October 1997 - The 'Shipton/Tilman' Route - Day 18 - October 28

Tuesday 28 October

A quieter night due to heavy rain dampening the activities of dogs and pilgrims.

7am breakfasts drifts to 7:15, and the cheese omelette is greasy and not up to Taku's standard.

7:30 departure drifts to 8am, as Vicram, who has been staying with a relative, is late.

Fuel for the Tata, with both cameras

It's a miserable overcast rainy day; it would not have been a pleasant trekking day, so I suppose we finished just in time.

The road is spectacular and slow. Slightly nerve-racking in the wet. It seems to take ages to get to Karenprayag, where we stayed on 14 October. We make slow progress in improving weather and shop for tea and bananas. Then we are further impeded at Rudranath (Rudnaprayag?) by a half hour traffic jam in the town centre where a parked car on one side and a leaning telegraph pole on the other contribute to the problem of large vehicles wrestling their way along a virtually single-track road being used as a bus park!

It is 1:30 by the time we reach the Mahesh Restaurant again. My stomach is much better than on the last visit, and a good lunch is enjoyed in fine weather on the marble table with fine views of mountains, and a lovely garden.

The afternoon is quite speedy though Vicram is obviously tired. We manage to complete the 200+ km journey to the Mercury River Camp 15 km north of Rishikesh, by 5pm. This is just as well, as we must attract someone in camp, to send over a raft and allow us to cross the Camp Rapid with minimal gear (except Richard - Bagwan carried his full bag which he is paranoid about losing). Anil says we just need a change of clothes and toothbrush - and he proves to be correct. 

En route to River Camp

The tents in River Camp - which we reached dryly as Anil expertly navigated us across the rapid in fading light - are equipped with camp beds, blankets and towels, all we need for a comfortable night.

The views from the tents down the Ganges are wonderful, and after a tedious day this place completely changes my mood. What a difference from the Natraj Hotel - and we've probably saved Mercury a £100 hotel bill.

The stars come out and we eat outside around a brazier on a balmy evening. 

In the River Camp kitchen

Excellent food from Pawan as usual.

Afterwards we stroll down to a nearby beach and wait in the dark for deer and other animals which Anil says come to the water to feed. I waited longest. It got quite eerie alone in the dark on a jungle beach under the stars. No sign of any animals, so at 10pm I wandered back through the jungle path to camp, where I was sharing a tent with Julia. We were happy to have brought a minimum of kit as the sand would have been hard to keep out of sleeping bags etc.

Next Day
Previous Day

October 1997 - The 'Shipton/Tilman' Route - Day 17 - October 27

Monday 27 October

Sadly, the last trekking day, but to make the most of it we have tea at 5:30 after a night of heavy rain. Breakfast around 6am, much packing, and finally we set off on the steep climb up to Hem Kund (4329 metres) at 6:50. 

An early start on the path to Hem Kund; spot the person ahead waiting beside the path

Anil leads and is soon breaking steps in deep snow. Richard and Julia fall back but John and I walk together again and stay close to Anil, who is working very hard. The 1300 metre ascent takes 2½ hours. Considering the rain / snow in the night, it's a nice day. The higher peaks are in cloud, but there is sun and a blue sky.

Really good views back down the valley as far as the main junction at Bhuinder Gorge.

Partridge are disturbed and there are lots of black redstart around.

Hem Kund has a strange Sikh temple, very large, in a roundish shape, overlooking the snow-covered lake in a small hanging valley. 

Note the huge difference between scanned slides (eg above) and scanned prints (eg below) in this posting.

Moving about here is difficult as there is about 2ft of soft fresh snow. There's a large bell which we ring, and a very small Hindu temple. 

John rings the bell at Hem Kund

This is another holy place, visited by pilgrims, but now out of season. There is a nearby col from which the view would be better, but in the deep snow we reckon it would take 1½ hours to get there - time we can't afford. (Hem Kund is not on the itinerary - Monte [last year's leader] told me there wasn't time to do it - but we have fitted it in with an energetic day and an early start.

Richard arrives after half an hour. Julia has turned around. The sun is very bright with lots of glare.

Icicles at Hem Kund

Views from Hem Kund

I go down first, retracing the steep upward route with care. Anil had short-cut the many zigzags and headed very steeply upwards to save time. The snow is deep and soft, so going down, aided by ski poles is easy. After an hour or so the poles are put away, shorts put on, and we are back in summer despite a little snow on the ground. It's also muddy, so boots are needed, and the lovely colours give away the true season.

Three scanned prints from the descent from Hem Kund

Back at Gangaria (12:00), Anil and Julia are waiting. 

