Nepal 2015 - Tolka-Dhampus

< 2 Oct - Jhinu Dada to Tolka

Finally a day I'd consider as easy - and the shortest day so far. Mike and I were up early to visit the chorta. It was lovely watching the sunrise and catch the mountains.


Back up to the room to pack up. We use pack liners for the stuff we need each night and the porters pack them into black duffel bags. They probably get three in a duffel bag. And each porter carries two duffels.

We carry day packs. Mike says I'm carrying bricks because it's far heavier than his. After the second day where I pushed on ahead, he gave me more to carry. Ha ha. My calves are like balls of steel now. Shame they don't look any better though.

We ate breakfast of omelette and corn bread. The masala tea was great. I enjoyed breakfast. Toby managed half his bread drizzled with honey.

We set off through Tolka and up a road. When we hopped off the path we were accosted by leeches. My technique was to walk fast and don't stop. Seemed to work. Others leapt around (possibly Toby) and may have generated more heat to attract even more leeches.

The first part of the walk from the road was a steep uphill part. We stopped halfway up for a rest before pushing on to the tea stop. The second push uphill went fast. It was probably shorter than other ascents rather than me getting any fitter.

Somewhere here Toby got a leech in his boots that latched on. His sock had a big blood splodge just inside the tongue. Once we arrived at our accommodation, we saw the puncture mark. It's a badge of honour now.

Up over the hill and a down hill part before coming to Deurali (again, but a different one) for lunch. As we waited for lunch to be prepared, I sat on the grass and looked out at the view. I thought the sun would mean the dry grass was free of leeches. Toby joined me sitting on the grass. Within one minute he'd spotted a leech between his legs! We got up pretty fast. Then we sat on plastic chairs. I saw the smallest leech ever on Mike's chair and then two huge ones on his boots.

Lunch was a tasty noodle soup followed by macaroni cheese. I ate every last bit and Toby ate three quarters of his. I got a sprite as a treat. Toby didn't because he'd asked Mike too many times for a Fanta during the trek. But he got a few sips of mine as a reward for finally eating more than a few mouthfuls.

From here we had an easy walk to Dhampus. As we entered the town Mike and Toby offered toothbrushes to two children playing in their back yard high above our track. In the excitement, one child leapt from the back yard down the huge bank and landed on all fours. Mike imagined broken legs and all sorts, but the child leapt up and gratefully took the toothpaste and toothbrush.

It was an early, 2:30pm arrival to our accommodation at the Green Land Guesthouse. Best day yet. The lovely rooms were all named after mountains: ten peak was ours. The walk included navigating a large grassy area that reminded me of Australia. I expected kangaroos to bound by any moment. We had an ensuite and Mike took a shower. He only got cold water. After about an hour I jumped in. I only got hot water I couldn't make cooler. Ha ha. As I rested on the bed with Toby I spotted a leech crawling over the floor in our room. They get everywhere!

Toby and I chilled in the room until tea time. I heard about the leech that got Frances during the previous night. Feasted on her arm and she woke up and brushed something off. Cathy and Frances  both smelled blood and realised everything was sticky. She shouted for Cathy and Cathy beat off the leech for her. Saved her life! Well, perhaps a slight exaggeration.

Dinner was mo mo and rice. Superb! Then a chat after dinner before my best sleep so far. Until Toby said at 3 a.m. that he couldn't sleep. Mike told him to think nice thoughts and then two seconds later Mike was snoring and Toby was asleep. And an hour later Mike asked Toby if he was awake. No. He wasn't. But apparently I was still.

Great day!

4 Oct - Dhampus to Sarangkot >