I was back in Nepal and had three
weeks to ride motorbikes and was
determined to try the Enfield’s.
It was an early wakeup and I had
to check my bags out of the hotel. I
was meeting Binod and Chandra from
Himalayan Enfielders to head off for
a three-day round trip from Kathman-
du to Pokhara; 200 kilometres away
in the west and return. I’d managed
to borrow a scruffy, but reliable 1978
model 350cc Royal Enfield.
By 8.30am everyone had turned up;
the group had grown to six as word of
a road trip spread about the local bike
fraternity. Steady drizzle was falling
… great!
We headed out into the busy morn-
ing traffic, stopping briefly for fuel
as we rode out of the valley. Legend
has it that the Kathmandu valley was
once a huge lake but then one of the
local gods released the water.
One of the riders stopped with
smoking handlebar wires. He had
an electrical short circuit caused by
water getting where it shouldn’t be.
Wires were ripped out of the culprit;
the horn switch block, and after a bit
of rejigging the group was soon on
the move again.
We had to stop again at an Army
security checkpoint to record our
rego numbers. I needed a bit of
TRAVERSE 74
assistance here as the number plates
were in Nepali.
The rain was now falling, heavily.
The traffic was thick, trucks spewing
out unbelievably thick diesel fumes,
the roads slippery and full of pot-
holes. Throw in the odd goat wan-
dering across the road and personal
concentration in the red zone.
We regrouped after one and a half
hours at a Naubise teahouse, near the
Darman turnoff. Finally, the weather
had cleared. Wet weather gear was
quickly removed as the air quickly be-
came muggy; the Kathmandu area is
quite tropical … bananas often grow
in the local gardens.