31 Oct 2018 @ 10.59

We completed our very strenuous 20min, flat walk to the end of the circuit.
Managed to figure out the local buses which almost instantly felt like a mistake. It’s safe to say 2 hours of standing on a cramped bumpy bus was not my favorite part of the trip.

But we arrived in Pokhara without throwing up. Found a lovely, super friendly, cheap hotel and we were done.

The following days were filled with paddling about the lake, catching up with friends, eating baked beans, another painful 8 hour bus journey (although we got all fancy and took a tourist bus, meaning we actually got a seat), lots of playing cards

and now I’m sitting on the plane about to fly ‘home’. As if the past 7 years have all been a dream. As of tomorrow I’m back to living with my parents… and honestly, I can’t wait. See you soon Mum!!

25 Oct 2018 @ 19.50

We’ve had a hell of a lot of down since Jomson. This side of the circuit is definitely less hiker focused. There are lots of road sections, which although they do bring ‘excitement’ to the day, aren’t exactly the peaceful, natural hike I signed up for.

When we are on trail there has been multiple occasions where the route just drops off into the valley or off a cliff – guide walls and all.

This has ended with a 30m climb up a landslide, which awkwardly gained an audience on the road to make sure we made it up alive.

Another ended with a 6ft slide/jump – I will point out my dad has an advantage here, being 6’4” to my 5’10”. Even with all the mishaps, it’s been a huge amount of fun. Lots of 2pm finishes with beers and cards in the teahouse courtyards.

We even saw 3 monkeys playing near the trail. This was a real highlight as we really hadn’t seen any wildlife till then.

Yesterday we had to go up again, towards Poon Hill. The change from down to up was not Dad’s preference, which he subtly made very well-known! Nah he once again powered on up, with the satisfaction that we could finally see Annapurna 1 – it in fact was not even Annapurna 1 a sad lunch time discovery…

Another early morning hike in the dark to get up to the top of Poon Hill for sunrise. This time, we were accompanied by hundreds of other people and felt a lot like herded cattle. But it was good to be up there as the sun came up, huddled under my sleeping bag for extra warmth, watching the mountains slowly turn orange.

Today could have been our final day on trail, however we decided to stop half an hour before the end. This will make getting into Pokhara tomorrow less stressful, plus we don’t want to say goodbye to the trail quite yet. We are however, looking forward to a few well-earned restful days in Pokhara.

21 Oct 2018 @ 16.20

We weren’t sure what this day would bring. Post pass we might have just been stuck walking along a busy road.

We had a well-earned sleep in till 7am (what has happened post PCT, that now I think waking up at 7am is a lay in!)

We were pleasantly surprised to find we weren’t walking on roads at all, but a little less excited to find we had another pass to go over. Significantly smaller, yet still got the heart pumping.

From then it was all down and even steeper than the previous day. We were slipping and sliding about.

There were lots of ‘Dad!! Be careful’ ‘s. We even paused the flag counting game when we started working our way along the edge of a cliff. Mini landslides made the trail exciting to say the least. I don’t know whether I was more nervous crossing them myself or watching my Dad cross them.

After a couple of hours of this, two hikers came walking back towards us. The trail had be cut off and now ended with a 30m drop and sudden exposure to winds of at least 50km/hr. You really had to lean in to stay up.

A group of six of us formed and we split up to try to find a passable route. Dad almost dropped of the edge following the flags, but eventually four of us managed to get a route down with minimal butt shuffling.

Down on the road we looked up to see the final two battling the wind and stuck up on the ledge. One guy ran back up to give them a hand and it all ended without too much drama in good hiker community style.

Now we had the same wind speeds and so much dust being thrown up at us we had to wrap hanky’s round our faces and just pushed on through the final hour into Jomson.

In town we found a fun little teahouse with a ‘groovy’ bar and decent wifi.

Exhausted and ready for bed, we managed to keep our eyes open just long enough for our trail friends to pop round for a celebratory beer (as it was there final night). Once they arrived 1 beer turned to 10 and we had a great night of singing the night away. We will miss our little gang as we continue for the next week on our own.

21 Oct 2018 @ 07.11

The night before we headed over the pass has been one of my favorites so far.

A short day of walking meant we had all day to relax and acclimatise.

There was only one tea house meaning everyone piled in and the dining area was packed out with apprehensive excitement.

Blurry but a fun photo of everyone crowded around the map of the pass.

It was an early start. Head torches on, Snickers for breakfast. Dad hadn’t walked much by head touch before and had to push his comfort levels to follow me up an incredibly steep start to the day.

As the sun creeped over the mountains, the incredible view also began to appear.

It was a tough morning of elevation, altitude, false summits (which luckily we were warned about), but until the sun rays hit us the cold was all I could think about. I was one pair of socks too short of comfort. The sight of my first shadow caused such delight, I had to call out to Dad. I finally was warm enough to stop and put on that second pair of socks and all was right with the world.

Dad was a complete champion.

This is Dad tired.

And more tired.

And really pushing.

And summited!

We made it to the top with a fist bump and a hug. Exhausted, but happy to enjoy the best cup of tea I can remember.

After a nice relax we headed down and boy wasn’t there some down. Steep and slippery dirt, we took it slow, but the rest of the day flew past.

Yummy lunch of carbs was exactly what we needed.

Getting into Muktinath was a bit over whelming. It’s a much bigger town than we are used to, with many places to stay. We had a little sit. And a friend ran out in his towel to let us know where he was staying. We checked in. We had warm showers, seated toilets and we where happy.

All that background worry about the pass just disappeared and we could just enjoy with the satisfaction of achievement.

19 Oct 2018 @ 20.11

We made it over the pass.

Getting to the top seemed impossible at multiple points this trip – between altitude and sicknesses.

