I’ve quit. Just like that. Call it what you will: I blinked, I bailed, I chickened out, … I had planned three days in Chamba, to rest and to get supplies for the trip over the hill. Which is how I feel right now – over the hill. Thanks to the Iravati Hotel having wifi …
Best Western Hunky Dory Resort and Spa. Km 34 from Pathankot. Thursday 22nd June, 2016. 32.1 km today. (Wow!) Average speed: Not very much. Saving the current track to a file, then clearing the current track means I lose access to useful data such as elevation gained, average speed, etc. All I can get from the …
Pathankot, Punjab 16th June, 2016 In retrospect, taking a taxi to Pathankot was a very good idea. We left Delhi at around 6:30 am and made good progress, weaving between lanes in that particular Indian flow to driving where any gap sufficient (barely) for a vehicle becomes a traffic lane and the actual road lane …
Bloomroom Hotel, New Delhi June 14th 2016 My first ever cycle tour, in 1991, started in Bombay (I don’t think it was yet Mumbai, but could be wrong). I was in a shabby hotel, not far from the airport, and spent the first day making a lengthy journey downtown to try to find some maps: …
! was up around 7:30, before anyone else, but with a short day to Anantnag planned, there didn’t seem to be much reason to rush off. I changed tyres, from my Smart Sams to the almost slick Supremes now that it looked like I was back on fresh tarmac for the rest of my ride. I …
To Daksum An eventful start to this day! My night was undisturbed by wild animals. Or by passing vehicles, not after a couple of late night travellers drove down the hill at around 9:00 pm. Up at first light, packed up and breakfasted on a packet of creme biscuits and a chocolate bar, and on …
Sunday 10th August. Kishtwar – ? From Kishtwar, the nicely surfaced road dropped steadily in a series of hairpins down to Bhandarkhot (a descent of about 450 m in 12 km). Since most of the day would involve climbing towards Sinthan Top, this wasn’t actually what I wanted. The road crossed a bridge over a …
Thursday 7th August, ? – Kishtwar Not a bad night, all things considered – hiding from mosquitoes inside the bivvy bag reading my Kindle until sleep took me. Kindles, or e-readers in general, are being supplanted by tablets for their higher resolution screens and app-running capabilities but, for travelling, you can’t beat the e-readers battery …
Saturday 2nd August, Udaipur to Shour Good morning, Udaipur. Started with a little tarmac but it was just to tease. The rest of the day was rocky, sandy, windy, bumpy, tiring. It’s nice to see trees again after the almost total absence in Spiti. The valley narrowed and was probably quite pretty but it was …
Friday 1st August, Keylong – Udaipur Udaipur is a well-known and beautiful city in Rajasthan. This isn’t that Udaipur. Not too early a start – breakfast around 8:30 am. No hurry, the hospital surgery won’t be open until ten-ish. I was there in time to bounce a baby on my knee for a while. It …
Friday 25th July, 2014. Lots of tarmac and still spectacular views as Brian and I headed towards Keylong. But the magic of Spiti was missing. More traffic and hot but that wasn’t the reason. Spiti is special. I get the feeling that a lot of this traffic is going all the way to Ladakh so …