Lesotho diary - Days 5

DAY 5: TSEHLANYANE LOOP

The briefing for today stated “a moderate walk finishing at 3pm” as the following day was going to be a tough one. The walk today turned out to be everything but “moderate” in our terms and we eventually finished at around 5pm, having walked 17km taking us around 8/9 hrs. On this sunny day, we did steep mountain climbing achieving an elevation of 900mts (2953 ft) to reach height of 2700m (8858 ft) in the first half of the day. When we reached at the top of the mountain, we decided to name our group “Storm Troopers”.

[Photo: Richard Storey]

I enjoyed the challenge of having to deal with few unexpected events and enjoyed walking on a rocky mountain requiring us to often use our hands as well as feet. After a short break at the top we headed for a steep descend towards our lunch break stop by the spring. I knew this would be little interesting for me as I had struggled going down the mountains during our training walks in the Lakes District. I stayed focused and was very pleased to make it to the lunch not far behind our front guide and only falling once and escaping injuries!

[Photo: Dave Stewart]

After lunch we headed back up a bit and then across the mountain, walking through and experiencing some amazing scenery's. The views were so perfect that it was almost unbelievable, a bit like a film back drop, and no picture can match the feeling of being there. One of the highlights of this trek was a beautiful triple water fall with a very soothing sound. As the rain was heading towards us, we had to carry on and we walked across a river and through the forest until we reached the campsite.

[Photo: Richard Storey]

This was a hard day for few of us in the team and the next day was even tougher, so few of us were rightly given an option to take an alternative route which was less strenuous. Although I did struggle today because of my knee and perhaps not having enough stamina as others in the group to move faster, I decided against the less strenuous option provided I was not hindering the progress of rest of the group. These are the times when real team work comes in play and it was great to see the whole team stuck together to take on the next day. The briefing prepared us for the next day; we knew that we had to expect a very hard day, starting at 6am, longer and steeper walk with a higher elevation target with possible altitude sickness and fewer breaks. That evening I decided to brave it and go for the ice cold shower and yes it felt very refreshing!!! :)