Day 17 - Ghandruk (1940m) to Dhampus (1650m) - 15km

Toby Diary

A bright overcast morning sees us descending into the Mardis Khola and then climbing to Landruk.  Jules is being difficult and has gone off in a huff about having a budget for food.  He gets over it later.

From Landruk it is a steady contouring climb through small villages up to the ridge at Deardi.  One of these small settlements consists of a couple of tea houses one of which has a landlady named Ailan who is pictured in the guide book.  She is happy to have her picture taken while we drink her tea.

From here a stiffer climb up through forest to Deardi and lunch where a couple of trinket salesmen try their hardest to sell me shawls and ‘Tiger and Goat’ games to no avail.  We also chat with a couple of pudgy Australian lasses who are also on their way back to Pokhara.  Now it is a shortish plod down the ridge to Dhampus which is visible from Deardi.  We are here by 3.30 and check in at the information post (the police post no longer functions) and after looking at a few lodges we settle into one that is mentioned in the guide book.  The cloud is now quite heavy and it is cold despite the reduced altitude.  It is the end of November of course so not too surprised but a little disappointed not to be able to do all the good photos.  Dhampus is just outside the area and seems a bit seedier than most places.  It seems that most people by pass it nowadays and go straight to the road to Gandruk.

The cloud, the cold and the run down nature of the village add to its reputation as a place where theft is rife though I can’t help thinking that the outside world has been unfair to this place or am I just sentimental about having come back to it – it may indeed be a den of thieves after all.  Whatever the cause of the lack of attention it has led to cheaper prices in Dhampus such that a meal for R90 with copious second helpings is pretty good value.  Our rooms look out onto the buffalo shelter at the back where we are eyed by a particularly fearsome specimen.  A long and boring game of hearts passes the evening before retiring for our last night in sleeping bags.

Mark Diary

Our last full day.  From the breakfast table you could follow the route, or at least the early part of it, with the eye. 

We headed down to the base of the valley, across the river at the bottom - which we had not seen from above owing to the steepness of the valley - and then up the grassy and terraced side opposite.  We climbed up to the tree line before turning right along the valley side, climbing gently upwards to reach the top ridge, about a couple of miles as the crow flies to the right from where we started.  Today was overcast although the clouds did not obscure the mountains being too high, but it was the first time that the sky had not been blue.  We quickly worked our way down the flagstone path to the edge of the village and started the winding descent to the river 2000 feet below.  A crossing over a narrow wooden bridge and then began a slow winding ascent.  After a while, and a few stops, the houses of the village of Landruk were visible above.  Pressing on we reached the village which, from the views at breakfast, we knew to be just under halfway up the side of the valley.  At this point the path headed to the right along the side of the valley with every now and again a short ascent.   

Throughout the morning we followed this path, hugging the valley and its ravines and following their contours.  By lunch time we had moved up to the tree line although our position on the path still gave a clear view down the valley from where we had come.  We stop for a short break for tea, where we were served by a woman who appears in a photo in our guide book, and then a final push through the woods to the top of the ridge.  Sitting on top of the ridge were a couple of eating places, an ideal lunch stop, and we passed an hour chatting to a group of Australians and Danish and eating fried rice.  On one side of us the valley we had just left, on the other the ridge line and the village of Dhampus 5 miles off.  We left and followed the ridge line through the woods for just over an hour although the occasional small grassy clearing surrounded by rhododendrons was more in keeping with Sussex than 5000 feet up in the Himalayas!  We broke out into the open and ahead and just below lay Dhampus.  This time we did not take the first lodge we looked at but walked to the far end of the village.  It was very basic but charming and we passed another evening playing cards by candlelight. 

I remember walking outside at night and looking across the valley, a blanket of darkness and the absence of the glare of electric lights all around gave me again that feeling of detachment from the trappings of life back home.  Everything seemed so much more peaceful and more in tune with the rhythm of nature than the forced pace of the ‘modern’ world.  Only one light broke the darkness, flickering far away on the other side of the valley and one which would most definitely have been lost in the neon glare of any western city; a candle in another home or lodge.   I could not help wondering if whoever was around it were, like us, playing cards and chatting and preparing to retire in line with nature’s rhythm now that night had arrived....