Maximum Altitude: 3,520m

We left at 8am with the sun up and the day already warm. Today a T-Shirt would do. Some were in shorts but I elected to wear my Lightweight Rohans. The trail undulated but seemed to include a lot of downhill at the start. We arrived at a small village and noticed that the altitude was the same as Namche which was a worry as we knew there was a 400m height gain today. It was obviously being saved until the end.

At the small village of Thamo there is a Monastery just above the main trail. A few went up to see it. I met a very nice Nun who told us we could go inside but that boots needed to be left outside. The inside was beautiful, brightly coloured but also very simple. She was also selling souvenirs. I bought a necklace which she put on for me, explaining that it showed the Buddhas eyes and also the symbol for 'Om' or Peace.

Onwards we soon came to Samde our lunch stop where we had vegetable noodles and chips and very nice it was too. Following the trail we were dwarfed by Konde at over 6,000m on our left before dropping down to the river where we saw some beautiful paintings on the rocks. From there, our final big climb up to Thame and the lodge for the evening. During the afternoon we had a demonstration of the Ganmow bag and Oxygen kit. Let's hope no-one needs it! Thame is famous for several reasons; it is the birth place of Tenzing Norgay and Apa Sherpa (who summitted Everest 21 times during his career as a high altitude Sherpa) and also the home of a woman who ran and won the Everest Marathon on more than one occasion. It turns out she runs a Lodge which boasts Chocolate Cake which obviously was too much to resist, although after patiently waiting for her to bake it, we wished we had not bothered - it was horrid!

The draw of the Monastery above Thame was too much to resist so whilst everyone else retired to the lodge I took a walk up the gentle path, arriving within about 20 minutes. It was deserted so I carefully and quietly made my way into the temple area, not wanting to disturb or offend the Monks. I need not have worried. I was spotted by a young Monk who encouraged me to visit the temple but warned me that shoes must be removed and no photography was allowed. I complied and was given the reward of a personal guided tour of the inside of the temple, shown the books which dated from 600 years ago, told about the Monastery itself - one of the oldest in the region and the young Monk told me he had been there 15 years since the age of 8. It was a very moving experience and I felt very refreshed but humbled as I bade him farewell, promising to visit the next day with my friends. At the age of 23, he had everything he wanted, was totally content with his life and couldn't conceive of being anywhere else or doing anything else. As I walked back down to the lodge in the fading light I stopped for a few moments just to enjoy the silence, the view across the valley and to try to imagine spending an entire lifetime there.

Walking down I passed several Stupas (Buddhist shrines) and noticed on the far side of the ridge, a huge Stupa - that will make a nice destination for tomorrow afternoon.

It is noticeably colder at this altitude than previous evenings so the wood burner was welcome as were the water bottles, full as they were, with hot water. They made nice body and hand warmers.

So far, it would not have been necessary to wear hiking boots. The trail is an easy one and trainers would have been perfectly adequate.