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Namaste Everyone,
So after 22 days of trekking we are back to civilisation. It would be impossible to fill you in on all of the details of the last three weeks so I will just try and sum it up to give you a flavour and let the hundreds of photos we have to upload do the rest (bear with us on this as it may take several internet sessions). I can easily say that the trek has been one of the most rewarding, interesting, beautiful and challenging things either of us have ever done and we can't recommend it enough to anyone with even a slight interest in the outdoors.
The trip started with a very hot, very crowded six hour bus journey to the original start of the trail at Besisahar. This was followed by an even hotter, more crowded and incredibly scary bus ride along the newly constructed 'road' to Bhubhule which is now the more common place to start. The road is a common talking point around the whole circuit for both trekkers and locals alike as it runs a real risk of ruining the trek and therefore eliminating the much needed income tourism provides for the villages. They expect that the road will run the entire length of the circuit (minus the Thorung La) within 4 years and as far as we can see will benefit nobody.
Anyway, enough grumbling, after a night in Bhubhule we set off. The first two days of walking were tough ...it was a very hot walk through the subtropics, there was a lot of uphill and my ankle was causing us real problems. At that point we were starting to think it was too soon to have started and for the smallest of moments we were thinking of turning back but it really was the smallest of moments as despite everything we where really enjoying it. Then after a night just the two of us in a great lodge, where we sat with the lady whilst she prepared ferns for dinner and left us to look after her two year old daughter, it started to rain. Now normally in the mountains this would be a real pain but that day I don't think anything could have been more welcome. Being British we popped on our waterproofs and started to walk (along with the Germans, Polish and Dutch whilst anyone from warmer climes stayed in bed) we had a fantastic day of walking without the heat and from them on the walk up was fantastic. We had left the subtropics and were now walking through deep gorges and prairie like plains for the next 3 or 4 days.
The usual day consisted of being up with the sun at six and breakfast soon after (which usually consisted of fried potatoes, an omelette, two pieces of toast and a cup of hot chocolate). We then packed up our bags -you will see from the pics that Gareth carried a considerably larger pack than me (something which got a lot of comments about him being my porter). We would then start walking at about 7.30 for a few hours before stopping for lunch at 10.30/11.00 in a tea house along the way. After a leisurely lunch we would continue on till mid afternoon before finding a lodge for the night. Both the lodges and the food they served were much better than we expected and despite every menu the entire way round being almost identical we always managed to find something we fancied. The rooms themselves ranged from small hardboard boxes with two beds in to carpeted en suite rooms with hot water and electricity.
Day 6 was the first big milestone and we reached Manang. At 3700 metres above sea level this is the usual spot for the first rest day of the trip and a chance to acclimitise to the altitude. Drawn by excellent food and the annual village archery competition plus the fact we where knackered we spent three nights here before pushing on. The next two days involved fairly short ascents of 400 metres to some rather bleak seasonal settlements, Yak Kharka and Throung Phedi. At altitude the general rule is never to ascend more than 400 metres in a day to avoid Altitude Sickness. This rule is impossible to stick to on the crux day for the crossing of the world's highest pass the Thorung La.
The Thorung La is 5415 metres high which when you think that Ben Nevis is only about 1344 metres and even Mont Blanc is only 4808 is pretty high. The day is long and its tough it involves over 1000 metres of ascent followed by a tiresome 1600 metres of descent. It was up in the dark at 4am and away by 5am. The very start of the day was the steepest section of ascent and this meant that my ankle had to be dragged behind me for the rest of the day. By the rest of the day I mean the next thirteen hours!!!! Ten hours of which where in snow. The way up was a lot of climbing moraines slopes and crossing snow slopes and there was a seemingly endless number of false summits. By the time we reached the top we were already knackered and still had the descent to go. We stayed on the top for only a few minutes as it was freezing, so cold that when Gareth removed his gloves for just a few minutes he got Frostbite blisters on one of his fingers which have only just disappeared. The descent was still in snow in fact it was like walking down a red run so thank God we had walking poles to steady our way. When we finally reached Muktinath (just as it was going dark) my foot was in agony and I had to stop every few metres....but we made it and the next day was a well deserved rest day (this was very good timing as the ten hours on snow at altitude combined with a cold which meant most of the suntan lotion around my nose had been rubbed off meant I had pretty horrific snow burn and the blisters on my face needed sheilding from the sun and anyone with a weak disposition for a while).
The trek down from Muktinath has been much more leisurely. Given that we had no time constraints we did short days and had plenty of rest days in the pretty villages along this valley. We even added an extra couple of days (and thousands of steps) to return via Poon Hill which gives unrivalled views across the Annapurna range.....well it did until we got there when it was hazy and we couldn't see a thing but he ho.
So now we are back and the cars and people are a bit of a culture shock. I guess even trying to keep this short and sweet still makes for rather a long read so I will leave it there (and I didn't even mention us being eaten by leeches). We will try and get the pics up in the next few days. Hope you are all well.
Laura and Gareth
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