No Guide, No Problem! - The Annapurna Circuit

  Pokhara, Nepal
Thursday, April 9, 2009

OK... so we got ourselves out of Kathmandu and headed to Pokhara... a beautiful town sitting on the edge of a great big and beautiful lake. It is here that most people plonk themselves before embarking on one of the numerous treks you can do in the Himalayas... and we are no different... We had done all our planning, so all that was left was a bit of shopping and bus booking, and we were away!

This blog is a bit short on the descriptions because it's going to be long enough without them... but a picture paints a thousand words, so enjoy the photos!!

Before I start telling you the story that is our epic Himalaya adventure, there are a few rules about this trek that you should know...

Our route

The trek itself covers 150 miles of trail going from village to village, following an ancient trade route between Nepal and Tibet. The high pass at Thorung La goes up to a whopping 5416 metres where there is 50% less oxygen in the air, making altitude sickness, or AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) a real danger... more on that later. A lot of people hire porters to carry their bags for them - we couldn't afford this and took about 12 kg on our backs... A lot of people hire guides to show them the way... we couldn't afford this either. The number one rule of not getting lost on the trail - follow the donkey poo... if you can't see any, you're probably not on the trail. This particular form of trekking is known as tea house trekking, because you stop at tea houses all the way to both eat and sleep, so no camping for us!

OK... those are some of the facts out of the way... here we go...

Navigator Tom

Day 1 - Besisahar (1310m) > Bahundanda (1310m)
After taking an incredibly dodgy bus from Pokhara to Besisahar, we got going very quickly. As is custom in this part of the world, the bus left feeling quite spacious, but then stopped as often as possible to load us up with more people, both inside and on top of the bus. We met an Aussie guy called Dane on the bus, and the three of us were the only ones that wanted to walk the first bit, rather than take a jeep to the end of the road... so we all walked together.

Our first tea house in Bahandanda

The first part of the walk was pretty boring... just a loose road following the river, but we soon said goodbye to that and continued into the countryside. Tom and I had planned to stop fairly quickly on the first day, but we were feeling good and walked faster than we thought we would, and so carried on with Dane until we got to Bahundanda, where we stayed in a small Tibetan teahouse and entertained ourselves by singing 'Bahundanda' to the tune of 'La Bamba' and Bhulebhule (a town we went through on the way) to 'Ruby'.... simple things...!

The waterfall from tea house 2

Day 2- Bahundanda (1310m) > Chanje (1430m)
We didn't set off too early on day 2, preferring to have a leisurely breakfast at the teahouse. It started to get steep then, as we were well away from any roads, and there was a lot of going up and coming down... and then, after 5 months with no rain at all, the heavens opened... Instead of walking sticks, Tom and I had brought large umbrellas that could double up as walking sticks... unfortunately, Tom's broke very quickly... I was dry as a bone though ;) :p

We stayed the night at a nice little guest house next to a fairly big waterfall, with some inquisitive children who wanted to play with our cards... bless em... :)

loved that umbrella!

Day 3 - Chanje (1430m) > Bagarchap (2160m)
We started early and skipped breakfast at the teahouse, trekking two hours to Tal for a breakfast break. We had heard there was a great bakery there and so were pretty excited!! There were some pretty steep climbs on the way, but we made it in good time and had a nice long breakfast break... it was made all the longer because it started hammering with rain again and we hid inside for a while... but it was here that we met a German couple called Rebecca and Niko and an American guy called Barnabus... we got them involved in a game of cards and then headed out in the slightly lighter rain :)

The rain continued to come and go, but we carried on through some very muddy terrain, taking in the gorgeous waterfall and river views along the way, finally settling in the town of Bagarchap where we were offered a free room in return for eating dinner and breakfast there... It was here that Rebecca and Niko joined us for the first time, and we passed the evening drinking copious amounts of tea and playing cards :)

Our guesthouse in Bagarchap

Day 4 - Bagarchap (2160m) > Chame (2670m)
By now we were climbing about 500 metres per day and so were making early starts to do it while it was still cool... mind you, the higher we got, the cooler it got too, so that wasn't too much of a problem :)

