This is advertised as the hardest trek in the world, that’s quite a boast and probably not true. It is though a trek which is relentless in character, it never surprised us with an easy day. As it comes to a close I have mixed feelings. Looking forward to speaking to Carolynn, a pint of beer, hot shower and steak & chips. But for 23 days we have lived without many of the modern day trappings and for most of the final 10 days mobile reception was non existent, try explaining that to a 14 year old! So instead of mindlessly updating Instagram or Facebook, I’ve walked and reflected on many things. I’ve realised how lucky I am with a loving wife, two wonderful children and their partners and, of course six Grandchildren and it goes without saying that they are the most gorgeous Grandchildren that there has ever been (I know every Grandparent would, of course say the same thing). One of them I haven’t seen yet as he was born in Ireland just days before I flew out to Bhutan, I seem to have a habit of doing that as I missed Aoife’s birth because I was in Greenland. As I’ve said so many times, whilst on these trips my thoughts often go back to my Father and his love of the mountains that’s been passed on to me and I hope I’ve managed to pass it onto my children. I know that when I walk with either James or Matthew, Dad’s looking down smiling. Mother’s, of course, always worry, no matter how old their children are and I’m never sure that she understands why I do what I do, but she always seems very proud! After saying all of that I am very much looking forward to speaking to Carolynn, a shower, a clean hotel bed and all those modern day trappings you pretend you don’t miss!

Bhutan, from what I’ve seen is a unique country. I would say that the lifestyle is simple, but that would be far from the truth, there is nothing simple about the lifestyle they live. The terrain is extreme, with most of the country in the foothills and high Himalaya, making a living is not easy. Only the lower towns have roads and the villages in the Himalaya are sometimes many days walk from other civilisation. It is a credit that they manage to both live and promote their culture. Slowly but surely modern day conveniences are being introduced, hopefully these will be brought in, in sympathy with their ways and their culture. How would I describe Bhutan, Rocks, Mud and Shit, that’s true but unfair. The forests are pristine many of the high mountains are still unclimbed and the people are genuine. Is there a change coming? The Snowman Run an ultra marathon, 300km over five days, is due to take place next October. I can see that bringing a change to the tranquility of the region…for some reason Red Bull, springs mind!

Stephen invited me on this Trek as a memorial to his sister Brita, who tragically died in a kayaking accident nearly a year ago. They were very close and spent many holidays trekking all over the world. Our final pass was a very emotional moment for both of us, but far more so for Stephen and I hope this trip helps him put Brita to rest.

I think I’ve described Stephen as paradoxical in his outlook, in a previous blog. He curses like a trooper, but although I don’t think he’d ever admit it, he is a deeply religious man. He’s walked a number of the Cameos and readily admits that he’s always in floods of tears when he enters Santiago and the Cathedral, so a sensitive man as well. Most of all though, he’s a very determined man, far more than I am. He came out here knowing he wasn’t at full strength and after a shaky start has ploughed on through all 23 days of this gruelling trek. As I explained above there was a specific reason for us doing this trek and I believe that this has very much helped him complete what is one of the hardest treks in the world.

DAY 16: The day started with an unexpected text conversation with Carolynn, unexpected because the UK is five hours behind Bhutan and I was just starting my breakfast at 7am Bhutan time! Unexpected it might have been but it was very welcome. As is the case on these trips I have tendency towards homesickness, Carolynn keeps asking me why I go on these extended trips when I miss home so much? I have no difinitive answer!

Today started as yesterday finished, walking along the Chu Num valley towards Thanza. A ramble rather than a walk, which means you can look at the scenery and not constantly be looking at your feet. It was a sandy grass path, slowly making its way uphill…a pleasure. Bhutan was, however, lulling us into a false sense of security, like the Sirens of old and once we were lulled into its beauty the climbing began! In Thanza we met a Bhutanese scientist, there monitoring the glacial lakes above the village. One had already burst through the terminal moraine causing considerably damage to Punakha town, many kilometers down the valley. Not only do they monitor the lakes but the levels are controlled, to hopefully avoid any repeat of the devastating break out.

The climb was steady but steep for the first 300 metres, then we entered a side valley which gently took us high above the valley floor before the path met the river. A lovely walk and as you should always do, look back at the views of the Thanza valley, Chozo and the high white topped mountains of Lunana. I walked most of this section on my own or with Sanga, as Stephen made his own pace up the steep section from Thanza, I pictured him doing his Ministry of Funny Walks along the path up the side valley as the drop-off was steep and a little precarious. It brought a wry smile to my face! The campsite was just above the terminal moraine, the climb over the moraine was, as always, the sting in the tail.

The campsite, though is in a beautiful position and as promised it was a short day. After a quick lunch and our smalls washed and hung out to dry we are relaxing in our tents, perfect end to a wonderful day.

