On a lovely sunny morning Sue and I enjoyed this scenic parkrun just to the east of Birmingham, en route to a family gathering in Solihull.
It was just the 78th running of this event, with 132 folk taking part. And despite starting slowly, we both finished fairly near the front in respectable times.
Saturday 6 November
Tal to Kodo
Itinerary: DAY 6 Kodo (2,629m) Walk at the foot of the towering rocky
peak to cross the Marsyangdi again to its west bank to Dharapani (1,943m). So
far we have been heading north but from Dharapani we turn west. The vegetation
changes into tall trees of fir and pine. We are now in the mid-alpine zone. A
little further we reach the
[Diarist: Sue]
Usual routine
before setting out from Tal.
The trail was level to start, on the left bank of the river, entering more narrow gorges after the relative openness of Tal.
Fewer people on the trail, but still quite a number. The trees have thinned out now, and pine trees have started to appear. As the sun arrives from over the mountains, shorts etc go on.
A break at a small
restaurant allows suntan cream to be applied. This morning the sky is cloudless
and deep blue. We cross three suspension bridges, all well constructed,
over the roaring and foaming river. High waterfalls tumble either side of the
trail, some cascading over rock.
Where the valley
splits, near Thonche, after Dharapani, Manaslu comes into sight at the end of a
pine-lined valley. It stays in view whilst we drink lemon tea and snack on
Radisson apples and yoghurt coated bananas at a rooftop restaurant, in hot sun.
The trail continues
through pines and rhododendron, then we round a corner and get our first view
of Annapurna II, 7900 metres. Shortly after, we reach the gateway to the
In 1995, a
landslide at night had taken much of the village into the river. Many locals
and several trekkers were killed. It was 10 November, a similar time to our trek.
Another gateway similar to the first indicates we are leaving the village. More undulations and some more of today's overall height gain of 900 metres.
At the
Lunch is in a memorable setting. The sun blazes onto a courtyard where we sit around the table. The air is now cooler. Looking back, we see the snowy peaks of Manaslu and Peak 29, behind towering rocky ridges. Lunch is rolls, sardines, curried potato and coleslaw, with an apple to follow. The courtyard is surrounded by marigolds.
Soon after lunch, we go into the shade caused by the steep-sided and wooded hillside, crossing a bridge over a tributary. Soon afterwards, a superb torrent crashing down a wonderfully carved gorge, with a wooden bridge from which we looked down on the rushing water.
The path undulated above the river, and in several places it narrowed where there had been landslips. Some of these narrowed sections plunged straight down to the river. Martin and Sanjeev watched a Himalayan rat (pica) going to and fro from its burrow beneath the path, eating leaves.
Through binoculars, we watched 6-8 langur monkeys across the river.
The last hour or so
was spent in pinewoods where the autumn colours became more obvious. A furry
animal hanging outside a wooden house was identified as a mongoose.
Camp at a tea house
in the
The cold drives us
into tents, still in shorts. The washing water is really hot and arrives at
5:30, just as it gets dark. Tea is in the dining tent at 6 pm. All of us are
wearing more clothes than last night. Dinner at 7 pm starts with vegetable soup
and prawn crackers, then a Nepalese meal of rice, dhal, potatoes and
cauliflower, salad of cucumber and carrot, and buffalo and cashew curry. Mango
to finish. We feel warmer after dinner, but it still feels colder than the 9C
shown on the altimeter.
More Uno from 8:15 to 9:00. Mary won.
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.
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.
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.
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.
