EBC Part 1, Shivalaya-Sete

Thursday 25th April 2013.

The day before I leave for the hills and I'm resigned to doing the trek by myself. Ulli badly twisted her knee in the last month in India and decided that she would be putting herself through too much by attempting the trek. I have bought a large lockable bag and stuffed it full of everything I'm sure I won't need in the next few weeks and will be leaving it with the hotel. My 35+10 rucksack is fully packed, the only items unable to be fitted inside are a pair of trekking sandals for evening use and a filled 3L water bag.

I'm sitting down in the hotel garden with the laptop just wrapping up a few loose ends when one of the hotel front desk workers comes over with someone I'd not seen before. 'This man wants to talk to you about the trek you're going on.' 'Hi, I'm James. They've told me you're going to do the EBC tomorrow.'

And within half an hour I'd met the person I'd be walking with most over the next few weeks.

In fact by the time we reach Shivalaya the next afternoon we've met another two English guys and a Nepalese porter and we end up walking as a group of five. 

So from left to right we have me (48, travel novice), Craig (36, well travelled), Jordan (21, well travelled) and James (30, well travelled)

James and I set our alarms for 5am and get an early night.

Friday 26th April 2013.

After a short walk the chaos of an early morning bus station comes into sight. Having experienced similar in India I leave James with the rucksacks and go off in search of the ticket office. Alas the promised 6am service doesn't seem to exist and I buy tickets for the 8am bus. There's two hours lost that could've been spent in bed. It doesn't take very long before the flat of Kathmandu gives way to steep hills as we head east for the next ten hours. The closer we get to Jiri and Shivalaya the more the bus fills with locals and their goods, and we have to get off a few times at checkpoints to register our information. The final section between Jiri and then Shivalaya is as bumpy and deeply rutted as I have ever experienced. And we have to diagonally ford a river. Craig got on at Jiri and when we all got out at the end of the line James and I spoke to him and we all ended up at the same lodge......with the smallest bedroom that we would encounter on the whole trip. Within half an hour the skies opened and drenched the place.

Saturday 27th April 2013.

We were awoken the next morning at 5.30am by the bus driver leaning on his horn, eager to round up any stragglers and head back to Kathmandu. The rain had stopped but the sky was still grey. This weather pattern continued almost unbroken throughout the whole trip. The morning sky was clear and would generally cloud over by 2pm with the possibility of some rain and then clear again for the evening.

We fell immediately into a pattern of: up at 6, breakfast at 6.30 and out for 7 to catch the best of the day. Have your permits ready here for they get checked twice.

The road back to Jiri.

Straight out of Shivalaya the steps were steep and we quickly gained some height.

We stop at the Deurali pass for some food and drink. There is a huge mani that runs through the town.

This is the sight that greets you as you enter Bhandar.....

We finished at about 13.00 and stayed here for the night.

Sunday 28th April 2013.

Another lovely morning as we head out along Bhandar High St!

The first hour and a half is a heartbreaking descent, losing all the height gained the day before. This is something we will have to get used to and over the next week we will ascend about 9000m. Occasionally the path crosses a road and you have to walk along it for a while and pick it up again. The trail is generally marked with a red O. This isn't always the case and sometimes the marking has been washed away.

As in India the children you meet ask for either 'one pen' 'one photo' or 'one sweet'.

These boys were already on the way to a life of portering.

We have a short stop and a permit check at Kenja and then some steep steps to finish at Sete for 2pm.

I had a cold shower here and did a quick sock wash but within minutes the skies opened and they ended up getting dried hanging off the back of my rucksack the next day!