EVEREST TREK : DAY 16

Day 16.  Lobuche to Pheriche 

Monday 25 March.

One of the best sections of the trek.

We had ordered breakfast for 8 am this morning hoping for a long lie but it was too cold in bed so we wrapped up and were down on the dining room at 7 am. There was still a little bit of a fire burning in the stove, just enough to take the chill out of the air and it got warmer when the sun shone through the windows. We still didn't get breakfast until 8 am but Brin managed a pot of coffee to revive us. There was a small party heading up this morning having breakfast, a Scots girl from Tain among them. A few of them were suffering from headaches, one guy was so bad he was heading back down to Pheriche. We said that we were heading that way and would be going slowly and he could come with us, but he decided to head off earlier. He didn't have either a guide or a porter. 

When we left at 8:30 am the sun was shining brightly again from a blue cloudless sky but it was still cold and we had our rain jackets on to keep out the bitter wind. It didn't start getting warm until we dropped down from the Thukla Pass. Moira had told the guy with the headache that we were slow but she set off this morning at a quick pace on a slightly downhill track. She only slowed down on the icy rise up to the Thukla Pass and down the other side as we stopped to talk and encourage those slowly on their way up. The scenery in front of us was outstanding. On the way up we had to keep turning to admire it but but now it was always in front of us confirming in our opinion that this was the best section of the trek. This time the mountain eagles, that circled overhead on the way up, were missing.

We stopped at the Yak Lodge at Thukla for tea. I had dropped nearly 1000 metres from my high of the trek on Kala Patther yesterday. We were both now feeling the advantage of the drop in altitude and the richer air. While we were having tea the Cancer Research party passed, they didn't stop for refreshments and some didn't look very happy. We wondered if they had come all the way from Gorak Shep this morning and stopped at Lobuche for their break. 

When we started again there was a short climb which we took too quickly, forgetting that we were still at 4600 metres and were puffing. A short distance further there was a fork in the track, to the right was the route to Dingboche, the way we had come up, flattish before dropping to that village. For a change we took the left track which dropped right away down to the Khombu valley. It was then fairly flat all the way to Pheriche which we could see in the distance but as usual never seemed to get any closer. There were a number of small streams to cross which were flowing strongly showing the temperature was a few degrees higher at this lower level. The valley had beautiful peaks down either side and facing us again was the range of mountains dominated by the attractive pointed shape of Ama Dablam. 

At last we reached the village and in our room at the Pheriche Resort lodge. We relaxed on our bed for half an hour before going down for lunch. They were just installing and tuning a new satellite TV In the dining room, I thought it would have been better to spend their money heating the place. While we were enjoying a nice veggie curry the Cancer Research group passed by outside giving us waves as they went, they must have stopped somewhere in the village for lunch. They were continuing but we stopped here for the night, it was our easy day. 

It turned out to be a lovely lodge and they appeared to be trying to make the trekkers stay more pleasant. They had the TV installed and when I asked if I could pay to have the fire lit earlier they put it on straight away without charge. We had a nice lunch, I shared a veggie curry with Moira after having a bowl of spicy tomato soup. My appetite is improving now that were dropping in height. In the afternoon I selected a book from a small library they had on a shelf, that was available to borrow for the stay. It was a Bill Bryson, At Home, about the history of the rooms in a house. It was fascinating, I will now have to buy it on Amazon for the Kindle.

For dinner we orders chips and vegetable fried momo. Moira had the chips and I enjoyed the momo which were more like samosas than the steamed dumpling that they served last time I ordered them. A nice touch they had was to give us warm damp towels to wipe our hands and faces before starting our meal. We read for an hour before going to bed. It was another very cold night and I ended up putting my track suit pants on top of my long Johns. Moira is beginning to suffer, she is coughing and sneezing. It is as well that we are going down, I don't think she would have managed if we were now climbing up into the thinner air.

Himalayan panorama