We were both a little unsettled leaving Pokhara today, after all we’re headed back towards India… Shit.

The road down to the border is long and bumpy, but all the fuel stations were open so the fuel crisis was one less thing to worry about.

We stopped 60km out to dump the extra fuel we’d packed into the tank, it was almost perfect timing as 95% of it went in, so I hailed the next passing bike to donate the remainder.  He looked very confused, initially thinking I wanted his fuel 🙂

“I have very little petrol sorry”

It took some serious acting to explain…

“My tank is already full” via mime, and
“This little bit of fuel won’t fit” mime, and
“Please open your fuel cap” mime, and
“This is a gift” mime.

But the penny finally dropped and the 100ml of fuel made the guys day. Good deed done, we continued.

At the border we turned right and now plan to follow it for about 2 or three days and enter India as far west as possible.

That plan doesn’t include any fixed stops, so this afternoon we pulled up in a tiny town called Shitsville.

Shitsville has 3 hotels, all with beds made of stone and mosquito hatcheries in each room. Lovely.

One of said hotels has ‘off-street parking’ for Betsy…

“We have a winner!”

The owners looked anxious as I drove Betsy through the door of the hotel and parked at the foot of the stairs, but I managed not to break or scratch anything and now we’re upstairs in the hatchery, which Sal bombed with fly spray earlier, total mosquito genocide.

Tomorrow we’ve decided to stop at a national park called Bardia NP.  More later xoxo

Dave has left 😔 we are all packed up with some extra fuel tied to the bike and starting out trip back to India… The furthest border crossing possible 😉

Feeling a little anxious and overwhelmed  with what we have ahead of us after our little holiday of relaxing, fun and cocktails… Oh well… Back to work 😬

Its a little bit out of whack but I wanted to post some photos of the trek we did to the Annapurna Base Camp.

Day one!

It was a great experience and we saw some amazing scenery. This trek was recommended to us by Casper who we met whilst travelling through Laos and to be honest if it wasnt for him we probably would have rode straight through the area in our usual fashion.  Trekking is such a big part of coming to Nepal and it would have been such a shame to miss this. Here are some of the hundreds of photos we took!!

One of the many swing bridges

Beautiful donkeys along the way!

Woodlands and a rare rest!

Starting to get cold!!

Feet starting to get wet!

Getting close!

Happy times!!

We were pretty happy at this stage!

Ready to go back down!

Another quick rest for the old man…

Things start to warm up so costume chnges need to happen

Another swing bridge on our last day!!

After a few days riding up to Muktinath we’re back in Pokhara.

The scenery from Jomsom to Muktinath will remain a highlight of our time in Nepal, I haven’t seen such huge expansive mountain views since the Andes.

Stunning barren landscape

The riding was rocky and bumpy, but not very difficult, which was a bit of a relief after the accounts we’d heard from other travellers and a bike shop here, that actually warned us against going up there.

Having said that, I managed to fall over once in some deep sand, no damage done but Sal was covered in dust from head to toe, hence the funny pic 🙂

Angry sandy Sally

We took it relatively easy, usually stopping mid afternoon, which meant some long afternoons/evenings sitting on a rooftop soaking up the remaining sun or around an open fire in the restaurant talking about the ride or the spectacular views from the day.

Posing in the mountains

Dave hired a Chinese 250cc trail bike, which while better than the alternative (an Enfield), was no match for Betsy on the rocky jeep track, it’s been a while since we did any off-road riding, but the way we could just eat up the rocks,  undulations and river crossings was pretty cool, Betsy just takes the hits and motors along happily, while poor Dave (and Sally!) was having the crap beaten out of him.

Snow capped mountains

It was hard going and there were very sore bottoms and tired arms from holding on (Sally!) but it was so worth it! A big thank you to Jane for recommending this trip to us even though there were times I was hating her!

Dave is leaving tomorrow so that means we are back on the bike and heading back to India…! No more nice breakfasts in fancys places or endless cocktails in different bars… back to an occasional beer and dahl… and no doubt at lot of horns…!

Great ride today, arrived Muktinath at 2pm, drinking beer in the Bob Marley bar now.
Big smiles all round.  🙂

What goes up must come down, and in this case it came down with very sore knees and the desire to eat something other than Dahl and rice.

We did another couple of longish days to return to Pokhara, first retracing our path to Chomrong, then a new track back to Nayapul.

Arriving in Nayapul, our new friend, (hotel manager), Dilli, came to meet us with his driver, armed with cold beer and a big smile, it was a very nice welcome!!

