Sunday 15th April

It’s funny how snatches of music come into your mind when you’re pressed and journeying, but some readers will know the words of the song above.. they are kinda comforting.

We had a blast of a walk today; the toughest yet. Down 2000ft, then up 2000ft to Guna temple then down again, then back up 1400ft to a resting point at our guide’s house and up a very steep final 600ft to Eagles Nest. Beads of sweat took about ten minutes into the walk to burst across my head and stayed there until my forehead was encrusted with salt. So much descending on steep rocky paths was a true test of knee ligaments and concentration.

But it was the most glorious day, beginning and ending in hot sunshine

Our guide was Shapu, a fiendishly fit and wiry man with years of experience in hikes and climbs.

He set a cracking pace. ‘Keep going legs’ we each thought privately.

We went through a couple of gateways en route to the temple and donged the bell. There were tea sellers in the most unlikely of places, hoping to catch a passing pilgrim.

We climbed the baking 2000ft to Guna temple and watched Hindu ceremonies and ritual singing outside the shrine to Rudra, one of Shiva’s wife’s incarnations. Under a cloudless bright sky it was all very colourful and musical.

The views down to the plains stretched as far as the eye could see.

While Shapu was talking to me about his beliefs, Jeremy was taking photos. He had gone round the back of one of the buildings where a dead calf was being expertly skinned. Eek! We were not quite sure whether it was for consumption or sacrifice, but ironically, another cow was calmly observing the whole thing….!

Once we had finished soaking up the atmosphere, we headed nearly all the way down again and then cut across to Naddi, Shapu’s village. The sun was right overhead and our legs were beginning to feel it, picking their way down the stony track. It was a good thing we’d had an enormous breakfast. I became grateful for some of the longer distance cycling I have done when your mind takes you forward where your body tries to leave off! The marine training then came in (not that I’ve had any myself, I hasten to add!), when we arrived at Naddi expecting a sit down for some much needed refreshment, only to find that none had been arranged! We looked askance. Mercifully our guide took us in to his house, and offered a lemon and ginger tea and a bit later some chapatis and peanut butter – good fuel for the 600 ft ascent back to Eagles Nest!

While we were there I had the pleasure of meeting his little (3 year old?) niece. She was shy at first, but her little eyes flashed. We didn’t need much spoken language – we had the universal one of play!

All too soon it was time to get going again. The sun had already moved round so a different light followed us home. We were glad of the cooling shade of the pines as we neared the top, gasping.

We ate ravenously in front of the fire that evening and fell into bed full of thoughts and pictures of the whole day.