Friday 5 November
Sange to Tal (1707m)
Itinerary: DAY 5 Tal (1,707m)
We start to climb gradually to
Jagat (1,314m) which used to be an old custom post for the salt
trade with Tibet. Our trail then
follows a cut in the vertical cliff high above the river. The vegetation starts
to change into rhododendron followed by pine. Enjoying the view of some
beautiful waterfalls we arrive at Chamje (1,433m) where we cross the Marsyangdi again and
follow the east bank. From here the valley begins to narrow and our trail
begins to be steep. As we reach the top of the zig-zag trail, the valley widens
again and on a beautiful meadow nestled among the fields of potatoes, wheat and
barley appears the
[Diarist: Martin]
6 am prompt - tea
boy calls. He seems surprised that our tent wanted two cups. We were out at
6:30 on a clear morning. Not too cool. Breakfast 7 am - cereal, porridge, toast,
omelette. Quite adequate, but nothing like the luxurious breakfasts we got in
Ablutions: some used the blue toilet tent with the dodgy seat; I used the local 'shithouse'.
8 am and we were herded
off, across a superb suspension bridge then up the west side of the Marsyangdi river,
roaring noisily below. The sun reached us surprisingly early at 8:15. Time to
stop for t-shirt and shorts, allowing the others to continue ahead with Hosta. Rare
moments of calm as we ascended slowly through jungly country in the deep sided valley.
Then a shady section where I found myself alone. But soon we reached a tea shop - Marco Polo - at 9 am. 'Rested' there for about 30 minutes. Mark's solar panel camera battery charger was used for the first time. It seemed to work, and drew attention from a French party. 1300 metres, 21C. Too soon for tea, so we continue on to Jagat - 10 am. A pleasant village with boys playing shove halfpenny and women styling hair and sweeping the streets.
Jagat
Then we continue on up towards Chamje to around 1345 metres. Lunch in the shade in a meadow just beyond a bridge. En route a huge waterfall with its spray embraced by a rainbow. Lots of photos.
Continue gently up
to Chamje - a nice village. The school playground had a splendid four seater
swing. Still lots of people today - those coming down have probably done the Manaslu
circuit - a similar trip to ours. Some people rush past. Other faces become
familiar, eg the small French group.
Leaving Jagat
We left this nice spot
at 1:45 and took just over 2 hours to reach our destination - Tal - 1707 metres.
We were surrounded by other groups, mostly moving quicker than us. Lots and
lots of people. Occasional tea houses. Marijuana plants at our lunch stop were
just brown scrub.
View to Tal from 1730 metre col
And so, after
passing a campsite with lots of groups camping on it, we arrived at a Tibetan
tea house at Tal. Our tents were pitched tightly together in the garden between
beds of marigolds and a garden border of upturned bottles (bottle bottoms). Chickens
abound (maybe one less by dinner time) and a small black cat peers through a
fence, purring.
We stop our altimeter logbooks and decide that Andrew's 1-minute interval as compared with my 10-minute interval gives him a more accurate measurement. (See 7/11) 836 mb and 20C when we arrived.
Hot water soon
arrives, then a call for tea, fortunately in the tea house where it is warmer,
then a pleasant hour and a half with tea then beer before our meal.
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