After 3 days walking up hill and down dale we finally arrived at Nyaungshwe a lovely little town on the shores of Inle Lake.

The walk was great - not hard as it is dry season. We had to be careful of the heat and I was proud of the fact that I did not burn.

Day one was through pine forests and farmland. Sadly the rice harvest is over so the paddy fields were bare but the chilli and ginger harvests are in full swing and there was field after field with people picking chillies. There must have been similar fields of ginger being harvested as we saw trucks full of baskets containing ginger. Every house, in the village where our first home stay was, ground floor was full of ginger - or chillies or both.

Day two was more dramatic and we had to climb over Rock Mountain, walk through bamboo forests and traverse ridge after ridge. It wasn’t as steep as the name implies but it was fabulous scenery.

Day three was mostly down to the lake and was through rocky outcrops and very rich farmland - saw wheat being grown.

The home stays were very good and mattresses and blankets were all clean, as were the toilets. One was just next to the house sadly the one for the first home stay was round the back of the barn next door. Does make you determined not to get up in the night especially as the only light was one bulb powered by a solar panel and it’s black wire was disconnected so that it went out when we went to sleep!!

I would do it all again tomorrow- it was great.