Poon Hill. Entry 1

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One of the main reasons Nepal has thousands of tourists flood in from across the globe throughout the year is for the many epic trekking routes which the country has to offer, including, but not limited to, Mount Everest!

On a much smaller, cheaper and realistic scale for a backpacker (and a sane man), there is also the Annapurna circuit situated in Central Nepal. Today, the APC has developed into several different smaller routes that can accommodate travellers on a budget or tight schedule and even allow the trekker to partake in the adventure without a guide.

After spending weeks researching which trek would be best suited to our limited experience of following a map, as well as our now somewhat questionable fitness levels, we had decided on the Ghorepani - Poon Hill trek which is part of the Annapurna Circuit and is described as an "easy" climb, (more on that later).

The suggested duration of completion for Poon Hill is said to be anywhere between 3 and 6 days depending on your pace, size of group and frequency of stopping etc and the route looked pretty straightforward, essentially going full circle from the starting point in Birethanti.

As an added bonus, my sister had foolishly decided she'd always fancied a challenge and flew over to join us on our said "easy" trek. This now meant the 3 of us had potentially enough savvy to complete the trek without a guide and also, we all knew each other well enough to offer a few words of encouragement should anyone else fall behind.

After informing our hotel manager in Pokhara of our plans to travel to the start of the Poon Hill circuit the next day (Friday 22nd March), he happily arranged for our trekking permit and TIMS card to be delivered in the morning for $50 USD as well as organised for our backpacks to be put into storage and a taxi to pick us up at 11am.

With our bags packed, permits in hand and fresh legs ready to go, our taxi arrived at precisely 11am just as we finished downloading episodes of Mad Men on Netflix, and off we headed to Nayapul. Our 4 days of hiking in the Himalayas had begun!

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