November is definitely a good time to high tail it out of rainy and cold Britain for somewhere hot and sunny, quite frankly anywhere really! The only flaw in my plan was a need to negotiate a way through Heathrow airport. Let’s face it if Christopher Columbus had to start one of his journeys of discovery at Heathrow we would probably never have discovered America. What’s worse is I’m on a plane out of terminal 3, to describe it as a dump would be a smear on any self respecting dump.
Anyway the plane is more or less on time and I cat nap all the way to Bahrain. It’s early in the morning when we arrive, just enough time to saunter through duty free before catching my connection into Kathmandu. Or so I thought, actually there’s a 5 hour delay, oh dear the joys of plane travel.

Well there isn’t that much to do at Bahrain airport and a free breakfast doesn’t last 5 hours. Well at least there are plenty of seats, unlike Heathrow. I spend the latter part of the delay sleeping on a chair near the gate. As a few staff appear at the gate I think about getting up to be at the front for boarding, I hate queuing. Well as I walk to the gate desk a queue of about 100 young Nepalese men appear as if by magic. Unlike any other queue I’ve seen they stand pressed up against each other in one continuous line stretching way back down the departure hall. Just as I’m wondering how I managed to be beaten to the gate 100 times a very nice check in person from Gulf Airways shepherds me through this long line to be first to board. I always knew my stunning good looks would come in handy somewhere.
It appears that the flight is a bus service for young Nepalese men working in the Gulf States and there is a definite holiday atmosphere in economy class. Everyone watches some Bollywood movie with a terrible corny plot. I rather enjoyed it; it was rather like Saturday morning movies when I was a kid down at the local fleapit.

I arrived at Kathmandu airport late at night. It’s utter chaos, a bit like Heathrow on a good day (you may be coming to a reasonable conclusion by now that I don’t much care for Heathrow).It really doesn’t help that the luggage belt stops every 30 seconds, and more so that everyone, apart from me, had a TV set on the flight. Anyway my bag has followed me all the way and I’m soon out in the swirling maelstrom of international arrivals at Kathmandu wondering how I will ever find the guide that is meeting me, but there he is right in front with his board.
‘Mr Nellist you’re the photographer’ he says as he puts a garland of flowers around my neck. I’d mentioned this off the cuff several months before to the travel company in the UK but it would follow me around Nepal as I was royally looked after.
My guide rushes me out to a car and we are soon speeding through the suburbs to my hotel.

I have a day in Kathmandu and I booked a city tour just me a guide and a driver with a small car. We head off to the Buddhist temple of Swayambhunath the monkey temple. It’s a whole complex perched on a small hill overlooking the city. The place is a maze of monasteries, temples, statues, prayer flags and the wild. The start is at the mid level and you climb upwards in a clockwise path to the top and the central platform with a massive white stupa with a gold tower and painted eyes.
From the monkey temple I went down into central Kathmandu to visit the Durbar Square. I was amazed at the jumble of temples in the square most places have one or two the Durbar Square has seemingly twenty or so. But without a doubt many of these temples are fabulous buildings. Although the razor wire outside the police headquarters in the Durbar square gives a hint of Nepal’s recent turbulent times.
The next morning is an early start to catch a plane to a town called Pokhara about 180 miles away. The airline is called Buddha Air; well at least we know it has and always will have a perfect safety record. It has also the most beautiful air hostesses in the world to be totally politically incorrect.

Just before I part company with my guide in Kathmandu he gives me the booking slip for the trekking in company, just in case I should need it. Later I look at it it says ‘’Mr Nellist is a photographer so please give him your best guide’’. This comes true as I’m met on leaving by the tiny terminal building in Pokhara by the guides of the trekking company and their first comment is ‘Hello you must be Mr Nellist the photographer’.
They take us to their office where I can decant my suitcase into an overnight bag for the trek. They then store the case and then we are off on a small bus to drive about an hour into the hills.
We stop at a small tea room and a packed lunch is produced. It soon becomes clear that this trek is not for someone on a diet. Then after lunch my guide Mr Kez asks if I’m ready and then we are off on the trek. The first day is a easy 3 hour walk along the Modi River valley. The walk takes in a couple of long rope bridges which sway uncomfortably as you walk across. I’m walking with just my guide and porter whose name I never mastered but both looked after me as if I was royalty.
Unfortunately the weather is not that sunny so the mountains are pretty much hidden in the cloud it is still wonderful walking through farmland watching the farmers working. Part way along the river we are passed by a couple of schoolboys going home.

