I decided on the spur of the moment to go somewhere and picked Hingcun and Xidi villages and the 
Yellow Mountain as Huangshan, the main city there, is only 5 hours by bus from Nanjing. So I got my ticket and off I went. By the time I got to Hongcun village it was topping down and that evening in Xidi I had to blow dry all the clothes to dry them out. I had decided to travel light so had no change.
Xidi was a little drier and then it was off the Tankou and then up to the Yellow Mountain by cable car. I had already booked a dorm in one of the 4 star hotels for about £20 a night and saw on the map that it was not far from the cable car exit. So at 4pm I got off the cable car and started walking. However, what I didn’t realise was that the walking was all up and down and by that I mean really steep up and down. I walked for one and a half hours before collapsing wet and tired at the door of the hotel. It was dark and the whole area was shrouded in mist so that you couldn’t even tell you were on a mountain.
I shared the dorm with two young girls who were very pleasant and in the morning I got up at 5m to take pictures of the sunrise but just saw cloud again so went back to bed. When I got up next I decided that although my legs were heavy I would go a for a good walk around the mountains. Well, I didn’t realise the whole of China was doing the same and tour groups with their microphones and little flags and baseball caps blocked all the paths. Everyone marvelled at the porters who carried all supplies up the mountain on sticks. Some of the weights they carried were immense and they had to keep stopping and taking a rest. That’s why everything up the mountain is so expensive.
After 4.5 hours walking I returned to the hotel worn out and having seen almost no views because of the cloud. Unfortunately this night I had to share with a mother and her daughter and the mother was very fond of bringing up phlegm and spitting. I shouted at her to stop and she did.
The following morning I packed up and made to walk off the mountain and then the sun came out and I decided to go round a bit more. I spent another 2.5 hours going up hill and down dale until it was time to get the cable car back down the hill.
At Tankou I had left plenty of time to get to Huangshan but the minibus I had jumped into refused to leave until it had a full load. The upshot of this is that I missed my bus to Nanjing and had to wait until the next one at 4:20pm. I was not amused. I was wet, hungry and tired. But the views I got from the last day on the mountain made it all worthwhile. Next time I will check the weather forecast first and take my own driver!