Martin

Thanks to Barrie for sending round some of his Nepal pics – I’ve picked a few to stick on here.

Just north of Pisang there’s a feature on the map marked as “small green lake”. When we got there we found it was, indeed, a small green lake

Barrie had some good pictures of the avalanche paths and mudslides we had to walk over coming back down from Yak Kharka…

I’m glad I didn’t look up the hill……..

A great pic of Machapuchure from Poon Hill…

and a pic of me dancing in the Nepali (??) style on our last night out….. having fun!

Hi all,

Happy New Year !!!!!

We’re looking forward to a weekend away this Friday down at the seaside in Saundersfoot. West Wales has got some massive, beautiful beaches especially on the Gower peninsula (near Swansea), at Pendine, Saundersfoot and Tenby further west and then even further west at Newgale and many other places on the way to St.Davids.

We love to spend weekends in Saundersfoot village and this’ll be our first trip of the year. It’ll also be the first time we’ll take our dog Polly down to West Wales. I’ll post some more pics next week but here’s a peek at the beach and the harbour.

2006 is going to be a great year – I’d dearly love to go back to Nepal again but instead the plan is…..

Boston USA in Feb (Andrew’s christening)
New York on the same trip.
Prague in May (stag weekend)
Roadtrip in Alberta, Canada in May
Cologne in June for the World Cup
St.Andrews for Golf Tour X in September
Sydney in Oct

I’m determined to squeeze in another list somewhere…

Scotland in the warm month(s) for a long weekend based way up north in Inverness (maybe try to get up Ben Nevis).
London for a couple of weekends to go to the Science museum and the Natural History Museum with Kath & Megan.
At least one celtic home game (with a trip to see Scott in Perth).
A weekend in North Wales to go up Snowdon and see Laura’s new house.
A weekend at Larry’s place in the Pyrenees.

And on top of the above there’s the list that would be lovely but…….

A skiing trip with Louis and Kate.
Trip to Barcelona-Chelsea with Bien in March.

And some possible business trips…..

Rome in Jan
Salt Lake City, US in Jan or Feb.

Let me know where you’re going in 2006 and how it goes.

Love and hugs

Martin

This was a truly fantastic trip. I would recommend a trek in Nepal to anyone – you’ll come back feeling invigorated and you’ll be helping the Nepali people who have gone through a shitty few years and who deserve some help.

In particular:

1. Don’t worry too much about the Maoist “threat“. There was no threat and we were dealt with politely when we came across them on the trek. Just be sensible.

2. Don’t worry about fitness. Provided you’re basically healthy and you take sensible precautions, you’ll come back from this kind of trip 10 – 15 pounds lighter, as fit and strong as you’ve been for a long time and maybe, like me, with a slightly changed view of the world. Have a look at the range of treks available with the UK firm I used (www.himalayankingdoms.com). 

3. In Pokhara I’d recommend the Snowland hotel, a full-body massage, and the Boomerang restaurant on Lakeside.

4. In Kathmandu you have got to go to the Thamel House Restaurant (pictured below) and order the 10-course set meal. It is wonderful. We also ate out at the more famous Rum Doodle and at Tom & Jerry’s, but both of these I could take or leave.

5. I’ll be back at some point and next time I’ll get across Thorung La. The trip on an organised trek is quite expensive at around GBP 2000 incl insurance etc, but I reckon it would be easily possible to do a month-long trek for half that price by going straight to Kathmandu and booking everything there. Next time I think I’ll do it that way, although for some reason the brochure price for next year has dropped from £1850 to £1650.

Poon Hill is a famous viewpoint on the Western side of the Annapurna Circuit, located just to the east of Ghorepani, and 2 days walk up the trail. I took this picture as a series of shots which my mate Jason pasted into a panorama.

Our minibus dropped us off at Naya Pul after an 8 hour drive from Besi Shahar, I had a window seat to enjoy the hot sunshine and wave back at all the kids who waved at the bus. From Naya Pul we gained 1000m altitude in 2 hours to the town of Hille, then on the second day we made another 1200m or so from Hille to Ghorepani. These 2 days had some of the toughest ascents of the whole trip – it’s very different to the eastern side of the circuit cos you’re walking on stone steps rather than rocky paths. North of Hille there’s a famous stretch with over 3700 steep stone steps. By now though I’m feeling fit and strong and a steady pace gets me to Ghorepani, to the best teahouse of the whole trip.

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Hi Everyone, hope you’re all happy…..thanks for checking in and especially for your comments (and abuse).

