











Walk into Thanchowk

Himalayan Hotel in Thanchowk

Today we started at 7am and arrived at Thanchowk at 2:45pm. We covered 16kms. Sure our plan was to reach Chame which was another 6kms down the trail but what the hell did we know. Just because the Lonely Planet says Day Four is Tal to Chame doesn't make it a realistic goal.Our mantra for today was 'moderately fit my ass'. In the information we read it talked about the trek not being that difficult and that anyone who was 'moderately fit' could do it. Really?! Are these moderately fit people on horseback because we were finding this thing difficult.It was up, up, up....Today we gained 1000m+ in elevation. In case you aren't aware that's a lot!!! We started to see snow capped mountains in the distance but unfortunately as the day progressed it got more and more overcast so the views of Manaslu we were supposed to get were obscured.Today was also the day of the very precarious waterfall crossing. We'd show you a picture of it but Barb was too scared to even photograph it which says quite a lot. After lunch (noodle soup) in Danaque it turned VERY WINDY and we ended up on a very exposed ridge.To top it off there was water rushing down right across the path on this ridge cascading over the edge to the drop off below. Not a little bit of water but a full fledged raging stream had developed across the trail. Someone had thrown a log across the stream but it didn't look, and wasn't very secure. We were both happy to make it across without incident.Once past this point on the path we were able to enjoy ourselves again and we headed into an amazingly beautiful pine forest which we weren't expecting.The stone-walled village of Thanchowk where we ended the day is one of the most traditional on the circuit, almost completely unaffected by tourism.