DAY 17: Dawn broke with a cloudless sky and the sun making its way slowly down the mountain to our tents. Today we’re heading up to our highest camp at over 5,340 metres, so we are expecting a very cold night. Stephen lost his mojo today and struggled all day. It appears to be the altitude and lack of oxygen, but he’s always there and has a stubbornness to succeed that is rare. Although we are in a place where you either have to have a serious injury or you HAVE to walk out. Don’t get me wrong it’s nowhere near come to that and I struggle to know what he’s going through. All that said todays walk and I think I’ve already used all the adjectives, was a pleasure, surrounded by the high Himalaya. With turquoise streams fed from dark turquoise lakes. The glaciers hang precariously looking as if they could collapse at any time, others seem to be backing up on themselves causing massive and constantly moving cravasses. The corniced aretes look impossible sharp as the cloud skims over the summits, many of which are unclimbed.

We walked into camp at about 14:30 and I think I can say that it’s the most beautiful campsite I’ve ever been in. Of course it isn’t a campsite as such, but a wild unspoiled bit of grass, by a turquoise lake surrounded by some of the highest mountains in the world…but most of all the only sound is a light breeze tugging at the tent. Tomorrow we head for the highest pass on the trek at 5,450 metres, fortunately most the height gain has been done today, hopefully the day should be a little easier.

DAY 18: Cold, which is what you’d expect at over 5,000 metres. Struggled to motivate myself to get out of bed, but when I did the view as the sunrise hit the mountains was worth the effort. The clear skys didn’t last long though, initially it was only patchy cloud that wrapped themselves around the summits, but it increased as the morning passed by. We gained the Gophu La within 45 minutes and were particularly rewarded with some wonderful views, but the view of Gangkar Punsum, the highest mountain in Bhutan alluded us as the cloud stubbornly refused to move! Now was the long descent, over 1,100 metres over unstable, rocky moraine. There were sections that were easy and you could have walked and looked at the scenery…but the weather came in. It’s the first day that we’ve had to get out full waterproofs. It was mainly hail but there was a wind blowing up the valley hitting us head on. I’ve said my bit about wind on a previous post whilst on the South West Coast Path. So far this trip we’ve been very lucky as the wind has kept away, producing peace and quiet that is seldom possible in this modern life. Along with the wind and hail came the mist, which hid everything, even our campsite, which we stumbled upon after over eight hours of walking!

Besides the change in the weather the day was one of those days where your thoughts wandered of there own fruition and what was nice is that Stephen and I walked together for much of the day, most of what we talked about was gibberish but that’s what good friends do when you spend so much time together. Tomorrow will be another long day over one pass, although there seems to be some disagreement that in fact we will be going over three passes!

DAY 19: Day 10 was the last time we slept in or near a village, we’ve passed through a couple, but since day 10, we’ve camped wild. The only life we’ve seen in the past five days are Yak herders and their animals. That was until today, when we caught up with two other groups! One large group of about 10, a British Company, with a mixture of nationalities and what appears to be an American couple. We knew that we were close to a pass because of the whooping and shouting noises bellowing out of the mist…peace and tranquility, GONE!

Today started as yesterday finished, misty and cold. We descended for a while then the path suddenly went vertical, not sure I should call it a path, either! If it wasn’t for the red willow wand markers, which were there for the Snowman Trek Run, then the path would have been indistinguishable from the rest of the mountain side. This is where Dorje got lost last year! Fortunately there were the other two groups heading in the same direction, which helped. Let me say that all the other treks say that there are 14 passes and not 11 as we’ve been told by the trekking company. So while the other two groups whooped and shouted with joy at reaching the first pass apparently is called Phodrang La, we sat there stoney faced showing no joy whatsoever! The cloud came and went all day and gave us tantalising glimpses of the surrounding mountains. The path up to the second and highest pass was spectacular. It was in an amphitheatre of high mountains, near vertical aretes linking each summit, so steep that they were bare of any snow. Stephen and I reached our ninth pass after all the whooping and shouting had finished and we stood on Urutjang La in reverent silence. Stephen seems to have found his ‘second wind’ and he stormed up the third pass of the day, Nephu La. All that remained was an hour or so walk down to the camp. A campsite that’s a little crowded tonight and I assume will stay so until the end.

DAY 20: Down Hill Races; woke to beautiful clear sky, frost on the ground and whisps of cloud in the valley…well that didn’t last long by the time Stephen and I were ready for breakfast the cloud had moved up from the valley and wrapped its tentacles round our camp leaving us with that grey view we’d had on and off for the last two days. Today was a downhill day. I’m not convinced that people in Bhutan know the difference between uphill and downhill, as the first 100 metres was definitely uphill to another pass we knew nothing about! That would mean there are 14 passes and not 11! After the pass is was mainly downhill.

The path was Stephen’s favourite, mud, large unstable rocks and horse manure, to add to this it was extremely steep and every now and again a stream was thrown into the mix. We spent the morning passing and being passed by the large group, the two Americans (Mr & Mrs Sociable) overtook us once and didn’t see them again until the campsite. The weather cleared as we got lower and as the cloud cleared it became apparent that we will be hemmed in on all sides by steep V shaped valleys.

