Day 4.. It started well....

 

Day 4... It started well

5am I woke up .. ok the hard bed took some getting used to but I had got to bed early and been in a deep sleep for a fair while  before I started tossing and turning. The cicadas were very loud throughout the night but didn’t really disturb me. I felt secure and although I started out pretty chilly, I was hot pretty quickly thanks to my Alpkit down sleeping bag.

I finished the blog (having again been too knackered last night to finish and also contending with patchy internet. I got up shortly before 7am, got my kit together and made my way up to the shop front to find everyone already gathered there  I was given a hot cup of some very nice tea and then got on my bike. I knew that after the uphill efforts of yesterday evening that it was downhill for a fair few miles to the Trisuli river. Downhill would usually mean speed and certainly. It was faster than my uphill yesterday but my fingers get cramp from always being on the brakes due to steep gradients and depending on the road conditions you have to keep your concentration 100% or risk a bad fall. So its not as easy as it sounds, especially in places like this... similar road conditions at times to Ecuador, which had been a nightmare at times.

I was on the road by 0730... a few hours before yesterday which I was pleased with. As I navigated my way down a reasonable road, it brought to mind what the bus driver had said last night. He had told me about a tiger that he came across round here. . He was in his bus so scared it off... but I didn't think you would find them up here in the hills. Whether he was trying to scare me who knows but as I rolled down the road, high sided tree lined slope above me, I was kinda glad I hadn't heard that before starting down in the dark last night. 

Still I was going downhill! And it was fun as I swept around bends, over rocks and bumps and through streams. As I was having fun though I also had the phrase in my head, what goes down, has to go back up... in other words, the fun will stop and there will be payback. If this I had no illusion. The cycling gods love to play with me and my headspace.!

Still the downhill was what my bike was made for, a hardtail Whyte bike... even loaded up with kit, it handled well and rode the rough terrain perfectly. I was glad that I have spent some time on trail riding as in places it was like a red marked trail with the odd drop off. 

The road I was on was above the mist in the valley and with the high snow covered mountains, it was quite a sight. This part was probably some of the most good mood inducing riding I have done since I have been here. It was cool enough, though the sun was threatening to start blazing and at least I had a bit of breeze from the speed I was going. The birds were singing around me and I'm pleased to announce that there wasnt a single heron in sight (That one is for you Trevor! 😂) Some birds with long tails feathers but mostly small little things flitting in and out of bushes. The foothills of the himalayas were verdent and the hillsides were covered with farmland, rice fields, maize and general scrub. It was quite idyllic, especially when cruising downhill. 

The road surface was mostly hard packed and rocky but occasionally became sandy, where care had to be taken not to wash out the back wheel. There were some delicate manoeuvres to coax round obstacles and some hard braking when the surface suddenly changed from reasonable to awful in the blink of an eye. Most of the locals use motorbikes up the hills and in places ruts were covering the dirt road surface. Not a problem going down of you had your wits about you. 

It was on this descent that I got my first sighting (other than from the plane) of the Himilayan mountain range. White, jagged peaks jutted up through the cloud in the distance. They stood as if they knew how magnificent they were, surveying all below with a haughty mien. At least that's how it felt to me. I was beneath their notice... not having tried to set foot upon their domain. 

Perhaps that would all change when I got closer but for now I was happy with my distant glimpse in the morning sun. 

Of course down was not always down... here the downs are punctuated by short, incredibly steep ups. Even when you are rattling down one side, when you hit the slope you come to a grinding, usually fairly sudden halt as you are met by the wall of dirt and rock that passes for a road. Inevotably that means pushing. Even on an unloaded mountain bike and a good surface, some of the gradients here would be extremely difficult.. add in 11kg of kit and a rutted rocky surface and I had no chance. 

Walking however gave me a chance to give my cramping fingers and the rest of the muscles in my body a rest. 

