Have you been trekking in Nepal?
I always reply that although I have visited Nepal previously, that no, I haven’t been trekking. Apparently this is a terrible thing to say, or admit to, so this trip I set about to rectify the situation.
I signed up for a 4 day trek with a female guide who turned out to be an angel. Unfortunately, the first morning and stage involved a perpendicular climb up high stone steps. As I staggered higher, I could see the taxi at the drop-off point far below and it took all my willpower not to scream out loud for him to wait while I scrambled back down to the safety of that car.
What the hell was I doing? Panting, sweating and hating each step. If it wasn’t for the patience of Tika, my guide, I would have given up after two hours.
Eventually we came to a sort of semi even ground and a whole new vista opened up. “This is better” I said to myself. “Lovely villages, beautiful hills and mountains, I can do this trip.” In Nepal, when trekking, it doesn’t pay to look too far ahead because stone steps, thousands of stone steps, loom ahead. On I trudged. Somehow I made it to the night stop-over. Bleak would nearly compliment this place. Swathed in clouds, drizzle and damp it wasn’t inspiring.
