26/01/2018 – Chumoa (2750m) to Lukla (2830m)

Done!

Another relatively short day today to get us back to where it all began in the mountains, Lukla. Interesting we would start and end at basically the same altitude. 5 hours of “Nepali Flat” awaited and then we would be back for our final night in the Himalayas.

I was feeling great but there was the sense in the group that we were all keen to be done. Not that we were struggling or had enough, but having reached our goal, and with Kathmandu (and running water!) so close we just wanted to get there. So off we hoofed it.

last views of everest

During the way back we got to our last view of Everest, back where we saw her first. I’m not sure how everyone else was, but for me it was quite sad to think I may not ever see Mount Everest again with my own eyes. Who knows though hey? I had certainly loved the hiking and could easily see myself back to explore more of the Himalayas.

The only real breaks were for some tea in Phakding (the location of our first night in the mountains) and a bit of lunch along the way too. At about 1:45pm we were back in Lukla. Wow. We were back… what a strange feeling. It was hard to imagine we were back from having been to Base Camp. We all celebrated with a drink, most of downing an Everest beer (when in Rome). It was fine, but boy was it gone quick!

I decided to go for a wander during the afternoon, but like Namche, the town was very quiet due to the low season. My highlight was having some fun with some of the local kids, my soccer practice from the night before coming in very handy.

It was our last night with the porters, so we all had dinner together and made our appreciation known. Pasang gave a lovely speech, as tomorrow we would all be in Kathmandu and beginning to go our own ways. Our 3 porters were amazing… the hard workers behind the scenes getting our bags where they needed to be. If this trip contributed to their livelihoods a little then I was very happy to do my small part.