It was on one of these inclines (makes it sound so benign) that a little puppy bounded out at me... jumping playfully. Whilst not particularly a dog person, especially when cycling in foreign countries, he was cute. He dutifully stood still for a picture and then bounded off again. To be fair, most of the dogs here seem less than interested in my bike and my legs and apart from. a few barks and growls, none have decided that it's worth bothering to chase me. Result! 

It was soon after this encounter that I hit a dead end and the realisation that the grass track to my left had actually been my intended route. It was cooler here as I had descended into the cloud. The track was muddy and slippery in places and again required all concentration. It felt even more like I was off the beaten track as I slid down this bit, with water occasionally running from side of the road to the other and then dropping off the edge, which was never far away. 

The sides of these tracks were not barriered in any way and there was usually a steep drop on one side and rock walls on the other. It would be easy to say 'well stick to the rock side' but givem the road condition, sometimes there was no choice but to carefully skirt the edge... as I said.. A lot of concentration required. 

It also, not for the first time, and almost certainly not the last, made me grateful that I had opted to change the brake disc and that I had a spare set of brake pads... they were taking a beating! 

The last bit onto the main road in Galchi was the steep down to the river but then I would be on tarmac for a few miles and it was only around 0930 in the morning having already done 10 miles. I didn't celebrate my good progress. because it was inevitable the cycling gods were waiting for any hint of self congratulation to unleash their wrath, but I must have shown something... but more of that later...

I cruised along the road looking for food. I went into one place that had an advertisement banner with lots of nice food on, but when I asked, the man said no food. Ok... 

Then another cute, quiet, non growly dog came and sat by me... so I gave her a head rub. The man smiled and asked if I liked animals. When I replied yes, he asked if I wanted to see her puppies.... of course I did. I didn't however mean for him to go and drag them out of their warm bed just for me to see them. The poor mother started to try and take them back. They were so small. I took. a. photo and then helped to return them to their bed. A nice interlude but no food... onwards.

A short way up the road and the buildings became scare. Given that I could see another climb ahead, I opted to turn around and look for another place. Another food place came up and the woman washing her clothes and her kids looked up and smiled at me, so I called out Namaste and asked if they had food. They beckoned for me to come in and sat me at a table where the other kids stared at me with big eyes. 

Communicating what food you want when there is no menu and you dont speak more than 6 words of the language is tricky but essentially asked for dahl baht hoping to get rice and some kind of vegetable dahl.

It worked. A plate of very nice looking food appeared and although a little spicy for me (korma being my heat level for food) tasted good! I sat there... not concerned with time because it was still early, watching the kids run round and the woman doing her washing in a tub outside.

It was great but I knew that what goes down must go up... and I was intending to get at. least as far as a village called Patli, even if I. couldn't get as far as darding besi. Patli was at the top of a hill (hills around here would qualify as mountains in the uk) and Darding Besi was the town in the valley on the other side.

I knew Patli had a place to stay, and I knew that until there, there was no where, so it was Patli or bust. If all went well, after Patli it was downhill to Darding Besi. 

The trouble with wanting to go play with my bike in the mountains is that there arent many guest lodgings of any description. If stuck you are reliant of people taking pity on you. Also there don't seem to be many/any flattish areas to pitch a tent, other than the roadway at times which means you have to do a significant amount of difficult mileage to get to somewhere to stay, or be cycling in the dark. I'm not adverse to cycling in the dark (I have done it many times before) but the road conditions are so bad in places. that it is significantly more dangerous here than. most other places (other than Ecuador perhaps), not to mention the talk of tigers at night (you don't win fights with tigers).

So Patli... by my reckoning (GPS assisted, it was approx 15 miles away.. it involved an up... then a bit of down, then another longer up. Sounds easy right?

So I set off, crossed the Trishuli river...

and started up the hill on the other side. Where there is a river crossing, there will always be an incline after! 

After a short stretch of tarmac, I turned off that main road and headed for the hills.

Another crossing of another branch of the river and then onto dirt again... of course upwards. 

I went through a small village, still climbing. The road was in reasonable condition and ran alongside a smaller tributary river. It flattened out a bit and the dirt was hardpacked, making it reasonably easy to ride. 