Once we reached the main valley floor, we once again overtook the large group, as Dorje pushed on he suddenly started waving his arms and running back towards us. Somehow a bees nest had been disturbed and they were swarming over him. We all moved rapidly away from that section of path and Dorje was stung 14 or 15 times…painful, luckily he wasn’t allergic. We administered anti histamine, which we had to cadge from the other group, I’m not making any comments at this stage!!! He appears to be recovering but is in shock at present, hopefully he’ll be Ok.

We are at Dur Tsachhu campsite, famous for its hot springs and Bhutanese will trek for kilometres to bath in them. I haven’t yet been down to the springs, but if they’re anything like the campsite, then so don’t think I want to. This is by far the worsed place we’ve camped. It’s filthy, full of rubbish left by other campers, a place we are glad to be only spending one night.

DAY 21: Crazy day! Today was the day Stephen and I had been dreading, 1,150 metre steep ascent to Gongto La, our tenth pass, followed by a short descent and a 450 metre ascent to our LAST PASS, Djule La and then a 750 metre descent to our campsite. Stephen, as with other ascents struggled to breath in the required amount of oxygen for the effort of moving one foot In front of the other. For some unknown reason I cruised up to Gongto La, whereas Stephen was overtaken again by the six year old on the trike with a puncture, I believe she kept him company all the way up, though. Ten passes completed!

We dipped down to an emerald green lake for lunch then tackled the last pass. We summited Djule La together in memory of Brita, an emotional moment and the reason we were both there. We dedicated our final prayer flags to Brita and stood and watched the prayers fluttering away in the wind. I’m sure she was looking down and smiling, with that beautiful infectious smile of hers. The weather has been hit and miss all day, with the clouds rising, revealing the sharp rocky summits, then descending to engulf us all. So the descent was in mist and cloud and the rain came just as we reached camp after walking for over 9 1/2 hours. A long day, but one we’ll both remember.

A reminder of how remote this area is. One of the cooks from the large group became seriously sick with inflammation of his upper legs, groin area and lower stomach. The European leader called a doctor from her satallite phone and they agreed he required a helicopter rescue. Unfortunately the weather disagreed. At this moment in time I’m unsure whether he made it into camp even. There were four or five people helping him over the pass and down the 750 metres of descent. I’m pretty sure that it has rained all night and is still raining heavily this morning…there will be no chance of a helicopter flying in at this moment in time. I hope he made it to the campsite.

DAY 22: Rock, Mud, Shit & Rain. That should give you a clue as to how our day went! We woke up to rain and the cloud sitting in the windless valley. It had rained all night, not heavily but steadily, saturating the path. Today should have been a relatively easy day, 20 kilometres of mainly downhill walking. The Snowman Trek, though had other ideas. The path was, like so many on this trek, was made up of all sizes of rocks, randomly scattered along the track. Put there originally to help the pack animals find grip in the mud. The rocks are now embedded irregularly in the path with hoof size holes all around. To make matters worse the rocks were often covered in horse and Yak manure, some fresh, some not and the hoof holes were filled with water! Add rain and this makes for treturously slow walking. What should have taken five or six hours took over seven and a half and your eyes never left your feet! The rain eased off at lunchtime and Stephen and I sat and had a very pleasant lunch on a sandy bit of the river. Although the rain had stopped just before lunch, the pack horses passed us while we were eating…I’ll let you imagine what damage and how much horse shit 40 or so horses can produce and leave on the path! Stephen came into camp saying ‘I’ve done with the Snowman Trek’, seriously he’d had enough! The unrelenting Snowman Trek had won again…half a day left until we can have a shower and a proper bed!

The last day was a complete surprise, within two hours were finished. After a short very steep decent we reached the trail head a track that led to our ride to Bumtang and our hotel and shower. I’m sorry the blog is so short for this day but it went smoothly and the end came so unexpectedly and to be honest was very underwhelming. But we’d finished…Brita would be proud.

I have to say that I am also beginning to feel how hard this trek is. After 15 days of continual walking with average ascents and descents of over 750m a day, with some days being considerably more, I’m beginning to flag and we still have some big days ahead. Today, however, although very long was an absolute pleasure. We summited the seventh pass within 45 minutes of the start, unfortunately there were no views as the mist was down. During the descent the mist started to lift and the views opened up, as we descended through two beautiful hanging valleys. We reached the village of Lhedi for lunch and then walked up the Chu Num valley to our campsite near Chozo. A 500 metre height gain over 8 km along a wide river bed, with views of Table Top mountain, at over 7,050 metres, dominating the gentle uphill walk.

Most other groups get a rest at this point, but for some reason there isn’t one in our itinerary. We don’t mind but a short day would be good as we are desperate to do some clothes washing, even we think the smell is not overly attractive! Fortunately we are the only ones having to suffer the absence of clean clothes at the moment.

DAY 9: Today we walked to Laya, which is the main village in the area. According to our Bible, a guide on trekking in Bhutan by Bart Jordans, there is negligible altitude gain and 360 metres of altitude loss. I think maybe I’m splitting hairs here, but if he was to alter ‘altitude gain’ to ‘ascent’ and ‘altitude loss’ to ‘descent’, then the figures would be very different. It would have read altitude gain 268 metres and altitude loss 522 metres. Call me pedantic but there’s a large difference between negligible and 268 metres and let me make it very clear Mr Jordans is going to get s very stern letter when I return, as this is not the only anomaly we’ve come across.

