How often do you turn on the telly, see someone famous and say "Ooh, I've met him"? My interest in the series 'Long Way Down' has been piqued ever since I met Charlie Boorman last May. The 29th May, to be exact. Which, for those of you unfamiliar with Everest history was the date on which, 55 years earlier, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed the famous mountain. I was at Tengboche Monastery, in the Everest foothills of Nepal, along with 80-odd trekkers and several hundred Sherpas and porters to celebrate that anniversary at a special dinner with Peter Hillary.
We'd all been up since 5am, having been woken up by conch shells and drums calling the monks to prayer, and were all getting a little over-excited. You see, the Everest Marathon was due to run straight through the monastery's grounds that very morning. And we were all lined up along the route, ready to cheer on the fool-hardy contestants. A helicopter whumped its way up the valley, causing a stir as it hovered then landed behind one of the lodges. Curious as to its passengers, I was one of many who surged over to see who had arrived. Was it Lady June Hillary perhaps? A diminutive man scrambled out of the cabin and was immediately surrounded by well-wishers bestowing the ubiquitous kata scarves on him. Who was he? Surely not Tenzing Norgay's son? But no, he was a Japanese man. I drifted away and ignored the other helicopters that landed over the next hour.
So it took a few minutes for the fact to register that the shaggy-haired bloke being followed by a camera and chatting to people was familiar. I knew it wasn't Ewan McGregor, but that was the only name that came to mind. He came over to where I was standing with a trekking mate, Richard and said Hello. "No, I'm the good-looking one," he said in response to Richard's query. "Charlie."
Of course. He asked us what was going on. Stunned to find so many people here. He'd flown up to do a little documentary because "it's the 55th anniversary." And was astonished to find out that we had all trekked in to commemorate that very anniversary and that there was a marathon due to run through at any moment. He stayed to receive a blessing from the abbot of Tengboche Monastery and then had to leave. Having flown up, he was not acclimatised to the altitude and had to go back to Kathmandu.
That's Charlie on the right, chatting to Amelia, Edmund Hillary's grand-daughter.
That trek was quite the trip for meeting famous people. We also met Peter Hillary, as well as the delightful Tony Freake, who was there to receive the 2008 Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal for his humanitarian efforts in the nearby village of Phortse.
