Blog 75 Pokhara to Bimalnager

5th December

For the first hour out of Pochara the road to Kathmandu was punctuated by gravel, freshly watered down mud and broken asphalt. It’s a 10 hour car drive between the two cities yet the distance is barely 203kms. Whilst the road is not as bad as the Kali Gandaki Highway, mostly because it’s flat and doesn’t have 600ft drop offs into the racing River Kali Gandaki.

The mountains are all around me as I continue to ride to Kathmandu. I find the Himalayas most impressive photographically from a distance because close-up it really is hard to get that magic shot. Too close and they don't allow for perspective which distance does and even though there are overhead electricity cables I couldn't shoot around, Annapurna still looks majestic.

The main distinction between the Kali Gandaki Highway and the The Prithvi Highway which connects Kathmandu and Pokhara following the Trisuli River, is I'd just get bruised and maybe wet. Instead of trying to survive the 600ft drop into the torrent of a river in the base of the valley, here the water truck sprays down the dust as the trucks heave up the rises towards me their exhausts shoving out their black fumes. It's likely each belch of diesel soot I breath in shortens my life by more minutes but that’s ok because I’m 'living in the moment'. So I stop for a milk shake from a stall slightly away from the road. It's a quiet peaceful few minutes metres instead of centimetres from the traffic.

Some days not a lot happens. Later I stop again at a stall and hava a masala chai, known here as milk tea, plus a potato fritter, softened with reheated fat, and two hard boiled eggs - a £1. It’s a kind of luxury if you’re hungry and have nothing else to eat, same with the conversation which centres around a list of place names sandwiched with morsels of information. The next town is 40kms away, nice hotels after which the road surface improves. I'm hopeful but not in a desperate needy way. It’s a lovely end of summer milky sky day and apart from a truck that passes every few seconds, one hand on the steering wheel the other on their horn I find moments of calm and peace where if you’re very lucky, you’ll hear a single tweet from a single bird. I guess the life expectancy of a bird is as compromised in these parts as it is with humans.The water truck passes again. I finish my tea having passed another in the moment moment; The vendor with bad teeth has a warm way, his soggy fritters and tray of boiled eggs that will last for days until they get eaten or go off.

Map of the Day

Postcard from Home

In case you don't know but I do have a home life and a wife - Dr Mrs Sanders who looks after my place in Wales. We run weekends for motorcyclists who want to eat Caroline's lovely cooking and then go out for a ride with me. the local roads are a dream to be on and the whole thing at my Expedition Centre lasts Thursday to Sunday and I do about 10 or so weekends a year during the summer. I don't think there are many places left for 2024 - check, but I think we're full. Anyway, here's Caroline's postcard from home to me whilst I'm in Nepal.

Expedition Centre