Seeing those flag appear over the hill was a brilliant moment.

I’ll write more at some point, but right now it’s sleep time, as we still have another week of hiking to get down again.

16 Oct 2018 @ 18.24

A day filled from start to end. The took the high route from Upper Pisang which meant a very big hill. Lots of sweating, but we both managed to put our heads down and slowly but surely work our way to the top, with only a few breaks (just for the view, not because we were tired or anything).

We ran into our Dutch mates from my sick day – sick buddies for life – right near the top which was good inspiration, then sat with the crowds of exhausted hikers looking down at the hill we just OWNED!
Sadly the trail continued to wined upward (although much more gradually) for another km or so.

At lunch we found a cute little teahouse. As we walked in and set down our packs, we realised the pretty foliage around the perimeter of the property, was in fact massive weed plants. It will always be remembered as the day I accidentally took my Dad to a cannabis farm for lunch.

The rest of the day went past quite smoothly – nothing to do with a cannabis influence I promise – mostly down hill, lots of nice monasteries and even bakeries starting to pop up. It’s weird how good the facilities are up here!

The last hour into Manang was a bit of a drag, sleepy bodies still feeling a bit churned up, but we kept ourselves alert with our game of who can spot the most trail markers, ending in a tie of 39 all for the day, so no hurt egos today.

The lodge we’re in seems to still be under construction, but that’s kind of fun. The girl who bring us our food finds it hilarious how we say thank you and compliment the food so much. You can hear her back in the kitchen giggling about it.

14 Oct 2018 @ 18.41

We’re finally hitting reasonable altitude and the views are certainly rewarding us.

Today we got our first view on Annapurna ii looming over the valley and to make it even better it’s ended up being the view from our door tonight.

We had lunch in an apple orchard which had a café that would have fit in at Alby crafts (for those of you from Norfolk) the building was pure white and triangular with big glass ends. I don’t know why I didn’t take a photo. I guess I was too busy eating the fresh apple muffins.

Yesterday we had a great day untill the last hill where we pushed ourselves a little too hard and ended up exhausted and stopping early at a teahouse with no other guests.

In hindsight it was actually pretty cool. We got to sit in the kitchen and make semi awkward small talk but seeing what goes on behind the scenes it pretty fun. There was a big lazy cat warming himself by the fire. A little 1 month old pup (who was a little too nippy for my liking) playing with everyone. There was no discussion of who does what and I don’t remember even noticing the for being prep. It was very smooth.

We went to bed a little anxious about the rest of the elevation to come. Which has being calm today. Still lots of unknown, but excitement trumps worry for sure.

12 Oct 2018 @ 18.15

Back to walking yesterday. End of day 2 I went to bed feeling great, but a couple of hours into the night I started to feel feverish.
In the morning I was feeling rough and started to get worried I was getting altitude sickness at 4000ft. Something I knew wasn’t possible. Luckily it’s literally impossible according to both the internet and the locals.
I had no appetite, but managed to make it downstairs, where there was another couple zeroing for the day (one was also sick). Misery really does love company, haha, especially when it has ibuprofen.
As much as I didn’t get to really enjoy it, the day itself was pretty nice. Sitting around with stunning views and playing cards. Dad almost finished his book.
Day 4 I managed to push down a chapati for breakfast and we set off with no goal in mind, but the idea of moving slowly.
It started off as well as I could have hoped getting to the next tea house in just over an hour and stopping for some masala chai.
It all got pretty tough from there. We took around 5 hours to do a 1.5 hour section. To be fair that included a lunch stop (where I had my first actually meal in two days).
Dad was great letting me stop every 10ft, but be cranky at him if he stopped and I didn’t want to. The trail however was really beautiful; minimal road walking, lots of waterfalls, heading along as massive fast river all day. It felt a lot more like a scenic walking route.
Just as we where reaching Tal, which had long become our goal for the day, I started to perk up. I think lunch finally kicked in.
Some other trekkers gave me some more drugs for a poorly stomach and the guesthouse was home to a seated toilet. A brilliant end to a rough day. We celebrated by playing cards and staying up until 9 pm!

10 Oct 2018 @ 18.18

Another incredibly sweaty day. I think I’m sensing a theme.

Our first full day of hiking. 21km. It’s great fun wandering through all the little villages.

We saw a cliff of goats.

A smiling cow.

And traversed a land slide as we stuck to the trail markers instead of following the road like everyone else.

It’s incredible to see how the world runs for the people out here. Every person looks strong and healthy. The loads they carry up the hill makes even my PCT pack look small. The animals also look strong and healthy, with shiny coats of fur.

We got into Jagat around 3pm today. Relaxed for an hour or so (played on wifi like terrible people) then went for a walk down to a random hot springs.

Now time for some dhal bhat.

09 Oct 2018 @ 19.52

Welcome to the Annapurna.

Since finishing the PCT I’ve spent time repairing and relaxing in Canada, then with an awesome hiker duo in Seattle.
I’ve now flown across to Nepal to hike the Annapurna with my Dad.
It’s going to be a very different trek for lots of reasons. I’m no longer alone, due to altitude there days will be much shorter distances each day and I’m not even carrying a tent, as we sleep in tea houses, it’s a massive culture shock and most importantly there’s more than one possible route. Still it is beautiful and I can’t wait to see it all with my Papa.
Oddly my camera was flat today so here’s a few phone pictures to get started.
Most of today was spent crammed up in a bus. It certainly made walking a luxury.

The couple of hours of hiking at the end of the day where easy going and flat, although with the humidity…very sweaty. We even had a local teahouse owner guide us along. He was really useful at getting us used to the trail and looking out for the red and white trail markers.

We are now staying at his teahouse along with the other 3 hikers on our bus and a few others.
Full up on dhal bhat I’m excited for a good night’s sleep.