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for horsepower and fresh clutch plates.
Once over the ridge, the ride was magnificent, winding around mountains overlooking vast valleys below. Passing villagers on their way to somewhere, we stopped to greet one elderly woman seemingly living alone in a three-metre-by-threemetre roofless shack. Christo and Chris’ s excitement at meeting her was clear; she laughed and waved goodbye to her new, possibly only, friends as we rode on southward.
By now everyone was comfortable on the Himalayans, having learned to rely on torque rather than horsepower.
We arrived at Samar’ s poplar grove around 2:30 pm, perfect for a midarvo session and, for some, a dip in the icy stream flowing past our hotel. Well, not everyone’ s hotel; rooms were limited, so the rest were sent 200 metres down the track to what was arguably a more upmarket abode. Two-star beats one-star, right? And the veggie pasties were certainly better than the same-same rice and lentil soup.
With firewood stacked high on rooftops for winter, there was plenty to spare for a small bonfire and a few more very cold ales to finish off a fantastic day.
We were set to head for Tatopani the next morning. The backup crew, clearly over clutch repairs, also seemed over early-morning bike checks, and a flat tyre delayed the start.
We retraced the snotty, dusty hill, far easier descending than climbing, and stopped at Kagbeni for a prelunch yak burger before a final push to Kalopani for our pre-ordered meal. Watching bright-eyed trekkers, I still couldn’ t understand the appeal of walking for days with ski poles through dusty, rocky, wind-blown
Mustang. Judging by some of their weary faces, they might have been wondering the same.“ Where’ s Joe?” someone asked.“ Gone back to look for his wallet,” said Charcoal.“ It fell off his bag on the rack.”
Wallet gone. Cards gone. Licence gone. A pale-faced Joe rejoined us after a fruitless 30 kilometre search. Bob came to the rescue with a line of credit to carry him through the rest of the adventure.
Sympathetic but ready to move on, we remounted and continued to the hot spa at Tatopani, one pool for men, one for women. Arriving after closing time wasn’ t a problem; it opened again at 7:00 am, which seemed the perfect way to start the day. The locals clearly agreed.
Another delayed start followed, this time due to a misplaced key, but soon we were on our way again, pausing only to help free an over-
TRAVERSE 94