The sacred lake of Sikkim

Liz Cleere wins this week's travel writing competition for this account of a trek up to a holy lake in the Himalayas.

'Legend has it that birds keep the water pure by carrying away any floating twigs and leaves' Photo: Alamy

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By Liz Cleere

This morning Jamie and I heaved ourselves out of bed to catch the sunrise over India's highest mountain. In the silence of a Himalayan dawn, we watched the tiger-toothed caps of Kanchenjunga massif emerge from the blackness, changing from pink to peach and finally to a pure, glistening white. Just over half a mile below us, the valley was tucked under eiderdown clouds, and people of the Lepcha, Bhutia and Nepali tribes began their daily work.

Now, in a symphony of blaring horns and revved engines, jeeps stream out of Pelling, packed with families of domestic tourists on their way to a gompa or waterfall. The women, dressed elaborately in saris or Western designer gear, pick their way through the mud in delicate kitten-heeled sandals, while slick urban men shout into the latest mobile technology held tight in their hands. Slightly overweight children careen around their parents, alternately indulged or ignored.

Shunning the easy option, we struggle into walking boots for our trek to sacred Kechopari Lake. Legend has it that birds keep the water pure by carrying away any floating twigs and leaves. As the jeeps crash and honk their way past us, belching out black smoke in "green Sikkim", we head along the narrow main drag, in search of the exit that will take us downwards.

"It will take three hours," Mr G T Butia of the Pelling Tourist Office said, as he drew a map for us yesterday. Although not to scale, it is beautiful.