Day 95 Tuesday 5 December, Tadapani to Ghorapani, Nepal

Awoken by the porters sleeping below comparing ring tones and the clock which plays Jingle Bells at 20mins past each hour. Overnight the sky has cleared completely and there are spectacular views from the terrace where we have breakfast in the sun. I3 has recovered so we make an early start after watching a helicopter attempt several abortive landings on a small area of grass adjoining the terrace. All the village turns out to encourage it down, running out with chalk to make an H on the grass, clearing the drying corn, moving the goat and taking down the washing line. Very sensibly the pilot decides that Tadapani International Airport’s runway is a bit short and eventually flies off to disturb other villages leaving a Japanese guy on crutches waving frantically and haggling with a mule owner on the rate to go to Ghandruk - not the world's most comfortable journey we suspect.

It’s another beautiful climb thru forest and waterfalls up to the 3500m pass at Deurali (meaning pass) where we have momos (Tibetan ravioli) and ginger tea before walking along a narrow ridge towards Ghorapani (meaning ‘Horse water’). The mountain scenery changes as the Dhuraligiri range comes into view, along with the Annapurna range.

Ghorapani is the main village on the route to jomson and the Mustang valley, with lots of mule caravans. All the houses and lodges in the village are made of blue cladding and roofing materials. We stay at Sunny Hotel, which provides the best accommodation on the trek.