The trip begins: Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh

Nonchalant cows on every street corner

 One day in Delhis chaotic belly was enough,  and the city was in floods after a typical monsoonal downpour - we headed swiftly out on a ‘luxury’ bus  for Shimla in the foothills of the himalayas .

 

Nice to see that bicycles are encouraged, even by the Delhi Metro

10 -12 little mites on their way home from school in old town Delhi

 

First views on our first day ride out from Shimla

 

Carlos and Ben taking a snack stop on the way to Baggi. Samoosas have been a staple as have packets of ‘Good Day’ Britannia biscuits washed down with some carbonated Miranda.

Roads amazed us from the start. We were quite lucky that for the first few days we contoured through lovely pine forest rather than have to climb.

 

More incredible roads on the way to Baghi

 

Friendly Kinnauri ladies on the way up offered me water and aples from their fanatastic hillside orchards

Negotiating the landslide up the pass. The advantage of being on a bike!

through pine, cedar, rhododendron and spruce forests

Our fisrt big climb From 1445m to 2900m over 35 rather excruciating kilometres, however the views were great along this never ending ribbon of road

I cant help myself, I am besotted with the furry, friendly himalayan hounds. They are all generally surprisingly in good nick! The downhill on the othersideSusma, a Kinnauri I met as i sped down the slopes of the Darangati reserve. She was collecting fodder for her animals.

  A typical ‘in and out’ along a valley – we can see the road we are to ride on the otherside

Carlos on the edge

Advertisement