Greg's Himalayan Trek

I love this pic - my first morning back at home, with the kids in the back garden.

My bruv and me, just a few minutes before he tied the knot to the lovely Anne-Louise.

The happy couple!

Hi Folks

Been a busy week - just five days after getting home, we were off to Italy to attend my brother's marriage to the lovely Anne-Louise, in Tuscany. A fine long weekend of outstanding company, food and wine, followed by a standard week of school for the kids, work for Elizabeth and the beginning of another 'resettlement' course for me - in falconry! Something I've always wanted to do and I am LOVING it. More to come soon on this, and additional photos to upload from the trek, but attached here (if it has worked) is a second interview I did for BFBS Radio, broadcast on Monday. Hope it comes out OK!

Thanks to a couple of extremely generous donations, our fundraising total is now up to over £1600! Thank you to everyone who has contributed and, if you feel like helping, please go to the webpage at www.justgiving,com/greghouse

Until the next instalment

Greg

In the lap of luxury, enjoying the deepest and bubbliest bath of my life at the Imperial Hotel, Delhi. Check the beard! I could watch my room TV through the window to the right of the pic!

On top of Hanamul La, just shy of 5000m and after a climb of 1300m in snowy conditions. The view over my shoulder, 180 degrees wide and of the village and Gompa at Lingshed, was mind-blowing.

Hanamil Campsite in the early evening light - it was here that we 'helped' the locals with their barley threshing.

Difficult to get a handle on the scale of this shot. The mountain is about 8000ft from base to top. I am standing at about 12,500ft above sea level.

Greetings all.

Well, having not heard an internal combustion engine, mobile phone or car horn for 3 blissful weeks, I am now back in Delhi where life is hard up against the other end of the spectrum! Far from the peace, tranquility and time to comtemplate in Ladakh, Delhi is, today, totally full-on. It took us 45 minutes just to get out of the airport car park. Thought I was going to choke on the fumes. BUT, all is well. I have decided that my exertions deserve a little pampering and so I write this from the business centre at the beautiful Imperial Hotel, in the centre of town.

There is a bit or nervousness around here at the moment, from Saturday's bombings, but in the hotel everything is gentile and tranquil. I have had a splendid day. I booked on a special promotional rate then, on arrival, was promptly upgraded to a suite! I have luxuriated in the deepest, bubbliest bath I have ever had, while watching my Bang & Olufsen TV through a window into the bedroom. I have thoroughly enjoyed an Ayurvedan (spell check doesn't cover that one) massage. I stepped on the bathroom scales - several times to confirm - and it would appear that I have lost in the order of 8kg! And, I have just got back from a fitting for a one-day tailoring service for a suit - better work at keeping the weight off when I get back!

And do you know, for all the pampering, luxury and finery, I wish I was back in my little tent, looking through the flap at huge, cragged peaks soaring above the valley, a herd of ibex silhouetted against the evening sky, where black kites soared and wheeled. I shall make the absolute most of my remaining time in Delhi before flying home tomorrow but it was such a privilege to be out in the most unbelieveable scenery, enjoying such peace and good local hospitality, for 3 weeks solid.

There is much to tell and, much editing to do - Kim (our trek leader) - gave me 2 DVDs of her shots from the trip this morning at 5am when we left the hotel in Leh for the airport. Collectively, the group took over 5000 pictures, many of them (from first viewings on cameras) crackers. Just hope mine live up to expectations when I get them onto the PC at home.

Better go - got some catching up to do with my journal. Oh, and I might just have a gin and tonic before dinner....

Photos to come in a couple of days when ensconsed back at home and time allows. Until then, thanks again for looking in.

This is Greg, for blog.co.uk, in New Delhi, India. Now back to the studio.

I am back in Leh, alive and well after the most incredible 3 week journey. There is far too much to write in one post here - I will need to get home and consolidate some notes (I have scrawled about 200 pages of my journal) before putting a decent account on here but, in the meantime, here are some of the key events of the trip:

We walked about 200 miles in total, at altitudes ranging from 11,500ft to 16,750ft. We crossed 10 mountain passes, which according to Kim is a high number for a Ladakhi trek. My legs certainly know that they've done some work and, happily, my stomach has shrunk accordingly. Not sure how much weight I've lost, but it is in the order of several kilos. Not bad when you factor in the huge amount of food consumed on the trip - carbs overload every day but then, a lot of energy was expended and the body needs much more calories at altitude than at sea level.

I have a great beard! I am deliberating about bringing it home or not - the consensus here is that I do return looking like Brian Blessed, even if it brings certain threatened marital benefit restrictions!

