Tamang Heritage Trail (13 days)

We set off from Tatopani at 7am and start with a steep climb up to Nagthali, which we're told is the prettiest viewpoint on the Tamang Heritage Trail. The path begins by climbing steeply through mixed pine and rhododendron forest to the 'village' of Brimdang, really just two farmhouses set apart in clearings and looking out over the valley. There is another viewpoint here where a slate terrace has been built looking northwards, and the impressive fluted peak of Sanjen can be seen across the border in Tibet. Above Brimdang the forest peters out to grassland as it slants around the side of the hill. We now have views back across the valley we traversed two days ago. We can see Goljung, where we had lunch on our first morning, on the hillside opposite us, and Gatlang, with its traditional stone and slate houses, far down the valley to our right.

The monastery at Nagthali Ghyang, the high point of the Tamang Heritage Trail at 3165mNagthali Ghyang, at 3165m, is the highest point on the Tamang Heritage Trail, and is indeed a fine viewpoint. There is a small monastery here with a line of flag poles bedecked with colourful prayer flags looking east to the giant snow peaks of Langtang: Langtang II (6561m) and Langtang Lirung (7225m). The peaks are clear, but at 9am the sun is directly behind them and the view is hazy. A monk is sitting outside in the sun in his red robe, and the monastery keeper stands up to make us black tea as we rest for a few minutes and admire the view.

Langtang II (6561m) from NagthaliWe descend the opposite side of Nagthali's green hill in increasing heat as the sun gets higher, but soon we are in forest again and shaded for a while. After about 200m of steep descent we meet a Tibetan shepherd coming up the hill who warns us that his dogs are just below, and advises us to find an alternative route around them. Siling explains to me that Tibetan mastiffs can be vicious and are not to be messed with. Their purpose is to guard cattle from predators, and two of them working together can easily bring down and kill a snow leopard. Maila takes his trekking pole from off the back of his pack and Siling breaks off a branch from a tree. They both pick up large stones and I decide it would be wise to do likewise as I bravely follow on behind them. We sneak down a gully, but the mastiffs see us and start charging at us barking furiously. Siling and Maila throw their stones, and this buys us enough time to get a little further from them. We regain the path at a point where it descends steeply down into the forest. As we leg it down the hill, the mastiffs decide to have another charge, and now my courageous position at the back doesn't seem quite so clever as their heads appear about ten metres above me, slavering ferociously. Maila and I both turn around and hurl stones before scarpering off down the hill. The dogs' job done, they leave us alone, and we proceed on our way.

Passing through meadows on the descent to Thuman, with Langtang as a backdropA short while later we emerge from the forest into wide green meadows high above another valley. The path descends more gently now and Langtang is right in front of us, but so far above us - about 4000 vertical metres - that it shares its place with the clouds and would be easy to miss if you forget to look up. I remind myself that the summit of Everest would be half as far above again, such is the massive scale of the mountains in this part of the Himalayas.

We reach the next village, Thuman, at 11am having descended 800m from Nagthali. We find a tea house with a small shaded balcony overlooking fields. While we wait for lunch Siling photographs a huge yellow and black butterfly flitting about among geraniums. Our dal bhat arrives quickly this time and we are able to continue on our way by midday.

Village houses in ThumanThe next part of the trail contours round an area of uncultivated hillside ripe with grasses and wild flowers, a rare thing in inhabited parts of Nepal. At times there are steep drops to our right, before the path rises up to another fantastic viewpoint at a chorten just above the village of Dalphedi. There are no snow-capped peaks visible, but I find this viewpoint just as picturesque as others along the trail in its own way. The Bhotekoshi Nadi river thunders down a gorge about 500m below us, and I can look south down the valley to Syaphru Besi, where we started our trek, and north to the village of Timure and hills of Tibet beyond. It's a view that reminds a lot of old Chinese watercolour paintings, with lines of less distinct hills disappearing into the far distance.

Looking north up the Bhote Kosi river into the mountains of Tibet from a viewpoint on the trail above DalphediThere follows a knee-jarring descent to the river, during which I find it impossible to keep up with the sure-footed mountain boys. While I have to concentrate on where I'm putting my feet, they descend without a care, and I have to run to catch up with them on the flatter sections. By the time we reach the river I'm knackered. We cross at a steel suspension bridge and continue northwards beside the river. When we get to an open grassy area I have to ask if we can stop for a rest. All three of us immediately put our packs down and run over to the river to bathe our feet.

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