Day 16

Long journeys often need renewed enthusiasm, especially towards the finish, so counting the days to the end is demoralising and one needs a positive approach to each day. This was essential on our five month tour of the coast of Britain but, as we complete our 42nd day in two months of camping and trekking, our ability to take a fresh look at each day is somewhat waning! Our trek notes describes the start of today as a ‘descent on a pleasant trail to a suspension bridge’ in reality this actually involved hobbling over the dump of building rubble left from the road construction (amongst which we had to camp). For the first two hours we trudged along the dusty road but eventually a short excursion on a path took us back up high above the valley where well kept houses and rice terraces belonging to the Gurung people.

We had a long lunch stop at the small village of Pathibhara then the the trail continued through agricultural landscape to Gadhi (1170m), which means 'fort' in Nepali. This is the spot where the Nepalese Army confronted an invading force from Tibet, eventually driving them back over the passes.

Perched on top of a ridge like so many villages in Asia, our camp site was on a small patch of land in front of a derelict concrete building once home to a veterinarian practice but with all it’s windows smashed so we first had to clear our site of shards of glass. By the time we had pitched the repeated pattern of evening rain started but heavier this time, all of which kept a lid on any renewed daily enthusiasm and as I write this blog rain is lashing against the tent-only one more day!
Distance 15km 7hrs

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