Having arrived from the beautiful Siddhartha Highway into Pokhara, base town for all treks around the Annapurna region we had to choose which trekking route to take. I originally thought you needed to be on an organised trek, but most people do it independently with good maps and clear paths most of the way, there’s no reason not to. There are two main trekking regions - Annapurna and Everest. You can ride to Pokhara but have to fly to the Everest region which with heavy fog lately meant many people have been stranded there for some time, so we chose the Annapurna region and the Sanctuary trek which takes you up into the middle of a circle of massive peaks. There’s also a popular Annapurna Circuit trek that takes at least 20 days, time (and to be honest, effort) we didn’t have.
As we rolled into Pokhara just as it got dark, we couldn’t find the guesthouse we were looking for that Lonely Planet recommended, but instead were parked at the side of the road talking when a nearby hotel owner came up and offered us a room at his place with secure bike parking and a decent price. We accepted though it was a disappointingly bland and damp place with irregular hot water and a stuffy room, unfortunate to be in somewhere like that in such beautiful surroundings.
Neither of us was feeling in great shape, Asia had a constant cough since arriving and I’ve barely moved since entering Turkey and India with constant high 30 degrees temperatures, coupled with a cold I’d also picked up. The hotel owner was spinning tales of how difficult the trek would be and that we should definitely take a porter, which he could arrange for US$15/day. After much deliberation about how heavy our bags were and how little we could actually pack in them, we decided not to so we could do the trek at our own pace. As it turns out the price for a porter is US$5/day and the hotel owner was just trying to line his pockets for the introduction, so we felt it was the right choice.
We spent the 10th acquiring our essential 20$ TIMS (Tourist Information Management System) permits from a hard to find office and picking up bits of kit from the many small trekking shops such as new poles and water bottles. The TIMS permit system works by logging your intended route and emergency contact information when you get the permit, then when you start the trek, you sign in, and sign out when you reach your finish point, that way they can account for everyone who goes into the mountains. Through a series of checkpoints on the way, if anything happens, a search party would have a good idea where you last were which all seems like a sensible system for such a huge expanse of remote trekking.
The first few days are supposed to be the hardest on the trek, so we booked a taxi for 7am on the 11th to make sure we got to the start point at Phedi nice and early. We did well not riding the bikes there as it’s just a few small shacks at the side of the road with a non-descript stone staircase leading up into some trees that marks the start of the “8-10 day” Annapurna Sanctuary trek.
So, to the trek...
DAY 1 - Phedi to Tolka:
Starting the trek was a killer slog of uphill right from the go, no gentle warm ups as the path from Phedi went up and up through a few small villages where a local guide told us he’d taken an American guy to the top and back in 3 days, he’d been the year before but it was misty and didn’t get any photos, so just wanted to do some 17 hour days to grab a pic or two and head back. Nothing like starting with a story to make you feel even more out of shape!
Despite struggling from not having eaten much due to feeling ill, and also getting used to walking with poles which is tricky until you get used to it, we chewed through about 1,000 metres of uphill in good time, just as we hit the highest point of the day and the TIMS checkpoint, the clouds rolled in for the first time. To our surprise we also needed an ACAP (Annapurna Conservation Area Permit) which was an extra $40 in total that we hadn’t planned for and actually took a big chunk out of our budget. There’s no cash machines in the mountains and all our reserve cash had been blown in a matter of hours. Not knowing exactly how much food and accommodation would cost higher up the mountains, this was a worrying start!
We were passing people on the last day of their trek heading back to the road who looked dead, we’d later learn that if you chose to do the trek ending in Phedi (we were ending in a place called Naya Pur) then the last day is an absolute killer, and we’d chosen the right way round to get this out the way early on.
Not knowing what any mountain accommodation would be like, we chose Lonely Planet’s recommended International Lodge in Tolka, a barn like place with very simple rooms of bare concrete, but comfortable enough and with a hot shower outside. How they can run 24 hour hot showers in the mountain when 2 out of 3 night in Kathmandu and Pokhara you wont get one is surprising. We also found out the best thing about these lodges. Shared dining rooms with small kerosene heaters under the table that get turned on at night for a few hours. Its freezing cold outside, but the heat inside is gorgeous, you can also rig up a washing line and dry your clothes under the table which we did every night. When a large group of Spaniards turned up, the night kicked up a gear with loud conversation, dancing and music from a battery powered mp3 player.
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| Just out the taxi at the start in Phedi |
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| NEPAL slogan, very sweet |
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| As the path levelled out near lunch time |
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| Crossing a small bridge as we descend after lunch |
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| Home for the first night | | |
Day 2 – Tolka to Chomrong:
We were keen to get ahead of Lonely Planet’s suggested 10 day itinerary, but the first two days were mammoth with long hours and serious amounts of ascent and descent. We kept up, but it was all we could do with three major uphill slogs, just to descent down the other side, cross a river on big steel cable bridges, then start uphill again. The last 500 metres up a sheer stone staircase to Chomrong took forever with my legs pretty much seizing up near the top, it was starting to look a seriously long way! This night we just took the first lodge we came to, another good pick with surprisingly good food and company in the form of a stoic Swedish father and son who had chosen to camp and looked set to be frozen all night.