I was hot, there was very little shade, so when I saw a small shrine, I stopped to rest under the trees and poured water over my head... a process I repeated often today. I continued on, enjoying my little flatish road and then on glancing at my gps, realised I had missed my turning. It must have been the one that headed steeply upwards. (If in doubt take the road heading up!) 

I pondered my choices... 

with my garmin etrex, it not only shows the route but you can load maps onto it, so I can see all roads not just the route I wanted. By looking ahead I could see that this road eventually joined my original route. The origninal route went up initially and then along the ridge of that particular hill. The road I was on was a good road, flattish, and joined up with the original further down. I would still have to go up and it was slightly longer, but for a good ridable surface, it could be worth it. 

So I continued on.... 

Then I spotted a track up the side that went up to the original route. It might be worth pushing up this, what was termed grade 4' incline to get up quickly and not take the longer route after all. So I cut left and up and although very steep in places it was doable. Up and up I went but the path didn't seem to be heading in the direction that the map suggested. I waited until another bend confirmed it... I  was going back the way I came. 

So slightly annoyed at the extra expended effort, I rode down again to the good path... hearing a faint hint of laughter in the ether. The cycling gods were beginning to have fun it seemed. 

I carried on, enjoying this nice track and its. hard packed, only slightly rutted earth. The sounds of the river below and sights of people working the fields next to the river. Again idyllic. About to be shattered! 

I got to the bend in the road where I knew it was up to the high point and joining the original route. 

The sun was now in full force, beating down. In no time at all the track was too steep to ride and it became hike a bike time. 

My pictures in no way do justice to the gradient at this point. For those of you that followed my Tour Divide journey, we are not talking 'The Wall' steep but certainly steeper than avelanche chute. Not as long though. Approx 1 mile in length, I believe I gained 700ft. It hurt, every fcuking step hurt. My whole body was engaged in holding my bike upright and moving forward. 

On the plus side it did enable to take note of a few things that perhaps I wouldn't have taken interest otherwise, notably the incredible diversity and number of butterflies in the area. All kind floated about... I'm no. expert, but there were blue ones and white ones and ones with eyes on the wings and some with longer tails. It really was remarkable. 

It distracted me a little. But not enough and I kept putting one foot in front of the other... I had been here before, many times. The laughter of the cycling gods echoed around, reverberating of the hillside. They had their revenge for the nice downhill earlier in the day and the few miles of smooth tarmac I had enjoyed. I put my music on to drown them out and 'Everything is beautiful' came on first which did make me giggle a little. It was either that or cry. 

I was so hot and no amount of water would rid me of the parched dusty feeling in my mouth. There was very little shade and although I shade hopped as much as possible it didn't stop my head from melting under my helmet. 

I kept slowly plodding up, inderspersed with stops to gasp and get my breath back.  On one of these pauses, I heard a thwunk of something heavy hitting the ground in front of me.... 

now in my jungle travels, I have heard similar sounds and reached quickly for my camera. I assumed it had been a nut or fruit of some description hurtled towards me by some annoyed animal. In costa rica, the parrots dropped half eaten fruit on your head, in the Amazon, monkeys pelted you with nuts.... 

So I looked up and there it was... 

a black, white and grey monkey of some description (google has since helped me out.. officially a grey langur) was staring down at me. As I raised my camera to take a quick snap he prepared to leap... I just got off the shot when he jumped to a tree on the other side and disappeared. I was intruiged as to what he had thrown, it sounded heavy, so I stepped forward a few paces, thinking I was glad I kept on my helmet.  I doubled down on that gratefulness, when I saw a fresh, steaming pile of SH1T! 

It was then that I thought to myself... If I hadnt missed the turn, and I hadn't turned back on the shortcut and pushed up this steep climb, I wouldn't have had this experience. Everything happens for a reason right? 

So. chucking a little as I continued to push upwards, I eventually could see the houses on the skyline. Inevitably I attracted a gaggle of watching children and adults. They watched me as I stood huffing and puffing, leant on my bike for support, probably finding it hilarious. One of them called out in english.. not far. It still felt like miles to go not meters but I dutifully got going again and gained the high point with immense relief. 

