Day four - Namche to Tengboche - 12,687 feet - 3.5 hours
We awake at 5.30am and get amazing views of the Himalayas out of our lodge window. We have breakfast and are on the trail to Tengboche by 7.30am on the dot. We have a slight incline to tackle out of Namche, then a flat followed by a severe, knee crunching downhill. Lucy and I look at each other and already we're not looking forward to climbing that bad boy on the way back down.
We stop for a half hour tea break before tackling the steepest, most gruelling ascent we've ever done. It lasted for 2 hours and by the time we crawled into Tengboche, we were absolutely numb from exhaustion.
Our first glimpse of the mountains
Tea stop and smiles before the uphill begins
Day five - Tengboche to Pheriche - 14,340 feet - 4 hours
Our guide wakes us at 6am. It's a clear morning and this is our first sight of Mount Everest. We start walking in brilliant sunshine and the scenery is incredible along the way. At 14,000 feet the trees stop growing so the landscape changes significantly. Everything around us starts to resemble a lunar landscape.
Pheriche is a barren, damp old place with very few lodges and tea houses and even fewer people. It's not high season yet for Everest trekking so there are no fellow trekkers or tourists around to chat with either.
Sunshine below 14,000 feet
Gardens and farmland
Welcome to Pheriche. Population: 37 yaks
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