Day 4

After a much better night's sleep on the train than any of us expected, we arrived at goodness knows what station in the new province of Uttarakhand. We drove to Cheena peak, stopping for tea and toast at a tiny hilltop 'café' on our way. Mia has decided to come down with a heavy cold and was really sleepy and not herself at all this morning, so I was a bit concerned about the 6km walk up a mountain that we were heading for.

I needn't have worried, she rose to the occasion brilliantly and happily managed both the ascent and descent - most of which we were entertained by Flora's madcap inventions for a paragliding suit she was going to make from materials available in the forest to save herself the walk down!! All the way we saw the sights of the forest, such as langur monkeys and vultures and from about half way up, we got our first view of the Himalayas. Mountains is mountains to a philistine like me, but this was one of the things that Scott had come for - and it did not disappoint. We had to come early; as the sun rises and the day gets hotter, so do the mountain mists and clouds and by the time we reached the same point on our descent, there was no trace that the mountains had ever been there, so shrouded in cloud were they by that time. At the top of Cheena peak was a lodge manned 24/7/365 by at least two foresters who keep a look out for, amongst other things, forest fires, leopards and sloth bears

Then to NainaTal - an old colonial hill station built around a big mountain lake, now an Indian holiday resort, quite full and busier than we envisaged, but should have expected so close to the Diwali holiday. Just enough time for a snack and a walk through the bazaar, and yes, a shopping opportunity for Ellie who picked up a fab shirt for 100 rupees (about £1.20 I think!)

Then off on one of the most 'interesting' drives I think I have had in my life. If driving round hairpin bends in a narrow road on the side of a mountain isn't exciting enough for you, add in the fact that the recent monsoons have caused landslides and washed away the road in places and brought trees down and then spice it up with a driver who (it turns out) doesn't exactly know where he is going and keeps taking the wrong road (like the one that ended up at an unfinished bridge) which we then have to take right back again. A 3 hour journey turned into a 5+ hour endurance event. To say that we were tired and grumpy when we finally arrived is an understatement. Had our destination been horrible, I was ready to get back in the car and demand to be driven to the airport (not that the driver could have found it anyway!!)

Thankfully where we were finally released from the vehicle of torture, was a really cute and very peaceful 'jungle lodge' staffed by mostly ancient lovely men in camouflage suits and berets. A shower, a change of clothes and some supper revived us and we could finally relax and play some games before bed. And best of all - we're not packing up and moving on tomorrow!!