Five days in Nepal; Two in Herefordshire.
Tuesday: Ghyaru (3730 m) – Pokhara / पोखरा (830 m). We trekked from Ghyaru down to Lower Pisang (3250 m), then caught a jeep to Besi Sahar / Besishahar / वेसीशहर (760 m), said farewell to the crew and changed into a very nice estate car. Unfortunately the road to Pokhara was just as bumpy as the one from Lower Pisang: monsoon damage and road repairs. A long day’s driving. Dinner with Tseten and Tenzi in the Tashiling Tibetan Refugee Camp Settlement.
Wednesday: A day in Pokhara. Tashiling, Peace Stupa, Boat to Lakeside, Shopping, Taxi back to the lovely Siddhartha Garden Hotel for beer and dal mhut before dinner.
Thursday: Morning / midday flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu. None of us wanted to return to / on those terrible roads.
Friday: A day in Kathmandu, farewells to Val, Sonia and Sara, killing time at the hotel until 10pm. To the airport for my overnight flight back to the UK.
Saturday: More time to kill at KTM airport until my Qatar Airways flight QR 0645 (KTM-DOH) and QR 0327 (DOH-LGW). Thameslink and Elizabeth Line to PAD. GWR industrial action impact not as bad as feared – I got the 13.50 PAD-WOF-HFD, where Phil was waiting for me. Beaming smiles all round. Cheese and handmade wholemeal, seeded bread for tea – then bed.
Sunday: Coffee and croissants for breakfast. Unpacking, washing etc. Time for a speedy mow just before the rain set in – got the long grass cut and picked up some of the leaves too. Wind and rain during the afternoon brought more leaves down mind you…. Pizza à la Phil for dinner!
Monday: Heavy rain. More unpacking / putting away. Logged onto work laptop to download email ahead of tomorrow afternoon (wound up having to get Tech Support – 4 weeks off = password expiry). Prepped actual itinerary spreadsheet. Worked through weeknotes backlog. Over to Winchester to see dad and Jean: third mince pie of the season – and we’re still only in November!
In greenhouse news, we are still getting cherry toms and strawberries!
TV: The English (meh – we stopped watching after 2 episodes), Happy Valley (series 2)
Podcasts: History Extra, Books and Authors, Bookclub.
Photos: Herefordshire week 151 on Flickr.
Phil: w/e 2022-11-20.