Nagdi Bazar to Jagat – We’re on a Road to Nowhere

An early morning for me and Jet again, breakfast on the top floor of the teahouse. The sun was coming up behind the mountains and looking up and down the valley, over the rice paddy fields, the views were beautiful, although not as spectacular as in the next few days we’re told.

Omelette and chapatti, oat porridge with honey for Jet. Then packed and off by 8am. A long walk up the valley today, but still following the country road so it should be straightforward. But it rarely is! The guide gave us two options; firstly to stick to the right hand side of the river going upstream or cross over a footbridge to the left. The right was up hill and down dale and not recommended by our guide. The left stuck closer to the river and followed the track. The guide said that both had similar views. Left every time! 

The track slipped down to the river and across a decent bridge, before cutting up steeply along the mountainside. It felt like we were climbing higher and higher above the river but the valley is so narrow and steep in this section that we were actually just keeping pace with the rise in the valley floor. It was getting hotter and hotter. My pack felt heavy and I was sweating like an old bloke sweating a lot. But it was heavy and it was tough following the track. Almost immediately we came across major landslides. Some of these had been cleared but some were so substantial that they had dragged the road down the mountain and we had to climb gingerly round what was left, with near vertical drops down to our raging river. And one was so massive that there wasn’t much left of the mountain side or the road for a hundred metres. 

There were diggers desperately, and dangerously, trying to cut a new road and clear the debris. We had to climb up past these through the waterfall and on round the near steep face of the land slip. 

Jet has done so well so far. We have to ford rivers where landslides come down and she gets on with it. She keeps going and never moans. She’s loving it. Good old kid. 

Looking back down the valley we could see where the landslide had cut down the hill. 

And looking forward where others had ripped the earth apart.

We stopped for a great lunch at a village. These restaurants are not all proper buildings, and these villages have to carry in supplies on their backs through the landslides. Dozens of them. There is only one track and it’s buggered. There was a fantastic waterfall next to the restaurant.

After we’d eaten the track cut higher up the mountain. It was exhausting in the midday heat but eventually the village we were aiming for came in sight. Jagat.

We had made good time, in time to hand wash some clothes, have a hot shower – joy of joys – and sit on a western style toilet. No toilet roll. We then went walking for thirty seconds through the village. 

Now we’re going to eat and get an early night. Brilliant.

Night night.