The path was like so many others, rocks, mud and horse manure! Stephen, especially finds this exhausting and one slip means wet and dirty boots/trousers and if seen a loss of pride. We entered Laya just before lunch and settled down to relax for the afternoon, Stephen did a little more relaxing than me, as I went to watch a Bhutanese darts match. Where the ocky is about 30m from the target and the darts were really small spears. I also sussed out where the local amenities were i.e. the shops, bars etc as Laya came with the reputation of being ‘fun city’! Mmm, maybe not, but it is a beautiful village with some amazing houses and a boarding school that draws from all the local villagers.

DAY 10: We were here for two nights, a day of rest, although Dorje had other ideas, he wanted to take us on a walk that overlooked the village…I think we both categorically said ‘No Thank you’, in such a way that Dorje didn’t persist with the idea. We had a lie in and had our best breakfast yet, fried eggs, chips and pancakes…bliss, stuffed and happy. Then to top it off we were then upgraded to a room in the house where our tents were set up. Luxury, room to stand up and move around and even dance if we so desired.

There was an official visit to the school by a company called Yangphel Adventure. The school and village went all out to make them feel welcome, with children dancing as well as adults singing. The company were giving 300,000 Bhutanese Ngultrum, with an exchange rate of 70 Ngultrum to the pound this meant they were giving the school £4,300. Yangphel Adventure, I believe is a foreign company that has a tradition of putting on a lot of treks/cultural holidays in Bhutan. I’m sure that amount of money can go along way to helping the area keep its cultural identity, but for the display and the number of villages involved I would have expected a greater contribution. I could be doing the company down and they could be contributing to many schools. However, to put this in perspective the company officials and there were about six or seven of them, flew in by helicopter these cost approximately £3,000 per hour!!! Please don’t think I’m being cynical in any way.

It was, however, a fascinating show, which I’m glad I was privileged to see. The rest of the day Stephen spent in our upgraded room relaxing and dozing. There was a reason for this, the night before we had both suffered, Stephen more than me, a phenomena where in your sleep you stop breathing for 15 – 20 seconds, then suddenly your body automatically gasps for air, this has a tendency to wake you. It seems to be impossible to control and is one of the effects of altitude. As I said Stephen suffered to a greater degree than me so I spent the afternoon having a bucket wash and then sunbathing.

DAY 11: Today we were told by Dorje, it would be a hard day, fortunately, we both had slept far better a felt refreshed, so we started at 7am instead of our usual 8am. We descended 600 metres to the valley floor and there next to the last army check point was a cafe, the first and I’m pretty sure the last one we will come across on this Trek! So we stopped and had a cup of tea, as did every other person walking in our direction.

The reason it was so busy is that this route was also the main route to the nearest road, just two hours away down the valley. Funnily enough our path didn’t go anywhere near the road and civilisation. We turned off the main path 30 minutes further down from the cafe and our path went UP. And carried on going up through Fir Forests and then Rhododendron Forests for 960 metres to our campsite. Again a stunning position in a valley at 4,200 metres. We both found it hard. Some of the expletives that occasionally came out of Stephens mouth, when he was able to speak and draw breath, I’m unable to print…one thing that I can print that gives you an idea of how he felt is ‘a six year old girl on a trike with a puncture would have overtaken him on the path and would have asked if he was Ok’? Hopefully sleep will come to us both easily tonight.

Ps. We were given a surprise at dinner…a hot water bottle, this has to be the second best thing after Stephens line of naked Canadian dancing girls!!! I believe I’ve already implied that sanity is not his strong point!

DAY 12: Today started with a 250 meter climb, we know it’s going to be a long hard day, all the same that was a vicious start. Half way up we were told to ‘stand and deliver’ by some government workers who were improving the path. Apparently it’s acceptable in Bhutan whilst building paths and local roads, to ask for a ‘contribution’ towards refreshments for the workers, me I call it a Toll or just plain highway robbery! Stephen and I contributed 50p each and they seemed very happy! We reached the fifth pass, Tsemo La, in good time only for the cloud and mist to envelope us obscuring any view.

Stephen and I have settled into our own pace. Mine is faster uphill and Stephens is faster on the flat and downhill (although there’s been very little of that) Sanga usually accompanies me and Dorje stays with Stephen. Because of the mist, Dorje thought the campsite was over the next ridge and unfortunately it wasn’t. When you are told that the end is near, you start to relax and your body winds down…to be then told that it’s another hour away is demoralising and to find that extra energy, let’s just say that even Red Bull and its wings wouldn’t have helped! We both got there in the end and this was our highest camp yet at 4,950 metres.

We’re all settled in at camp, Stephen’s taking his usual afternoon knap, whilst I ponder tomorrow. Another long day, this time over 1,050 metres of descent!

