Junbesi 8776ft to Sete 8448ft
We were up early for what is going to be a hard day compared to the last few days we have had. A bright, sunny morning greets us as we leave the lodge at about 8.30am. It’s uphill from the start as we tackle a short sharp incline until we reach the crest of the ridge that takes us away from the Junbesi valley. The path meanders along, up and down for a while and then, the main event of the day, the climb up to the Lamjura La pass starts in earnest.
We have fallen into our usual walking pattern, Al and Dene way ahead, Steve and Me separated by 100 metres or so and Mark and Dan some way behind. The walk up to the pass is nearly all forest, denser, more rugged and at a steeper incline than the forest down into Junbesi. As we enter the forest at the start of the incline I pass by a Nepali girl stood by the trail. She seems quite amused by the two overweight white guys puffing and panting their way up through her village and she falls in beside me, walking along. It turns out she speaks English and obviously wants practice it so we get chatting. Pertember Singh, nine years old chats away to me, in good English about her family, her school and her life as I grind up the hill, breathless and sweating, and she dances around like a ballerina, circling me like a sheepdog rounding up sheep.
After about twenty minutes we reach her house and she shows me her Cow, tied up in the field. I take a picture of her with her sisters and we part company. Two more different people it would be hard to imagine, me a fifty something white guy from the UK, she, a nine year old Nepali girl living in the rural part of a poor, developing world country. Relating and interacting with people who live very different lives to your own is what makes travel an experience worth having. It makes you more understanding, tolerant and respectful of other cultures and people. It enriches you and makes you a better Human Being in fact. I leave Pertember Singh with a feeling that life is going to go well for her.
It’s a very long haul up through the forest but eventually, after a number of hours and a bucket load of lost sweat I reach the Lamjura La pass. At 11,581ft the pass is the new highest point we have been since Namche Bazaar. It also, poignantly, marks the highest point that we will be at for the rest of the trek to Jiri and our time in Nepal. You could say its downhill from now on, if only that were true, there are still some ridges to get over yet. Two lodges sit at either side of the pass and Dene and Al were already at the far one, enjoying the Sunshine.
We joined them and lunch in the Sun followed. As I sat, enjoying the tea, food, views and company I feel a great sense of satisfaction and peace, this journey has been a good one. After the pass there was a long walk down and I had tired legs towards the end of the day. We arrive at Sete, our stopping place for the night about 4.30pm and we check in to what looks like a fairly new lodge with a Western toilet and a sink in the same room, sheer luxury. To round off what was a very satisfying day I got some good pictures of the sun setting over the distant hills from the lodge bedroom window. Nirvana indeed.
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For map and route details of this walk click ‘learn more’ below.