Then a very steep track down before low and behold another up, unrideable of course. By this point, I think I was on the verge of sunstroke, dehydrated despite drinking several litres of water and thoroughly exhausted. I went up a little way before finding a little shop. Gratefully I went over and asked for a coke... no coke... Dew? 

(As in Mountain Dew) 

Perfect! 

As I sat there a girl of 14 came and started speaking to me... she introduced herself and her sisters and plied me with questions. She went to school in Kathmandu. I took the opportunity to ask if there was anywhere to stay near here. There followed a discussion amongst the surrounding adults... 

Neares is in Patle, which had confirmed what I thought. 

According to my info I thought there was a bit of down followed by up. When I said this, they shook their heads and said no down... all up. Bollocks! 

I wasn't sure if I could take another step. 

How far?  (I thought about 5 miles) 

Yup 5 miles... 

In normal circumstances it would be doable but I was having my doubts. It was getting late and given how much time that last bit had taken me... 5 miles could easily take 3 hours. Especially if it was anything like before. 

The girl confirmed my thoughts. 

Just as I was thinking that I had better leave, the youngish man, the girls uncle I think said, I can get you a three wheeler there. 

Damn that stopped me in my tracks. 

'Including bike' I asked dubiously as I had seen these 3 wheeled bikes and the cabs and wasn't sure my bike would fit. Yes he replied with certainty. 

Do you want me to call the driver.... 

I hesitated.... 

The point of this part was to warm up for the circuit.. not break myself before it had even started. 

So in the end I agreed.... he then called his friend and then I got confused... 

given the langiage barrier I thought he was saying his friend was in Kathmandu so couldn't take me so I hurridly started putting on my gear thinking that I had now wasted half an hour or so and needed to get going. 

But then he looked confused as he thought I wanted a lift. We eventually sorted it out. Lift no problem but the driver would be 30 to 45 minutes. 

Ok then

He also said that I could stay with them if I wanted. I thanked him for the offer if I could get to Patle that would be better. Another example of Nepalese kindness. To top it all off he then phoned a friend of his who was a guide and got me to speak to him about staying in the Patle homestay. He then called the homestay to tell them to expect me. 

Whilst waiting I sat and chatted with the girlfriend and her uncle about life here. They were farmers and grew rice and maize and vegetables. She told me they paid for her schooling in Kathmandu and that she went there daily, not boarding.  It must have been quite a journey everyday. 

They introduced me to the grandmother, who stood proudly with a huge bale of grass on her head and smiled for a photo. She then sat smoking a cigarette! 

The girl had 2 sisters who were younger than her, and a baby cousin whom she clearly adored. He babbled away in her arms, happy and smiling. 

Everyone who passed the shop stared at me, sitting there and clearly I was a topic of conversation. Not for the first time, I was asked whether I had a husband or children and what job I did. I showed them pictures of my home and family and pets (They were aghast at the snakes!).

I enjoyed my time sitting here chatting to these people, swapping stories in broken english and bits of nepali with mime and google translate. It was good fun and the cycling gods had stopped laughing. 

Then a roar of an engine announced my ride had arrived... he dropped off some people and drove on up with reassurances he would be back... he was in about 10 minutes. 

The machine he drove was interesting. Roadworthiness questionable but what an experience this would be.... if I survived it! 

I asked the girl if it was safe and she reassured me that it was and that Ramesh was a good driver. It was good enough for me. 

He took the doors off the auto rickety-shaw as I have now dubbed it, and we squeezed my bike in... it didn't fit well and the front wheel was outside the cab, so he tied it on with a rope, patted the tiny bit of leather that barely fit half a cheek on, motioning me to sit. He then pointed to the frame of the cab and indicated that I should hold on. 

I was under no illisions, I had seen one of these things going along a flat relatively smooth road, this was going to be... fun? 

The engine roared to life and gears crunched and we were off, me with one but cheek on the seat and one out of the side of the cab. My knee was used to brace myself and my hands gripped on for dear life. 

