< 28 Sep - Pokhara to Neyapul and Hille
We left Hille early - just before 7.30 a.m. (on the 29th) to try and beat the hottest part of the day on the steepest part of our seven hour walk.
And it was so hot. And so steep. And quite high.
We had lots of stops though. And we spread out quite a bit. I had been walking for just over an hour when I checked my GPS on my phone, tracking my walk. I had gone a kilometre from Hille. Only! So up and down, but as the crow flies, only 1 km.
 |
| An early bridge not far above Hille |
There is plenty of water along the way and we have purification tablets that take thirty minutes to work. So we had plenty of water.
I walked up the front with Jimmy our guide. I heard about the first time he visited Goa and saw the sea for the first time. He was twenty three years old and it made a huge impression on him. He also told me about the relationships between Indians and Nepalese. Politics. Loads of things.
I got a leech on me on the back of my right calf. I wore pants so I never saw it. It ate its fill and dropped off. I noticed at lunch when I pulled my trouser leg up to check out my legs. Big splodge of blood. All good but it freaked out some women in my group. Little did they know the leeches ahead of them over the next 7 days.
 |
| Philippa continues up. |
Lunch was spaghetti with yak cheese grated on top and chillies and tomato. Good! And a tomato soup of sorts.
Jimmy wandered into the bush to go to the toilet at one point and came back and pulled ten or more leeches off his legs.
Some women started to get a bit sick in our group. But we all got up to Ghorepani ok. We had to stand aside when groups of ponies and donkeys and mules came past. There are no roads up here so everything comes in by horse.
Toby did really well. Loads of stairs and straight up for seven hours. The first two hours were the steepest. It took two hours to go two kilometres - as my next check showed. I ignored my phone's progress after that and just concentrated on getting up to Ghorepani.
 |
| Looking back towards Hille - somewhere down there |
 |
| The boys have been blessed |
 |
| Lunch stop - corn drying under the eaves |
 |
| Toby at the lunch stop |
 |
| An ad for the pony service |
 |
| I reach Ghorepani |
Ghorepani's accommodation was lovely. Our room had a nice view into the street. The shower room was huge and not quite as dank as the last place in Hille. But the ceiling had a low beam and I did donk my head pretty hard at one point as I contorted myself into my clothes while trying to keep everything dry. Ouch!
 |
| View from our tea house |
 |
| Becky enjoys her tea |
 |
| Marsala tea and the internet! |
 |
| Dining room |
 |
| Lovely place |
 |
| Dinner |
 |
| Hard walk it was |
 |
| I think I smashed my daily step count! |
After a huge day I was happy to eat early and go to bed. Ghorepani was much cooler - in the clouds a bit when we arrived. But I was hopeful of a dawn glimpse of the Himalayas the next morning as we went to bed super early for the pre dawn start.
No comments:
Post a Comment