Friday 16 October
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Another cloudless, sunny start
to the day. Set off at 07.30, and
climbed up to a col Pangkongma at 3173m, with great views down into the
forested Hingku Dranka valley and up the valley towards the snowy
peaks, including Mera Peak. After a short contouring section we started
descending steeply down a long ridge with occasional farms and tea
houses/lodges.
Remarkably
we
still
had a mobile phone signal here! The descent got even steeper
as we zig-zagged on the narrow rocky path to a tea house and lunch spot
just above a suspension bridge over the torrent. Here I had time to
examine one of the many unusual flowers we had seen en route - in this
case an Osbeckia species.
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After lunch, which included naan
bread and
tinned tuna this time, we dropped down to the suspension bridge and
began climbing up through open mossy forest, past farms with terraces,
cattle, corn drying and woven bamboo walls.
Our
camp site, somewhat higher than the map location of the village of
Gay Kharke, was on one of the terraces, just above a shelter with cows
tethered under it. For the first time we ate in a mess tent erected by
the sherpas. |
Herb tea drying in the sun
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Panuru, our Sirdar, cleans up
at
the end
of the day's trek
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Saturday 17 October
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Breakfast brought an unwelcome
change
from porridge as some other grain, a kind of mini tapioca, was served
up. It was also al fresco as the mess tent had already been taken down
and packed. From the camp site we quickly left the farmed
terraced land and climbed up a steep stepped path through rhododendron
forest with increasing amounts of bamboo appearing. |
At the pass of Surkie La,
3085m,
there was a small shop
and tea house with goats in residence on the woven roofs.
The main trail continued down into the next valley and eventually to a
road head, but we turned left to follow the ridge through burnt
woodland to a boggy clearing where our blue plastic tarpaulin was laid
out for lunch - at 10.30! As usual in the centre of the blue sheet was
a line of ketchup bottles, salt, marmite and sugar. We had plenty of
time to investigate the area while the cooks prepared our lunch
(curried potatoes, coleslaw, chapatis, cheese, baked beans and tinned
pilchards). On the edge of the relatively level area was a basic hut
made of stone walls and woven bamboo roof - presumably the base for a
summer grazing farm.
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Al
fresco
breakfast
table
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King of the Castle (or Billy of the Shack?)
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| Mist began to roll in before we
set off
again, obscuring
any views away from the ridge as we climbed through bamboo and juniper
forest. It became distinctly cooler with clouds and mist rolling round
the hills. The camp site was a series of muddy terraces with some
rather ramshackle huts around - which nevertheless had beer for sale.
It was, however, the dirtiest camp site of the whole trek, with litter
and human excreta lurking around the shrubbery. |
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Sunday 18 October
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An official rest day, and for me
a day to recover from a night spend
frequently dashing from the tent to the toilet tent. I usually made it,
but once or twice threw up into the aforementioned soiled
shrubbery.....So I spent most of the day cosily wrapped in the superb
down sleeping bag supplied by the trek company, reading and snoozing
and worrying slightly as to whether I was showing signs of altitude
sickness rather than a stomach upset. However, the fact that I wasn't
alone in my suffering suggested food might be the reason. I missed the
acclimatisation walk some 400m up the trail and the only thing I
consumed all day was a cup of hot chocolate.
Our grubby site was now also occupied by two other groups, both heading
for Mera Peak; one Czech and the other Dutch.
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