Then back in Pokhara it was great to see DaveG again, and Dilli put on an amazing BBQ for us that evening.

More pics soon but suffice to say that the walk (hike?) was an experience we won’t forget in a hurry.

Eventually it took us 7 days to do the extended loop, walking from 8am to 4pm every day, mostly up or down steep  rocky paths, including a day above the snowline.

As is often the case, it was both satisfying and humbling. We made it to the ABC, but I’m left in awe of the people working or living up there, who carry 5 x what we did, every day from bottom to top, working fields with oxen, or kids riding to school 2hrs on a donkey, or carting firewood through the mountains on their backs.

Next adventure… On the bike to Muktinath.

As predicted last night, we’re all ready to leave but waiting for Dave to get organised.
He woke up this morning and realized he only has a 15 day visa, which expires in 2 days… There’s always something!
Dave’s at immigration now, hopefully we can get going soon!

Yesterday with some help from Dilli, (the hotel manager who knows everything and everyone) we found Dave a bike to hire, and this morning Dili found us 25lt of fuel to start with, now we just need Dave…

After a long cold night we ate a staple breakfast of plain rice, Dahl and boiled eggs (also relatively cheap).
We learned last night that today we’d be in 10cm of snow all the way to ABC, this was concerning as we’re both in sneakers… Not ideal.

To avoid wet feet and frostbite, we developed the genius plan to use our stuff sacks (compression sacks) over our socks inside our shoes, and tied at the ankle.

Looking rather unprofessional amidst the other serious North Face trekkers we headed out into the frosty morning looking like two lost tourists who somehow stumbled into the area. (8am start Paul!!).

It was supposed to be 6hrs hiking to ABC, and despite the snow, ice and mud, we hacked it out in 4 gruelling hours.

Stunning mountain scenery, snow covered mountains and fast running snow melt streams took our minds off the stuff sack failure and the thin air, so it was actually an enjoyable “walk”.

Arriving at the top we took some pics before the mid day clouds closed us in, and ate a lunch of… Rice, Dahl and boiled eggs (every Lodge here has an identical menu set by local government, except the prices which follow the altitude).

It was a great feeling reaching the top, and just as good to leave as were finally going downhill… in the slippery muddy melting snow.

” have you guys been to the top already?”
“Yep, we even stopped for lunch” 🙂
“Is she wearing slippers? They look like dancing shoes” commented another guy on  the trail.
“She’s a moving advert for Skechers” I cheekily replied.

We luckily avoided falling over on the ice, which turned to mud then sludge, so no. 1 priority at the lodge in the afternoon was drying our shoes…

“Are they your trekking shoes?” Asked a sherpa… He was actually laughing at us!

Now we’re tucked into bed in all our clothes, sleep sheets, sleeping bags and three blankets. It’s freezing.

Tomorrow we hope to have a dry day and a hot shower!

The guys in Pokhara told us it would take 9 days minimum to do the circuit we’d chosen, but we forgot that we only have enough money for about 7 or 8 days… There are no ATM’s up here, so we’re having to double time it.

Today we hiked from Cuilia to Himalayan camp, rated as ten hours walking plus breaks, but we made it in 6 and a half total. Pretty tired now!!

The two places to stay up here are both really tight, they charge extra to sit near the heater (it’s freezing inside, snowing outside), extra for a shower, extra to charge your phone and extra for WiFi that doesn’t work…

So as a result of our rather tight budget were going to bed dirty, cold, and this post will be uploaded some other day.

The walk has been really great though. Amazing high mountains in the distance and all the trees are flowering, stunning.

Tomorrow we reach the Annapurna base camp at 4100m, take a picture and get the hell out of there before the temp drops in the afternoon.

I’m carrying a very sore knee so wish me luck keeping up with Sal, she just doesn’t stop… 🙁

Today we hiked from Uleri to Chuile, that’s supposed to take 2 days or 10hrs of hiking, but we did it in one day, 6hrs.

At that rate by 1pm we were totally exhausted, as in almost vomiting, head spins, wheezing etc. We stopped to eat and warm up by a wood fired water heater, then did a couple more hours before it started to rain.

We sheltered under an abandoned guest house’s verandah for a while before an old lady and then an 11 year old girl arrived (carrying what looked like 50kg of firewood on her back!). They told us there was another place to stay 5 mins further down the hill, so here we are.

It’s a tiny guest house with two bedrooms but most importantly a woodfire cook top so it’s cosy and warm.