30 years ago: 27 May 1982, Langtang Trek day 11, River Lodge to forest chorten

Thursday 27th May 1982:  River Lodge to chorten in forest above Syabru (9 miles)

We were up early and after a bowl of porridge walked quite fast to Lama Lodge for a more substantial second breakfast.  Why do I often think of the Lord of the Rings while trekking?  We then took our time walking to Syabru, seeing three Grey-bellied Tesias and a male and two female Scarlet Finches in the gorge by the river crossing on the way.  Once across the Langtang Khola the trail followed the river down a long way before a steep climb up to Syabru (7000 ft).  We ate at Syabru and bought lots of supplies (seemingly most of what its one shop had that was portable).  We then started the steep 90 minute climb up the trail into the forest above, keen to sleep out at a Satyr Tragopan site to be sure of being there for dawn.  My bag was far too heavy with the supplies and the climb just about killed me, much to Dave and Nick’s apparent amusement!  They would climb on ahead, sit waiting for me and just as I reached them get up and continue on.  These youngsters have no respect for their elders thought me, soon to be 28, about a couple of 24-25 year olds!  We eventually got to the chorten in the forest (c8500 ft) at dusk and sorted out the most confortable places to sleep in the open.  We heard a tragopan just after our arrival but it was too dark to go wandering around to look for it (a torch might have helped here).  There were lots of rustling noises in the forest after dark and a bit of thunder and rain during the night but my first night in the open in the Himsalayas went better than expected.  The food I bought in Syabru, hopefully be sufficient to last 5 days, was:  6x100g tins of sardines (54 rupees), 24x100g packets of Nebico biscuits (84 rupees), 12x100g packets of malt biscuits (42 rupees), 2x100g packets of Orange Nut biscuits (8 rupees), a 400g bag of cornflakes (15 rupees) and 9 hard boiled eggs (20 rupees).

Birds recorded:  Common Hill Partridge h, Satyr Tragopan h, Impeyan Pheasant h, Woodcock 1, Rock Dove 1, Rufous Turtle Dove 5, Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon 3, Large Hawk Cuckoo h, Cuckoo 3, Oriental Cuckoo h, Little Cuckoo 1, Darjeeling Pied Woodpecker 2, Brown-fronted Woodpecker 2, Bay Woodpecker 1, Nepal House Martin 2, Black Bulbul 4, Brown Dipper 2, Indian Blue Robin 1, Plumbeous Redstart 6, Grey Bushchat 5, River Chat 2, Spotted Forktail 1, Blue Whistling Thrush 4, Pied Ground Thrush 1 female, Grey-bellied Tesia 3, Striated Prinia h, Golden-spectacled Warbler 2, Chestnut-crowned Warbler 1, Black-faced Warbler 1, Blyth’s Crowned Leaf Warbler 3, Large-billed Leaf Warbler h, Beautiful Niltava 4, Verditer Flycatcher 2, Grey-headed Flycatcher 2, Striated Laughingthrush 1, Variegated Laughingthrush 2, Red-headed Laughingthrush 3, White-browed Shrike Babbler 1, Black-capped Sibia 5, Stripe-throated Yuhina 1, Red-headed Tit 2, White-tailed Nuthatch 1, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker 2, Ashy Drongo 1, Bronzed Drongo 4, Gold-billed Blue Magpie 1, Tree Sparrow 2, *Scarlet Finch 1 male and 2 females.

flowers above Syabru - any excuse for a five minute rest!

in the forest above Syabru