Pokhara and the Poon Hill-Ghorepani Trek

It was a long journey to Pokhara (13 ½ hours to be exact) pretty much non stop on a jeep then two different buses but it was worth it! We were picked up from the bus by a friend of Santos' (one of the staff from Forest Hideaway at Bardia) and taken to our lovely clean and very centrally located accommodation in Lakeside. Full of wifi, coffee shops, good food, woolen hats and gloves and fake north face gear Pokhara is a place you could easily spend your time and money! On arrival John headed straight for the steak and I headed straight for the shops!

From Pokhara we set off on a short four day trek into the Annapurna region with our excellent guide Shiba. The trek, a 75km loop from Nayapul – Ulleri – Ghorepani - Poon Hill – Ghandruk- Nayapul (for those of you who like to look at maps!) took us to 3193m at it's highest point, three times the hight of Ben Nevis!

Day one was the toughest as we threw our bodies in the deep end with a long long climb up honestly THOUSANDS of steps from our starting point to Ulleri. It was horrible and exhausting! Our second day was much more relaxing with less uphill and an afternoon off walking! Day three was without a doubt our absolute favorite, despite it being the longest walking day (7 ½ hours walking), and the coldest with hailstones and rain! We woke just after 4 am on the third day to make the trip up to Poon Hill before sunrise, where we were assured we would be afforded some of the best views of the Annapurna Range on offer. We had heard so much about how amazing these views were, but we kept our expectations lowish and waited....WOW we were not disappointed, it was honestly magical to see the outline of the mountains appear slowly as the light increased and then to witness the sun burst up in all its beautiful red glory and fill the sky, the mountain tops pristinely snow capped. So beautiful. We were able to see from poon hill about 4 of the tallest mountains in the annapurna range including the famous “fishtail” or Machhapuchhre which we had been admiring a few days before from afar in Pokhara. The days walking continued to bless us with wonderful views as we descended into the valley and into forest and culminated in a stay in the gorgeous village of Ghandruk where we saw a postcard perfect sunset over Machhapuchhre. Our fourth day was a stiff descent which left us aching and on return to Pokhara we spent a day and a half hobbling about going “oh ah!”.

We are already talking of how we'd love to trek again in Nepal! Perhaps next time we can return with good gear and better fitness and maybe, maybe even consider Everest Base Camp?!! Who knows! One things for sure, Pokhara and the Annapurna Mountains were a sheer delight for us, and the beautiful scenery has etched itself in our minds forever!