Two little angels on a bridge :)

First thing in the morning, Barnabus, who had stayed in the previous town the night before, came and met Rebecca and Niko to carry on the trek, and we all set off together. As it turns out, the rain was a good thing because it left in its wake beautiful clear skies and wonderful views of the mountains around us. I'm a bit of a slower trekker than everyone else, so the others went a little bit ahead of us for much of the day, but Tom and I weren't far behind. It was a pretty steep climb that day and I decided to just take it slow and steady... The scenery was spectacular and really starting the change. Where there had been Hindu towns with wooden buildings before, there were now Buddhist towns with stone buildings.

We arrived in Chame quite early and, since there were six of us, got a good deal on some little bungalows. We had read that there were hot springs in the town, so we dumped our stuff, grabbed our towels and headed out to soothe away our aches and pains... Unfortunately it wasn't that simple... we got there and it was more of a hot puddle than a hot spring... there had been a landslide a few years before, and the hot springs were no more... very, very disappointing! But we made the most of it and spent our night playing cards, learning each other's games...

Thomas

It was also on this night that our trail names became official... Tom, Dane and I had come up with our names earlier in the trek, but with the new additions to the group, I withheld that information until now... First, Tom - he would henceforth be known as Goat Boy... The reason for this is mostly that he is sporting quite the goaty on his chin, and being in the Himalayas, surrounded by goats, it just seemed natural... Dane would now be known as PK, short for President Kenny... this is because he always got to be president when we played 'Presidents and Arseholes' and that when he did up his Down jacket fully, he looked a lot like Kenny from Southpark... The trail name given to me by my companions was Nipps... what can I say, when the wind catches you on the mountains it can get a bit... nippy... Rebecca is a nurse and had brought with her a travelling hospital which she happily shared with everyone on the trek, and so became known as Doc. I wanted to call her 'Das Nurse' but she didn't take too kindly to it, so Doc stuck ;) Niko is a professional barman, and what he doesn't know about whiskey, scotch and bourbon, quite frankly isn't worth knowing... so we named him Glen, after the famous single malt Glenfiddich. Finally, Barnabus, a pro ice hockey player from the US, but currently living in France, was dubbed 'Scrubber', because we always seemed to score 'Scobba' (not sure how to spell that!) in the card game of the same name... but someone misheard us say it and thought it was 'Scrubber'... plus it's far more entertaining that way :)

The view from our tea house, Upper Pisang

Day 5 - Chame (2670m) > Upper Pisang (3300m)
The next day we all took it pretty slowly... We left early and trekked for an hour or so to have breakfast at a bakery along the way, and then continued on our way to Pisang. It was a pretty hard day going up hill. We arrived in Pisang pretty tired, but not being people who take the easy way out (any of the people in our group!) given the choice between Upper Pisang and Lower Pisang, we chose Upper... which was quite a lot more upper, up a lot of steps...! From here we got our first proper views of the peaks of the Annapurna Range, both Annapurna II and Annapurna IV - some of the highest peaks in the world.

OK... since we're getting to that part of the trek, a word or two on AMS, Acute Mountain Sickness, or Altitude Sickness...

After you get to an altitude of 3000m the air is thin enough to start giving you symptoms... the first of which is usually a headache, possibly with a little nausea thrown in for good measure. The best thing to do is to keep hydrated, ascend slowly, trek high and sleep low... Following these rules, you shouldn't ascend more than 300m per day after you go over the 3000m mark... so Upper Pisang was really the furthest we could go. You should try to trek higher than you are going to sleep, so your body acclimatises better too... If you have any symptoms, rest and take some Diamox, which helps get rid of the bicarbonates that accumulate in your body and cause the sickness. If the symptoms get worse, descend. If they don't, rest or go on... SLOWLY!

That night we were all fine... apart from Doc... I'm not sure when it happened, but I remember it being an issue on this day... She was walking past a donkey train, which is a regular occurrence on the trail, and unfortunately got trodden on... being a nurse she kept a very close eye on it... and it was that night that she came to the conclusion that at least one of the small bones on her foot was broken... but she kept walking and barely mentioned it... Das Superwoman....

