Gorgeous

There's a possibility that Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan will one day be flooded as part of another colossal hydroelectric project. Even back in England, it was top of my list of places to visit and, having walked its entire length, it didn't disappoint...

The legend goes that hunters were once chasing a tiger through this 35 kilometer long valley, two and a half hours north of Lijiang. The tiger escaped by leaping across the gorge at its narrowest point - a legendary leap of about 30 metres across the Jinsha Jiang (Yangzi River).

What's definitely true (according to the Rough Guide anyway) is that it's the world's deepest canyon and (according to me) it's a bloody long one.

There are two routes you can take along the gorge: the high and the low. The latter follows the road so it's not such a pleasant hike but you do get close enough to hear the rushing of the water. The high route gives staggering views down to the river seemingly miles below, along the valley in both directions and up to the snowy peaks including Yulong Xia Shan (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, 5596m).

Taking a bus from Lijiang to Qiaotou before the sun rose, I had met Thomas from Germany and Florenzia from Argentina when we stopped half way for a breakfast of baked sweet potatoes. This was fortuitous. Not only were Thomas and Florenzia great company but when the hike turned out to be a lot harder than I'd expected, it was really good to have their encouragement.

Normally, guide books are pretty conservative in their time estimates but we made the first marker just about on - not ahead of - schedule. And that was the easy bit! The killer was the section called 'Twenty Four Bends' (some say 'Twenty Eight' but I wasn't counting) which is a dusty winding path going straight upwards to a height of 2600m. It was the toughest walk I've ever done but it felt great to have done it.

Some people try and charge through the gorge in a day but we soon realised that wasn't just impossible but would be pretty daft as well. Taking regular breathers was a great excuse to just pause and look around. Every bend brought new, even more wonderful vistas of the craggy mountains opposite all set against a perfect blue sky and clouds merging with the snowy tops.

The 'Half Way Guesthouse' is another example of pretty unimaginative naming but it gave us a good target to aim for. It could have been the roughest hostel in the world and I'd still have been happy to get there; as it happens it turned out to be one of the best I've ever stayed in. My room looked out right over the gorge. It even had an electric blanket on the bed.

We hadn't seen many people all day, which was nice, and there were about a dozen of us who sat down to eat some decent food and to drink a beer or two before tiredness took over. Wow, what a day. I'd forgotten how good fresh air could be!

The second day is a lot easier as you gradually head downwards past waterfalls and through terraces of greener than green fields of rice. The goal today is Sean's Guest House which is halfway between the valley floor and the jagged peaks and directly opposite Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We sat outside, sipping Tibetan butter tea in no rush whatsoever for a minibus to come from Qiaotou to pick us up.

Now, this is what I'd come for.