The walking is steep once more, as we head towards the Tisang La pass (3320m) which will take us into the Amatal valley. The pass is in a pleasantly cool area of pine forest, and we have an excellent view of the next part of our trek. On the horizon we can also see our first real himal (snowy mountain).

In no time, we stop for lunch at a beautiful spot next to a river. The sherpas must know what’s coming next. We stuff ourselves with yak cheese and roti washed down with the usual buckets of tea. When we finally get moving again, the path dives down rapidly into thick steamy jungle - not what we were expecting at all.

Gaurishankar peeping over the Tisang La Photo © Jeremy Thomson 1998

Sue is first to discover a Juga (leech), and paranoia sets in. These cunning creatures attach themselves to vegetation next to a path. When something walks past, they hurl themselves bodily onto it. They then find a suitable site to bite, and inject it first with anaesthetic and anti-coagulant before attaching on for a good meal. They are able to drink many times their own body-weight before dropping off.

We continue to descend, the weather getting hotter all the time. Eventually we reach the village of Rhutang via a covered bridge, and carry on down the river. After some time we think it may be the wrong way, so we return to the village. Using our rudimentary Nepali, we talk to a young boy and ascertain that the sherpas did indeed go in the same direction. We head off once more, only to hear distant shouting. The porters are still on the other side of the valley. They seem to say that we are going the wrong way, but refuse to come down to where we are.

A Juga caught red-handed Photo © Alan Geer 1998

Finally, Pasang appears and tells us what we already knew but hadn’t admitted to ourselves - that the path we need is the tiny one to our left going almost vertically up the valley side. Oh well. After 300m climbing, we reach a temple near Bigu Gompa. Kami leads us higher up the path towards the main temple, which starts an argument between him and Pasang, who wants to stay at the lower building. We are trapped in the middle, surrounded by leeches and getting rained upon while darkness descends. Eventually everyone agrees to stay at the lower temple. We have dinner in a sort of barn, in the course of which Antoine manages to hit his head on our lantern, smashing the glass. It has not been a good day.