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The sun ducked behind an amphitheatre of hills

Day 2

Morning delivered us at Kathgodam, from where the touristy hill stations of Uttarakhand are temptingly within reach. Loading our Himalayan bundle of camping gear into an apologetic four-wheel drive, we hurried away from the teak and pine monocultures of the Siwalik Hills. En route we passed Bhimtal, a bird-less lake swarming with honeymooners, and Almora, a resort town choked with auto-rickshaws.

For a South Indian accustomed to the deciduous forests of the subcontinent, every view gleaned from the car window was an education in the natural history of the Lesser Himalayas. As our vehicle grunted beside the pebbly bed of the Kosi River, we passed copses of chir pine, poplar, Persian lilac, horse chestnut and rhododendron, as well as clumps of Mimosa sinensis with their frothy snot-green flowers. Hedges of pomegranate thrust orange blossoms into view. Occasionally, the shocking starburst of a coral tree lit up the landscape.

At Mandoli, we crossed the jade-green Pindar, a major tributary of the Ganga. By 4 pm, we pulled up at Lohajung, 7,000 feet above sea level. Here, we checked in (lofty term for dumping luggage in a dormitory) at the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam guest house.

A dishevelled fellow, who in better times could have been a doppelgänger for Eli Wallach in a spaghetti Western, offered to be our guide. I took a deep breath and wished I hadn't. Devidutt reeked of coarse tobacco and hooch and strung his worldly possessions in a homemade haversack. Without blinking, we hired him.

The sun ducked behind an amphitheatre of hills. As the night wore on, it became clear that if we were to endure each other for the next eight days we should separate the snorers from the non-snorers.

Also see: Video postcard: High in the Himalayan foothills

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