Nepal - Manaslu Circuit - Day 5 - Deng to Namrung (2900m) 5-6 hours

Yesterday afternoon, at the time of ordering breakfast, we anticipated we would be hungry next morning, and had ordered a 'big breakfast' at a very reasonable 500 rupee.  Nev has woken feeling unwell with an unsettled stomach (nauseous and gassy).  I'm not feeling hungry and we each make a feeble attempt to eat the enormous amount of food on our plates: Tibetan bread, scrambled eggs and fried potato, served with black tea.  I hate being wasteful but we leave most of the meals untouched.

We leave at 7:30 a.m. as we know we've got a long day ahead including 800 m of climbing.  There was some pleasant, almost flat walking along a valley before lunch, but also some steep climbs and drops.  The mountains are becoming visible and the higher altitude is only achieved by climbing makeshift steps and lots of rock climbing. It took 4&1/4 hours to Prok, just beyond Ghap. 

Nev has continued to feel unwell and doesn't order lunch.  My vegetable omelette is eaten outdoors, surrounded by stunning mountains and the river roaring below.

Nev's only focus is 'to get there' and all day he has walked at a pace I've found difficult to keep up with. After lunch it took us only 2&1/2 hours to reach Namrung.  This was largely climbing 680m switch-backing and rock-climbing through beautiful forest.  Some trees have been felled and sawn into planks ready for carrying to building sites.  New buildings are evident in every village.  There are small numbers of houses smattered on the river side route we are traveling, but large groups of buildings are clustered high on the opposite hillside beyond the river.  Today KK pointed out the Himalayan Blue Sheep, a bit of misnomer as they are not sheep, nor are they blue.  The brown, goat-like looking animals, are well camouflaged in the landscape.

On entering Namrung we walked passed a very new resort.  Here, just around the corner, there is only one room left.  The rooms here are external buildings but we have been allocated the only vacancy.  It is very close to the tea-house and it's been allocated to us so that Nev can go and lie down.  It’s a clean room and tea house.  Jo and Greg have been accommodated in another area, and will join us for dinner.  I headed to the shower room to freshen up.  The highest the temperature displayed was 14C on the gauge, so I braved it, until the temperature suddenly dropped to 11 degrees, at which point the tap was quickly turned to off!