Blogs from Annapurna Circuit, Annapurna, Nepal, Asia - page 5

The daily dilema of whether to get up and set off, hoping to find breakfast in the next village, or eat before leaving, usually whilst sat in several layers of clothes, teeth chattering over a cup of tea - such are the challenges faced when trekking! Initially I'd opted for the 'food now' option over the great unknown but at higher altitudes with the mornings cooler it was becoming less appealing. So on Day 5 I followed the Germans lead, whom I'd had serious breakfast envy of the previous day when I passed them sat in the sunshine tucking into porridge, and headed straight off. It meant I saw the first sun hitting the snowy peaks above and then, because the breakfast detour put me on a smaller path, went through Thanchok. Winding narrow stone lanes ... read more

The physical exertion would call for a soul splitting, and I had no idea. At the end of that first day with Dave O' we made it to Ghandruk. We had hiked 8 kilometers and had mountain moonshine at lunchtime. In the evening we broke bread - dhal bat (a rice and curry dish) with an Italian and his Nepalese guides. I always get a kick out of telling the locals that I was born there!The next day Dave and I powered. First words written in the 2nd day circuit journal are "I'm exhausted". This day was the longest consecutive push we did. We started out early and went up a densely jungle humid ridge. There were schoolkids on their way to class, laughing and greeting us with, "Namaste". They would hold their hands together and ... read more

As I headed out of Tal on my way to Chame (not to be confused with Chamje) at 2650m/8690ft, I asked the proprietor of the guesthouse how far I had. “9-and-half hours,” he replied. “Ok, another long day. How about ‘Nepali time?’” “Nepali time?” He smiled, then replied, “8 hours.” Following the EBC trek, I’ve come to trust the precision of the Nepali people’s time estimates in the mountains like I trust that the sun will rise tomorrow: they are spot on and I’m usually within 15 minutes of what they quote me. On good days, I’m within 15 minutes of “Nepali time”, ie, the time one would expect a regular Nepalese to arrive at a destination. Either way, I had another 8 to 10-hour walk ahead of me, so I hastened out on the trail ... read more

The last part of our trek was generally pretty awesome. We spent a couple of rest days in Manang at about 3,500m from there it was 3 days up and over the Thorung La pass at 5,400m or just short of 18,000 feet. The scenery was stunning, environment steadily got drier the further we went, near the top was effectively a rocky desert but with glaciers all around. It was pretty Baltic at nights, getting down to around zero, but the sun was very strong during the day. I got sunburnt through the top of my hair/head, and no, I'm not going bald there!!! We expected to feel pretty awful with altitude but remarkably it wasn't too bad, think we were well acclimatised with 9 nights over 3,500m by the time we went over the top. ... read more

Catch up on some trekking photos... read more