I have taken 1100 photographs - the camera and batteries held up brilliantly, the latter mainly because all batteries went in a sock, in my sleeping bag every night, to stay warm. The second battery (of 4) was still going strong at the end of the trek and, when I got back to the hotel yesterday and charged them all, batteries 3 and 4 still held virtually a full charge after 3 weeks!

We had some interesting weather, ranging from searing heat to snow and rain storms, deep frosts and sand storms. I have never consumed or been covered in so much dust - on several days freezing glacial rivers were utlised for full baths just to get the worst of it off - this brought on the raising of my voice by 2 octaves.

On day 3 (thankfully a rest day), I went down with several symptoms of acute mountain sickness (AMS). I seriously wondered if I would be able to carry on but, turning back would not have helped much as it would have entailed re-crossing a near-5000m pass on the way back to a road. Fortunately, Kim (the trek leader) had a supply of a fabulous drug called Diamox, which accelerates the acclimitisation process by a factor of two. By the next morning, I was able to trek and, after a couple more days of the drug, I was fully OK. The only side effect of this course is that it makes one urinate like a thoroughbred race horse. This means that about 4 litres of water a day are required to stay properly hydrated. Take a look at your litre bottles of cordial to see just how much that is!

We have been invited in to local village houses, I have drunk Chang (the local barley beer - it is delicious and tastes not unlike Devon scrumpy, probably just as deadly), helped to thresh and sort barley during harvest, visited countless beautiful gompas of varying sizes and I have given almost 50 youngsters pencils brought from the UK - incredible what tiny gifts such as these means to these kids.

On the wildlife front, things were a little sparse. Some serious, unseasonal, rains that lasted weeks up to 7 days before our arrival eroded large areas of grazing land for blue sheep and ibex. We did see both of these high-level animals at a distance but only on one occasion each. There are loads of marmots everywhere, we saw several pika mice (like hamsters), a dead red fox, red and black kites, peregrine falcons, thousands of bloody pigeons, and himalayan magpies. Redstarts (like a slightly large robin) followed us everywhere. We saw a wallcreeper in Yulchung.

By far the most exciting finds, however, were several sets of fresh prints from snow leopards, in two different locations. The first set was about a week old, the second from within 24 hours of our visit. This was thrilling as there are only thought to be 200 in the whole of Ladakh. To see prints from 1% of the population on a summer trek was phenomenal.

There is so much more to tell, but I am sure this is already quite long enough for now. Once back in the UK, next week, I will upload some photos to share some of the views and sights to which we have been treated. For now, I need to go and do some serious shopping and get packing for my return to Delhi and then home.

Jullay!

Greg

OK - almost time to pack up and head out. We set off at 8am tomorrow (Wednesday) and have been busying ourselves buying up last minute supplies before the off.

Yesterday afternoon, we left Leh town for the first time and headed off to visit two local Gompas (Monasteries). The first was Matho Gompa, like most others it is perched high on an outcrop of rock, overlooking its village and watercourse. It has been in existence for over 600 years and the drive out to it was impressive enough, even without what lay within. The scenery surrounding Leh cannot be done justice by mere words - it's one of those places that has to be experienced first hand to get a full measure of it. The Stok range of mountains, immediately to the south of the Indus valley along which runs the Manali - Leh - Srinagar highway, soared above us to permanently snow-bound peaks above 6000 metres, or about 20,000 feet. The valley itself is predominantly high desert punctuated by splashes of green around villages situated on the lower level slopes of the mountains on either side, built along tributaries of the Indus. The locals use an ingeniously simple but effective form of irrigation to water their crops that involves moving earth to divert the flow along the minimalist leats that are so perfectly constructed they look almost natural. They share the water to ensure that all villagers get sufficient. In one village we passed a bus that was boarding for the long trip to Manali - no sitting or standing room inside so the remaining customers were climbing onto the roof. We crossed the Indus via an ancient cantilevered bridge bedecked with prayer flags and headed up to Matho. The gompa sits at 11,500 feet and climbing the few flights of steps to the entrance was alarmingly draining. We were welcomed in by the keyholding monk and ushered into the various chambers. This was my first visit to a gompa and I was not prepared for the staggeringly detailed and beautiful artwork within. Completed to incredible detail over huge areas of wall, ceiling, pillar and roof, the only comparison one can make is with the Vatican Museum in Rome, save for the fact that here, as in all gompas, trained monks complete the artwork rather than commissioned 'masters'. In one library room sat a gold chorten, encrusted with gemstones and liberally coated in turquoise. Surrounding it were silk tapestries of exquisite complication. Painted columns and roof trusses, together with hundreds of ancient sanskrits - again all hand-written - made up the room. This was not unique to Matho, or Stakna, which we next visited. Both had several rooms like this and it would have been easy to get saturated by it all and start to lose focus on what was on show. Happily, Kim and Lhakpa (our Nepali head guide) are both knowledgeable on many aspects of the different buddhist sects and were able to explain the meaning behind several of the frescoes. This short piece does little to fully put across the affect entering a place like Stakna or Matho has - I could have stayed for hours, just sitting looking at the walls and ceilings. This is, of course, what the monks do, quietly meditating as they contemplate this life and the next to come.

