The Canghan mountains line the massive Lake Er and form a great wall above Dali, signalling the first steps to the Tibetan plateau. We found details of a hike which follows the contours of the mountain below the peaks at about 3500 metres altitude.

Dali itself is just under 7,000 feet above sea level. However, there is a cable car which takes you up about 3,000 feet from which you can follow the Jade Belt Cloud Road as the path is called along the mountain side to a Buddhist temple where there is a path down or alternatively a chair lift.

We headed up to the chair lift which is itself quite a climb at this altitude, wondering if we would cope with the path. The cable car is a long ride, about 20 minutes over deep gorges - spectacular although rather scary. When we arrived at the top we found to our surprise that the path was paved all the way. We were ready to clamber and climb, boots, sticks and all. Still the walking stick was useful. The path is an amazing piece of engineering. It snakes around the often sheer sides of the mountains, with gentle gradients all the while. The views are splendid and often vertiginous. The authorities are very conscious of safety and the mountain police check you in and out of each section. At one point we met some Chinese army workers who were camped up there in tents, restoring one of the many temple sites. These are off the path and mostly signed only in Chinese. You can walk down via a film stage lot where Chinese films are made or take a chairlift down. We walked through a mountain temple and found the chairlift. It's an open chairlift which caused Jackie some consternation, but we made the long descent in peace and safety, about a 30 minute ride.

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