Geoff Jones

Inveterate dabbler in business, travel, gadgets & life

Category: Walks

Nepal trekking taster

Having just returned from my mini 5 day trek in the Annapurna foothills it has to be said that Nepal is a fantastic trekking place! especially for Sally with strategically placed tea houses every hour or so of walking 🙂

I decided to do the trek without a guide (1500 rupee a day with his  food & board) or porter (will carry upto 30kg). You can also hire a combined guide/porter if your backpack is less than 12kg.

To do solo trekking you have to get an additional “Registration card for individual trekkers” for 1500 Rupee on top of the 2000Rupee Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) Entry Permit. Both can be obtained in Pokhara, you will also need 4 passport photographs. The office opens at 10am plus buy a map from the local shops. I had to check in at Nayapul then again across the bridge at Birethanti, finally checking out at Dhampus.

I took a taxi to Nayapul (1500 rupee), this will be the last wheeled vehicle you will see until you leave the ACA! lugged up the mountain From then on every item you see (including the rock used in the tracks)  has been lugged up by porters!

The first night, Wednesday, I stopped at Sudame a modest 300metre climb, it was a hot day and I managed a couple of dips in the crystal clear rushing river 🙂 Accomodation is cheap 100 Rupees a night typically but you are obliged to have dinner and breakfast too, these prices are fixed by the mountain mafia Lodge Management Commitee in Ghandruk so the night cost 1300 Rupee. All the lodges have duvets (blankets) and clean white sheets. All the ones I stayed in where very clean, if somewhat structurally unsound (not surprising when everything has been carried up on some poor sods back!

Thursday was a straight 1600metre (vertical 1 mile) climb up a steep stone staircase to Ghorepani. A tough day indeed especially carrying my 9Kg backpack, how the porters do it with 30+Kg  is amazing. This accomodation worked out at 2050 Rupee.  Next morning was a 4am start to get to Poon Hill for the sunrise, a nice 400metre climb before brekkie, after brekkie it was another straight 400m climb to Deurali then down a lovely gorge into Tadapani.

I set of early on Friday from Tadapani to go to Ghandruk, seeing a whole pack of monkeys en route 🙂 arriving early I decided to go up to Jhinudanda and go swimming in the hot springs, fab except for the 200m climb back to the lodge after the swim!

Saturday was another down and up plus I lost my gorgeous titanium framed specs that I bought in Beijing 🙁 in the morning followed by a very steep 400m climb then short downhill into Pothana and my final night.

Sunday was a steep downhill to Dhampus and back to seeing cars!

The walking is very tough lots of steep up and downs, mainly on stone steps plus quite a few rickety looking narrow wobbly suspension bridges. I met several people walking to Annapurna base camp (ABC) without guides and getting on fine. However, everyone I met doing the Annapurna circuit (20+ days) had a guide and porter. My favourite guide & porter were Goma (a girl guide!)  and Thakur. They were very friendly and helpful  towards me. The German lady who had employed them via Lang Tang Ri was very complementary about them too! and she had been walking with them for 27 days!!

In Pokhara you may be told that a guide is essential to get accomodation in peak season, this is a ruse, all the lodges I stopped at said that they would always find space even if it meant you sleeping in the dining hall!  I was going to sleep before 8pm and getting up at 6am typically so sleeping in the dining room would be fine (the guides & porters do anyway!)

Oh and the really great thing for all us vegetarians is that ALL the food in the higher lodges is veggie!!!! The meat doesn’t keep apparently 🙂 so trekking in Nepal is the perfect vegetarian holiday 🙂

NB: In 2010 the exchange rate is 1000 Rupee to £8.75, $14USD,  10Euro

My Poon Hill trek GPS (GPX) files on Everytrail are:-

26 Oct 2010 Day 1 Pokhara to Sudame

27 Oct 2010 Day 2 Sudame to Ghorepani

28 Oct 2010 Day 3 Ghorepani to Tadapani (from Poon Hill)

29 Oct 2010 Day 4 Tadapani to Jhinudanda

30 Oct 2010 Day 5  Jhinudanda to Pothana

31 Oct 2010 Day 6 Pothana to Pokhara

Clicking the date will take you to my photographs for that day. Clicking the place names will take you to the Everytrail’s

iPad first post

iPad welcome screen

Experimenting with the WordPress app on my new iPad.

