So here I am at 2,800m in a remote hill top village in the foothills of the Himalayas. We’ve just had a game of football with the local kids.

We have been on our Nepali trek for three days.  It is a 12 day route designed to get our bodies kick-started into the altitude acclimatisation process.  It appears that we are far from any standard trekking routes, judging by the baffled looks we get from the people in each village we pass through.

We are in remote areas now, with no road access to these towns, just steep and narrow muddy paths. The people lead a tough subsistence life in very old Tibetan style huts.  Small Buddhist and Hindu temples are everywhere.

The landscape is stunning, as you look two kilometres down into ravines and stepped mountain sides where crops are grown. I’ve been trying to avoid looking four kilometres upwards however, knowing the challenge that awaits us.    

The team is getting to know each other and we seem to have a good, varied bunch. We’re taking the pace slowly and eating lots, which suits me just fine. We’ve had blasting hot weather in the daytime; although as we climb higher you can feel the temperature dropping.

Today I got my first glimpse of some seriously imposing Himalayan peaks. Far off in the distance, they blanked the skyline blocking out everything behind them.  My awe was quickly swapped with concern as I found out they were “only” about 7000m – almost two kilometres lower than Everest.

Onwards and upwards…