Bihi to Namrung – Onwards and Upwards

It was a good night in the room but the monsoon had been strong. I’d hung my wet clothes from days ago up on the balcony and the wind had whipped the rain under the eaves and soaked my clobber even more. This was followed by breakfast consisting of milk tea, without tea, and noodle soup laced with salt until it was inedible. Unperturbed we set off and I got my rucksack on my back without too much difficulty. The valley up ahead was dark and cloudy. Who gives a fig, we’re going to the top.

After half an hour we came across another teahouse which made boiled eggs and proper milk tea. Get in! Looking back the sky was brighter below.

Gradually up ahead it cleared too. Double edged sword as the sun really does pull out the sweat when you’re a fat lad from Sheffield. Although considerably thinner due to the virus.

The path struggles to find a way up the valley with the ravines that stretch up towards the sky. The path switches from traversing along the bottom of cliffs and then climbing to traverse along the top. It mostly rises quite steeply on this trek and however much you have on your back it becomes a struggle. Even more so ahead when we get to higher altitude and the air gets thinner. When it’s steep then we slow down, with short steps. I keep looking at the floor up the steepest and longest sections so I’m not downhearted by the distance to go until it evens out. I count my steps as well as this takes your mind off the pain and the sweat dripping off your nose and chin and into your eyes. Stopping for a rest is good but keeping going is better.

And then all of a sudden you can come across a flatter section of valley, like this.

The Buddhist walls and carvings were becoming more frequent.

And the temperature was beginning to dip a bit, with the trees and vegetation starting to look a little alpine rather than sub-tropical jungle. We stopped for lunch and I ate without stomach pain. I didn’t feel weak and knew that I could keep going. Across the river from the teahouse was a huge wall of stone.

The season for this trek starts at the end of August and peaks in October, well after the monsoon ends. We were only the third party to trek it this season, with a party of 5 and a party of 3 a few days in front of us. Nutters in the monsoon rain.

We crisscrossed the river and came up to a choice of bridges. Hmmm. The high one or the low one. Come on Bhim let’s do the low one for a laugh.

Not with this rising up to meet me I’m not!

We pushed up towards Namrung, where we had to check in at the police post, before deciding whether to go further. The view down through the jungle was a wow!

And the entrance to Namrung was spectacular.

We decided to stay in Namrung and booked into a teahouse by the police checkpoint. The owner was great and him and Bhim got on like a house on fire. We had our last beer for a while and ordered dinner. Could he provide me with chicken in spicy gravy with mashed potato pleeease?

He nipped down to the butcher and came back to say that the butcher hadn’t got a chicken but he would go out to find one. Twenty minutes later he appeared in the teahouse and brought the chicken over for me to approve. I stroked it and said ‘see you later Old cock’.

An hour later I got the best mash and chicken in gravy this world has ever tasted. After dinner me and Bhim joined the owner and some of his mates round a camp fire in his garden and chewed the fat for a couple of hours. Very pleasant company and remarkable hospitality. Nepal, I love you.

Night night.