mynepalguide.com

The Reality

Trekking is simply walking; it is not mountaineering or climbing. You walk mostly on reasonable trails and will only occasionally encounter snow. We trek to enjoy, so the walking days are not long and we stop frequently, most days involve 3-6 hours actual walking, so you don't need to be an athlete.

"On the map each day's march looked pitifully short. But in such country there is no monotony. Up to the ridge ahead or down to the next river there is always something to go for and something fresh to see. Let the saddle-sore cyclist caper joyfully across the flat, but for the man on foot, the more broken the country the better. He sees not whither he must go nor whence he has come; neither far enough ahead, nor behind, to modify his cheerful estimate of the distance run or to be done.

But however reasonable and true such ideas are to a man seated in a chair, they take on a different hue when the same man is 'bummelling' along the tracks of Nepal. Witness the notes made of one march: 'up a steep narrow track, like walking in a sewer, 500 stone steps up to Samri - no view - 2000 ft. down - hellish steep and rough track - porters slow - no view - no bananas - no raksi." HW Tilman