Breakfast at altitude... fantastic :)

Day 6 - Upper Pisang (3300m) > Manang (3540m)
Again, we made an early start to make our way to Manang, after taking a few shots of the morning view of the mountains...Manang was a real mile stone for everyone, as for the first time we would spend more than on night in the same place... luxury! This was in order to let our bodies acclimatise to the new oxygen levels, and prepare us for what lay ahead.

The route to Manang can be done in one of two ways - the high route or the low route. Obviously, the low route is easier... but again, our group liked the challenge, and if nothing else, it took us higher than our destination - trek high, sleep low - this route is tough, but much better for acclimatisation.

Can you see the aeroplane behind me?

The scenery that day was spectacular. We started with a very sharp climb and everyone was very out of breath. We took it nice and slowly, getting to the end of one switchback and stopping to catch our breath, then carrying on to the next one... And slowly but surely we made it to a high town for a spot of breakfast and lashings of tea :) At one point on this little stretch we saw a plane going by that was actually lower than we were... a very strange feeling!!

We then went on our way, stopping to grab some baked goods in the afternoon, and then heading on to Manang... and just as we got close, it started to snow... quite heavily...! We made it just before 3pm and so headed straight for the Himalayan Rescue Association AMS lecture, to make sure we really knew what we were doing.

In order to show our appreciation we each paid 100 Rupees to have our blood oxygen levels measured... I had a slight headache and so was curious to see if I was OK... Anything below 85 is bad... mine went up and down... it dropped to 79 but then went back up to about 89, so they said I'd be fine... hoorah! Nonetheless, I took some Diamox and drank as much water as I could and felt fine and dandy before too long :)

Goat Boy, Scrubber and I then spent the evening watching 'Into Thin Air' - a movie about a failed Everest Expedition... topical!!!

Our little helpers ride the snow yak!

Day 7 - Manang (3540m)
This day had been set aside for Goat Boy and I to visit a holy man in the hills to be blessed for the upcoming trek... not only did it sound like a lovely way to spend a day, it involved trekking high and sleeping low again... Unfortunately the weather had other ideas... there was a good 2 feet of snow on the ground and no-one really wanted to trek off, so instead Tom and I bought some water-proofs and we started the day by having snow fights with local kids, and then, having perfected the traditional snow man, built a snow yak and then let the kids take it in turns to ride it... although I think out of everyone Doc and I enjoyed it the most ;) Unfortunately it turned out that we bought matching water-proof gear... oops!

We spent the rest of the day making sure we had lots and lots of liquids and cake and then piled into a fire lit living room to watch 'Yes Man', which was a welcome break :)

The amourous yak

Day 8 - Manang (3540m) > Yak Kharka (4000m)
We got up fairly early again to check the weather and get a hot breakfast... The snow had let up and others had gone before us, clearing a nice track for us, so we decided to make a break for it.

I went out to buy myself some trekking poles (as my umbrella finally gave up just after the snow - good timing!) and found our snow yak being attacked by an amourous and slightly confused yak... A wonderful sight to behold!

Snowy scenery leaving Manag

It was a fairly easy day with spectacular views of snowy peaks in all directions, and beautiful blue skies... I think this was also the first day that people started getting sun burn, as the hot sun, lack of clouds and glare from the snow was a bit of a shock to the system!

It was also a very short day - we arrived in Yak Kharka early in the afternoon and decided to stay at a small and empty guest house with a hot fire in the dining room. It was here that I got my first glimpse of a mountain eagle gliding over the tea house while I sipped on a cup of lemon tea... I didn't get to my camera fast enough though... darn!!

Can you spot Abu with his bow and arrow?

The first thing our host, Abu, did was to take us up into the hills behind the guest house to see some yaks. The town name, Yak Kharka, literally means 'Yak Pastures' and so there are a fair few of them around! We also counted this as an acclimatisation trek - perfect!! Before we got too far up in the hills, Abu pointed out some fresh snow leopard tracks, which got us all pretty excited... we knew we wouldn't see one, but still... amazing!! Then Abu started running down the mountain and got his friend to bring him his bow and arrow... there were a group of deer - or blue sheep, as Abu called them - grazing on the mountain and he went chasing off after them to hunt one down... He managed to hit one too, but its hide was too thick for the arrow to penetrate and it got away.