DAY 13: The altitude affected us both last night in different ways. I had to get up to per five times! Do you ever get that feeling that you haven’t quite finished a wee but you can’t do any more, well that’s what it can be like for the first couple of nights at around 5,000 metres. It means that you lie down to try to go to sleep, still wanting to pee! Stephen, just suffered from a restless night’s sleep, which meant he was tired this morning. We set at around 8am for the sixth pass, Karakachu La. Our second pass at over 5,000 metres. My mate Bart Jordans says that the is an altitude gain of 80m…his name, once again was mud, as the actual ascent was 285m! We have decided to discard his altitude gains and losses and accept whatever it actually is…I said I was going to write a stern letter on my return home, Stephen and I are thinking up more devilish ways to get our own back, the current favourite is to leave a large horny Yak in his bedroom. Seriously, the view from the pass was our best yet and once again we left a prayer flag to give not only ourselves, this time, but also our families and friends good fortune.

The descent from the pass, as I’ve already said was over 1,050 metres and in places very steep. But the weather was on our side and the views were breathtaking. Once we hit the valley floor the path followed the Po Chhu river for 8 km, with beautiful waterfalls cascading down each side of the near vertical valley walls, to our campsite. A wild campsite, next to the turquoise glacial river in peaceful Rhododendron forest.

DAY 14: Another misty morning, which slowly cleared as we walked a further 6 km Po Chhu valley. Dorje started off at quite a lick and I have to say I struggled to keep pace. Stephen had had a wonderful nights sleep, so he was full of beans. I’d had a good nights sleep as well, but their pace was a little uncomfortable for me. The steep valley sides once again entertained us with its waterfalls that tumbled for hundreds of metres and the ever changing Autumn colours of the forests that some how clung to the valley sides. The easy walking came to a sudden end and the track started to climb with a vengeance. The path wound its way through switchbacks up to a village called Woche. Who knows why it’s there, Yak herding, I assume, but it sits on a small Alp in the middle of nowhere. The sun was blazing down by now and it was a place to rest and soak up the magnificent mountain scenery.

Dorje gave us a choice of two campsites, I made the choice of the second, higher and further away site as we had plenty of time and it would shorten the following days walk. Let’s just say my choice wasn’t in the end popular with Stephen or me. But we did sit on a rock high up from the valley floor, looking both up the valley and down, drinking a cup of tea, absolute bliss. The final push to the second site was steep and long, but in its defence it does have an outstanding vista. Unfortunately the cloud rose from the valley floor to shroud us in complete and utter silence before what otherwise would have been a lovely sunset.

DAY 15: Stephen’s first words to me this morning were ‘if I ever suggest anything like this again, march me to a hospital and have me committed’! To be continued

Tshering Dorje is the main guide, this is his fourth time on The Snowman Trek, but only the second as a guide. He’s 26, and as yet is not as confident as an older more experienced guide might be. It’s not a criticism as I know from personal experience, it’s very hard to have an air of authority when everyone around you is older and in some cases more experienced. It certainly doesn’t help when you have two cantankerous old clients like Stephen and me! He is very sensitive to our needs, but at times seems to withdraw into himself. We’d like to help him with his confidence and to grow into a competent guide.

Nightly routine; normally the horses and our luggage arrive at camp before us and what a wonderful site it is to see our tents already erected. One criticism I have is that the tents are old and on one of them all the zips are broken! Fortunately Stephen has brought a number of reusable electric ties, which helps keep the tent together at night. Once in camp I think both our routines are fairly similar. We get out our down filled blow up mattress, I’m going to promote them as they are the most comfortable mattress I’ve ever come across, with the exception of my own bed. Exped 9, insulates you from the cold ground, which can be extremely cold, as well as moulds to your shape. Damp sleeping bags are then pulled from their stuff sacks to be left to air over the tent, and by god they need it after three weeks of use! Once the tent is organised, everything in its place, then Dorje calls us for afternoon tea and cake, yep you read correctly, tea and cakes… heaven. Stephen and I will chat over the day and pull Bart Jordans (the man that wrote the guide book) apart and think of even more sinister things to do to him. I will then normally wander off and take photographs or find somewhere quiet to read while Stephen goes for his afternoon nap! Dinner is called at 19:00 and far too much food is placed in front of us. We feel guilty as we consume such a small amount, loss of appetite comes with altitude. If I never see rice again after this trip it’ll be too soon! Dorje will stand in the tent whilst we eat, this reminds me of my first school where the headmistress stood over us to make sure we ate all our greens. It seems to be what they are taught to do this, although it is a little unnerving. At the end of dinner Dorje will go over the next day’s itinerary and then Stephen and I will chat, before retreating to our sleeping bags, by now it’s getting very late, about 20:00! I’ll read or call Carolynn if there’s any signal, which as we get further into the Lummar region is getting less frequent and will be nonexistent for the last seven days. Anyway, that’s our nightly routine. It just gives you an insight into how mondane the routine is. I’m not moaning as I’m here for my love of the mountains, the nights are there to rest so I can appreciate the enormity of the Himalaya once again the following day.