And when they're not meditating, they can stand outside and take in the fabulous views offered from their elevated perspective. Matho itself reminded me a little of the rice terraces of northen Luzon in the Phillipines. The terracing was shallower but extensive and the backdrop, on one side of the Stok range and on the other of the Indus and Northern Ladakhi mountains, was something of which one would never grow weary. I do regret not reading more about the history of Tibetan Buddhism before travelling out here, such that I could be better equipped to take in and more fully understand more of what is portrayed within the Gompa walls.

Today, we have been out from about 9 until 2, completing an 'acclimatisation walk' up to the Leh Palace and then further to the Fort. In all, a total climb of only about 500ft but in a short, steep burst in the full glare of the hot sun. The catch-phrase for this trip is going to be 'slow and steady', I think! With a sensible pace and plenty of short stops, however, I think we'll be fine. The palace is undergoing a comprehensive re-fit and, once complete, will be a must for a visit. The fort, while small, was impressive and the tiny gompa within housed a Buddha so large as to be unbelieveable that it could fit - the architecture cleverly included a small extended roof section in the centre of the building, hidden to those outside.

We took a more leafy route walking back into town and stopped in at a carpet and pashmina merchant known to Kim (I'm sure she's on commission) to look at some amazing rugs (both in detail, quality and price....) and to enjoy some delicious saffron tea. I may, or may not, have made some purchases!

Tonight, we shall feast for, tomorrow, we depart for the 5 hour jeep ride to the trek start point. For those with access to maps of the area, we stop tomorrow night at Hanupatta before moving on towards Photoksar, Zangla and then the exploratory phase towards Lingshed and finally through to Rangdum where we meet up with our jeep once more. We should be on trail for 3 weeks, so there'll be nothing more for that period.

Thanks for reading this far, and I will - if able to write or move - post again when we return to Leh.

Until then - adieu.

It's been an eventful 48 hours. On Sunday afternoon, I had one of those 'small world' moments. Our group was sat, drinking 'lassi', a delicious yoghurt and fruit based drink, chatting away to our guide Kim and one of her business partners Joel, who had just returned from a trek with a group. Conversation got round to careers and, once Joel knew my background, he mentioned that one of the girls in his group had a brother who flew the same type of aircraft for the Service and had just moved from Yorkshire to Scotland. Instant goose-pimples, as there was only one squadron of fighters in Yorkshire, which we disbanded in April. Turns out her brother is a chap I taught when an instructor and operated with on the squadron for over two years - Eddie Morris! I subsequently met Jess back at the hotel; her bright eyes and big smile were unmistakenly Morris and she was every bit as good company. Fancy that, 6000 miles from home in the Himalaya, coming to trek with the same company at the same time!

Later, we had our first 'full group' evening meal at a local Tibetan restaurant. The food was not quite up to the standard of the evening before and the beer was truly awful - sweet, sickly and hugely over-manufactured. I only had 3 small glasses of the stuff, the third under suffrance to help finish the jug (always a bad sign if the beer pitches up in a silver jug). It was called 'Godfather', and later that night it gave me hot and cold sweats and, for the first time in my life, hallucinations (no comments required)! It took most of the night to get rid of the symptoms and the headache was monumental. The next day, Joel would tell me that it was known to be full of chemicals but that, recently, the brewery had, allegedly, cleaned up its act and stopped adding formaldehyde to the cocktail. Not sure, myself....

Jullay!

Second day here, and the altitude is making itself felt. I started getting a headache mid afternoon yesterday and, by the time we were heading out for a meal in the evening, it was thumping. I had been warned to expect this and took a good dose of paracetamol and continued to drink as much water as possible, although I am sure lots of you know how tasty puri-tabbed water is!

