TRAVERSE 78
Five days in the saddle of Royal Enfield Himalayans ripping around the mountains of Nepal . Adventure , excitement , and camaraderie sounded much better than a week of bars , clubs , and hangovers . The only snag to this grand plan was the spectrum of our group ’ s riding skills , which ranged from “ Daily Ducati Rider ” right through to “ Rented A Scooter While On Holiday In Bali One Time ”. Basically , three out of our group of six could handle bikes and three had never ridden a geared bike in their lives . Still , twelve months is plenty of time to learn .
With the high-level plan of “ motorbikes around Nepal ” locked in , we did the obligatory searching of tour companies and routes , then rang around some of the more promising motorbike tour operators based in Nepal until we ended up chatting to Bijay from Ride Ultimate Adventure based in Pokhara . We intuitively knew this was the right guy to take us on our Nepalese adventure . Happy , enthusiastic , flexible , knowledgeable – Bijay was everything we wanted from a guide . He quickly whipped up an itinerary that was based around Muktinath in the Lower Mustang region , mixing 40 % tarmac with 60 % offroad trails . Bijay painted us a picture of an epic ride through the Himalayas , crossing suspension bridges , ploughing through rivers , traversing perilous mountain passes , taking in epic waterfalls , tearing through rough and ready trails , all set to scenery that was , quite literally , breathtaking .
Appetites sufficiently whet , we threw down deposits to reserve our November slot with Bijay , booked flights and started to think about getting the right gear for the trip .
When a group of men go on a shopping trip together to buy motorbike gear , it feels like a cross between the A Team prepping for an upcoming mission and the Sex And The City girls cruising shops looking for the perfect outfit . Adventure touring chic with a twist of Ewan McGregor seemed to be the style that the lads were shooting for . November in Nepal is 18-22 degrees Celsius in the day , with pretty much zero chance of rainfall all month . Our route would take us up as high as 3800 metres though … and we were warned that when you get up into the mountains , the temperature at night can drop below zero and even riding in the shade through mountain passes can be quite cold . Jackets with detachable linings would cater for the temperature swings and base-layers and fleeces / hoodies would be useful to fend off
the cold when needed . With that in mind , we hit the local motorbike apparel stores – and after four solid hours of trying stuff on and many swipes of the credit card , we were sufficiently kitted out with jackets , trousers , base-layers , armour , boots , helmets , communicators , and helmet cameras .
With the gear bought , the route locked-in and the three newbie riders now fully fledged off-road virtuosos , we were ready to hit Nepal .
Our squad of six flew into Nepal from various corners of the world . Some of us were getting together for the first time in a while and the day one excitement of old friends
TRAVERSE 78