For this long hike, we're joining two of our good hillwalking trails to make a tough trek through the Huairou hills. There's a reasonable amount of up and down on this hike, but most of the climbing is long and slow.

Part 1: Big Black Mountain hike

We begin our hike north of the Black Mountain and follow a farm trail through chestnut orchards up to a ridge, crossing over at the highest point on the whole hike. Before heading down the other side, we will have a short break and admire the view – Black Mountain behind, Great Wall in front.

The trail we follow is seldom used, and overgrown and bushy in places: trousers and a long-sleeved top will help you protect yourself from the worst damage of any scratchy bushes you encounter.

After descending and walking out a long valley, the trail meets a river. Close by to the river is a small network of tunnels, which we can explore with a torch. The tunnels were constructed during the 1960s, perhaps as a sort of bomb shelter, perhaps as a possible site for a field hospital, and were quite extensive before being blocked up.

From the river we'll walk along a road and through some orchards on the way to another village. From this village we'll have a short climb up to the to an archway in the Great Wall, which we'll pass through on the way to the Walled Village.

Part 2: Moss Mountain hike

We'll walk on from the village, first following the concrete roads that service the villagers' chestnut orchards and then turning off on to a gravel road that heads up towards a quarry.

Behind the quarry a brushy trail leads uphill and into a forest, and deep in the forest we'll find a small shack right next to a huge pine tree.

From the pine tree the path leads further up into the forest, crossing at a pass on a ridgeline and descending into an area of orchards, terraces, and rocky hills. Eventually we join up with a park trail, and follow it out to the main road.