The group met in a very unexpected hot and muggy Kathmandu and spent a couple of days there to sort out details for the trip and do some sightseeing.
 The first trek was around the Annapurna Region.  We drove by bus for 8 hours to the city of Pokhara and commenced the trek from there.   We walked up the Seti River  valley to the villages of Lhachok and Ghachok.  Then up through the hills covered in rainforest and leeches.  Although the was little rain, the afternoons bought clouds and fog in to hide the views which we were assured, were magnificent.   Our highest point  on this trek was 2650 metres.  We then moved onto Parje, near to the village of Siklis.
 Then it was all downhill (4637 steps!) to the Mardi River valley. From our final campsite high on ridge at Thokolate, there were to be spectacular views of the Annapurna Range.  Unfortunately there was too much fog and hardly any mountains were seen at all.  Next we had several "wet" days of rafting in front of us.  The rain had other ideas and while we did get wet, not much of it was on the Trisuli river where it should have been!
We then moved to Chitwan National Park for some welcome relief from sleeping in tents.  Real beds and showers were much appreciated.  Washing off the sticky sand which appeared in all sorts of places become the number one priority.
After travelling back to Kathmandu by bus, some prepared for the trip home while others gathered their strength for the trip to Everest.
A cold and wet morning greeted us as we headed for the airport for the flight to Lukla.  The plane ride followed the valleys towards Lukla and the mountains could be seen out of the left hand side of the plane.  The landing at Lukla has to be experienced to be believed.  The runway appeared on the side of a hill as the clouds broke.  Looking more like a track in the middle of the village the runway slopes upwards. You don't really "land" as much as stop flying.  Down safely we collected our gear and started the pilgrimage up the Khumbu Valley towards Namche Bazaar and Everest.  The walking was slow and easy going giving us time to acclimatize to the slowly increasing altitude.  For the first couple of days  the track is fairly level, and the walking is easy.  Its not until you reach the suspension bridge  that the climb to Namche Bazaar starts.  Its a 600 metre climb up switchbacks which takes between 1 and 2 hours.  About a third of the way up on the end of one of the switchbacks you can peer between the conifers and get some glimpses of Everest.   We had a perfect day and had our first real look at the mountain under blue skies.  Later we met some trekkers on their way to Base Camp who had been in the area for 5 days and had not seen the mountains at all.  As you approach Namche you don't see it until you round the last corner and then it spreads out before you.  It lies in a  big bowl shaped valley.  From the shape of it it would appear that the snow should sweep it away in an avalanche but it obviously does not happen.  We had a rest and acclimatization day in Namche before we continued further up the valley.  A day walk on the trail out towards Thame was organized.  The trial itself is fairly flat and has spectacular views of the surrounding mountains.  The weather was warm and sunny and as we walked the scenery became more and more spectacular.
In the afternoon Martin and I decided to walk up the steep hill behind Namche to the airstrip at Synboche.   This airstrip is no longer used but it is still a strange sight when you crest the hill.  From there we continued along the path towards the Everest View Hotel.  The track winds along the ridge above the trail to Tengboche and affords wonderful views of the valley.  The hotel itself has only recently re-opened.  In the past tourists (mainly Japanese) were flown in from Kathmandu to airstrip at Synboche.  Due to the thinner atmosphere they were placed on oxygen and carried to the hotel on yaks.  The hotel has oxygen in the rooms so the visitors can sleep soundly.  After hopefully catching a glimpse of the mountain they are ferried back down to the airstrip and flown back to civilization.
Martin and I snuck in a quite beer here as we had not suffered from any symptoms of altitude sickness.
The walk back down the hill to Namche was almost worse than the trip  up as our knees took a pounding.  By now it was late in the day and the temperature was dropping quickly.
The nights in Namche were fairly cold and everyone sat around the pot-belly stove trying to keep warm.
There is not a lot to do here at night as we were off the alcohol because it can increase the susceptibility to altitude sickness.
We were woken early next morning (5:00am!) for a walk up to the National Park outpost to watch the sunrise.  After the short but steep walk up to the ridge we stood around in the cold waiting for the sun to make its appearance.  The sun did not disappoint us and as it rose it revealed the snow-covered mountains. The further it rose the more spectacular the views became.

Although the sun was up it took a long while for the temperature to meet it. Later on that day it time to move up the valley to Tengboche.  The walk along the side of the mountain was easy to start with.  It was mainly flat and had amazing views down the valley to the Dudh Kosi river.  After about 2 hours walking and a steep (down) hill we arrived for lunch at Phunki Tenga.  here the often photographed bridge traverses the river and leads to the start of the climb up to Tengboche.  This is a "good" hill.  Quite steep with no level parts until you reach the top of the ridge and the monastery.  although it is steep it only takes between 1 and 2.5 hours for most people to reach the top. The altitude here is 3867m. Some people felt the effects of the altitude while others had no problems.  It was noticeably colder here with the daytime temp around 12deg C.  As we warmed up at the lodge some of the others trekkers on their way to base camp set off up the hill behind the lodge to a lookout at 4500m.  they returned after half an hour or so as it had begun to snow lightly and was getting colder still.  After dinner that night, the usual games of cards and catching up of diaries entertained all.
The night was very cold and after waking several times we went in search of extra blankets.  Fortunately we were staying in the store-room so we found them easily.  The 2 synthetic bags we were given for the trip were not warm enough and I would recommend that anyone who has a down bag rated for these temperatures should take it!
Rob, Martin, Nigel and myself were woken at 5 the next morning.  Our objective was the lookout that the others had tried the night before.  With our guide Kumar we set of into the bitterly cold but clear morning.  It was just getting light as we reached the lookout. The walk up took around half an hour.  As we climbed we warmed up quickly but when we stopped to catch our breath the cold quickly snuck in and forced us to move on.  The temperature at 4500 meters that morning -6deg C.  As the photos show it was a clear morning for a while.  We were lucky enough to see a big avalanche falling off Thamseku.  We all thought it was really quiet until the sound reached us some moments later.  Later we found that the early risers at the lodge had heard it but had not been able to see far enough up the valley to witness the size of the fall.  After taking the traditional photos we started the walk back towards Namche.  Going down the steep hill towards the river was almost worse than than the slog up.  Everyone's knees took a pounding as we headed down.  Once at the bottom there was a short but steep section to get us back up the other side.  From there we went a different route back to Namche.  We veered left over the back towards the village of Kumdung.  This route arrives at the back of the Everest Hotel. Once over the top we headed down to the airstrip and then along the top of the hill for a spectacular view of Namche from above.
    The next saw us heading back towards Lukla.  The weather took a turn for the worse and light rain began to fall as we started off.  The walk out is much quicker as we do not have to worry about the altitude.  After to days walk we arrived back at a wet Lukla.  We woke early the next morning and climbed aboard the Twin Otter puddle-jumper and returned to to the smog of Kathmandu.
In the month that we had been in Nepal the temperature had fallen markedly.  When we arrived it was hot and humid but now a month later, it was much cooler and rained more frequently.
After two rest days we flew out for home.