return to Beijing, for a well deserved farewell banquet. Gordon will fly home on Thursday June 11.

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