Our last day of trekking saw us climb slightly out of camp to a high point on a ridge. Kate was not feeling too well and after a dose of sickness and diarrhoea I put her on a course of cypro. It had certainly worked with Ben who made a quick recovery. From the top of the ridge it was downhill all the way. The group was well spread out and came together for a brief rest stop, but soon spread out again as soon as we started walking again. Some were better able to cope with the terrain than others. Kate was struggling and Angela and I both took turns to guide her. When we reached lunch she realised she had not put her walking socks on. She had several very angry looking blisters. Her trek was over. After lunch she covered the rest of the distance on a mule. Soon after lunch we came to the first village, quite a large one on the other side of the valley. It coincided with the weather looking as if it was going to change for the worse. Having started out very clear and sunny, dark, heavy, clouds now loomed and the base of them obliterated the ridges above. Fortunately it did not rain. The rock formations were also very interesting with wind carved features forming a cliff to our right.
Eventually we reached the next village where our camp was to be by a school. When we got there the muleteers had pitched the tents in a lay-by opposite the school. Jamal was not impressed but the muleteers could not pitch camp where Jamal wanted because they did not have the camping fee. For a few minutes there was chaos as the tents were moved to a more suitable site as the light rapidly faded.
Today was Harriet’s 19th birthday and we were expecting a cake but nothing materialised. We did, however, have a sing song after dinner led by by the irrepressible Tom!