10-08 Kagbeni-Chaile

Nilgiri 7061m from Kagbeni looking down the Kali Gandaki

8th.Oct.18 Kagbeni – Chaile

From my room which I shared with the young man from Chemnitz there was a panoramic view back down the valley with Nilgiri (7061m) rising above it. On the banks of the river we could see hundreds of pilgrims at their ablutions. In the village there was a lot of activity with movements of pilgrims, tourists and livestock.

Once we left the village it was much quieter and most of the day was spent walking along the still wide Kali Gandaki gorge. At one point we climbed about 200m to avoid a cliff face. On the plateau above we had lunch (noodle soup) at a small restaurant on the road next to an ancient village, Tangbe, which seemed to me to be mostly in ruins. I don’t think it still has many inhabitants. They grow apples and even peaches there but they are very small. Further along we bought a bag of peaches from a man sitting all alone apart from his small son outside his solitary house at the side of the road. Before passing through a larger and more active village, Chuksang, we could see the locals threshing corn and brewing beer. We were though not allowed to stop there and continued until we reached the point where the gorge becomes narrow with high cliffs. Next to an existing steel footbridge a concrete road bridge is under construction. A short but steep climb brought us to our next overnight stay at Chaile, where the lodge also had a room with a view along the valley, this time upstream towards the narrow gorge.

Chaile 1_r16

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