Mum's Mountain of a trek to raise funds

A Himalayan adventure.

I had often dreamt of seeing the highest mountains in the world; to glimpse a different culture among these giants, where villagers still plough their fields using buffalo and ragged children follow with bag in hand, planting potatoes.   Those white lofty peaks, turning golden at sunset and blazing into a new day with amber rays warming distant, milky hills.

After nearly two years of fund raising for Macmillan Cancer support, a charity I hold dear to my heart, I was at last setting out on a very grand adventure. An 11 day trekking challenge in Nepal with 27 other intrepid individuals. We had three flights to get us there and a bus ride up rutted, crumbling tracks into the heart of the Annapurna conservation area. From Kharjung in the Sardi Khola valley it was immediately apparent that this was to be no picnic in the Himalayas. Steep wooded trails and endless stone steps would eventually lead us to Tara top at over 3000m. As leeches wriggled their way into our boots, spring flowers of wild lilac coloured Primula and sweet pale, blue Violets made a colourful carpet on silvery steps dotted with shavings of iridescent mica.