Tiger Leaping Gorge

The following day we had another early start to catch the bus to the start of a 2 day track through Tiger Leaping gorge, apparently the deepest in the world. The weather was amazing and the walk was refreshingly along a dirt path, not a paving slab in site unlike all our other walks so far. We made it up the infamous 28 bends without too much problem and were rewarded with fantastic views over the high peaks and down the river as the valley started to constrict. The first night was spent in the comfortable Tea Horse guest house after a mere 4 hours walking and the following day was a gentle 4 hours downhill to reach Seans Guesthouse that was established in 1983 and was the first in the gorge. We then beat our way through the undergrowth to make it down to the waters edge but then had a 45 minute near vertical climb to get back up, trying to avoid all the spiders too. Having a few days in hand we spent an extra day walking up to the bamboo forest and then down to the river (again!) at the middle gorge where the walls are vertical and at their most narrow. The middle gorge return involved a rather hairy climb up several old and rusty looking ladders but we made it without plummeting back down, though nerves were a little shaken.