15.01.10 - 5.20pm (11.37am UK), ref Trek Day Three.

Well, we must have found some energy reserves because…

An alarm call (bang on the door by a Sherpa) at 6.00am gave us notice that we needed to be downstairs for our cup of black tea in 20 minutes, fully abluted. 10 minutes after our tea we were on the trail, heading upwards at what felt an even more cruel angle, to see the sun rise from a 360 degree vantage point within the grounds of the Nepalese Army barracks above Namche. The sky was virtually without a cloud & as the sun rose, the summits of the surrounding peaks illuminated one by one. It was a truly awesome sight. We ‘saw’ Everest properly for the first time too, although shrouded by the clouds it generated of its own volition. As we descended, the view of Everest became a little clearer, but we weren’t too disappointed… read on :-)

We returned to the lodge for breakfast - which we were more than ready for - arriving around 8.00am & braced ourselves for the next part of our day of rest…

Leaving at 9.00am we headed for the famous Everest View Hotel at 3880m - 440m higher than Namche. Another killer climb, but surprisingly we all felt much better during the climb & were certainly a more ‘compact’ group. When we arrived at the hotel it was a bit touch & go as to whether we would be let in as a military helicopter had landed, loaded full of officials, & some special negotiations had to take place between our Sherpa, Pasang, & ‘the powers’ to get us through. We had watched the helicopter fly up through the valley beneath us & land too, which was amazing to watch.

Pasang did well & we were allowed through to the hotel’s rear outdoor area where we ordered our drinks & - let me tell you - we saw that the hotel lived up to its name. The view was breathtaking - & yes, there it was, the tallest mountain in the world! There, right in front of us! Little us! & believe me, we felt very little indeed. I’ll probably use the words amazing, breathtaking, awesome etc. a lot, but I have to tell you, until now I don’t think I really knew their true meaning. We certainly all do now!

A welcome hot drink later, we started our descent - a very steep one, very hard on the knees - & arrived back in Namche around 1pm. After eagerly devouring another very welcome meal, the afternoon was ours to use as we saw fit. Some explored the small shops, some walked around the market & some stayed at the lodge to write diaries/postcards/journals (delete as applicable). Some keen ‘haggling’ resulted in various purchases being made - the most obscure being a set Yaks, purchased by Bob, from a Tebetan lady!

Which brings us to now really. Dinner will be in about an hour - the being menu fairly consistent along the trail - where we will sit to digest an amazing variety of dishes whose base ingredients are eggs, potatoes, cheese, with the odd smattering of Yak meat, baked beans, garlic & spices. I can’t even begin to tell you the trouble we’re each having ‘keeping up appearances’… needless to say, none of us are walking too close to the person in front! I personally don’t think I ever want to see, let alone eat, another egg in my life! I can’t even begin to think how I’m going to make it up to poor Rob, my room-mate!

Signing off then for now - the battery is very low on the laptop, so I’m going to charge it up gthen see if I can upload some pics later on.

Tim, less bruised & swollen, for SLS, signing off. GB.