Beginning to love the iPad especially the HUGE Fonts available, in fact it’s rather weird going back to the iPhone! the iPad is ideal for us oldies with failing eyesight.

A problem for new entrants is that you need a computer & iTunes account to get it set up in the first place! This could be very very disappointing for folks thinking of getting one as their first and only computer.

Will I take it on my walks? Weighing in at 858gm with it’s £30 black case (yes pandammonium, Sally made me get one) compared to my Eee at 968gm is excellent! And now with the camera adapter (£25 in UK) it can backup my photos daily. However, it still has a major failing that I can’t back up my Garmin gpx files or geotag my pics. Maybe Ascent and Photolinker will do iPad apps 🙂

So yes it will be coming to the great Italian wedding with me but still undecided about China.

Oh, still can’t work out how to add links with the wordpress app 🙁

p.s. Links added on iMac

Standon circular walk

Today’s walk with the Cambridge Rambling Club A team was a circular walk starting from Standon and then heading over to Much Hadham. Christine ably led the walk and 10 of us set off on the hottest day of the year so far! Mud rain & snow were but distant memories 🙂 Here is the walk:-

Standon circular walk at EveryTrail

Map your trip with EveryTrail

During Sally’s mega shopping trip I treated myself to some Inov8 trail shoes which I tried out today. I felt a bit of a fraud as I didn’t seem a ‘proper’ walker. They are just so much lighter than wearing boots. My heels still started to hurt at the 12 mile mark after the damage caused by my Thames Path walk,. Hopefully, the bruising on my heels will go away with time. Otherwise they seemed fine, although still uncertain about walking through long wet grass with them.

The Thames Path


After 10 days of walking I completed The Thames Path from its rural source close to Cirencester and its 180+ mile twisty route to the Thames Barrier.

The route encompasses a lot of famous place names associated with Royalty and the English upper classes in fact it could be a tour of them from The palace of Westminster, Hampton Court, Windsor, Eton & Oxford.

Most days I did well over 20miles as the ground is flat, well marked & easy going. My days were:-

Day 1 (May 10th) Ashton Keynes to The Source and back again with Sally who I must thank for the lift 🙂 I stayed at the good Cove House. Distance about 15 miles.

Day 2 (May 11th) Ashton Keynes to Kelmscott about 21miles I stayed at the excellent Manor Farm with an amazing evening meal at The Plough.

Day 3 (May 12th) Kelmscott to Swinford another 21 miles or so Charles met be en-route and made me a coffee in his stunning house plus giving me lots of tips for my upcoming China trip, thank you 🙂
My friend Chris picked me up so I could stay at his house in Abingdon.

Day 4 (May 13) Swinford to Clifton Hamden a 22mile day made possible by Chris picking me up again and providing a seconds night hospitality.

Day 5 (May 14) Clifton Hamden to Goring a short 15 mile day so I could be ready for Sally coming down for the weekend. I met Margaret who is walking bits of the Path over weekends etc.

Day 6 (May 15) Goring to Henley Lovely 21 mile walk with a couple of surprising hills.

Day 7 (May 16) Henley to Windsor/Eton A cracking day of over 23 miles with Sally followed by a meal at Zizzi’s thank you Philip and congratulations on your upcoming wedding 🙂

Day 8 (May 17) Eton to Hampton Court A big 24 miler so a tiring day thanks to AroundMe I located the Lionsgate Hotel even though I had no prior booking!

Day 9 (May 18) Hampton Court to Chelsea another 22 miler this time with aching feet 🙁 Very impressive that the countryside extends so far into London. AroundMe saved me again by finding a cheap hotel in Chelsea, The Oakley the neighbouring Fiamma made me an excellent vegetarian stuffed cannelloni

which brings me to the final day

Day 10 (May19) Chelsea to The Thames Barrier 17 miles to do what a crow could fly in half! Past all the magnificent buildings associated with London, Big Ben, The Globe, Tower Bridge etc etc
All totally awesome except for the nagging pain of two small heel blisters 🙁 🙁 although relieved somewhat by meeting Alwyn & his wife who are planning to walk to Santiago from St Albans, they had just returned from cycling the length of New Zealand having previously crossed Canada and covered fair distances in Australia – amazing the folks you meet when walking.