Pictures from Gangaria, the bottom picture is of our hotel

There is welcome tea, then I decide to descend to a more pleasant spot an hour and a half down the path to Govind Ghat, for lunch and diary writing, which is curtailed by a shower - the clouds are now down (it's afternoon of course) - and a shower has got me!

I walk on, gradually descending through lovely autumn colours. The short shower stops, and I wait again for the others. No sign of them so I continue, encountering villages and people, the usual stunted cattle, a field of playful kids (goats) - no doubt destined one day for the pot. 

Langur monkeys near Govind Ghat

Lots of grasshoppers, sometimes very noisy, the pecking of woodpeckers in nearby trees - oblivious of my presence, the pleasant song of a nightingale, drying hay on roofs, rubbish everywhere - in the vicinity of the worst of which the langur monkeys scavenge -, thrushes, robins, bluebirds (like a blackbird but dark blue) and crested tits, and as habitation increases, a return to the usual "s*** , rags and smell of urine" which is India.

I get down at 4:45 to Govind Ghat, after having waited around for about an hour for John, Richard and Julia. Vicram and Anil had been waiting for some time. Vicram lit a little fire by the roadside to warm himself - he had a cold night last night, staying up in Badrinath (3122 metres) where it snowed, and he has got the beloved Tata as clean as he can.

The other eventually arrive in the last glimmer of daylight, at around 6pm, having made many tea stops, a few navigational errors, and Julia's soles having almost parted company with her boots.

The porters had gone before I arrived - I think they were down by lunchtime. I think we were supposed to tip them but there is no mention of this.

The plan had been to get to Govind Ghat by 4pm so that shopping could be done in Joshimath before dinner. In the event, we arrive in Joshimath at 7pm. A suggestion that we shop tomorrow morning is thankfully quashed (we want to get to the Mercury river camp in daylight as gear must be transferred across the river, and it's a nicer place - I think - than Joshimath's tatty shops).

So Vicram gives us a lift to town. I watch open mouthed as John, Richard and Julia all show their most intensive activity of the holiday. They are shopaholics. They rush into hardware stores and grab bells, dishes and ornaments which are sold by weight - brass and copper items. The intense activity is repeated in three of these places, which resemble junk shops and stock similar items, if cheaper, before becoming satiated, and we return down a dark alley with difficult steps to the sanity of the Uday Palace Hotel and a good meal at 8:30 before polishing off the remains of John's vodka and adjourning (after disturbing the janitor to light duff but large sparklers on the hotel roof) for shaving, washing (in a bucket with a flannel again - but the water is hot), and a fairly early night.

It seems strange that there are still 6 days to go before I return to work, the treks having now sadly finished, 4 days of which will be spent travelling home. 

[Today there has been subtle manoeuvring re the coming Wednesday's activities. Richard and Julia have got cold feet about rafting and want to go shopping in Rishikesh - can you imagine - it's a dump! I'm keen to go rafting, for the whole day if possible but will compromise on a half day. John seems ambivalent. Richard and I are at odds - he is "on a walking holiday not a rafting holiday" whilst I am "looking for interesting activities, which do not include shopping for junk".]

Next Day
Previous Day

October 1997 - The 'Shipton/Tilman' Route - Day 16 - October 26

                              Looking back to Ghangaria

Sunday 26 October

Usual 6:30 tea, 7:30 breakfast seems very leisurely. Lovely omelette and spicy rissoles.

By 8am we are off up to the Valley of Flowers. It takes two hours to get to the stream crossing where I stopped yesterday - partly due to waiting for Richard, who disappeared and was not seen again, and various ablution stops (frozen snow is no substitute for a bidet!).

There are crisp autumn leaves on the well engineered path, and just a few frozen snow patches. As yesterday there are occasional clouds of insects, but these are not as much of a problem as the seeds which stick resolutely to everything, especially socks, and find their way into boots.

An eagle floated overhead on the thermals

One of very few flowering plants

View from the stream crossing

The stream crossing is accomplished with just one wet foot for Julia, and we wait again for Richard whilst burning some of the rubbish which abounds here. Eventually Anil decides to continue to wait, whilst Julia, John and I continue along a thin stone path. After a while this comes to an end and we proceed across rough ground through giant hogweed, giant knotweed, and rhododendron, etc.

There are several gulches which also make it hard going. Julia falls behind and sits on a rock, whilst John and I head the full 5 km up the valley to round the far corner and get a splendid view of Nilgiri Parbat (6474 metres). Rataban (6166 metres) has been in sight, dominant at the head of the valley, for quite some time. (See yesterday’s map.) We are beside the river, and further on there is glacial moraine. It's not clear where the ice starts, but far above is a big hanging glacier.

