Day Five - Kagbeni to Mallaj
It started off dry but was bitterly cold with hands numbing rapidly, about an hour into the ride it was my turn to get a flat and it couldn’t have happened at a worse place. A JCB was happily dumping rocks down the cliff face on one side and a snow storm was rapidly approaching from the other.
The next couple of hours were pretty miserable as wind and sleet hammered us dropping visibility, steaming up goggles, freezing feet and fingers, and making the roads even more treacherous than normal. There were a number of spills, including Dicko getting horizontal in a freezing river, before we stopped back in Kalopani for a much needed coffee as the hail fell outside.
A couple of hours of tough riding later we began dropping out of the valley and were back at our original tea stop just after midday. Today was all about getting off the mountain, not taking photos; I’d left my camera in the jeep.
Diggers dumping dirt and blocking the roads was a common feature and we came across another one as we neared civilization again. Traffic had built up but locals told us that motorbikes could make it across the mountain on a ‘short cut’ trail rather than wait for the road to re-open. It turns out that truck and bus drivers also had the same idea making this ‘short cut’ one of the hairiest parts of the entire ride as half of Nepal also decided to take it rather than wait.
We’d made it to Galeshwor and stopped for lunch but group moral was ebbing due to being cold, wet and very tired while knowing that we were on the return leg of our trip. It was not far to our accommodation but it entailed an almost 45 degree climb on loose gravel and bowling ball sized rocks. Needless to say over half the group, including myself, came off or needed a push – we were shattered.
Once arrived at our final digs, which were the most impressive so far, beers were cracked and smiles returned to the battered group of hardy motorcyclists. A very welcoming Nepalese host called ‘Prince Mickey’ made us feel at home at his flamboyant hillside abode at The Heritage at Mallaj. A fire was lit that night and we dined well and drank rum while reminiscing over the trip and drying our boots for the next day’s ride.
Note: apart from the last one these were all shot on a phone.
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To follow: Mallaj to Pokhara
). Mind you, the mountainous backdrop reinstates reality.
