Ka Pai Kiwis

Another day much like yesterday, gorgeous scenery and roads to die on. Overnight there had been heavy rain which makes the roads quite treacherous, much roadworks and many potholes make for slow going once again. It’s not too bad when the scenery is as good as this.   Mist rising. ( couldn’t stop to take a better photo😫 photos not allowed near the dam, this one’s a sneaky one)  This temple was across the gorge, to get to it they had a flying fox arrangement, and then the long walk up the hill.  Mist rising down the river. At one of the many road works we were held up by what looked like a truck wanting to do a U turn, what he actually did was turn across the road then back to the Armco railing which he hit with a hell of a bang and put a massive dent in it, then up went the tray and load of slip debris went into the river below. We entered a long tunnel, there was no warning it was coming as we entered on a right angled corner, I had my sunnies on but there was reasonabl...

We have been humming and haaing a bit about the Spiti Valley - Rohtang pass area. The monsoon season is still here and we are a bit nervous about the road conditions. We have decided to give it a go but our best chance is from Manali end so we are headed that way.  Just like yesterday a beautiful ride through the valleys and hills in this area, we have lost most of the altitude so we are back to being hot.  Leaving Shimla took a while, I took a wrong turn coupled with crazy busy traffic.  Once we left Shimla behind we got going again quite nicely for a while but then we ran into convoy after convoy of smoke belching trucks, the road surface also deteriorated.  We have done less than 200km today and I think that is about our limit in this part of the world. It is slow and you cannot relax for a second with the traffic. The hills are a beautiful shade of green and with the mist hugging the tops and the rivers winding their way through the valleys it is incredibly pictu...

There had been heavy rain overnight and it wasn’t looking too good for us as we packed the bike and headed across town. It seemed to take forever to leave Chandigarh behind with lots of traffic and I seemed to be the first person to arrive at the many sets of red lights.   After a stop for gas we did finally leave behind the built up area and through the quite thick mist we could just make out a line of hills in the distance.  Thankfully other than a bit of drizzle and heavy spots, the rain held off. We began a very long and slow climb into the hills, it was just one continuous line of slips and roadworks, the road was very wet and slippery.  As we climbed the traffic got heavier and heavier until it was just a procession, at least for us as the maniacs continued to pass, just because they could, no real point to it. The air became cool and it was a very pleasant drive through these hills dotted with picturesque villages perched on the hillsides. These are the places...