My favourite day of the trip.
We walked downhill most of the day in lovely weather with sunshine on our fronts and mountains all around us.
We had a team photo outside the monastery. From there it was steadily downhill. It was amazing to revisit what we had managed to do coming up the other way. It was steep and relentless.
Namche Bazaar arrived and the geocaching sub group peeled off for an unsuccessful attempt on the absent cache that had been placed in the wall surrounding the military base – unsurprisingly not there given the stupidity of the chosen location.
We stopped off in the bakery for a pleasant lunch including a good quality coffee.
Then more downhill including the dramatic high bridge which Patrick and Hamish criss-crossed in search of plenty of bouncy fun and fabulous photos.
The group was spreading out a lot on these downhill days with the front to back being more than twenty minutes. I got stuck ahead of a mule train of substance – I counted 30 plus of them. At the lower altitudes mules have become the number one form of transport. We also saw a very wide load Sherpa.
The number of older porters is apparent too at these lower levels. While one can understand the youngsters doing their ”apprenticeship” by carrying loads (although ours said they were 18 and 19 I’d be surprised if they were that old – they look 15 to 16, I feel sorry for the older porters for whom a long life of carrying has become their whole career and who wear the signs of that constant pressure on spine and posture.
We had a bit of a party at our evening destination of Mongia, as the rooms were well located with views down the valley and we had a private bathroom with a western style toilet. The luxury! We had a few small bottles of rum after dinner and started the following day slightly delicately as a result. I blame Patrick.
We met an older kiwi couple (in their seventies) who were doing the three pass route and next year sailing round the world. Awesome.
A good night’s sleep combining the benefits of the rum and the air relatively thick with oxygen compared to where we had been over the previous week.
My cold contributes to the coughing cacophony – just about everyone is coughing now and Kieran and Claudia are particularly badly affected. They may need some antibiotics to clear up what sounds like chest infections to my untrained ear. Various tinctures have been offered and tried without success. The Khumbu cough has taken its toll, making it difficult for the owner and others to sleep as well as just being exhausting for the unfortunate victims.
Still, one more day and we will be in Lukla. And I could do with a wash and a shave.
We did 17km today ascending 606 metres and descending 1616 metres. No wonder we celebrated!
The Lawsons on the Loose 