Himachal 2022

No contact or fixer had been arranged in the valleys. She was staying in Paharganj, by the main railway station, and on 30 August bought the ticket north there and took the train that afternoon.

Reached by train from Delhi after dark, with a night at Daria, a village by the station. The next morning feral plants near the bus station were photographed before the bus on to Manali.

Travel: train

One night in Manali after the bus up from Chandigarh.

Travel: bus

Local bus down from Manali on the morning of 1 September, and the walk up to Rumsu began from the Naggar road.

Travel: local bus

Base for the Kullu Valley phase; the four Rumsu accessions were collected from 1 to 6 September and the Chanderkhani crossing was decided against here.

Travel: on foot

Deeper into the valley on the Rumsu side. Éloïse visited the village on the afternoon of 4 September, before Hallan, and walked up from Rumsu to its upper fields the next day. The upper selection came from those fields, at about 2,400 m, the highest ground of the Kullu phase.

Travel: by car, then on foot into the village

The same afternoon as Pulag, after it, by car and then on foot into the village; two village accessions, with the high fields above the village unvisited.

Travel: by car, then on foot into the village

Out of the Kullu Valley by a lift down to Kullu from her contact and a tuk tuk on to Kasol. She remembers a night there before the walk to Grahan.

Travel: lift by car to Kullu, then tuk tuk

Walked in from Kasol by the old jungle way through Pulgi and met Ravi on arrival; eight dated collecting days worked outward from the village, Pulgi among them on the 12th.

Travel: on foot, by the old jungle way through Pulgi

A day out from Grahan to the Thunja fields at 2,458 m.

First visit, still there on the 17th; feral seed and her own field selections came on this pass and the general population on the return in November.

Some days around Kasol on the way up to Tosh. She remembers a day at Manikaran. The map marks Kasol.

Village, upper and feral collections at 2,535 to 2,639 m, the shortest climb recorded on the expedition.

Eight accessions from Kutla and the named fields above it, up to Sharam Thatch at 3,237 m, the highest ground of the expedition; undated, and placed after Tosh in the sequence without a date to fix it.

First visit to the village and the fields above it; feral seed and her own selections came on this pass and the general population on the return on 1 November.

One accession from the Parla Thatch field at 2,976 m; undated, and placed in the Parvati high-field stretch without a date to fix it.

Return to Grahan, which became her base; no collecting was done on this visit and no accession carries its date.

Entry to the Malana Valley by the road side of the valley, the pass having been decided against at Rumsu; village, feral and the Malndr and Tosco selections.

The taxi stand and main road of the valley, passed through on the way from Malana up to Waichin.

Village, upper and Thal collections at 2,891 to 3,132 m, with a stay of some days that ended when she ran out of money.

Back down from Waichin to the cheaper base at Bhutoling and Nirang, from which the five Nirang accessions were worked; the position given is Nirang's, and Bhutoling, the old village above it, is not separately placed.

Last recorded Malana Valley collecting stop; village, upper, feral and the Kishan's selection at 2,779 to 3,062 m.

Return for the seed released by rubbing; the general population came on this pass.

Return for ripe seed after the September visit; the general population came on this pass.

A good few weeks packing the seed for the flight to France on 11 December.