DAY 8 Kagbeni (2840m) to Muktinath (3710m) An early start, and we made a steep climb up of around 500m to a dirt track. The altitude here was about 3400m and the lack of oxygen slowed us down. My guide was getting into a little strop over a typing mistake in the guide book. After a 20 minute walk from Kagbeni it advised we would reach another town. After walking for 45 minutes we were still in the middle of the dry dessert and my guide was cursing the books a...

DAY 7 Marpha (2680m) to Kagbeni (2840m) The wind was blowing furiously in more ways than one today. One way I can explain with the use of terms like geo thermal air, the other way, well, diet I should imagine, too much daal baht. The walk out of Marpha is into a new environment, it looks like the surface of Mars, dry red stone everywhere with small scrub bushes dotted around. The wind is cold but the sun soon warms us. We walk on, with not much to see, and sto...

DAY 6 Larjung (2560m) to Marpha (2680m) The view of the mountains from our bedroom window in the morning was a cracker. The sun rose behind the mountain so its rays illuminated the snowy peaks and the high jet streams that swirled the loose snow. We morning routine ensues, we pack our bags, everything lives in-side five separate, thick, double layered plastic bags that will get rolled over three times and then clamped with two bulldog clips. Up at high altit...

DAY 5 Ghasa (2120m) to Larjung (2560m) Day break delivers a blue sky morning in the Himalayas and we get a prime view of Annapurna 1 (8091m) and the Nilgiri range of North (7061m), South (6839m) and Central (6940m). They are stunning white peaks that sit behind the forested valley we are walking up. Clouds will blow in the afternoon, but for now, this view makes a size-able reason to come here. We walked on from Ghasa, following the road in part, u...

DAY 4 Tatopani (1190m) to Ghasa (2120m) Up at 5am to a blue sky, white clouds and stunningly high mountains framing the background. We hang out some clothes and bags to dry in the morning sun. Hobbling down to breakfast, I feel like I have aged sixty years overnight with stiff muscles and joints. Fried eggs and doughnuts for breakfast. Not round doughnuts like at home but flat, like they've been run over. The doughnuts are actually called Tibetan bread, a mu...