Ka Pai Kiwis

A big day for us today. Around 280km which included about a 15km detour due to a navigation error. We set off about 8:30 and arrived at the hotel at about 5:45. It probably sounds like I’m riding like a nana but I don’t think I could go any faster without increasing the already substantial risk factor exponentially. Met this big bugger on one of our unplanned detours. No one was messing with him!  Today I gave up any hope of fine tuning the suspension and have wound out both the compression and rebound dampers on the rear shock, we bounce along a bit but it is easier on both the bike and the bum.  I’m not going to drone on about the roads and the traffic just take it as read. We think Alf was letting us know he was keeping an eye on us. A real mixture of road conditions and temperatures today, from comfortably warm to bloody hot and humid. Our faces by contrast to yesterday (mud and dust) look like we’ve just completed a shift down the Denniston mine. One town we passed throug...

After another lovely breakfast in the garden we said goodbye to our hosts. The Mary hotel in Manali have treated us very well, nothing was too much trouble. Leaving Manali. We are retracing our steps for a couple of days towards Chandigarh before we peel off towards the Nepal border.  We battled once again today the almost constant roadworks, potholes, traffic, dust, sheep and goats being driven along the road, cows in the most unlikely of places, sometimes just standing nonchalantly in the middle of the road whilst the traffic swerves around them.  There was also a large construction project going on with all the diggers and machinery to dodge as well. Never a dull moment. Shed getting moved in amongst the traffic and road construction. Huge tunnels getting dug our. Road will be amazing when completed.  We arrived at our infamous tunnel, last night I devised a safety strategy to get in behind a truck and just follow it through.  As luck would have it we caught one j...

A laid back day today. We had a sleep in followed by a lovely breakfast in the garden of our hotel and a Whatsapp  with all the family- lovely. We then did a bit of washing and planning. After all this frenetic activity we went for a lovely walk into the old Manali.  Then on to a waterfall, we didn’t quite make the waterfall because we lost our way but had a lovely sunbathe beside a fast flowing river and a paddle.  Actually we realised  that the track to the waterfall was up the steep bit to the right. After a short discussion we decided we had walked quite a long way already and to not pursue looking for the waterfall. We also felt that we deserved a cake and coffee on the way back.  Parts of the old town are really old and we visited another old wooden temple. This tree is a sacred tree.  Then back up the hill where we sat in the garden and planned the next few days and drank tea.

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...

After breakfast we said goodbye to our superb hosts and hit the road to Chandigarh.  The countryside is lush with rice fields and crops, there was a haze which we weren’t sure whether it was to do with the humidity or smog or a bit of both.  We made good time and I dropped Robyn off at the hotel and set off looking for oil. A couple of false leads saw me outside a large BMW car showroom, there were a couple of bikes there also so I went in to enquire and was directed to the rear of the building for service, blow me down they are Triumph authorised as well, fantastic, fully synthetic oil, filter, replacement light bulb all for around $100 with coffee and biscuits while I waited. Result.  In the meantime Robyn has updated the blog which was a little behind as we have had no internet access for a few days.  Temple across the road from the hotel.