I’m sitting in a cafe in Pokhara, a fantastic city at the foot of the Annapurnas. It’s been a hell of a time since Manang and being here has given me a chance to relax and reflect a bit on the trip, and to speak to Kath and Meg after having no contact whatsoever for 9 days.

Where to begin? Just after my last post, we decided as a group that Plan B was to get below the snowline then down to the roadhead as quickly as possible, then head over to the West side of the circuit by bus, where we could go to a famous viewpoint called Poon Hill. The plan meant we had to get out to the roadhead in 4 days when it had taken 8 days to get up there, so we had 4 straight days of up at sunrise (5.30am), walk until dark (6pm) with a lunch stop.

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Hello everyone, hope you’re all happy…..

We’ve had 3 really tough days but not in the way I’d hoped, and I’m bitterly disappointed to be back in Manang and heading back down the valley the way we came……

On Thursday just after my last post the decision was taken to push on in about 2ft of snow up to the next stop, Yak kharka. A 3hr walk took over 5 hours in a blizzard and at one point I was on my own. Although i knew 3 people were ahead of me and 7 behind, and that there was only one path, I had to control some panic inside as visibility was about 100 yards and I could hear avalanches coming down the mountainside on the other side of the river. it was near white-out. I pulled it together and plodded up to Yak Kharka at 13,500 feet.

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Hello everyone,
Hope you’re all well. I’m hanging in there… Kath, I’m sorry love but I can’t access tiscali here for some reason.

Today has been the 8th straight day of walking, we’ve covered around 100 miles and gone from 790m to 3800m altitude. It’s 3 days now to what I know will be about as tough a day as I’ve ever had.

So far I’m holding up well physically. One bout of sickness that I got under control with antibiotics in a couple of days and a general struggle to eat and drink enough. Apart from that no serious problems (a painful bit of buttock chafing aside). Also, I’ve been a bit breathless but apart from that I’m coping OK with the altitude.

Every day has been a little different visually – the photo above is looking north from Bahundanda on Day 2.
Yesterday was by far the best day yet, as we went through the 3000m line we could see both ways up and down the valley for about 20-25 miles with snow-capped peaks ranged on both sides. Its too hard to explain it in a short time so I won’t bother to try. i also saw my first herd of the big hairy yaks. They are sooo cool.

Near the village of Tal in Manang district.

The weather has turned from blazing sunshine for 3 days to lovely sunny for 3 days then mild yesterday and today it is snowing. It hasn’t got below freezing in the nights yet. The next two days go to 4000 then 4500m in 4-5hrs each day then the big one will be on Saturday – the Thorug La pass is at 5416m. We get up at 4am, walk the 1000m gradient to the top of the pass then its a 1600m descent to Muktinah at 3800m. It should take 10 hours or so and I’ve been psyching up to it for a few days now. The 8 of us are getting on fantastically well and we’re all helping each other where we can.

Looking north from Pisang.

I’ll try to post again later today.

Love to all

Martin

Made it at last, and what’s more my baggage is all with me (we lost Barry though).

The last hour of the flight into KTM was spectacular with the whole Himalaya ranged outside the window for a couple of hundred miles through India. The plane then banks down through a gap in the hills and the KTM valley opens out in front of you like something out of the bible. From the air it’s beautiful with what look like large houses and lots of green spaces. On the transfer from the airport its a bit different though, with masses of people in houses some of which are ramshackle and some of which are decorated with the most fantastic flowers. We passed a “shop” where beheaded (dead, Phil) goats were just lying on the pavement outside with their blood running red in the gutter. Another sight (which I really like) is parents with their little kids (say 3 yrs up) perched on the front of mopeds and bikes. The hotel is basic but clean, and in Thamel the main tourist area absolutely everyone is trying to sell you something.

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Hi there everyone and thanks for checking in.

I’m supposed to be in Kathmandu but I’m not.

The 9.30 flight to Doha last night was still on the tarmac at 11.30 when the engineers finally decided it wasjust too big for both of them. Flight cancelled. Qatar airlines bussed us to the Raddisson Edwardian Hotel which (amazingly and without fuss) managed to feed about 350 unexpected guests of many nationalities with a great cold buffet at 1am. It was a surreal experience sitting down for a midnight snack with a table of people comprising Dutch, Indian, Nepali and me. They all spoke English of course – I hate it when that happens!!! The chat was split between the terrible earthquake in Pakistan and concern for our checked baggage, which the airline have sent on ahead to Kathmandu !!!

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Kath reckons if I’ve got a headtorch I should also also have an assistant torch and a number of other torches for actually illuminating things. The head torch should stay cosy in my bag and have cups of tea and biscuits brought to it.