When we came back down I got a horrible headache and had a little nap... fortunately it went away pretty quickly, but we were worrying that I might have to go down because it was a thumping headache accompanied by nausea... but once again the Diamox came through and sorted me out!!

Tom having a go with the bow and arrow

Day 9 - Yak Kharka (4000m) - Letdar (4200m)
We only had a short distance to travel on this day, so we had a lazy morning chatting to Abu, who let everyone have a go with his bow and arrow... until Scrubber shot a rock a bit too hard and broke his arrow... woops! It was easily repaired though, so no harm done!!

Tom had taken some interest in a Gurkha knife that Abu had for sale, and I still hadn't bought him anything else for his birthday (his present was waiting in Pokhara)... Abu had been really sweet to us, so I decided to get it for him... I schemed with PK and Scrubber so that they could buy it for me while I distracted Tom... first I had to show them which knife he wanted... unfortunately Tom saw me going towards the table and came to have a look... which made his mind up for him, and he started bargaining for the knife... rubbish... the only thing I could do was let him bargain for it and then pay for it when he wasn't looking... then I told him what an idiot he is and he was sorry for ruining the surprise, but mostly just happy that he got his knife :)

Tom on a snowy trail

We set off from Yak Kharka at about 12 and I took it really, really slowly to try and avoid another headache. As soon as we arrived in Letdar, Goat Boy, Scrubber and I headed into the hills for another acclimatisation trek and then settled back at the guest house to do lots of relaxing reading and card playing :) The only stop we made was to fix up Rebecca's trekking boot... that's right - one foot with broken bones and the other with the sole of her shoe held on with duct tape... she wasn't having much luck...!

Trekking high at Thorung Phedi

Day 10 - Letdar (4200m) > Thorung Phedi (4450m)
This was another short day, but a monumental one... Thorung Phedi is the place from which most people do the high pass... the big day... the main event... you get the idea...

We set off from Letdar in the morning and then made our way slowly (again) to Thorung Phedi. There wasn't too much climbing, but we did have to try and go quite fast through a landslide area... so that was exciting! Again, we arrived early and went for an acclimatisation trek following the path that would take us up to the high pass the following day... then just as we were coming down, it started snowing again... not a good sign!! We spent the rest of the day... you guessed it... drinking tea and playing cards :)

Beautiful views :)

Day 11 - Thorung Phedi (4450m) > Thorung La (5416m) > Jharkot (3550m)
The next day we were in luck... the skies had cleared and people were going up to the high pass, so we followed... it was 30th March, the day before Tom's birthday... we left at 6am and met the others at High Camp, an hour or so up the pass, to have breakfast... and we decided to stay where we were so that we could do the high pass on Tom's birthday... So we said goodbye to our little gang and promised to try and catch them up... So Glen, Scrubber and Doc gave Tom they're birthday present - a really nice necklace they bought along the way, and off they went.

However... about half an hour later we decided to carry on after them... it was a nice clear day and we were worried it might be bad weather the next day... we had also heard that sleeping at high pass was horrible, so off we went!

Ready for anything!

It was a really, really hard climb... the weight on our backs felt heavier than ever before, and the lack of oxygen was making us really short of breath... but we soldiered on at a slow pace, making our way up. There are a number of false peaks on the way, so it was really difficult to tell whether we were getting close or not. Tom said that he was starting to get a headache and not feeling the best, but we decided to push on, as we could go down the mountain on the other side... but then he really slowed down... he's never slower than me, but at this point he was... just as I was making the decision to make him go back down and try again the next day, we saw the flags that marked the highest point... 5416m above sea level... that made us both pick up the pace and get ourselves there... it was such an amazing feeling to have made it... and the view was out of this world!

