Nepal 2015 - Ghorepani-Poon Hill-Tadepani

< 29 Sep - Hille to Ghorepani


We got up at 4.30 a.m. to walk up Poon Hill and watch the sunrise. At 3,210m this is the highest point of our trip. It was warm and my thermals were not needed. But I set up the camera and played with the exposure and grabbed some nice photos.

No matter what I eat at meal times, I am absolutely starving every meal time. As we walked back down the hill, my stomach was complaining loudly at the lack of food. I even eat when I'm not sure I should and find I can pile away loads of rice and dhal. Last night was dhal bat and rice with spinach and potato and pickles. Yummy.

Breakfast this morning was porridge with chopped up apple on top. Sweet and good but I couldn't eat much. And a pancake which I managed to eat. I'm not a huge pancake eater really.  Toby slept in instead of doing the early morning Poon Hill walk. He isn't eating lots. But he never does anyway. I hope he's ok for the walk today.

So after Porridge with apple, and pancakes for breakfast in Ghorepani, and after the Poon Hill sunrise side trip, we started on possibly the second hardest day of our trek. It was steadily up for quite some time. But the views were amazing. Annapurna South loomed over us and further away but taller was Dalghuri. There is a mountain closer with twin peaks and has a common name of Fish Tail.

It was hot work and at altitude too. We climbed to almost the height of Poon Hill. We could look across to it. Through rhodedendron forest like the last wee bit of yesterday. It blooms here in February to April. Masses of them. The scenery was stunning. Huge mountains I've only ever read about before, rising up into the air. I went to see Chris Bonnington talk once about climbing and Annapurna featured in his talk.

After eventually getting over this first hill we descended for ages, fortunately in the trees so it wasn't so hot. Toby disappeared into the bush a little way to wee and came back and Jimmy pulled five leeches off him. Made Toby slightly paranoid about the greenery.

We popped out into our lunch place late. My stomach was very interested in food. We got two minute noodles and potatoes. I ate everything. Hardly anyone could finish their mountain of potato. Even Mike! But for some reason I am starving when mealtimes come around and didn't leave much on my plate.

This was a difficult lunch to get up from. I could have slept right there at the table. We had a huge descent into a valley and then a steep ascent. But at the top was our accommodation at Tadepani.

We did some washing and then had tea. After that I queued for a shower and chatted to some trekkers from Hong Kong. As they disappeared into the shower, the conversation continued with the next in line. I know all about their jobs and their trekking plans now.

I went back to the room and lay down. Toby scampered off to the dining room. It's warm down there. And Mike explored the litle market beside our guest house.

Toby is still doing well. No signs of any anxiety and he's a real trooper. He even ate a reasonable amount at lunch. Yay. He has too much sugar in his masala tea though. Everyone is keeping an eye on him and telling me if he has too many. Cheeky monkey. He seems to have more energy than anyone else besides Jimmy the guide.

Right. My hair is wet from the shower and I'm a little cold. I might snuggle into my sleeping bag.

1 Oct - Tadepani to Jhinu Dada >