The first overnight stop is at Sanctuary Lodge part of the Ker Downey Group as will all the lodges I’ll be staying at on the trek. There are only 12 bedrooms so there is a very relaxed and friendly feel to the place. My porter had already arrived and sorted out my bedroom. There is also a glass of homemade lemonade for me on arrival. The lodges are on solar power so it’s a shower first.
The bedroom is simple but very nice. After this it’s time to sit in the garden and relax over a cup of tea. Happy hour at 6pm is in the lounge around an open fire. My porter gets my room key to put a hot water bottle in my bed. It’s needed too it is cold and the warm jacket that is placed in each bedroom is really needed. The local beer is called Everest and it is rather super. Dinner is also excellent and then it’s an early night to prepare for a long hike on the next day.

I wake at 6am and nervously pull back the curtains will it be sunny today? I’m greeted by the most amazing sight, it’s still quite dark at the lodge on the valley floor, but towering above in the distance is the snow capped peak of Fishtail Mountain; Fishtail is 6997metres high and is a perfect peak. If you asked a hundred 5 years olds to draw a mountain, Fishtail is the mountain their imaginations would conjure up.
Breakfast is outside and it is worth braving the cold to watch the ever changing effect of sunlight on the mountains as the sun rises. It soon warms up and I decide that it will be a good move to change to shorts before Mr Kez and I start our trek well before 8am.
The walk for today is all uphill climbing 1,000 metres to Ghandruk village. It’s a 5 hour walk. It’s a lovely sunny day just right for a long walk. We follow a stony path slowly climbing up the west side of the Modi River Valley. We pass small farms and families cultivating terraced fields as all the time the Fishtail Mountain stands guard in front of us.

We pause for a drink in the yard of a small school. Whatever time of day it is my porter somehow still has a cold bottle of water. Maybe he has a fridge in the conical basket he carries suspended on a strap that goes around his forehead. We arrive at the school in Chimrong village. I’m surprised that although it’s 9.10am there is one lonely little schoolgirl in the yard. Mr Kez explains that school starts at 10am as everyone as to walk to school as there are no cars for miles around. No risk of being mowed down by a Chelsea tractor here!
As we move on uphill we pass a mule train heading downhill on the same path. We stop for a break at a tea room shack on the side of the path. It’s good to stop after 4 hours hard walking and it is really hot now. A packed lunch is produced which I eagerly devour.

Soon after we resume we come round a corner and we can see Ghandruk village above us and beyond the village the snowy peaks of Annapurna South and Hiunchuli. Annapurna South is 8,091 metres high a truly awesome crag of a mountain. It really is a bit of a steep uphill path into the village and the Himalaya lodge where I’m staying for two nights. Ghandruk is the main recruiting centre for the Gurkhas.
The lodge appears to be a converted farmhouse and has 10 bedrooms facing onto a garden with fabulous views of the panorama of the Annapurna range and Fishtail.
Outside my room in the garden a table is laid for a meal. Mr Kez informs me this is lunch. I say we had had lunch on the way up from sanctuary Lodge. Mr Kez explains that was simply a snack but this really is lunch. Oh well there goes the diet.
The garden of the lodge is a wonderful place to relax and admire the scenes over the mountains from bright afternoon sun until the as the sun begins to set to dusk. The warmth of the day soon disappears and it’s time to don the down jacket the lodge provides together with a woolly hat.

It’s then happy hour round a roaring open fire in the lounge followed by another excellent meal.
I get up early to watch the dawn over the mountains to watch the pink and red play over the snowy peaks. We breakfast outside, it’s cold but it is well worth it to have the incredible views.
Today’s walk is uphill to the Baraha Buddhist Temple. The path winds its way through fields to the tiny deserted temple with fabulous views over the Annapurna mountains. From the temple we wandered back down to Ghandruk past the hydro electric lake that provide some electricity to the village. There is time to visit the tiny museum before returning to the lodge for lunch and an afternoon of mountain watching.
That evening we are treated to a music and song session from the ladies of the village. It may not be that melodic but it is in support of the ladies who look after the footpaths in the area, so it is a really good and useful cause.

