When English photographer Sean Gallagher has decided he likes something, there’s no turning back.
Fascinated by China as a child, when his father would return home from business trips with “notes and pictures”, Gallagher moved to the country aged 26.
Spending hours on his bike during Covid, he became “addicted to the bike”.
It made sense for the 46-year-old Gallagher, then, that he should mark the 20th anniversary of his move by embarking on a journey that celebrated his “long and deep relationship with China”.
Which is how, along with friend Ben Schuessler, who has also been on the mainland for 20 years, Gallagher soon came to set the fastest known time to walk the length of the Great Wall of China.
The pair braved sandstorms, freezing rain, dangerous roads and extreme fatigue to complete their journey in nine days, nearly 48 hours after unknowingly bumping into a wedding party on a mountain pass.
