Na to Phortse - November 4th 1999

Tried some sleeping pills last night, they didn't work, just left a nasty taste in my mouth. Anyway, another clear blue morning in a campsite surrounded by huge snowy mountains, again. Started off for Phortse at around 8:30am, walking in the Dudh Kosi valley, river is braided, many scrubby bushes in bright autumn colours. Could see the trail going up valley from Machermo on the other side of the valley. Stopped for a hot lemon drink at Thare at 10:45am after an hour of uphill. The Himalayan Lodge at Thare is very basic, small fields with stone walls and primitive stone huts.

Lunch at Thore, a beautiful spot, with views up the valley to Cho Oyu, still at 14,400', similar to yesterday's camp site. As at Thare, stone huts with Yaks grazing in the pasture whilst we ate our gormet lunch of pilchards, tibetan bread, beans and coleslaw. Could see Phortse in the distance, walked all afternoon along an undulating path with the Dudh Kosi rushing along hundreds of feet below us. The afternoon dragged on and on as we went along interlocking spur after interlocking spur. Passed avalanche remains, chortens and finally through a birch and rhodedendron wood down into Phortse, camped just below the monastery. Lovely views of Dole where we stayed on the way up to Gokyo, many huge waterfalls, hundreds of feet long. Everyone seems very tired today.