Bālu Kholā

Let the trekking begin! I was really warm going to bed so only went to bed in my silk liners, but I woke up very early at 4 am in the night, cold and couldn't get back to sleep. Just when I was dozing off though, it was 7 am and we had to be down for breakfast. I ate Thumpa porridge with apple and banana, which is a type of cereal oat that Nepalese eat instead of oats. It looks like brown sandy sludge but it was very tasty.

We began for the first few hours hiking along the road, which had barely any cars using it so it was pretty peaceful. Once we crossed our first bridge to the path, it began to get interesting. Some bits were quite rocky, some smoother but by lunchtime, I was desperate for a break. My feet were aching and the sun was warm. After a good sit down in the shade and some grub, I felt much better. In the afternoon, the clouds came in so it felt a bit cooler which was nice.

However, we came to a section where there had been a landslide a long time ago and the path was very narrow with a pretty steep drop below, plus it was quite rocky and steep. After a while, I really began to feel my vertigo. James, ever the best man in the world, was right behind me encouraging me and giving his support. It was a relief to have that section done and back onto larger ground. We were then rewarded with a spectacular walk through the dried riverbed, which was all pure white sand with HUGE cliffs on their side, it was magnificent.

We finally made it to our beds for the night in the village of Jaget, at 1300m. We sat on our beds just processing how tired our feet, calves, and shoulders were before taking a cold shower and getting warm in our clothes. We had a lovely dinner of Dal Bat chatting to Cecilia and Mitra about the trek ahead. At 7.30 pm, we were falling asleep at the table and heading to bed.Read more