Saturday, 30th October …..

Saturday, 31st October …..

What a place is Jomsom! We flew in here this morning in a Twin Otter which runs a shuttle service between Pokhara and this mountain town. Flying between the mountains was awe-inspiring and we could see Daulaghiri, the 8th highest mountain in the world, over to our left. The air was clear and we had wonderful views of the villages below us. Coming into Jomsom airport was heart-in-the-mouth stuff. The runway is just long enough with nothing to spare.

As we stepped out of the plane, we were dumbstruck by the sight of Nilgiri, almost 7000m tall which towers over the town. Our resort is a short distance out of the town and we were transported by the resort’s limousine, a blue wagon on the back of a tractor.

The resort is extraordinary. It is constructed of stone with huge windows looking out on Nilgiri. Our room is also constructed of stone, like something out of the Flintstones. It’s hard to heat, of course, but our rooms are cosy and we will be given hot water bottles to take to bed.


Today might be the highlight of our trip because we are going to walk a section of the Annapurna Circuit. Trekking on this part of the globe has always been a dream and it’s hard to believe that it is coming to fruition at long last. Our route will take us through the towns of Syang and Marpha and give us a taste of what a major trek might be like.

Our party consists of Steve and Ann, the tour leaders, Dippy, our Nepali guide, Beth, Trish, Martin and Sue, and me. The others have opted for a day at the resort.

We are walking on a dirt road, which is very dusty and covered with large stones. There are occasional trucks, buses and motorbikes so we have to be watchful. There are also occasional flocks of goats and sheep being moved from one village to another.

We stop at Syang to look at a Trekking Lodge, one of many which offer cheap accommodation to trekkers. It’s a nice little town and here we see the first of the many apple trees which make this area famous as the apple capital of Nepal. The trekking lodge has apple rings strung on lengths of bamboo and hung in the window to dry. The ladies want to use the toilet at the lodge so Ann buys a couple of bags of dried apples to say thank-you,.

When the next town, Marpha, is in sight, Beth loses the sole of one of her boots. A quick running repair with a boot lace gets her into Marpha where Dippy astounds us by saying there is a shoe repairer here. Off he goes with the boot and within half an hour he is back having had the sole glued and stitched back in place. Total cost 200 rupees, less than $3.


We have a great lunch at a lovely restaurant – mushroom soup, toasted tomato, yak cheese and onion sandwich and a slice of their famous apple crumble. It’s taken us three hours to get here but we aim to cut that time on the way back. We go by a slightly different route, following a track along the river. In this riverbed, the locals look for ammonite fossils which they sell to the passing trekkers. We had a look as we wandered along but weren’t lucky. Anyway Lonely Planet recommends that foreigners don’t buy any natural treasures like fossils, and we all want to be good global citizens.

In fact, we do the return trip in just 2 ½ hours, tired but very satisfied with our day out.