The trekking begins

Day 4 - Pokhara (800m)-Sarangkot-Naudanda (1440m)-Dhampus-Pothana (1850m)

Up at 6, ready and packed at 6:45. Our trek begins today with a drive to our road-end and a short-ish walk in to our first night in a guesthouse at Pothana.

But not before breakfast at Rosemary and meeting our guides and porters. Some familiar faces and some new faces.

Standing: High Camp guesthouse owner; Bachan, Sunit, Expansion.
Sitting: Raam and Karna.

We were meant to start walking from a town called Phedi, but the road had been washed out and was impassible in a van. So, we drove via the familiar town of Sarangkot, where the paragliding launches from, and started at Naudanda instead.

Poon Hill (2014-15) - blue line
Mardi Himal (2019) - red line

Really short day and easy pace, still cloudy so few views. Lunch in Dhampus, last wifi until I wonder when! Vultures soaring overhead. The group were introduced to leeches. Pothana by 3:30pm.

Took a good look at the maps - we want to go to Tolka (more about that later) and it looks easily doable as a quick detour on the way back.  Expansion gave us a 'map tour' of Nepal. Bharat and Expansion came up with a cunning plan to go to Buddha's birth town after the trek. Keen!

After dinner (dal bhat, yum), everyone seemed a bit knackered.  Early night.

Start! Looking across the valley to Dhampus

This bridge is new

Dhampus rice field