On leaving our quaint accommodation the Namaste Lodge at 8AM, Michi offered the young boy who helped out at the lodge a ride on his El Padrino. The boy was beaming and clearly Michi’s kind gesture had made his day.
Turning off the road and back onto the trail we immediately began to be pestered by children selling fruit including green oranges and some of the blackest bananas I’ve seen. Never an issue on other parts of the trail, here our irritation was no doubt magnified by the tropical clamminess we were climbing through, limbs glistening and helmet juice falling from our heads like rain.
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| Michi slogs out the steps to Ghorepani |
Fortunately, the higher we got the more a breeze made its presence felt and the bike carrying became less of a chore. Steps were the unifying theme of the day, but with our carry techniques dialled from the early sections of the trek it didn’t faze us.
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| Michi demonstrating his effortless carrying technique |
Lunch was at the Dhulghiri View Lodge where an absent minded waiter neglected to write down my order, resulting in a longer than intended (although not unpleasant) wait in the sun.
A sign at lunch reckoned the final stretch at two hours, but an hour later we had huffed and puffed our way to Ghorepani. Here I note a softer breed of trekking tourist, many opting for the bus ride and day walk from Pokhara.
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| A donkey train gets on the feed bags outside our lodge |
The pleasure of dry boots while trekking cannot be put in words, and while the numerous river crossing of yesterday had overcome the leather/Gore-Tex combination the dry conditions up high today had kick started the toe dehydration process. While they didn’t quite dry out today I hold out hope they will soon.
Tomorrow we rise at sparrow’s fart to conquer the 30 minute Poon Hill trek, hoping to catch the unrivalled views of the Annapurna range and Dhulghiri illuminated by the rising sun.
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