Johnny Fenn’s grand trek across Nepal is underway

Johnny Fenn is two weeks into his epic walk across Nepal, an adventure that is estimated to take around four months. He aims to raise an incredible £16,000, with the proceeds being divided equally between The Gurkha Welfare Trust and Hello World. Johnny and his team, Mini and Rakshya, are thoroughly enjoying their exploration of the far west of the country, a region that is far less travelled – meaning that finding the best route forward is a challenge!

Visit Johnny’s fundraising page Track Johnny’s progress across Nepal

Starting from Jhulagjat on the border with India, the walk began with a steep climb and a lunch stop with incredible views over the river. A week into their journey, Johnny, Mini and Rakshya made steady progress despite the challenge of the difficult terrain, with their route taking them across rivers, up steep tracks and along narrow paths with a sheer drop on one side.

Chehen joins Johnny for a section of his walk.

Throughout his journey, Johnny will be joined on sections of his walk by local staff and supporters. During week one he met up with Chehen Lama, an innovator and entrepreneur.  “It’s very special to share some of the sights and experiences out here and I’ve learnt a lot about and from Chehen,” Johnny said. Later Johnny will be joined by Hari Budha Magar, another Ambassador for the GWT. Hari is a double above-knee amputee and record-breaking mountaineer who will be attempting to summit Mount Everest in 2023.

At the end of week two, Johnny, Mini and Rakshya gained plenty of altitude, getting to roughly 3,500m before getting caught in some snow and high winds. As such, they took an ‘enforced’ rest day and hoped to get going again the following day.

“In my last clip I said we had 700 metres to climb,” Johnny said. “That was an underestimation, not by us exactly but by the villagers… they just didn’t know. A brilliant lesson really. Today we’ve just climbed 2500 metres – that’s a big climb. We’re almost at 3,500 metres now, and I’ve got to that pass…snow covered mountains on both sides of the pass, it’s just stunningly beautiful. We’re just about to lose the sun as well, and the temperature is going to plummet, so we’ve got to lose height pretty quickly and go and find some water.

“It’s beautiful. I knew it was going to be a big day, but I wasn’t expecting quite that big! So, not too many more of those, but lots more of the views please!”

Johnny’s regular updates give us a wonderful snapshot of life in rural Nepal – be sure to keep up with him on his Instagram page.