Day 4: Tatopani - Ghorepani

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Four Seasons in One Day!

We awake to face the prospect of a seven-hour, 1,800 metre ascent today. Nice! The first hour is relentless and steep and it's hot to boot. I don't rate our chances of completing the day if we face more of the same for the next six hours! Fortunately, I find 'the zone' and we reach our stop for lunch on schedule after 3.5 hours. The vegetable momo (a popular snack of steamed dumplings akin to plump ravioli) are the best we've tasted so far. Still no apple pie though. This is supposed to be the apple pie trail! Babu promises us apple pie this evening.

We head off again - a further 3 hours of trekking ahead of us (well that was the plan anyway!) One hour in and the heavens open - as wide as the depths we find ourselves in - forcing us to seek shelter. Usually, thunder storms in Nepal come and go, but one hour passes and a glance up at the sky tells us that we're not going anywhere for a while. Then the temperature drops considerably and the rain turns to hail and then the hail turns into moth balls. Yes, we're now under attack from moth balls folks! The icy bullets batter the tin roof that provides our shelter. Will the barricades hold? Who will be the last man standing as the shells continue to ricochet around us?

Fortunately, a local takes pity on the brave soldiers and invites us inside for a cup of mint tea by the fire. We are stuck in the trenches for a further hour before the rain subsides, permitting us to continue our passage. We walk quickly knowing that a further rain delay may force us to abort the day before our intended destination.

One hour to go and unbeknown to Cav and I the final climb would prove to be the toughest of the day, as well as the entire trek. My god it was tough. We had consumed all of our rations (the reserves of gingernuts and chocolate bourbons were now a distant memory) and I was now running on vapour. The high altitude wasn't helping matters either.

Bringing up the rear, I eventually reached the summit. Completely exhausted, I promptly lit up a fag! Old habits die hard. Tina "The Missile" Sander joins us at the summit later that evening. Even she struggled!

As our sweat-ridden clothes dry above our heads, we sit huddled around the burning stove sipping hot chocolate. We share good conversation with Matt, a 34-year old Californian and his girlfriend Kiran, an attractive Texan lass.

The customary two servings of daal bhaat (Nepal's national dish of rice and lentils) were washed down with the exemplary brew of mint tea which Cav and I have become quietly addicted to. Babu promised us apple pie tonight and, true to his word, the chef obliged by making us fresh apple pie and custard complete with a glacé cherry on top!

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Photos

D'ya wanna a brew?
A kind-hearted villager takes pity on us (though I did notice when she first appeared on the scene she looked quite amused), opens up the guesthouse kitchen, pops the kettle on (well, chucks another log on the fire) and makes us a nice cup of fresh mint tea (word's spread throughout the region that the two Limeys in the pastel ponchos are rather partial to a drop of the green stuff). It should be noted that in order to take the picture I had to use a flash - our little kitchen shelter was actually in semi-darkness. Also worth noting is that fine Nepalese smile - so common in these parts.

Making the most of the situation...
...Stace finally puts pen to paper and starts writing a blog entry during our 2-hour kitchen stopover where we just about avoided the lightning, driving wind, torrential rain and hail stones which were trying their best to breach our humble shelter.