Everest marathon 25th November

uAs we were still on the race route we had to make sure we knew the route today. The first thing we noticed after about 30 minutes walk through lovely woods was that a big girder bridge had been destroyed in the earthquake. We had to cross the river by a smaller bridge and then climb up the other side of the river. This will be a tricky descent on race day.  The rest of the route to Pangboche was a comfortable traverse. In Pangboche, which is a refreshment stop, three of us decided to go with Nima to look at the monastery in the upper village. It was a nice walk via a mass of mani stones to the village which was very different to the lower village with little farmsteads spread amongst the fields. Inevitably the monastery was closed so we headed back down to the race route to walk for another hour to the lunch stop. On the way we passed the BBC crew with Mira Rai. After lunch we only had a shortish one hour walk to our night stop in Pheriche. On the way we had to be careful to make sure we identified the right route because of yet another washed out bridge. Pheriche is a bit of a one horse town and a bit grim placed in the middle of a wide valley. It was cold when the the sun disappeared at 3.30 but the lodge was warm even if the toilet facilities were primitive.
We had a great night's sleep getting up at 7.30 the next morning.