With rally painful legs and one swollen ankle, we set off from tatopani at 8 to start our 1300m ascent to chitre (sat at 2350m above sea level). The beginning is fairly gentle as we cross some of the bridges leaving tatopani. It then rather rapidly gets steeper, as we follow the old trail up the hillside. Within a couple of hours we had ascended around 500m. Crazy. Walking stick in hand we carry on upwards, mind definetly over matter to push ourselves up the hillside. We stop for a break at nice view restaurant looking out over the valley before casting on up to shikra for lunch. The whole walk was probably one o the best so far wandering through the small villgs seeing children running about freely with no restrictions, just going about everyday life. Nobody seemed to care that we were wandering through their village. All very welcoming to our presence. After our hearty pasta lunch we carry on up the steep climb to our lodge. The journey gets steeper the closer we get, really pushing the strength in our legs. We walk by some beautiful waterfalls, the life veins of the valley, trekking through them, across them and over them to keep going onwards. When we see the lodge up ahead in the distance I could feel my body already strtonh to relax at the propect of a hot solar shower and chilled evening. The view from
The balcony is stunning. Clear skies allow a sharp view across to Dhaulagiri mountain that sits at 8167m high. A stunning view, the perfect way to watch the sunset.