Naked Israeli at the high pass

We didn't stick around too long - there were three Israeli guys at the peak, one of whom was posing in his underwear when we got there - insane - I have never been as cold as I was up there... with little shelter the wind was howling and blowing snow in our faces and our fingers and toes were stinging from the cold. They took some photos for us, we bought some biscuits from the guys in the shack, and then headed down the mountain.

Me and Tom at the high pass

Since Rebecca was having trouble going down hill, and me and Tom loved going down as fast as possible, we thought we might catch up to them quite quickly... we thought we saw them a couple of times, and so pushed on, but we always turned out to be wrong! The way down was hard - fairly steep in places and made all the more hazardous by snow and ice and strong winds in our faces... but we made pretty good progress, stopping a lot to take pictures and film bits of the trek, and we also felt great - a combination of the increase in oxygen levels as we descended and the euphoria of having made the high pass. Tom also recorded some of his thoughts on his dictaphone/MP3 player, which I listened to later - he's a genius... my favourite phrase was 'sucking in air like a rampant hoover' - William Shakespeare himself couldn't have described it better :D ;)

As we went down the mountain we knew we were going to right way - mostly because the snow was clearing, so we were definitely getting lower, and there were poles to show you which way to go when there was more then one option... but then I stumbled across a little pile of duct tape... Aha! Our friends had been there, and Doc had required a patch up job on her hiking boot... we were closing in ;)

The welcome site of Muktinath after high pass

After several hours we made it to Muktinath, the next town after the high pass, and had a look around for our friends. We then put our detective hats on, and registered at the police check point, where we found their signatures from 2 hours previously, stating they would spend the night in Jharkot - just half an hour away. So off we went, looking for the guest house housing our friends... we picked the most likely candidate, but before we got anywhere close Doc spotted us in the distance and waved us in... so our surprise wasn't quite the surprise we had hoped, but a surprise nonetheless!

We then spent the evening telling each other about our high pass experiences and pigging out on lasagne and cheese bread - all you need after that trek is good food, and we definitely got it :) :)

Happy birthday!

Day 12 - Jharkot (3550m) > Marpha (3350m)
The next day was Tom's birthday. Glen woke us by knocking on the door, and I hopped out of bed to retrieve the other little things I had as presents... a little Nepal flag patch for his backpack and a bracelet I had bought from a lady on the way when he wasn't looking :) Then we went into the dining room for some tea, where Glen had ordered an apple pie with a big candle so we could all stand around and sing happy birthday :) It was great!!

YacDonalds anyone??

We then set about getting to Kag Beni for breakfast - a little out of our way, but worth the diversion... it was a really nice little town. The guy we chatted to the night before suggested taking the river bed rather than the road, so Goat Boy, Scrubber and I gave it a try... and got stuck because we were surrounded by river... so we had to go back on ourselves a wee bit... woops!

After breakfast in the town we set off again to be met by the famous winds that flow through this, the deepest valley in the world... They are not joking about these winds... they are seriously strong and we were walking against them on a rocky terrain, which was really, really hard... we all hated it, but pressed on until we got to Jomsom - the first town we had been to that had an ATM - to find that the bank was closed and the ATM wouldn't work... Jomsom is a nice enough town - there were lots of little kids running around playing along the river and we had a nice bakery stop, but all in all, it's a bit of a hole... there is an airport here and people often fly in to start their trek there... there is also a Jomsom trek that takes you to Jomsom as a destination - if I had done this trek, I would not have been pleased!!

Just before the wind got bad ;)

Fortunately, we managed to get some cash, and Doc was even able to get a new pair of walking boots... we got out of that town as quickly as we could and headed to Marpha, which is famous for its apple cider and brandy - how perfect is that? A young guy from the South West of England, on his 25th birthday in a Nepalese town that brews cider... amazing! The walk to Marpha was no less windy than earlier in the day and we were all a bit worse for wear by the time we got there, but it was totally worth it :)

We spent a lovely evening playing pool and cards, had a couple of ciders and a great dinner... lovely jubbley!

