Blogs from Annapurna, Nepal, Asia - page 10

Inevitably, though slowly, departure day arrived. Mavis ran the Settle contingent to Manchester Airport, and after a brief leave-taking we wandered into the terminal where, as expected, Helen was waiting. Check-in was quick, and the wait didn’t seem too long, particularly as the flight left on time. I failed, yet again, to get any sleep, and I was not alone in this. As the cabin lights came back up Helen ran a survey of what we had been watching / listening to: she’d been watching ‘The Life of Pi’, Merrilyn had watched ‘Hitchcock’, Alan had been listening to Mark Knoffler, I’d heard the Beethoven Ninth (twice !), and Linda had dozed. No conclusions can be drawn ! Our sojourn under the blue dome of Abu Dhabi wasn’t too protracted, and after another relatively pleasant flight we ... read more

Continued hiking along the valley from Ghorepani on undulating scenic paths through colourful pink and red rhododendron forests. Passed green hillside terraces filled with spinach and potato crops greeting friendly locals along the path with calls of "Namaste", and playing competitive "Uno" card games into the evening with an international mix of fellow hikers. Gradually started climbing again, spotting buzzards circling overhead as the weather closed-in. Hiking through chilly rain and crossing the snowline at around 3400m, we slipped and slid our way in the snow towards Machhapuchhure (Fishtail) base camp, watching avalanches thunder down cliffs on both sides of the steep valley. Quickly warmed up in our first heated dining room over a hot chocolate, as we watched the snow gradually piling up all around. Waiting for the snow to ease the next day eventually ... read more

D12 Thorung Phedi to Muktinath (3,760m) There were no doubts that it was going to be a difficult day – not only it would be a pretty long one, as we were waking up at 3am and were supposed to be walking 9 hours that day, but also it would be quite challenging altitude-wise as first we had to climb 1,000m to Thorung-La Pass and then descend 1,700m all the way to Muktinath. Quite a difference in altitude that was for sure! But I think everybody was happy that we would be sleeping that night under 4,000m. It was a huge relief, despite the devilish hour, to wake up and realise that my headache was finally gone. I didn’t really have the best of nights as had to get up a couple of times and run ... read more

The Annapurna Circuit has been known as one of the top 10 treks to do in the world! After a 6 hour bus ride to Besisahar, you start trekking beside the Marsyangdi Kola (river) through small villages and farms. New roads are being built now which has changed the nature of this trek but the views are still amazing! The elevation begins around 850 meters and continues to climb as the days go by to over 3000 and 4000 meters. The crux of the trek is a crossing of Thorung La, a 5416 meter pass that takes you from the Manang valley over to the Kali Gandaki valley. We slept, or at least tried to sleep, at 4925 meters - High Camp - at the last lodge before the pass. It was cold and crowded. The ... read more

Hi all, We are back after 11 days of long trekking (9 actuals). It's called the Annapurna Circuit - because it evolves around the Annapurna chain of mountains which comprises of few top 10 peaks in the world. In Nepalese standards anything below 6000m is a hill, anything above deserves the right to be described as a mountain. So ladies and gentlemen in Europe – we do not have any mountains, our little French Mont Blanc would not even get noticed in this region of the world… Down to business – It was by far the hardest challenge I have ever had to face. I will briefly mention the facts: 115Kms of hard walking mostly above 3000m, a pass at 5450m, possibility of altitude sickness - you are going to think that over 9 days this ... read more