Our hopes and plans of setting off early soon went out of the window, but breakfast was excellent consisting of apple porridge (you don't get too many bananas at 2,500m!) and we left the lads running the New Everest Hotel at around 8am back on the path.
Saying our farewells to the welcoming guys who ran Hotel Sunrise, Sete
We arrived at Dagcho at about 2,950m on schedule 1¼ hours later where we met two guys, one of whom wasn't very well. In fact we had met quite a few people suffering from stomach upsets, and soon afterwards all of Robin's former bounce was gone as he made frequent trips to toilets or bushes, bright pink toilet roll in his hand.
By the time we had got to Goyem 350m higher up the steep hillside he was very pale. The other three of us, however, were feeling much stronger than the previous days and although it was only 10am, Damian & I were ravenous and had to have a cheese omelette, which was unfortunately very greasy.
Robin isn't one to give up however and we pressed on. It was very hot and the going steep, but eventually we came to a mani wall and get some great views. We could now see another snow capped peak, Konaklemo at 4267m and also all the way back to Kosaribus Pass & Bhandar. We'd come a long way!
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| Looking all the way back to Kosaribus Pass & Bhandar.
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There were many pretty blue flowers around, the first we had seen for some time.
Many helicopters were flying overhead and now that we were quite high they were very close and noisy. In fact we commented there were so many coming back and forth that day it was like being on Heathrow flight path.
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| Helicopters buzzing over head on this day |
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Looking north to Konaklemo (4267m) with a helicopter at about our height flying through the valley
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| Flowers |
There were some little tea houses just before the top of the pass but we didn't stay long. There was a bit of deforestation around here, but not as bad as the guide book had made out.
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| Damian |
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| Me admiring the view. |
The path teased us for another half an hour going up & down a little until eventually we popped out at the Lamjura Pass at 3,530m marked by prayer flags and piles of stones.
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| Lamjura Pass at 3,530m - we would not be this high again until reaching Namche Bazaar |
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| L to R Robin, Gump, Michael (crouching), me & Damian |
We had a group photo along with Michael, the English bloke we had met at Sete.
Of course after a pass it is downhill, this time through a pine forest which at least shaded the sun, but it was a long long way down, around 400m loss of altitude. The guide said we would open into meadows, but a few small fields teased us with false starts on the way down and we were then back in the forest and descending again.
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| Michael descending from the pass |
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| Damian with the didgeridoo descending though the forests |
Eventually we emerged and soon got to the small settlement of Tragdobuk (2,860m) with a beautifully carved rock and a chorten.
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| Robin, Gump and me |
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| Tragdobuk (2,860m)
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The kids here were really cute, but we didn't stop, instead walking along the reasonably level path to a large rock we could see - our next landmark which had some colourful script on it.
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| The path follows the left hand side of the valley to a large rock - our next landmark |
Not long after we crossed a little ridge and rounded a corner to see Junbesi in the side valley below us.
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| Looking down to Junbesi, our stopping point for the night, but already in the shade of the valley |
It was already 4pm and it didn't look too far, but actually turned out to be quite a long walk and a considerable drop down to the village. Further up the valley we could see an impressive looking settlement and towering in the background a snow capped peak, though we could not make out from the map exactly which one.
We had arrived with daylight to spare for once, but my hopes of writing my diary in the afternoon sun were shot as Junbesi was already in the shadows of the valley sides.
Junbesi, however, is a pleasant little place and we checked into the oldest lodge in town where Edmund Hillary has stayed in the past (there is his signature on a prayer flag to prove it).
A lovely lodge. The shower was luke-warm, but the dining room was heated and I stayed there until the very late hour of 10pm, trying to write up my journal, but talking to an Aussie guy called Paul from Tasmania.
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