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| Some downhill to start the day |
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| Crossing 'New Bridge' |
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| Climbing after crossing the bridge |
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| More climbing stone flags |
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| Working out where we can save a day or two |
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| Home for the second night in Chomrong |
Day 3 – Chomrong to Himalaya Hotel:
Days 3 and 4 were where we planned to get ahead of Lonely Planet’s itinerary by collapsing 3 of their days into 2 of ours. This made day 3 the worst with a huge descent in the morning as it was starting to rain out of Chomrong for about 400 metres to cross a river then pull about 800 metres uphill on the other side. We didn’t say much and Asia was ahead for most of the way with me trying to keep up, until thankfully, the stone steps sections ended for pretty much the rest of the trek and gave way to more regular paths that still climbed a lot, but with more level stretches inbetween.
We’d reached rhododendron forests that are supposed to be stunning in April, but also completely swamped with leeches. We reached Bamboo, the suggested end point, stopped for a quick lunch of tuna and cheese we were carrying, and pressed on for 3 hours to steal a day and end in Himalaya Hotel. Days later when we were walking back down I have no idea how we managed this, but somehow we did though the “Himalaya Hotel” two small guesthouses was the worst night of the trip. There was initially no room in either which meant possibly going back downhill – heartbreaking, until we heard of a French couple who had two spare beds in their room. Its mountain rules to let anyone share if you have spare beds, but their faces looked like thunder when they were asked.
It wasn’t until later that we realised they’d only met a month before the trip and had come trekking essentially as a an early date but they turned out to be hating each other and not speaking pretty much since they set off. Once we realised it was quite amusing and we were so glad we’d not ended up like that, it must have been so dispiriting! That there was no electricity and no kerosene heating didn’t make for a great night so we went to bed not long after dark at 6ish feeling exhausted.
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| Pleasant forest path |
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| Walking through lush forest |
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| Starting to hate the steps! |
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| Crossing one of several wonky bridges |
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| Home for night 3 - Himalaya Hotel |
Day 4 – Himalaya Hotel to Machhapuchhre Base Camp:
Machhapuchhre Base Camp was one stop before our goal of Annapurna Base Camp, and it was over 4,000 metres, a height at which altitude sickness can kick in. We never struggled with any serious sickness, but the lack of oxygen in the air made the day comically slow going. It just wasn’t possible to walk fast anywhere, even though we weren’t aching too badly, and everyone else was in the same boat. Still, from the moment we set off the scenery changed from forest to stunning mountain valleys, looking a lot like Scotland in places with clouds of mist hanging onto cliff sides and a river thundering down below.
We arrived early-ish at MBC, maybe 3 in the afternoon but it was way too late to go any further. We passed the afternoon playing cards with a French Canadian guy we’d been passing on and off over the last two days in what turned out to be a great night with a group that really got on, even though it was the second night without a shower and we were starting to feel a bit grotty, everyone was in the same boat. Just before the sun set, it started snowing which gave us something to think about. In the end a group of us decided we were going to set off at 5am regardless to try and get up to Annapurna Base Camp for sunrise when the best chance of clear skies would be.
All the way to MBC we had on and off mist that had suppressed most of the views, so we were desperate to get a glimpse of the scenery at the top, otherwise we’d have to make a plan to stay a second night and try again the next day.
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| Scenery starting to look like Scotland |
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| Walking through a beautiful valley |
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| Mist coming in spoiking the view |
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| Guests at our place passing the evening |
Day 5 - Machhapuchhre Base Camp to Annapurna Base Camp & back down to Bamboo:
Up at a freezing cold 5am with little sleep the night before due to a Spanish couple sharing our room spending half the night awake with the guy being sick, set us up for a long cold climb in the dark with about a foot of fresh snow covering the trail. Despite the difficulties, six or so of us decided to set off and found the trail tough but not impossible to follow. After 30 minutes we found a set of footprints joining from an earlier group heading the same way but clearly starting from a different lodge which made the going quite easy and good fun once you could appreciate the amazing snowy scenery with the first rays of light beginning to come over Machhapuchhre mountain.
The light hits the mountains in such a different way to normal places before the sun comes over the peaks blocking it that everywhere gets a low light, though some distant snowy peaks catch the full blast and glow a bright gold colour very out of step with everything else.
Once the sun came up, huge banks of misty clouds started rolling further down the valley meaning about an hour after we reached Annapurna Base Camp, we were treated to stupendous views of several Annapurna Peaks and Machhapuchhre (the ‘fishtail’ mountain) against pure blue skies. With strong sun shining off the snow it was hard to see but still we chose to hang around for hours enjoying the views, climbing onto little prominent hills to pose for photos and just enjoying being in a place so special and so hard to get to.
Celebrating with hugs and more photos, my hands began to freeze so I headed into one of the hotels for a hot coffee and some Gurung bread, a sweet cheese topped local bread. Trekking here means you keep bumping into people from the previous days on and off, so there’s always someone to chat to. We were followed by a group of Germans with enormous backpacks that had totally overpacked and were paying for it. We only had one change of clothes and were sharing as much as possible in terms of food and toiletries which was a bonus. One of the German guys has made it up but the others had decided not to which was a shame, but made us feel a bit smug about our light packing even though it was problematic if we couldn’t get the previous days clothes dry overnight.
