From Deboche back to Lukla

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Friday 12th April

Today was planned to be probably the longest walking day so we set off a bit earlier than usual, leaving the Rivendell lodge at Deboche at 07:15. Rivendell has a great view of Everest and this morning it was clear without any cloud cover. Leaving the lodge we first had a short sharp uphill walk to Tengboche monastery. Tengboche is one of the most important Buddhist monasteries in Nepal and is the one where many mountaineers go to pay their respects before attempting to cloimb one of the high summits. It is also blessed with an excellent view of Everest.

We are now back on the main direct route for trekkers going from Lukla to Everest. Leaving Tengboche there is then a quite long steep downhill section towards Phungi Tanga where we cross the Dudh Kosi river before a long steep ascent on the other side to Kyangjuma where there is a lovely restaurant - the High Mountain Bakery Cafe - with wonderful views back over towards Tengboche and Everest. We stopped here 10:20 for our hot lemon break and a good rest after the long climb. We set off again at 11:10 for a more gentle downhill section back into Namche Bazar. There was a bit of a mule-jam as we entered Namche. This was easily by-passed however and we found our way back to the Camp du Base lodge where we had stayed a week or so ago for lunch, arriving there at 12:25.

Leaving the lunch stop at 13:50 we walked back down through Namche Bazar, having a brief look at the weekly market (Fridays and Saturdays) before retracing our steps down the steep Namche Hill back to the high bridge over the Bhote Kosi river at Larja Dobhan. We were now back at river level and followed the valley bottom back to our lodge for the night at Monjo which we reached at 16:05. I was by now feeling very tired after 13 consecutive days' trekking but the Summit Home lodge in Monjo was quite comfortable and I slept well in preparation for the final days' walk.

Saturday 13th April

Despite us needing only half a day to get back to Lukla, we were still woekn at 7am and we had set off from our Monjo lodge by 07:45. Monjo is at 2835 metres and Lukla at 2840 metres so this morning's walk involved a steady downhill section following the Dudh Kosi river as far as Yulning where we had a final lemon tea stop at 10:20. At 10:50 we then started a steady uphill section climbing out of the Dudh Kosi valley, finally arriving back at the Paradise lodge in Lukla at 12:50.

As this was only a short walk today, we actually arrived back in Lukla before our porters. We could check into our rooms but not change out of our walking gear yet. Lunch was at 13:45 and by the time we had finished lunch the porters had arrived and we could finally shower, change and enjoy a stroll around Lukla knowing that the walking was done.

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Photos

Everest
viewed from Rivendell lodge, Deboche

Everest
viewed from Tengboche Monastery

The route to Namche
viewed from the descent from Tengboche

Bridge ...
... one of many we crossed in the last couple of days of the trek

Almost at Nache
our route viewed from Kyangjuma

Mule jam
at the entrance to Namche Bazar

Namche Bazar
Friday and Saturday are market days

Paradise lodge, Lukla
our trek's starting point and final destination