The next day after another early morning of sunrise watching and outdoor breakfast it’s time to walk back down to the floor of the Modi River Valley. It’s a wrench to leave the village of Ghandruk it really is a lovely spot and the lodge was so comfortable and friendly. At the start the path is the same as we used coming up to Ghandruk, but we soon turn off on another path that heads downhill to the village of Kimche.
The day is getting hotter and hotter as we descend. We pass a man carrying a small girl to hospital in a chair fastened to his back. She has jaundice and it is obvious she is very poorly. Worse of all it must be a good 8 hours to the road, and then at least another hour or two to get to the hospital.

Lunch is organised at a tea room on the valley floor. The lunch is brought from the Sanctuary Lodge. Mr Kez assures the toilet at the tea room is fine, however I find I’m sharing the little room with a rat! I decide I’ll stick to behind the bushes from here on in.
As we climb up to Gurung Lodge we pass another small farmhouse where they are threshing millet in the afternoon sun in the yard.
Gurung Lodge is near the village of Patlekhet. The rooms are set in separate buildings which look as if they converted farmhouses. The view from the lodge is of the Annapurnas, but now Annapurna One can just be seen between Annapurna South and Hiunchuli.
Again it is a marvellous light show as the sunsets and then the following morning rises causing the colours on the snowy peaks to change almost minute by minute. It is certainly an excellent reason to get up early!
Today’s trek is to carry up the west side of the to Pothana village and the descend slowly to the village of Dhampus. It’s a lovely walk and considerably more wooded than the last few days but there are still some awesome views of the snowy mountains. The uphill stretch is a bit of a chore though today as I’ve caught a cold bug which is settling on my throat.

Pothana is a collection of tiny hotels and cafes and it’s great to sit in the sun and rest for a while. As we head down to Dhampus it becomes cloudy and we lose the mountain top views. We are at the lodge in time for lunch which is great as its chips, amongst other delicacies. After lunch my bug is getting the better of me and it’s with a degree of reluctance that I follow Mr Kez for a walk around the village. We only walk 2 miles or so but it seems like 20 to me and I’m glad to be back at the lodge.
It’s completely clouded over this afternoon and it makes the lodge feel somewhat closed in and isolated, still there is happy hour and a lovely dinner to look forward to.
I wake up just after dawn for the last day of the trek and the sky is clear. The sunrise over the mountain panorama is simply stupendous. It may be really cold stood outside but the light show played on the snowy peaks its certainly worth the effort.

By breakfast mist and cloud have risen and all the mountain views have disappeared. It’s only a couple of hours walking down to pick up the bus to end this wondrous trek. I really wish there was another few days at vey least. More time to savour and admire the incredible views and to enjoy the wonderful hospitality we have all been shown at the lodges and on the trek.
We saunter downhill, there is a definite tinge of sadness as we head closer to the road. Then suddenly we are back in civilisation, or at least the one inhabitated by petrol engines, 6 days without seeing a car had not been much of a hardship.
We drive back to Pothana to be reunited with my luggage. It’s also time to say goodbye to my porter. He presents me with a Nepalese scarf, I feel a little small, I shall miss his smile. We then lunch before we are taken to the airport to fly back to Kathmandu. It’s then time to say goodbye to Mr Kez. I feel quite alone, for 6 days he has looked after me so well.

Back in Kathmandu I’m staying at the Dwarika hotel. It is on a major street which is all bustle and manic activity, but the hotel is an oasis of calm and peace. It is simply one of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed in, a mix of antiques and modern facilities. It is unique not one of those hotels whose style has nothing whatsoever to do with the place it is situated in. The Nepalese restaurant is also an unmissable treat. 6 fabulous courses all perfectly served by waitresses in traditional dress.
I spend my final day in Nepal visiting the city of Bhaktapur. It’s about an hour drive from Kathmandu and is absolutely lovely. It benefits over Kathmandu by being smaller and being partly car free which makes it far more enjoyable to wander around. It has some very beautiful temples and squares concentrated in the centre of the old city. I certainly wish I had more time in the city than half a day it really deserves a full day to soak in the atmosphere and to enjoy all the incredible buildings. I think Bhaktapur should be a must on any trip to Nepal.

That was it the end. It was a wrench to leave. I thought Nepal was one of the friendliest places I’ve visited; the service was superb everywhere I went. The trek was just incredible. I will never forget the mountain views and the lovely countryside and the people I met.
I travelled with Bales Worldwide www.balesworldwide.com I found them to be excellent, it’s not the first time I have travelled with them, I did a tailor made option although it mirrored the brochure trip. Steve from Bales who sorted it all out was very good and knowledgeable.