India day 4 + 5

Up early and Andy disappeared off to the shipping agent whilst Simon and I sorted the room out. By the time we were ready to go it was 1100. We started the day by taking the wrong road and having to retrace our steps. The roads were wet. The roads changed from immaculate tarmac to gravel roads. The usual India road users were out and about. The bends in the roads allowed good exit from the corners and plenty of vision therefore making the riding fairly easy. At 1300 we stopped for Chi and Andy had been in collision with a swarm if insects one of which committed suicide on his face leaving body parts imbedded in his skin. All sorted very quickly.

After Chi we set off again and passed through a couple of towns which appeared to be bases for the TATA trucks. There weres hundreds of them. All this riding was by the way was in fantastic picture postcard scenery. We eventually hit a town called Mandi where we crossed a river on a bit of an old fashioned bridge. After this we crossed the top of a hydro-electric dam and onto a road carved into the hillside. So on our left was a rock wall and our right a drop into a river leading to the dam. The road was one of the best and were able to see far ahead and overtake as much as we liked. At about 1700 we stopped for Chi again and we saw a footbridge so had to go and take photos, it was a bit wobbly.

We pressed on knowing that sunset was 8pm. We got this info from a group of Enfield riders from Mumbai whom we stopped and chatted with earlier in the day. At about 25 miles from Manali the light was fading fast and the roads were getting bad, we had said we would not ride in the dark for any reason. It was huge relief getting to Manali and being stopped at the town taxiation point. All non out of state vehicles must pay a tax of 100R =£1.

We rolled into Manali and chose the first hotel we came to, Hotel New Shivalik. 1340R=£13 for three of us one room. Quick shower and change and off into town for a curry and the non alcohol restaurant soon found beer for us at a price. Good food and good beer. Then off to the Khyber bar for beer and cocktails. Slept well I can say.

5/7  Woke up to find we are surrounded by a mountain, the sides are covered by pines trees (very Alpy) and the top obscured by cloud. We walked into town and had breakfast. We then made enquiries with the local tourist offices about permits. We filled out the permission forms and paid the 100R cost to be issued with permit forms to cross the Rotang pass. We then befriended a shoe cleaner called Sanjay who took us to a parts shop/fabricator to make a new horn bracket which had snapped off. We noticed this during our morning bike inspection.

With that done it was then onto an internet café for updates on the internet. Only when we left did I find out they had Wi-Fi and could have downloaded this blog. We then bought a drink and sat on the main street people watching. We were close to a ATM and I saw a man go to the ATM we had a quick conversation and it transpired it was Simon Gandolffi the author from one of the Horizons meetings. I have also read his book ‘one man and his bike’. Sanjay joined us and chatted about the UK and India for over an hour.

Evening Meal was Chinese and beer where raised a glass to Kirsty's 20th birthday

(sorry again no photos uploading issues with Kasmir wifi)