Reaching the Annapurna plateau was one of those rare few moments when you just stand somewhere and realise that the dreams, planning and effort of the last few years have brought you to a place and time where everything has paid off. Thinking about heading back down, we couldn’t stop gazing around ‘one last time’ at the awesome scenery, it really was the mother of all views to reward a tough few days trekking.
Still, as the glare was getting brighter we needed to set off before lunchtime to get a good start on the downhill. Walking back to MBC was easy enough in the still deep snow, but beyond there it became thinner and more icy. With the trail funnelling for a distance on the stretch between MBC and Himalaya Hotel, the track had been trampled into a steep slippery slope which took a lot of care to avoid more slipping over than we did.
Walking downhill was such a relief after the past 5 days of mostly uphill walking, so we just kept on going all day and reached Bamboo, gaining another day on the Lonely Planet’s suggested itinerary. Bamboo was a quiet night for us, the crowd in the dining hall was subdued and the food probably to worst so far, so we called another fairly early night.
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| Walking before sunrise with head-torches |
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| Fresh snow falling |
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| First bit of light appearing |
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| Light coming over the mountain ridge |
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| Mist rolling back down the valley |
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| Approaching the huts of Annapurna Base Camp |
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| Asia celebrating reaching the top |
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| Folks taking pictures of the peaks as the clouds recede |
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| We made it!! |
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| Kneeling next to prayer flags |
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| Looking back down the valley where we came from |
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| Starting to get really cold |
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The proper Annapurna Base Camp
sign had been broken, so this had to do |
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| Asia walking past a large rock |
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| Walking though the snow into mist lower in the valley |
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| Slipping down a slushy hillside |
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| Home for night 5 in Bamboo |
Day 6 – Bamboo to Ghandruk:
Retracing our steps out of Bamboo heading towards Chomrong we knew there was the worst section of down then up-again to go this day as we had to cross a river then climb up into Chomrong village. We were passing on and off a guy from Barnsley and his wife from the States who were here on honeymoon. It was good to hear a strong Yorkshire accent in the hills and even better they recommended a place that apparently did the best chocolate cake on the trek in Chomrong, at least there was some motivation to keep going long after our legs had given up on the climb into the village.
Having a coffee and cake for lunch, we decided to press onto the final village of the walk, Ghandruk. As our legs had completely gone we just kept going and going trying not to think about too much. Eventually meeting a guide walking with an Italian lady, he showed us a ‘shortcut’ to Ghandruk which took about 3 hours and had about 800 metres of climbing to do. I was exhausted and we all kept slipping over in the wet grass as we’d left the real mountain terrain and were walking more through small hillside farm fields. It was one of those walks where you always think it’ll be around the next corner, or that the top of the hill you see in front of you MUST be the top of the mountain, until you get there and it goes up again, it was just a blind summit. It’s really not the despair that gets you, it’s the hope! Asking locals the way, our guide who kept getting lost eventually found a local farmer to walk us into Ghandruk as the sun was setting and we had to be there before it got dark as we only had one torch between the four of us.
Just making it in time to another small hotel, absolutely, completely exhausted we sat down for some food and didn’t move until it was time to go to sleep.
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Looking across the valley to Chomrong
it's heart-breaking having to go all the way
down just to climb back up again |
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Barnsley lad and his wife tucking into chocolate cake after
the hardest bit of uphill climbing on the whole trek, hence the faces! |
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| Taking a steep 3 hour 'short-cut' to Ghandruk |
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| Ghandruk, the largest village on the trek |
Day 7 – Ghandruk to Naya Pur:
The last day of the trek fairly flew by despite covering a lot of distance, having a quick look around Ghandruk, the largest village in the mountains with 200 or so people living there took in a small museum with a few old farming items on show. The trail went down and down for about 1,000 metres to follow a river all the way though several small villages to Naya Pur, a fairly rough looking collection of houses where there was a TIMS checkpoint to sign off the trek and a small bus stop.
We waited for a local bus that was packed to the rafters with people sitting in the aisles and luggage stuck anywhere it would fit. Eventually after 2 hours of bouncing and slowly crawling through the hills, we arrived back in Pokhara and headed back to the hotel we’d left our bikes at, only to get a cold shower because the hot water wasn’t working. To make up for that and celebrate finishing, we headed out for a steak with the Italian girl from the day before and ordered up the biggest one on the menu, a Chateaubriand, apparently big enough for three to share, but in reality, there’s be enough for six.
We’d completed a major trek, carrying all our own things without guide or porter, kept to a tight budget, saw some awesome views and did it all at a good pace. Stuffing ourselves to beyond full we spent a late night eating and drinking, celebrating what has been a real highlight of the trip so far.
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| Stopping by a local museum |
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| Last bit of downhill |
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| Wrestling with a little lad for my stick |
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| Exhausted but finished - waiting for the bus back to Pokhara |
