Life without wine continues. Today I didn't even have a beer. Water was the order of the day as we visited the Great Wall of China. After three days sitting down in a conference and then getting up only to find a restaurant for another large meal, some physical exertion was welcome, but I never had any idea of how much physical exertion today would require - it's just a wall, after all. But they built it over the top of a mountain - at least the part we climbed (the correct term in this instance) - so it was really rather like mountaineering, but with big stone steps to help. The difficult thing was that the pitch of the steps varied from modest to enormous, so you had to keep your wits about you. After 3 or 4 short breaks, we reached the top. It was very beautiful. You don't get to visit the Great Wall of China all that often, so it was rather special. And sweaty, hence the need for water.