I’ll start with routines. Morning starts at 06:00, it’s light by then, but no sunshine has hit the camp and there is a chill in the air that could easily persuade you to stay snuggled up in you’re sleeping bag. Eventually I unzip the bag and decide whether or not the underpants that I’ve been wearing for the last four or five days are still good for another day, not going to reveal how I decide! Then if it’s warm enough, a quick wet wipe down, before the underpants go on. There not hard to put on in a cramped tent as by now they pretty much stand up on their own as do the socks which can last up to seven or eight days, a lack of a sense of smell is fairly essential by this point. You’ve probably got my drift about the clothes, the longer you can string them out the less weight needs to be carried. For those of you that might have wondered why I didn’t mention taking off any pjyamas etc, it’s that I don’t wear any. There is a good reason, your body naturally generates heat and a down sleeping bag traps that heat, if you are wearing clothes then your bodies heat doesn’t spread and warm the whole bag. There are exceptions to this, mainly when you’re in somewhere like the Antarctic or climbing an 8,000 metre peak. Hopefully that has cleared up on why I sleep in what I was born in.

Next, the damp sleeping bag is packed away into a stuff sack, the down filled, blow up mattress is deflated and rolled up and put in its bag as is the down filled blow up pillow (my one luxury item). I then totally repack the duffel bag. All of this has taken close to 30 minutes, at this point there’s a rattling of my tent door and Sanga is there with my morning cup of tea, with honey and cinnamon. I tend to take my morning tea out doors, depending on the weather. As I finish my tea, a bowl of hot washing water miraculously appears and I do my morning ablutions. Firstly and most importantly I empty my per bottle and wash it out, normally in a nearby stream, then much to Stephens and the other members of the teams amusement, I strip off my shirt and wash my hair, face and under arms, doesn’t matter what the weather is. I have to say, this does set me up for the day. I empty my tent and pack my rucksack. Then breakfast is served. It could be porridge, muesli or cornflakes, with fruit juice, followed by pancakes or cheese omelet topped with honey and French toast…I’m not saying that we are spoiled, but! Then after one or two more cups of tea the days walk begins!

Whilst we start out walking with Dorje, our guide, the cook, kitchen boy and horsemen, start disassembling the campsite and load, three two man tents, one loo tent, a kitchen and mess tent and all the food and fuel required for the whole trip onto the horses. It’s then their job to overtake us during the day so that our camp is ready for us when we arrive. It’s not a perfect system and they are not always at the designated campsite before us, but 90% of the time they are and if it wasn’t for the fact that we are camping wild in the Himalaya then the treatment we receive is better than many 5* hotels.

There are three permanent members of the team, Tshering Dorje, who’s our guide, senior Dorje, who is our cook and Sanga, who serves, carries lunch and helps the cook. There are other members of the team that come and go, the horsemen. I’ll start with them. The reason they change is because they can only work within their district. The first two horsemen we had took us from the beginning to Lingshi Camp . For our trek we have about 11 or 12 horses, they appear to be well kept and looked after, none of the horses had sores, where a load would rub and are well fed. The characters of the first two horsemen were very different. One a young lad who was very pleasant and helped out with other chores, such as pitching tents etc. His boss was a different kettle of fish altogether. He was considerably older, probably hasn’t changed his clothes or had a wash for many weeks. On the first night he was violently sick for a good half hour and then fell asleep in the corner of the building we were using as a dinning room. We were concerned…only to be told…you’ve guest it, he was absolutely paroletic. On the second night we didn’t see him at all and on our acclimatisation day he spent it gambling and drinking, while his young assistant accompanied us on our walk. I have to say we were not impressed! In contrast the horseman (singular) who took over on the fifth day is wonderful. He’s deaf and dumb and we haven’t quite worked out yet how he controls the horses. He some how does the same amount of work as the other two did put together, although I assume that most of the work was done by the previous horsemen was done by the younger one!

Today, a steady day over a pass at 4,500 metres then down the other side to camp. What could be easier! We left camp slightly early at 07:45 and wandered through Chebisa to the path. I have to say The Snowman path is reasonably well marked with yellow arrows. Dorje sets us on our way while he registers us with the army check point (there are a number of these near passes that lead into Tibet, as a certain amount of contraband finds its way over the high mountain passes). We didn’t pass any yellow arrows as Stephen and I carried on along the path that Dorje had directed us to. But ha ho, I’m not the guide. Dorje caught us up and he seemed a little unsure of where the path was. He asked a horseman and he obviously thought it best if went vertically up to intersect the path higher up. I call these paths ‘b……d Uncle Les Paths’ mainly because there isn’t a path and this hillside was steep. It certainly made our lungs and legs work! It was no real problem we hit the main path higher up and carried on, For those people that have walked with me in the past, getting lost is all part of the adventure.

The path leading up to the pass, clung very narrowly to the mountain, the drop to the right was probably about 750 metres at 45%, comprising of very short grass. Doesn’t sound steep but a slip would have probably ended badly! Stephen suffers from vertigo and the way he walk this section would have gone down very well in The Ministry of Funny Walks. Dispite the funny walks and mislaid paths we reached the Gombu La in good time. We both thought our day was nearly over, an amble down the other side of the pass, a short ascent then camp. Again how wrong could we be!