At once I was glad I had trusted the villagers version of the road, because the track went straight up, and the condition was about the worst I had seen yet. It might well have taken me 5 hours to cover the 5 miles! 

At times we slowed to a crawl lurching over the ruts and avoiding stones, me wondering if the cab would tip over at some point, especially when a 45 degree angle was not unusual. My arse bashed up and down against the seat and I was glad I had my cycle shorts on to cushion the blows. My fingers cramped up from holding on so tight. 

Occasionally Ramesh gunned the engine when the road smoothed out for a section before then slowing to navigate a waterfall crossing our path. We came perilously close to the edge a few times, but I held my trust in Ramesh. 

I had a fleeting thought about how bruised my knee was going to be when we hit a bigger bump. and my bike wheel dropped and started scraping the ground. Ramesh screeched to a halt and rearranged the tope tying the bike to the top strut of the cab. 

Then back in and up and up. Light was fading and Romesh turned on his lights, which was good because I hadn't been convinced he would have any. 

He answered the phoneat one point and was steering one handed, phone to his ear whilst navigating the scarred dirt and rock that passed for a road in front of him. 

We picked up a young lady to perch her butt cheek on the other side and we took her further up before she jumped off, asked my name and wished me safe journey, telling me her village was just a short walk down another track. 

Still upwards... we had been going for at least 30 minutes. I didn't dare converse as I wanted Ramesh to concentrate fully on what he was doing. We passed paddy fields of rice, terraced down the steep hills and Ramesh pointed further up. and said Patle... still further. 

One particularly tricky point saw us quite close to the edge as Ramesh nudged past an obstruction. I had faith in his abilities, that is until he then crossed himself in prayer.... eek! 

We kept going up until at last we reached our destination and then had to go further along to reach the homestay. Ramesh stopped at the entrance to a. group of dwellings and phoned the homestay. Then jumped back in and proceeded up the narrow track. We arrived at a smart looking sturdy house and the owner was outside waving. An older gentleman, who immediately made me feel welcome. His name was Shurbadur and he spoke good english. He took me up to the top of the house where two small rooms were on the roof and showed me into one. Small but cozy. The toilet next door was of course a squat toilet but surrounded by porcelain and appeared clean. 

Then he asked about food and asked whether dahl bhat was ok... absolutely! He told me it would take some time which was fine by me. 

I ached all over, my head was pounding, I had started shivering and my throat was raspingly sore. I felt a bit of a mess. oh and the usual sore arse. 

I medihoneyed the hell out of the sore bits (forgot to bring bepanthen) and put on my down jacket as I couldnt stop shivering. I sat on the bed and tried to blog but couldn't thibk straight so downed a couple of brufen and tried to drink more. Despite all the water I had consumed today, I hadn't needed a jungle wee at any point, I had been sweating so much. 

I lay on the hard bed (no mattress, just solid wood planks) under the blanket and waited for dinner. 

Shurbadur came to get me soon and led me to a kitchen/dining area with grass mats on the floor. His wife was stoking the fire and they sat me down and I was made to feel welcome as a veritable feast was placed before me. We were joined by Bishwas Kumar, who was a science teacher, who also. spoke good english and we spent a pleasant hour eating and chatting. The food was excellent but I didn't feel hungry. I especially like the curried cauliflower and finished that but had to leave some rice and greenery. I felt bad because I couldn't finish but I was so. tired, eating was a monumental effort and lovely as they all were, I was struggling to. contribute to the conversation. 

Sensing this I was ushered back to my room and collapsed into bed, blog once again not finished. It had been a long hard day, with many highlights. 

I fell asleep to the sounds of the ciccadas and the goats bleating. I had finally stopped shivering (it had taken that long) but my head was still pounding and my throat was still sore. 

Breakfast had been set at 0830 which meant that I wouldn't be as early off as I'd have liked but I had already decided to ahve an easier day tomorrow and a plan was forming in my mind. With that I drifted off, hoping I felt better in the morning.