Down and up to Monjo

Start: Lukla (2,843m) End: Monjo (2,846m)

The first day of trekking began sometime after 11am, when we’d made sure all the bags had arrived from Lukla. It was a beautiful day, and we were soon stripping down to our base layers, slapping on the sunscreen and working on our tans.

On the face of it, the stats would suggest that today was a pretty straightforward 3m climb, but Lukla is high up on the side of a mountain and the path drops gradually down to cross the Dudh Khosi river, then goes up and down several times, before finally climbing up to Monjo.

We’re now in what’s possibly the best tea-house ever - it’s the only one I’ve ever seen with en-suite showers (hot!) and toilets.