The path down was steep and unrelenting. The valley we finished up in was beautiful, with a wide shallow turquoise river running through the centre, this we thought was our campsite. Now, for most groups it is, but not, apparently, for ours. Instead our guide had opted for a higher campsite over two and a half hours away, all of it uphill. This, and Stephen definitely agrees, has been our hardest day. We expected a short day with 450 metres of ascent and descent, ended up with a day of over 1,020 metres of ascent, camping in a lonely, sloping and yak shit filled valley. There is an up side to this, the following day turned out to be a gloriously short day.

We awoke to a very misty morning, the clouds were sticking to the mountains as they slowly passed us by. We made Jare La within an hour of starting. I arrived first and the total lack of sound suddenly hit me, once my breathing had returned to normal levels. Little or no wind, no animal sounds, just the prayer flags fluttering, sending their prayers across the land. Pass No. three completed.

A 750 metre descent now awaited, through tundra, Rhododendron forest and finally temperate forest, which was starting to display its rich Autumn colours. On the valley floor we relaxed in the midday sun, with just a hours walk left to our campsite. The valley was intersected by two rivers, creating a lovely flat green floor, which the yak herders took full advantage of. It reminded both Stephen and me of the American Priorities with the Buffalo herd of old. The sting in tail was the 160 metre climb to an Alp above the valley where our wild campsite was for the night.

The days trekking was completed by lunchtime so we both took advantage of the early finish to do a few necessary chores, oh what fun we had pretending that the backwash of a small waterfall was a washing machine, saved having to spend 15 minutes pummeling our clothes in bowls and we assume they’re clean…who cares really, there’s no one here but us.

Tomorrow we tackle the highest pass to date at 5,000 metres, so hopefully the short day today will have set us up.

Tomorrow is now today. Both Dorje and Stephen suffered a bad night’s sleep (no Ann it had nothing to do with me). I was a little concerned about Stephen, he started off very slowly, but as the morning wore on he improved. It took four hours to reach Sinche La. Unlike yesterday the weather wasn’t playing ball, we started off in low cloud and drizzle, it improved slightly as we summited the pass, but not enough for the promised views. We put up more prayer flags on the pass, maybe our prayers of better weather will be heard. Stephen was nearly back to his laquasious self, although he had found it hard work, but so had I. All we had to do now was to descend 950 metres to camp! There had been a Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding, back in 2015, this has left a massive crator where once a glacial lake dominated. The terminal moraine collapsed and the out pouring devistated the valley. To see first hand, the power of ice and water makes me realise how insignificant we are compared to nature.

Stephen and I entered camp at 4:00pm a long day, but Stephen seemed to be back to his normal self and I hope tonight at this slightly lower altitude will bring him a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow we have a short day to Laya and then a well deserved rest day!

I’m treating my feet to a soak in the glacial stream. The reason I mention that it’s glacial is because my feet are slowly turning a light shade of purple and the pain is almost too much. I persevere and the pain slowly subsides as they turn from purple to white…it is refreshing to feel running water take away the grime of three or four days of walking. It’s 4:30pm and the sun has dropped below the mountains and the temperature drops with it, the tops of the mountains are bathed in dappled warm sunlight as the clouds swirl and dance from one mountain top to the next. As the sun retreats further the clouds also change colour and the mountains are left in shadow and the clouds warm glow subsides. I feel content and at peace, my only wish is that Carolynn could share this moment with me. By now my feet are pretty much whiteover, time to retreat back to the tent and encourage the circulation to return.

Woke up at 1am, rain is all I could hear even with my earplugs in. My heart sank, I didn’t fancy doing the first of the 11 passes in the rain. I seemed to lie awake for hours listening to the drumming of the rain on the flysheet, time is very deceptive at night. When I awoke again the drumming had stopped or were my earplugs working for a change, I tentatively unzipped the tent and peered out, thank goodness the rain had stopped. The cloud was high on the mountain tops, with wisps of mist clinging to the lower slopes. The weather has been a little hit and miss. We’ve hit the tail end of the monsoon when in theory it should have finished, but the majority of the rain has been over night. Today looked like we might be lucky.

This is our first of 14 high passes, and this one tops out at 4,890 metres. Just over 850 metres of ascent. Not an inconsiderable amount taking into account the altitude. This first pass would be the test, if one of us failed this because of altitude sickness, then the trek would be finished. Neither of us seemed to have suffered any symptoms, so we were both quietly confident that it wouldn’t be altitude sickness that finished either of us off. We were both over the moon when the summit of the pass, with all its prayer flags was reached. As tradition dictated, we put up our own prayer flags, with the wind blowing our prayers into the mountains.

If there’s 850 metres ascent, then there is a very good chance that there would be 850 metres of descent… strangely enough there was. The campsite is positioned right next to an open prison. The prisoners are there to rebuild a Monestory called Lingshi Dzong, as it was partially destroyed in an earthquake in 2011…a very good use of their time!

