DAY 137 (Sunday 04 December 2011)

Today was the day of the walk up to CHAMPA DEVI, we all met just before 0900hrs and waited for the Comd (Col Andrew Mills), Maj Gen Davis and Maj Pack to show up then we were on our way.  Fortunately we didn’t have to walk to the start point as it was a bit of a distance, so we were taken there by vehicle.

There were actually more Gurkhas on this trip than there were us Brits, maybe because some of them were still away and others were just too lazy to bother themselves to get out of bed on a Sunday morning, however, I shall tip my hat to Mandy (new Civil Secretary) and her husband Anthony as this was only their second weekend in country and they haven’t really had the chance to acclimatise, however, they still showed up.

When we got to the start point, which happened to be the same place that me, Marion and Mark Dennis went to on DAY 24 we all dispersed from the mini bus to be told by the RSM WO1 Bikram Ghale (he organised the walk) that it would take us about 2 hours to get to CHAMPA DEVI SUMMIT and about an hour back.

The route to CHAMPA DEVI (furthest point in the distance)

Well he wasn’t wrong, it took me, Charlie, Mandy and Anthony almost 2 hours to get there, but please remember that this was Mandy’s and Anthony’s first big walk since they have been here so we stayed behind to walk with them and keep them company, unlike some who just disappeared off to do their own thing, even without a bike he was off, yes you guessed it BK, the others stopped at different intervals until we either caught them up or they saw us still coming in the distance.

When we finally reached the top of CHAMPA DEVI we stopped there to have a spot of lunch which was a packed lunch from the cookhouse, for those of you who don’t know, in these packed lunches you can almost guarantee to get.....cheese or egg sandwich (or even a mix of both), a chocolate bar, packet of biscuits, crisps, drink and a piece of fruit, however, what you also get with a Gurkha pack lunch is a Chilli, yes a chilli, they seem to have a whole green chilli with everything over here.

CHAMPA DEVI Summit

 As we were walking back down from the summit, the clouds had lifted and the views were amazing

View on the way back down when the clouds cleared

We finally got back to the bus to take us back home about an hour after leaving the summit, when we got back to camp it was straight to the Mess for a well earned drink and some TIPAN TAPAN before we all departed to go our separate ways for the night.

For me it was back to the flat to do my ironing and my letter to mum as I had something more to talk to her about other than my usual week in work.