winding roads around Nepal .
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 Kathmandu 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 morning 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
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