We survived the night , without being mugged or murdered. Today was, compared to yesterday, a stroll in the park. ‘The Book: says that there is no ascent or descent. I’m beginning to think that the Author has never walked The Snowman Trek, in the first kilometre we ascended over 120 metres! Throughout the day we ascended a total of over 330 metres, that in my book does not make for a ‘flat’ day. Even so, it was a day of ‘Simpson’ skys and wide easy paths. Stephen and I seem to have got into our own rhythm, it’s great to have someone to talk to along the trail and we’ve already put right all major political and religious issues that trouble todays world. However part of the joy of walking, for me, is the solitude, so it’s good that our paces are slightly different, it means we both can have the best of both worlds.

Getting back to the walk itself, just before lunch, we turned a corner in one of the many bluffs that we had walked around today and a beautiful valley and village suddenly came into view and our campsite for the night.

Stephen took advantage of the short day to nap, while I walked up to the head of the valley to take photographs of a waterfall that cascaded vertically for 75 metres from the hanging valley above.

I believe that I have already mentioned that archery is one of the national sports of Bhutan, well it so happens that we have had a front row seat from our tents. By front row, I mean just 2 metres from the arrows projectory! I also haven’t mentioned that the distance from the archer to the target is 145 metres and that a very strong wind is blowing crossways in our direction. This has made Stephen very nervous and he’s retreated to his tent, lying down so as to give as small a target as possible, whilst I’ve retreated to the mess tent and listen to the sound of the arrows whistle by!

We now have three consecutive days of crossing high passes…a testing three days.

It had rained steadily all night, but thankfully stopped before dawn, wisps of cloud traversed the lower sections of the mountains, whilst the summits were totally hidden. The air was damp and underfoot the ground was waterlogged. Today we were walking through forests of Oak, Fir and Rhododendron. Ancient forests that are a wonder to walk through. The down side is that the path was extremely muddy and strewn with large uneven rocks and boulders. For the majority of the walk we had to rock hop to avoid the muddy, water filled hollows. This was time consuming and hard work, but more importantly we couldn’t let our eyes wander and admire this magnificent ancient forest.

Today, was a wake-up call more so for Stephen than myself, but certainly a reminder for me on how big these mountains are and that distances are deceiving and can take many hours longer than you expect. It’s been many years since Stephen has walked in this sort of terrain, he’s a long distance walker and has completed many of the Camino to Santiago in Spain, but today he realised how different this trail will be. I think I’ve already said that he has determination and stubbornness that I know I lack. I know that in the next couple of days he’ll get into his rhythm and the first day’s woe’s will become a distant memory.

Charles’s Famous, Fantastic, Flying, Flaming, Phallus Hot Bath Emporium

That’s what you get when you spend too much time with an insane Irishman! I did say that more of Stephen’s idiosyncrasies would come out given time and is at present spending his time dreaming up embarrassing illiterational phrases. It doesn’t help that we are in the land where a phallic symbol can be found on the side of many houses, in shop windows and even on a Stupa (pictures will follow once I return, for now I will have to leave it to your imagination). Some have wings! Some are ejaculating and some are carved from wood in all colours and sizes!

Enough of Stephens fantasies, today we awoke to broken clouds and blue skys😃 after a night of heavy rain. Day two’s walk is considerably shorter and only 2/3 the height gain of yesterday. We will have gained over 1,100 metres in two days, which is faster than I’d like, hopefully though there won’t be any repercussions. Again we walked on muddy, rock and boulder paths for the first hour and a half, then suddenly the valley opened out, the trees thinned and the path became easier as the stretches of rocky path became interspersed with sections of grassy, easy path. We were now walking through villages, where the local youths were practicing the Bhutanese pastime of archery, children were at their school desks, horses laddened with straw, were heading for the barns that were in the roofs of the houses, ready to be stored for winter and herds of yaks were being brought down to their winter grazing. Besides the love of the mountains, seeing how other people pass their lives that are so different from my own is one of the great pleasures I get from these trips. How resourceful people are under, what we would consider such harsh conditions, but to them are just day to day chores.

We wandered into our next campsite Jhomolhari Base Camp at lunchtime. And there taking up the bulk of the site was a group, comprising of 16 and the entourage that is required to look after such a large number of people. We pitched as far away from that group as possible! Uncle Les would have been proud of me! And settled in to an afternoon of leisure. We woke this morning to the sun shining its morning light on the 3,250 metre daunting East face of Jhomolhari.

Today has been an acclimatisation day, Stephen seemed to be under the impression that it meant it was a rest day…how wrong! We climbed up to the twin lakes of Tsho Phi at 4,350 metres on the opposite side of the valley. The weather held and the views from this hanging valley towards Jhomolhari and Jhomolhari II were worth the puffing and panting that came from both Stephen and me. Acclimatisation is the old adage ‘climb high sleep low’. I hope it has prepared us well for tomorrow. It wasn’t a long day and the afternoon again was spent in leisure. Well we both had a shower and I washed my underpants and shirt…

Tomorrow we head on over our first of the 14 passes at 4,890 metres, it’ll be an interesting day!

I think, if Stephen has anything to do with it, you could be hearing a lot more about, Charles’s Famous, Fantastic, Flying, Flaming, Phallus Hot Bath Emporium!!