And our Himalayan Trek begins.....

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Monday 18th November

We woke at 6.30am to clear blue skies. After a quick shower, final pack and check of bags, we went down to breakfast. It was very good, porridge, pancakes, fresh fruit, omelettes and toast. Kate had been passed fit by the Doctor so was ver happy to be coming with us. Taxis took us all to the starting point and met with our ponies and guides. And off we went!

The sun was shining and the sky was a lovely blue. The path was very good to start, but as we started downhill, the path changed more rocky. As the sun heated up, bottoms of trousers were being unzipped and layers were being stripped off. We continued downhill for the while of the morning. The views were spectacular and had glimpses of the snow-capped mountains in the distance. We took it very steady to avoid any problems underfoot and also it was very hot. The terrain was very difficult at times.

We stopped for lunch in a fabulous clearing that offered both sun and shade and as we ate our food, we could hear the gentle babbling of running water. After lunch we had a continual uphill climb. The scenery again was stunning. We passed several rural communities along the way. It was pretty tough climbing over rubble and rocks. As we came to the end of our day, we could smell the delicious smells before we saw our camp. Then, it appeared infront of us, colourful tents and ponies tethered. This was to be our stay for the night.

I shared with Amanda again and we were a little shocked to see just how cosy our tent was going to be! We had to be very organised with our bags and everything to get it all in. As we were getting our tents sorted, a game of cricket was being played - England Vs India!

We had a great meal of vegetable soup, chicken curry and rice and fresh fruit salad for dessert. After our meal, a fire was lit and we all sat around warming ourselves with mugs of tea, coffee or hot chocolate before going to bed. It was really very cold!! I went to bed at 9.30pm and didn't think I was going to sleep as I was shivering so much. But when I relaxed a bit and tried to think of something, I dropped off. I needed to get out to go to the toilet just after midnight and thought I was going to be freezing getting out. But the night sky was so beautiful that it took my mind off the cold. I have never seen so many stars in all my life - simply awesome. I didn't even need to use my head torch, as the sky was lit up. When I got back into bed, I forgot about the cold and immeditely went off to sleep.

Tuesday 19th November 2013

We woke at 6.30am to 'Bed Tea', which was lovely hot mugs of tea delivered to our tents by the porters! Pure luxury! Breakfast was at 7.15am and we had porridge, cornflakes, fresh fruit, omelettes and toast. I had a special breakfast (as I don't eat wheat or dairy) of porridge made with water and curried chapatis - delicious!

We set off at 8.30am which started undulating and steady. We stopped for chai at the house of one of the porters cousins. He had at least 8 children (I lost count) and they were gorgeous. It was lovely to see how they lived with their animals. After refreshments, we trekked downhill and at times it was very steep for the rest of the morning. Some of the path had suffered landslides so was quite hairy and the guides had to help us down.

We stopped for lunch at a raging river and we all took our shoes off to cool our feet - it was heavenly. I had boiled egg, curry chapatis, mixed fruit and nuts, a chocolate bar and a piece of fruit. After lunch we were told we would be walking uphill all afternoon. It started fairly good and not too steep, but it wasn't long before the path was getting steeper and steeper. To our horror we approached the end of the path and looked at the path as it carried on up almost vertically infront of our eyes. It really was the most challenging thing I have ever done. Very steep, to the point of rock climbing, zig-zagging all the way up (approx 1 mile) at some points, I froze not knowing how I was going to get going again. By the time I got to the top, I broke down crying, it was so emotional. Then continued to have a few tears, everytime anyone else made it to the top!

We had a further easier climb before we started descending down into the camp and a very welcome cup of tea and hot pakora. That evening we enjoyed a delicious chinese banquet.

Wednesday 20th November 2013

Had a good nights sleep. I intended to get up at 6am to practice yoga, but slept right through when we were woken by our 'bed tea' brought to our tent. After breakfast, we left camp at 8.30am and started climbing immediately.

Kate strugged at the end of yesterday, so together with the Doctor made the decision not to continue and left our group to return to the Hotel.

The climb wasn't quite as difficult as yesterday afternoon but it was pretty tough and with tired legs, very hard going. We saw a very large grey monkey in the trees. When we got to the top of the hill we were rewarded with a chai shop, which was a very welcome stop. I bought a hat and socks.

We started on our way again and up and up and up! Some of it was very steep again. The group split into two the the first time as some of the group had to take it really steady. We had lots of stops for water and rest.

As we approached the top, we could see our camp at the other end of the ridge and the backdrop was stunning - snow-capped mountains! When we arrived at camp, we made our beds, quick wash and had a well earned cup of tea with a piece of cake. Supper was tomato soup, chicken curry, tandoori chicken, dahl, rice and chapatis, followed by poached pineapple. We then had a great night singing around the fire.

Thursday 21st November 2013

We had a lie in this morning and left camp later at 9am. Lynda had been unwell during the night and so had decided to stay in camp for the day to recover. It was uphill from the offstart. As I had a slight headache (due to the altitude), I decided to take it easier and slower and so kept to the back of the group. Debbie was feeling unwell and so decided to join Lynda and have a day of rest.

Just as we left camp, we came across a litter of young puppies, probably about 4 weeks old - gorgeous.

It was a pretty tough climb and sheer drops in places. We had to trek through snow and in places was very tricky. We passed a shrine on the way and Teri gave us a 'third eye'. We approached The Sky Cafe just before lunch for a rest and a cup of chai. Some of the group decided they would like to stay there sat in the sun whilst the rest of us carried on with our walk up to the glacier.

So we headed off to Laka Got across some more snow. We trekked downhill for awhile until we started ascending up to the glacier where we stopped for photos and lunch. The views all around us were unbelievable. We headed back downhill and had to negotiate some pretty scary parts of the path that were covered in snow still, my nerves were in shreds. We got back into camp and were treated to tea and chips. As I wrote this, I was sitting on the hillside looking down over Dharamsala waiting for the sun to go down. Beautiful! We had another delicious meal and evening around the camp fire.

Friday 22nd November

We had 'bed tea' at 7am this morning. We had to pack our bags this morning and we were leaving camp and finishing our trek in Bhagsu Nag.

The morning was lovely and it was just perfect sat having breakfast looking up at the mountains we had conquered the day before. After a presentation to the porters, chef, waterboys, etc, we left camp at 9am. We immediately headed downhill and could see our goal in the distance. Underfoot was quite dodgy in places, lots of loose rocks, not easy on your feet at all. A few of us stumbled either due to tired legs, lack of concentration or an eagerness to get to the hotel and a much longed for shower.

We continued our downhill descent and by this time the group had split in two as it really was very difficult terrain. We stopped for lunch at a shrine, which was beautiful and were soon back on our way.

The surroundings were changing as we came down through a wooded area, traversing down. Eventually, we came to a spectacular waterfall and chai shop, so we had a break for awhile. We then started walking through the outskirts of Bhagsu Nag and through some more shops. And there it was infront of us - our Hotel! We had done it, such relief - what an achievement!!

Much needed showers all around. After freshening ourselves up, we headed off down to McCleod Ganj to the market stalls and shops in the afternoon and did lots of shopping and coffee drinking.

we met at 7pm in reception to go for our Celebration Meal at The Jungle Restaurant. The food was delicious, if a little fiery! The bed was so comfortable that night and I fell asleep immediately.

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