Arughat Soti Khola

We are off! What a way to start the day. First the bed tea arrives and we record our oxygen saturation and pulse rate before we are allowed to get up. Then the wash water arrives and we scuttle to the scales in thermals for our daily weigh in. After a breakfast of cereal, boiled eggs, toast and lots of tea we set off along the trail. Our route has taken us along Arughat "high street", already with tiny shops selling everything from water containers to lumps of meat. Then we continued upstream, following the dusty road through rice paddy fields, wheat, sweetcorn and small, sweet bananas. The valley is hot and humid, so dousing heads under running water was a great way to cool off. We've been treated to an easy day, arriving at our campsite for a late lunch. Time to rest, read, recce the village.

After lunch a vicious thunder storm ripped in with gusty winds and lashing rain. By then we were safely in our tents.

Distance walked 12km
Net ascent 100m
Gross ascent 200m
Walking time 3.5 hours
Temperature 28 degrees C