The lovely town of Marpha

Day 13 - Marpha (3350m) > Larjung (2550m)
The next day, Goat Boy, PK, Scrubber and I had a bit of a lie in... I had a brand new blister from walking on the dodgy rocks of the river bed the day before, and everyone wanted to check out Marpha... it was just such a nice village, and luckily for us, the wind had died down. We went out for coffee and then started trekking towards Larjung. It wasn't a very long walk, and Doc and Glen had already arrived, so they hung their Brazilian flag outside the tea house they had chosen, and we joined them there, spending the rest of the day... you guessed it... playing cards..!

Half way up to the Ice Falls

Day 14 - Larjung (2250m) > Ice Falls (3450m) > Larjung (2250m)
The next day Doc's foot needed a rest, so the rest of us headed out to check out the Ice Falls nearby. It was really great to do some trekking without our packs, but we soon forgot about that... the climb up is almost vertical for much of the way and as we got higher, the clouds got thicker.

We took with us some chipattis and yak cheese for lunch, and so stopped and had those, looking up into the clouds and they came around us. Just then an enormous eagle started circling near by - it was just gorgeous, gliding around with such ease, catching the wind, ducking and diving... The climb we had made that far was worth it for that view alone.

Eagle!!

We carried on going, but after a while Glen and Goat Boy started to struggle... it was seriously steep and the fact that the clouds were coming in and we couldn't see much of the scenery did nothing to push us on... Eventually, Scrubber and I went ahead because we could see a sign at the top of the hill, to see if it was worth continuing... the sign said we were still an hour away... Glen had a headache and we weren't sure what the view was going to be like, so we made the decision to just go down... which was also pretty tough, but quite a lot faster than the way up!

We made our way back to the teahouse and spent the evening the same way we always did :)

Day 15 - Larjung (2250m) > Ghasa (2010m)
Doc's foot was no better on this day, so she and Glen organised a jeep to take her to Ghasa, where she would find a guest house and hang the flag to let us know where she was :) It wasn't too far to go and fairly flat, so the rest of us made it in pretty good time and joined her for... yeah, you know... ;)

Get trekking!

Day 16 - Ghasa (2010m) > Tatopani (1190m)
Doc took the bus ahead of us again, but we weren't too far behind, as again, it wasn't too much of a long day. We arrived, had something to eat and then... joy of all joys... made our way to the HOT SPRINGS!! And these ones were real!!!! 'Tato' is the Nepali word for 'hot' and 'pani' is the word for 'water' - it'd be a rubbish name without the hot springs there... Doc and I went in in long shorts and t-shirts, as Nepali women do not wear bikinis... I was surprised to see how many Westerners were showing so much skin... but they paid the price... a line of Nepali men stood on the sidelines watching and taking photos - Doc and I had no such trouble... so be warned!! Do as the locals do and cover up at the hot springs!!

That night Doc's foot was feeling much better, but Dane started feeling sick and went to bed without dinner... the next day we knew would be a hard climb, and so the rest of us went pretty soon after...

Me and Setty, my saviour!

Day 17 - Tatopani (1190m) > Ghorepani (2750m)
Tom and I got up at around 5am and set of shortly afterwards - I am still the slowest trekker and it was an 8 hour hike for most people, so we thought it best to get a head start. It didn't matter though... after about 2 hours, my left leg gave up... For the previous two days I had been putting more weight on it to avoid treading on the blisters on my right foot, and after 2 hours of going straight up - it was just hundreds and hundreds of steps - it gave up the ghost. I tried to keep going but I had terrible shooting pains going up my shin and I had to keep stopping... This wouldn't be such a bad thing, but when you're trekking it's good to get a rhythm going - I didn't want to stop Tom's rhythm, but I needed distraction from the pain and needed to keep stopping.

The others caught up with us pretty quickly and we tried to decide what to do... I could keep going, or go back down, skip Ghorepani and take a bus to Pokhara, where I could wait for them... I was tempted by the bus, but I am far too stubborn for that... Doc came down from where she and Glen had got to, put my bag on my back and went up to the teahouse at the top of the hill... I tried to stop her, but she's pretty stubborn too ;)

Setty and his Holi painted forehead

There I decided that I could keep going... there were some flat bits and people in the village said it wasn't all up hill... so we carried on... until we came to a town with a pony trekking service... then the boys pretty much made my decision for me...! I employed the services of a young man called Nande and his pony, Setty... He was a lovely white pony and I felt pretty bad making me carry him, but he seemed to take it in his stride... Nande insisted on carrying my bag, which I felt even worse about, but we had lots of stops along the way.