This morning, I feel much better. The headache is all but gone and I have had a reasonable amount of sleep for the first time in 3 days. The rest of the trekking group arrived this morning - an American couple and an Austrian chef, formerly an artist, who lives and works in Shanghai! They seem to be a very pleasant group which bodes well for the month ahead.

There is a bustling market in Leh this morning - surprising for a Sunday. Kim tells me that the stall holders don't take days off and the market is like this every day of the week. Today's main fare is second hand clothes and new designer trainers. The free-wandering cattle and goats seem pretty unimpressed by it all.

Time to head off and do some clothes washing, prior to meeting up with the team for some lunch. More from your Ladakhi correspondent tomorrow!

TTFN

A somewhat breathless greeting from the Ladhaki capital, Leh. Had the most spectacular flight in this morning, seeing more mountains and glaciers than I had ever seen before. 7000m peaks stuck out through the cloud tops on the way up and I was a little nervous as we descended into the murk, aware of all the hills around us. Thank goodness for GPS, is all I can say - we popped out in a valley, with mountainsides rising above us just a couple of miles to each side. No full instrument approach here - not enough room for even a 5 mile final straight run-in - we had to overfly the airfield and loop around about 200 degrees, descending in the turn and only about 500ft above a scree slope that descended with us. We then flew through a gap that looked as if it had been blasted out of a small hill just shy of the airfield boundary before touching down onto a pretty uneven and very heavily sloping strip. Great sport!

The air here is blissfully clear of the humidity and choking fumes of Delhi and, at 06:30, it was a pleasant 16 degrees C. Now, just after midday, it is much hotter and on the short walk up the hill from the hotel I am feeling the effects of the altitude. Had a 2-hour nap when I got here and, even then, I found myself waking up a little short of breath. It will take a couple of days to acclimatise, but that's what we've planned for, so all should be OK.

Time to go off and do some exploring in the bazaar and grab some lunch. More tomorrow, when I should have met the rest of the group taking part in the trek. Jullay!

Namas Te! from India!

Safely in to Delhi this morning having had a very enjoyable flight over on the Virgin A-340. Light loading so lots of space to spread out and relax which was a bonus. Spent the majority of the flight chatting to the captain and co-pilot, both of whom are ex-RAF types I've flown with in the past. Got invited to the on-board bar - yes, there really is one - in upper class to sit and chat. All extremely civilised! Interesting route took us over Russia, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan before crossing into India. If I was American, I'd qualify for a chestful of medals for crossing several combat zones, for that trip - in fact, I'd probably get a purple heart as I stubbed my toe on the toilet door over Georgia. It hurt for ages until the stewardess brought me a glass of champagne to ease my suffering.

Well, Delhi certainly lives up to it's reputation of being a vibrant, clolourful and diverse place. If you thought Leicester Square was heaving on a Saturday evening, you've not seen the half of it! I am staying in the main market area of Pahar Ganj - home of hotels more modest than those with which most of us would be familiar. That said, it's perfect for what I need - clean, cool and with a fridge to keep that bottled water cold. Almost fell at the first hurdle this morning when about to brush my teeth - remembered in the nick of time to use bottled water. Could have been a bad start!

The traffic here is hugely enjoyable, if you are an occasional passenger! If people honked their horns in the UK like they do here there'd be fist fights breaking out all over the place. I saw no accidents, but a few wing mirrors were clipped and I became quickly de-sensitised to the millimetre tolerances that drivers employ to miss other road users, be they rickshaws, taxis, government vehicles, mopeds or bison.

Spent a couple of hours wandering around the local market areas this afternoon. UK-based electricians would be interested to see the jungle of supply lines running overhead, looking like the culinary output of an epileptic spaghetti chef. I had the most fantastic pint of freshly squeezed orange, guava and pomegranate juice, before dodging the livestock and kamikaze ta-tas on the way beack to the hotel. This evening's activities have been limited to an excursion downtown to eat the most delicious chicken tikka with naan and mint sauces I have ever had. My local guide 'Prince' knows the good haunts! We used the brand new metro system to get back to Pahar Ganj - it puts the tube to absolute shame. Our return walk from the station was made more interesting when I thought I was being pick-pocketed; in fact, an elephant was using his trunk to warn me of his approach, carrying fare-paying passengers on his back! He walked right past me as if it was the most natural thing in the world!

I think I'm going to like India - in fact, I am loving it already.

Back at the digs now and almost time to turn in - 16:10 in UK, 20:40 here, and I leave the hotel for the airport at 02:30 local tomorrow. My destination, Leh, is at 10,500ft and so a hideously early flight is required in order to land there before the temperature rises too much.

More from Leh, where I hope not to be too out of breath to type!