The climb to Namche Bazaar

Day 5 of the Base Camp trip - the second day of trekking - dawns bright and clear. So far we are being incredibly lucky with the weather - previous to our trip there had been a reasonably bad spell.

The average weather for this time of year is for mornings to be clear and sunny, with clouds coming over in the mid-afternoon, making for a dull finish, and that's exactly what we're seeing. We might head out before the sun has made it high enough to hit the bottom of the valley, but pretty soon we're in the light and layers are quickly removed.

Here is a typical view, taken from our morning tea stop.

We continue to follow the Dudh Kosi river valley, and, after lunch in Monjo enter Sagarmatha National Park. We follow the river for a short while further before climbing 115 meters in order to cross the 'unnecessarily high bridge'. The reason the height seems unnecessary is that as soon as its been crossed, the path climbs back down again. The key benefit to being so high is that, from one end of the bridge we gain our first glimpse of Everest itself.

Pretty soon the path begins a steady upward trend and we know we have a 600 meter climb up to where we need to get to. It's here that we learn the word bistari - Nepalese for slowly.

After a couple of hours during which we all find our own pace, the whole group reaches our destination for the day - Namche Bazaar. We are greeted by this Stupa - its almost too much effort to reach for the camera to take the photo - before entering the village proper and finding our lodge for a nice welcoming cup of lemon tea.