At two o’clock in the morning, 30 hours after arriving in Kathmandu, we were on a bus speeding (literally) towards an airport at Ramechhap. The four hour ride took us along some truly unnerving stretches of road hanging over cliffs and fording rivers. At dawn we suddenly found ourselves in a world of tourists at a small, remote airstrip. Catching a flight at a small airport ...
Nepal 2019Last year’s trek in the Annapurna region was such a great experience that I have returned for another trek. This year we are three. My nephew Matthew is back for some more well-earned beer at altitude, and we are joined by my old friend Bruce, who walked a portion of the Appalachian Trail with me two years ago.This year we are hoping to walk ...
Gordon: Today was our 55th and final day of walking or cycling. We have covered a little over 1300 kms, as measured by the English language guide book, though our actual mileage was probably about 1500 kms. We also visited all 88 temples on our first circuit, and 23 temples on our second. The total of 111 temples sounds quite auspicious. The storm yesterday was ...
Gordon: Our host José’s face lit up when we told him we were planning to do the Norte Pequeno hike. “I wrote a book and I promised to deliver a copy to a friend who lives at the fajã on that walk. Could you deliver it to him? He likes to serve coffee to tourists.” Armed only with the additional knowledge that his friend’s name ...
Gordon: Like all of the islands in the Azores, Faial is of volcanic origin. The island is dominated by one large volcano which is referred to as the “caldera”. The rim of the caldera is at an elevation of 900 to 1050 metres, and much of the time it is shrouded in clouds.Today’s weather forecast was for the first fully sunny day since our arrival ...
On our final, twenty-fourth, day of trekking we walked for three hours, mostly on the road. As we descended towards the highway the temperature rose and the intensity of human activity increased. We completed our walk at Naya Pul, a town on the highway that was the historic terminus of the Annapurna Circuit before the more recent road construction. From Naya Pul the highway to ...
Yesterday we got up before dawn to watch the sunrise at ABC. The moon and Venus were bright, and we could see small groups of trekkers with headlamps making their way up from Macchapuchhare Base Camp. I am not much for sunrises, but it was a beautiful transition. There were scores of trekkers actively engaged in taking dozens of pictures. At times I could hardly ...
It was a pretty three hour walk, with 900 metres of climbing, to reach the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). We crossed stretches of old snow in avalanche chutes, before bursting into the sunshine above the Macchapuchare Base Camp. Helicopters buzzed overhead, much closer than they were yesterday.There are four lodges located at ABC, at an elevation of 4130 metres. There is not a cloud in ...
It was a pleasant climb through a mature hardwood and bamboo forest today. We are in a narrow valley leading into the Annapurna sanctuary, so despite the clear conditions we did not have direct sun until 10:30 am. There are monkeys in the forests we passed through, but unfortunately we did not see them.All morning there were helicopters thumping past us in both directions. It ...
Today was rather uneventful, but we did have some of the nicest weather we have experienced. It often gets partly cloudy starting at midday, but today was blue sky from dawn to dusk. Because we were at moderate altitudes of 1800 to 2400 metres, it was also quite a pleasant temperature, possibly 17 degrees in the early afternoon.The quality of the light had me grinning ...