At night the rain was not that heavy as it was on the night before and again we truly hoped that road is passable. Checking weather forecasts was quite unpleasant activity, as they all showed snow and low temperature in Marpha, Jomsom and Muktinath, as low as +1C at the day time and -11C at night.
We’ve left Kalopani around 7:30 am and by 9 am we arrived to Marpha. The weather was sunny and quite warm, but strong cold wind made a cool afternoon.
On the way to Marpha we’ve passed a lovely village of Tukuche, an old important stop for traders and goods from Tibet to India. There is an old distillery in the town and we’ve tried to find it. It was amazing experience: riding along tiny streets, passing tiny houses, chortens (tibetian postament with stupas and engraved stones with mantra Om Mane Padme Khum) and prayers wheels.
Marpha is another lovely tiny village famous for its apples. Apple trees started from Tukuche and at this time of the year the first flowers started to bloom. When we’ve been here 10 years ago in October, apples were everywhere, and if you are desperate enough, you can shamelessly steel from gardens, as much as your backpack can fit.
After delicious breakfast with aloo paratha with local salsa and muesli with curd and apple, we took a day hike to Old Marpha settlement, which is located high on the ridge. The hike was good, with some lovely mountain views and through tibetan chortens, but strong cold wind made it less pleasant.
After the hike the local apple cider with apple pie was a great treat. Oh, I love this apple country.
