This part for most was the toughest day of them all. It was the biggest ascent we did the whole trip at 1,210 metres. It was also quite a long trek at nearly 9 kilometers. We started early as always and headed up the gorge. Crossed several streams and bridges. As the gorge is quite narrow we encountered much narrower paths and we crossed several landslides. This part of the trail also doesn’t allow for horses to be used so everything gets carried by humans. Even helicopters aren’t allowed to transport supplies. Only humans and their equipment.
The plan was for a 1h steep descent and then cross the river vie bridge. Then steep uphill and stopping in Sinwa and later Bamboo for lunch. Ending the day in Dovan. Word of warning. Had some korean style shin ramyen and they turned out to be VERY spicy hot. From then it would be about 2.5h to Sinwa.
Felt much more positive this morning. The sun was out again and the plan was to descend about 300 metres for 2 hours, then ascend for half an hour and continue with “Nepali flat” for an hour. Then would have lunch at Ghurjung Lodge and Restaurant in Ghurjung and then another 3h undulating hike until we reached Chomrong and the International Guest House at about 15:30.
This was a long day. Very early wake up at about 4am to lave the lodge at about 4:30am. We hiked up the trail for about 45 minutes to the top of Poon Hill where there was a viewing platform, view tower and actually a small teahouse. We were at the top just before sunrise and the imagery we were awarded with was exceptional.
We had an early start. Got our gear together. Put the bits in the red duffel bag that would end up being carried by the porters. Its was a short(ish) drive to Nayapul where we officially started the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek. We followed gravel roads for an hour or so and then at one pint ended on proper hiking trails.
My travel from Herefordshire to Nepal. Start of the journey by taxi to Worcester train station. Would have taken the bus but they decided to stop doing any suitable routes a couple of months ago. Had my first experience carrying the big yellow duffel bag up the flight of steps to the train platform. This was not going to be a walk in the park!
The trip will start from Kathmandu, Nepal after which we will drive for 5-6 hours to Besisahar where the actual trek starts. According to Wikipedia the trek is anything between 160–230 km long and I can tell you after how long it will be for me. The highest point is the (in)famous Thorong La pass at 5,416 metre altitude so just about where I started to have some issues on the Kilimanjaro hike in 2019.