Martin and John proceed up the valley

We find a gentian which we conclude is a local variety of Gentiana depressa. Nothing else is in flower.

There are remnants of lots of different types of flower, including orchids, thistles, lilies and asters - which at time of flowering turn the valley into a big spread of purple (according to photos).

Above: Valley of the Flowers using Olympus 110 camera and Konica VX100 print film.
Prints scanned using HP Envy 5020 printer.

Below: Valley of the Flowers using Canon EOS500 camera and Fujichrome Sensia 100 slide film.

Slides scanned using Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400

Valley of the Flowers views, with Nilgiri Parbat and Rataban

John returns through head high vegetation

After lingering here until 1pm we return along a narrow indistinct path which wasn't obvious on the outward trip. We later discover that Julia also found it, and it takes us satisfactorily back down this beautiful valley, on a lovely day but with increasing afternoon cloud as usual, to the stream crossing where Anil was left.

John and I have collected rubbish from the path (which makes John very angry) and burn this by the stream.

Soon a heavily laden Anil, and Richard with no rucksack, appear. It seems Richard had a headache and returned to bed, later to recover sufficient for him to get to the Valley of Flowers if Anil took his rucksack! (That's Anil's abbreviated version - Richard's full explanation is a lot longer and is very involved as he is a doctor and worries.)

Anil, John and Richard return to the valley to look for a grave (Mrs Smith) which Anil says is there. They fail, but they do find the grave of Mrs Legg, which Julia also found. Anil's story of a Mrs Smith being laid to rest in the valley after she killed herself pulling up a flower is discredited.

There is a lot of sensitivity about the Valley of Flowers. During the season checks are made to ensure that herbs and plants are not taken away - there is a special gate on a bridge. We hope John's uprooted orchids will get through customs.

I amble down to Gangaria by about 4:30pm. The room is already dark and cold, but a pleasant hour and a half is spent in my sleeping bag chatting with Julia, before the others arrive, in darkness (having wasted much time in the abortive search for Mrs Smith's grave), enabling further tea and welcome battered nibbles to be consumed.

Pawan's final meal for us is quite a banquet, with vegetable soup, fried rice, chop suey, spring rolls, crispy noodles and tomatoey sauce, cheese and tomato paneer, mixed vegetable (mild curry), and a tomatoey dish with potato, followed by ginger cake and coffee / ovaltine. Another excellent meal, with some more of John's vodka rounding things off.

Next Day
Previous Day

Easter Sunday (20 April 2025) - All Quiet in Carrington Moss (and stuff)

On a lovely sunny day I couldn't bring myself to wrestle with traffic, so an hour's bike ride from home was in order. The towpath to Stretford was hectic; the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) to 'Riverside Coffee' was a bit quieter, albeit the coffee shop was doing a roaring trade. It seems no time at all that I passed signs here indicating that there would be a kiosk on the site; they seem to be doing well.

The paths next to the Mersey weren't overly busy. This is the view from Riverside Coffee.

Once over the footbridge, just a few cyclists were encountered as I continued along the TPT and around the Banky Meadow loop. Here, there was nobody about. The header picture was taken on the nice path. It's very green just now, with occasional splashes of 'Bluebell blue' and 'Dandelion yellow'. I may do a separate 'Flower' posting. I'm sure I've done this before, but I can't find the posting.

So that's the core of today's diary entry, the rest is just a catch up/routine posting.

Rick had spotted an owl in the woods near our house. I went looking for it and found two nest boxes in the reported location, but no sign of any owls. Keep a look out!

Wythenshawe parkrun #615 took place on Saturday, with 359 participants being skilfully directed by Alan. 32:20 was my time, in position 260. Sue was a little behind, but not for much longer, as her x-c skiing leg injury is much improved. Full results are here.

Here's the token sorting team, awaiting the sorting of 360 barcodes.

Meanwhile, I had to leave early to put chickens in the oven.

It was a tasty lunch, attended by all the close family.

It appears that 'yellow is the new purple'...

After we had washed up, Sue went to see her mum in Solihull, and I relaxed, until Sunday morning's Wythenshawe Community run. Here's Paul, about to give his leadership address.

Then off we went. There was no sign of Fechin or Mike, but Colin Davies was there, fresh from yesterday's 29:29 parkrun at Wilmslow, in a 'pacing' roll for nearly the 250th time. 

Colin and I had a chatty jog around the 5km course in about 33:30, after speeding up dramatically in the final kilometre!

Memories: Easter Sunday 2009