I woke up this morning to the sun on my back and the Himalayas right in my face - I didnt see this in Nepal.
I left Pokhara comfortably early after a 2 cups of coffee and as many joints (okay 3). the first 150 kms was a magnificent twisting turning mountain road in good repair but despite that the going is slow but despite stopping too often for photo ops i made it down to the Nepali plains in about 4.5 hours and then had a straight run through to Kolhapur where I slept in what was probably the most miserable guesthouse of my life. The next morning I got up early again had a cup of coffee and a joint and set out for India. I did the 200 kms without any problems and crossing the border despite.... was no problem.
I looked at my trusty map and there were 2 routes to Kasar Devi where I now am, a long route and a short route, I chose the short (obviously!). BIG mistake, big, big, big mistake! there is an old Scottish song that goes something like this "You'll take the high road and I'll take the low road and I'll be in Scotland before you" (or vice versa). Anyway I took the high road and very shortly regretted it, the view along the way is staggerig, you drive along the edge of the mountain with a sheer drop to the valley floor hundreds of meters down and a clear view across the valley to the other side which is dotted with little farms and famers plowing the fields far below with their oxen and wooden plow as they ignore the twenty first centuary and just get on with their daily 12th centuary lives. They draw water from the well by the river and carry it home in jerry-cans on their heads, sometimes hundreds of meters down to the river and then up again. And I breeze past on my bike and when I stop they gather around (I'd forgotten about that in Nepal, but here in the north they seem less intrusive).
And the road gets bad, really bad, apparently there is a big project on to improve it at the moment and from my experience here that means first tearing it up, without building western style bypasses and you end up with a one lane track creeping up and down the mountain cars and jeeps and buses come at you from both directions and since arriving in India I have become the most patient and least agressive of drivers I let anyone who wants to pass do so. But still I have a good vehicle and I make good time and pass most other vehicles which are generally slower and on this road very considerate. At about 3pm I decide its time to stop and I begin looking for a guesthouse and at 6 I still havent found one and I'm starting to worry but I've still got 45 minutes of daylight, the trouble is that there has unly
been one town along the way and I didnt see a guesthouse or lodging and whenever I asked someone they just wagged their heads at me and gave no sign of understanding or intention of answering. The road runs along a steep
bottomless cliff and when cars or lorries come towards me one of us has to stop to let the other pass, and I see no motorbikes. And no guesthouse.
Suddenly it is dark, really dark, pitch black dark and I have nowhere to go except on. So I drive very slowly and carefully and I can see nothing and part of me is grateful for that because I'm not sure I want to se down. I approach a little village and hooray, theres a guesthouse but when I inspect it I know that I have reached the point of no return, I'm not spending the night here. On my way again and my shoulders are sore and despite my new seat my arse aches and there is nowhere to stop. By the side of the road I see 3 horse herders with a little fire so I stop to get warm, remember, I'm high in the mountains here. Then after a smoke and a natter in Hindi and Hebrew the fire goes out and they get up and I'm off again.
During the hours of darkness i met no more than ten vehicles and 6 of them were huge Tatas in convoy. I understand now why that was so. Only a total nutter drives that road at night!
Long story short, at about 10:30 I finally reach Almora and there a friendly, helpful local gets on his motorbike and leads me to Kasar Devi which I would never have found on my own and I quickly find my friends. I am wasted. They took the low road and had an easy time of it.
When I had finally rested up I realized that I had known all along that I was taking the tough route, it is obvious on the map, it looks shorter for fuck's sake, that is always a good indicator. And I wanted to do the whole route even if, maybe especially if I could do part of it in the dark.
And the next morning I woke up and there were the Himalayas, snow topped and reaching the sky and the sun was shining warmly on my back and I had a cup of decaffe in one hand and a joint in the other and complete silence all around. I felt a great sense of achievement and was at peace with the world (again) and the ride had been worth it.
I left Pokhara comfortably early after a 2 cups of coffee and as many joints (okay 3). the first 150 kms was a magnificent twisting turning mountain road in good repair but despite that the going is slow but despite stopping too often for photo ops i made it down to the Nepali plains in about 4.5 hours and then had a straight run through to Kolhapur where I slept in what was probably the most miserable guesthouse of my life. The next morning I got up early again had a cup of coffee and a joint and set out for India. I did the 200 kms without any problems and crossing the border despite.... was no problem.
I looked at my trusty map and there were 2 routes to Kasar Devi where I now am, a long route and a short route, I chose the short (obviously!). BIG mistake, big, big, big mistake! there is an old Scottish song that goes something like this "You'll take the high road and I'll take the low road and I'll be in Scotland before you" (or vice versa). Anyway I took the high road and very shortly regretted it, the view along the way is staggerig, you drive along the edge of the mountain with a sheer drop to the valley floor hundreds of meters down and a clear view across the valley to the other side which is dotted with little farms and famers plowing the fields far below with their oxen and wooden plow as they ignore the twenty first centuary and just get on with their daily 12th centuary lives. They draw water from the well by the river and carry it home in jerry-cans on their heads, sometimes hundreds of meters down to the river and then up again. And I breeze past on my bike and when I stop they gather around (I'd forgotten about that in Nepal, but here in the north they seem less intrusive).
And the road gets bad, really bad, apparently there is a big project on to improve it at the moment and from my experience here that means first tearing it up, without building western style bypasses and you end up with a one lane track creeping up and down the mountain cars and jeeps and buses come at you from both directions and since arriving in India I have become the most patient and least agressive of drivers I let anyone who wants to pass do so. But still I have a good vehicle and I make good time and pass most other vehicles which are generally slower and on this road very considerate. At about 3pm I decide its time to stop and I begin looking for a guesthouse and at 6 I still havent found one and I'm starting to worry but I've still got 45 minutes of daylight, the trouble is that there has unly
been one town along the way and I didnt see a guesthouse or lodging and whenever I asked someone they just wagged their heads at me and gave no sign of understanding or intention of answering. The road runs along a steep
bottomless cliff and when cars or lorries come towards me one of us has to stop to let the other pass, and I see no motorbikes. And no guesthouse.
Suddenly it is dark, really dark, pitch black dark and I have nowhere to go except on. So I drive very slowly and carefully and I can see nothing and part of me is grateful for that because I'm not sure I want to se down. I approach a little village and hooray, theres a guesthouse but when I inspect it I know that I have reached the point of no return, I'm not spending the night here. On my way again and my shoulders are sore and despite my new seat my arse aches and there is nowhere to stop. By the side of the road I see 3 horse herders with a little fire so I stop to get warm, remember, I'm high in the mountains here. Then after a smoke and a natter in Hindi and Hebrew the fire goes out and they get up and I'm off again.
During the hours of darkness i met no more than ten vehicles and 6 of them were huge Tatas in convoy. I understand now why that was so. Only a total nutter drives that road at night!
Long story short, at about 10:30 I finally reach Almora and there a friendly, helpful local gets on his motorbike and leads me to Kasar Devi which I would never have found on my own and I quickly find my friends. I am wasted. They took the low road and had an easy time of it.
When I had finally rested up I realized that I had known all along that I was taking the tough route, it is obvious on the map, it looks shorter for fuck's sake, that is always a good indicator. And I wanted to do the whole route even if, maybe especially if I could do part of it in the dark.
And the next morning I woke up and there were the Himalayas, snow topped and reaching the sky and the sun was shining warmly on my back and I had a cup of decaffe in one hand and a joint in the other and complete silence all around. I felt a great sense of achievement and was at peace with the world (again) and the ride had been worth it.
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