Old Manali

After a pretty interesting and, at points, wholly wondrous - the bus stops, the lights go on, the driver cries, shrieks, half hour, lunch stop! Outside the darkness of the night, the continuing storm of the day before, and landscapes, hidden between lightnings, offered brief definition to the journey - rally through the night on the bus to manali; deposited on the street at 0530 and then hooked out to the edge of town with promise of a cheap room.

And so to manali. The landscape is glorious; new snowfall during the last days defining the higher hills in white which stretches down fingers beneath the treeline. To balance this, the place is freezing, a bite to the wind, icy, off the mountains.

And it's certainly set up for travellers, only the universal menu on offer...many of the expected echoes. But, here, the quiet on the edge if town, path snaking below a collection of old wooden houses, winds rustling the leaves of the apple orchard surrounding, with some ripening cherries also...a treat for the eyes.