Maximum Altitude: 4,410m

The first part of the day was some good easy walking, pretty much entirely downhill, passing through various villages on the way. It would have been Dad's birthday today and I have to admit to a 'moment' along the way. I got quite emotional and stood staring at the mountains thinking how proud he would have been that I was doing what I was doing. A couple of the guys stopped to make sure I was okay and I found myself choking out the words as I explained.

Crossing the river re-introduced us to the wire bridges and their gentle swaying. From our low point of the river it was uphill to a small developing village called Deboche which had lots of building works going on and rather amusingly had a home for old Nuns. From there it was a serious pull up to the Tengboche Monastery, although it followed a good track through Rhodedendron bushes and pleasant trees. Along the way, we saw more than our fair share of load carrying Nepalese, mostly seeming to be carrying building supplies up and down. Well, I guess there are a limited number of ways in which raw materials can be moved around this area. Exhausted we arrived in the Tengboche Estate - it is much more than a Monastery, featuring a Hotel, a couple of Lodges and cafes and a field area with people milling around. Lunch at the cafe/bakery had a good selection of food but many opted for a Cheese and Tomato sandwich and some chips which took a while to arrive but was amazing. Most, including me, elected to have dessert. I had a piece of chocolate cake and a cold drink. I felt fat afterwards but happy.

After lunch, we had a tour of the Monastery which was bigger than Thame but didn't move me as much if I was being honest.

Our route from the Monastery took us back down to the river but as we left we could see Namche Bazaar and the Everest View Hotel. It seems an age since we were there but I remember thinking that we could see Tengboche Monastery and how I was looking forward to being there. The route drops around 500m back down to the river which was bad news because our Lodge for the night was quite high up on the other side of the river. Undulating is an understatement.

At the river it was shaky bridge time followed by an hour or more of fairly steep uphill walking which tested the legs. Eventually we crested and found ourselves on a mostly flat path running around the hillside to the now-visible Lodge. A few trinket stores offered very similar wares; lots of bracelets, necklaces and what-nots, plus one that had some Kukri Knives for sale at only Re800 which seemed like a bargain, but were in poor condition so I left them. I might have another look in the morning, or maybe leave it until Namche where we have an hour or so for shopping and cake - best get my plan sorted for what I need. Of course we do have Kathmandu on the weekend but I don't want to spend the time there shopping.

The Lodge (AmaDablam Lodge) was really nice and we (Chris and I) had a three-bed room with an en-suite toilet which will be a real luxury. I had a shower for Re400 which also seemed like a bargain but as it was almost 5pm was a chilly affair especially after turning the hot water off. We also discovered that the Fridge we had seen being transported along the trail ended at this lodge! There was a box outside exactly the same as the one we had seen and on enquiring were told that, indeed they had received a Fridge freezer just a few weeks ago.

For dinner, I had Spring Roll and Chips which was very nice plus the obligatory soup. Adam and Jodie produced packets of Haribos for all as it is Halloween. Some of us got luminous badges too.