DAY 3

22/09/2009 by admin.

We stayed in a guesthouse in Bharmour and when stepping outside the next morning, I was confronted with mountains all around me. It was a beautiful view in every direction. After breakfast, we went to look around the temple which is one of the oldest in the Himalayas and according to one person, 7th century. Ian and I wandered the streets when suddenly I heard Ian calling my name. He had an old man attached to his arm who wouldn’t let go. We’re not sure why!

At about 9.30am, we set off. The start of the ride was going to be down the hill we had cycled the night before. Approximately 1000m accent the day before had taken a good couple of hours. Getting down took us 35 minutes.

From the bottom of the valley we started to climb up the other side. We were going to Holi. For 2 hours we cycled up hill. It was slightly hotter today at just over 30c. We were both going well though our driver told us later that our pace was slightly slower! Gutted.

We stopped often for photographs. Surprisingly, the area is a lot greener than either of us were expecting. In these ranges, there is no tree line as in the Alps. Trees grow even at 4000m.

During our ride we cycled through dense glades. Just magical.

Today’s ride was shorter at 50kms and we arrived in Holi about 3.30pm. It is a tiny market village. Locals gathered around us when we stopped. The local’s first question was how many gears did the bikes have? I had noticed this question in Bharmour though had thought it was just a one off. When we said 24 gears, they were amazed. Everyone is so friendly.

Our guide and driver had found a suitable place to camp by the side of the river. Our cook had also set up his kitchen on the river’s edge.  We rested with tea and biscuits on the rocks and basked in the sun.

A group of local boys saw us arrive and had come down to join us. They are so happy smiling all the time. They wanted to play on our bikes though we thought it best not to. Two of them were very chatty, Monu and Anil. They would speak to us in Hindi and Ian and I would speak in English. Neither of us had a clue what we were saying but it really didn’t matter.

Being the althletes we are! we decided to go for a walk into the mountains. It would take us to a village on the other side of the river.

On arriving back we had a camp fire and a 2 course dinner was served. The food was superb. Dinesh, our cook had prepared the whole meal with one stove.

Ian, Ankur the guide, Dinesh the cook and I sat and lay around the fire looking at the stars. The sky is clear making it a wonderful view. Soon the peace and tranquility was ruined. We decided to start singing. Ian gave his rendition of Elvis’s ‘Suspicious Minds’ which involved him standing and providing us with movements too. Ankur commented after, he loved the enthusiasm in which Ian sang - though we both chuckled.

Ankur sang too, in Hindi, and explained the meaning after. It was very special. Ankur’s favorite film is Titantic so he sang the song from that too.

We retreated to our tent at about 10pm and fell asleep to the sound of the river flowing.

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Being guided through the awsome Himilayan Valley

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