It's a good job we did get the pony - almost the entire way was just step after step, after step... I would not have made it in 8 hours... I would have been lucky to make it in 12!! So everyone hiked on, and I sat on my pony... Goat Boy and Scrubber managed to get ahead 10 minutes from the finish line while Nande was resting, and together we sorted out a tea house to stay in. PK arrived about an hour after us feeling like death - I really don't know how he managed it... but he soon went for a rest. Then Scrubber and Glen arrived shortly after that, having made a long lunch break along the way.

This place had the best fire place we had found so we all gathered around and played cards and chatted, but had very early nights... we were all exhausted... (I can't imagine how tired everyone else must have been!) and had to be up early the next day...

Sunrise over the mountains from Poon Hill

Day 18 - Ghorepani (2750m) > Poon Hill (3193m) > Nayapul (1050m)
This was to be our last day trekking in Nepal... so we went out with a bang... Tom, Doc, Glen and I got up at 4.45a.m. and set off from the tea house to climb up to Poon Hill, which offers spectacular views over the whole Annapurna range - we wanted to catch sunrise.

Sunrise from Poon Hill

It was a difficult and steep climb, but the rest I'd had the day before seemed to have done my left leg the world of good, and we made it up there in about 45 minutes. The views were amazing, and Tom and I sat up in the observation tower watching the clouds pass over the mountains as the sun lit the peaks up in bright shades of pink. It's a shame it was so cloudy... I lost patience and decided I was happy with what I'd seen and wanted more rest before the last day trekking... so I headed down alone, followed by Tom, then Doc and Glen.

Dane, me, Tom, Barnabus, Niko and Rebecca :)

At around 9:00 we said goodbye to Doc and Glen - they wanted to rest for a day and then continue their trek to Annapurna Base Camp - Doc with a broken foot - I told you she was stubborn ;) Then PK, Goat Boy, Scrubber and I headed off towards our final destination - Nayapul.

At first we were whizzing along - my leg felt fine and the whole route was made up of steps going down through beautiful forest.... It was hard on the knees, but all was well... We stopped for a couple of breaks and at 12 had some lunch... then we found another 3000 odd steps to walk down... It was somewhere along this stretch that I started struggling... My legs were like jelly, my feet were absolutely killing me and I was not having a good time... Still, I was impressed that it took 18 days to get me feeling this bad... I had thought it would be a lot sooner!!

I was in a whole world of pain here...!

Scrubber and PK went ahead and Goat Boy and I followed at a slower pace for the last 2 hours of the trek... they were the hardest 2 hours for me, and they seemed to last forever, but we made it to Birethani - the last land mark... we stopped for a water top up and then headed off for the last 20 minutes... Unfortunately it was up hill, which I didn't appreciate at all... but it didn't last too long... we made it to Nayapul... there was a bus strike, but we managed to get onto a tourist bus that was going to Pokhara... when I sat down in that seat, I was finished...

It was a nice bus ride through the countryside and back into lovely Pokhara, where I had an UNBELIEVABLE shower and then went out for a celebratory drink and a curry... bloody fantastic...!!

So... trekking done... OK, so I was in pain on the last day, but a I said, I am very surprised at how long it took... it just goes to show that all the stuff we've been doing over the last year has made us both stronger and fitter, which is pretty pleasing :) If I could do the trek again, I would... but I'd take less clothes (because they all end up stinking anyway) and I'd probably have an extra rest day somewhere... somewhere with a massage service ;)

OK... I'm spent... that is one monster of a blog right there... I hope you made it all the way to the end...!!

There are lots more photos available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/discozo

We're back in Pokhara right now, and will be heading to our last country - India - in a day or two... so watch this space!!