Annapurna trekking

The last four days have been spent 'trekking' around the Annapurna region.

The first day was spent walking pretty much along the river bank with local food/water/snack shops every 10 mins or so. After about 1.5 hours we'd gotten to our destination and were wondering if we'd gone on the 'trekking for dummies' tour as we'd only climbed from about 1000m to about 1050m.

This introduction totally prepared us for the next day in which we walked for about 4 hours to reach Ghandruk village at 1939m. Fairly hard slog esp when the last 400m was done in only 4km.
Whilst we felt a bit of pain, we were very mindful not to voice it too loudly as our porters were carrying the equivalent of two peoples backpacks each using their forehead slings.
(we only had daypacks, though a few people were suffering blocked noses and haveing trouble breathing)

Great views of the Annapurna range were had and enjoyed by all who made it out of bed for sunrise and then onto day 3 in which we walked down to the river valley again (about 1100m) and then all the way up the other side for lunch and to the pass at 2100 meters. WHEW!
Some definite soreness in the calf/thigh/leg muscle region after that.
The last day was fairly easy with just a descent into the next valley to meet our bus, but still murder on the overworked calves of everyone.

Amazing to see how it is so much a part of the Nepalese life, people in their 70's doing the same thing we are, kids off to school somewhere 500m (vertically) up the mountain, donkey trains bringing supplies to the villages (don't stand on the downhill side when they go past) and terraced fields everywhere.
(the kids volleyball game in the dry rice paddy was fun to watch but not for the participant who hit it over the side, it can go down a long way if you're not careful)

Again, hats off to our porters, they did a great job and even though we'd consolidated our packs into one bag and left a lot in Pokhara, they were just amazing.