Last night was insane. Very little sleep was had by anyone.
It turned out that our night stay is a well used truckers night stop. People arrived well into the night until our room was full. One family with children arrived very late, and then departed again at 2am waking everyone up in the process!
I woke at 5am to find a small rat running over my sleeping bag. I chased it off over Dad and onto Adam who sat bolt upright saying "What's that! Ohh what a qute little mouse".
5:30 seemed like a good time for a toilet stop - darkness giving some sence of privacy.
This morning we said our goodbyes to Richard and Jack. They are continuing on to Lei (another weeks ride), while we turn off at Gramphoo and head over the pass to Manali.
As we ride the 18km to Gramphoo the scenery gets greener and greener. There's even trees starting to appear on the hillside.
When we arrive at Gramphoo we see Sudipto starting to climb the switchbacks above. Definitely time for morning tea before we start the dreaded 750m climb over 15km.
Kunzum has managed to keep pace with us so far. Each time we stop for a photo she does her "Power Nap" thing..
It takes Adam, Kunzum and I 2hrs 15min to climb the zig zag to the top of Rohtang La. We catch and pass Sudipto two thirds of the way up.
Poor old Kunzum is scared shitless of all the road workers. As soon as we come to any on the road her tail goes down between her legs and she stops. It doesn't take long to find out why.
Each group of workers try in their own way to catch her. Some with stones, some by kicking, some my barricading the entire road with workers.
I get the impression tha Kunzum has run this gauntlet before. Possibly many times. So while she doesn't enjoy the experience she appears to get through with ease. Sometimes resorting to cross country travel.
The views as we neared the top are fantastic. Looking straight down the switchback at the trucks and cars below. And what's that, dressed in red way way (way) down below? Could it be.... Dad? Yep! Just plodding along taking it easy, as you should at 65.
The closer we get to the top the colder and windier it becomes, and soon we find ouselves in the cloud.
The very top of Rohtang La is crowded. There are people everywhere. It's a tourist destination for people comming up from the Manali side.
In the mist there are donkey and hose rides for groups, and people selling coffee.
Even people selling saphron. When I say "No Thank you" I am directed to #14 on a sheet of paper. #14... Men's erectile disfunction.
I assure the seller that I'm really not interested. After all... who needs
sex when you've experienced the "John and Adam's Cycle India tour"? (and anyway... who's to say I have a problem... other than being obviously insane).
Sudipto arrives at the top 30 minutes after us, with Dad 45 minutes later.
By this time we've put on our warm clothes and Adam's bought himself a coffee for 10ru. Back in NZ who would buy coffee from anyone wandering around carrying a large thermos flask?
It's too cold to hang around, so all five of us head down through the murk towards Manali with Kunzum showing that she's back on home turf by dissapearing down shortcuts so as not to be left behind as we accelerate down the hill (carfully around the potholes).
Part way down, as the mist clears we see a flock of vultures sitting beside the road having a feed at the carcass of a dead cow.
Go Kunzum! - she takes them head on and these ugly but magnificent birds take to the air with difficulty in the thin air.
Nothing will convince Kunzum that she should carry on with us. And she's last seen with her head stuck up the cows backside enjoying the meal that the vultures have made so easy for her.
Although we have been feeding her it's probably the best meal she's had for weeks.
As we carry on down we see a very strange sight.
One deep cold gully is crowded with cars and people. Here is a trapped very large chunk of snow several metres thick. Most of these people have never seen snow in their lives.
One enterprising person has taken up skis and poles and (we think) is charging people to have their photograph taken posing at skiing. Comming from a country where skiing is common place all this appears quite comical.
Further down we come across a mini queenstown.
It turned out that our night stay is a well used truckers night stop. People arrived well into the night until our room was full. One family with children arrived very late, and then departed again at 2am waking everyone up in the process!
I woke at 5am to find a small rat running over my sleeping bag. I chased it off over Dad and onto Adam who sat bolt upright saying "What's that! Ohh what a qute little mouse".
5:30 seemed like a good time for a toilet stop - darkness giving some sence of privacy.
This morning we said our goodbyes to Richard and Jack. They are continuing on to Lei (another weeks ride), while we turn off at Gramphoo and head over the pass to Manali.
As we ride the 18km to Gramphoo the scenery gets greener and greener. There's even trees starting to appear on the hillside.
When we arrive at Gramphoo we see Sudipto starting to climb the switchbacks above. Definitely time for morning tea before we start the dreaded 750m climb over 15km.
Kunzum has managed to keep pace with us so far. Each time we stop for a photo she does her "Power Nap" thing..
It takes Adam, Kunzum and I 2hrs 15min to climb the zig zag to the top of Rohtang La. We catch and pass Sudipto two thirds of the way up.
Poor old Kunzum is scared shitless of all the road workers. As soon as we come to any on the road her tail goes down between her legs and she stops. It doesn't take long to find out why.
Each group of workers try in their own way to catch her. Some with stones, some by kicking, some my barricading the entire road with workers.
I get the impression tha Kunzum has run this gauntlet before. Possibly many times. So while she doesn't enjoy the experience she appears to get through with ease. Sometimes resorting to cross country travel.
The views as we neared the top are fantastic. Looking straight down the switchback at the trucks and cars below. And what's that, dressed in red way way (way) down below? Could it be.... Dad? Yep! Just plodding along taking it easy, as you should at 65.
The closer we get to the top the colder and windier it becomes, and soon we find ouselves in the cloud.
The very top of Rohtang La is crowded. There are people everywhere. It's a tourist destination for people comming up from the Manali side.
In the mist there are donkey and hose rides for groups, and people selling coffee.
Even people selling saphron. When I say "No Thank you" I am directed to #14 on a sheet of paper. #14... Men's erectile disfunction.
I assure the seller that I'm really not interested. After all... who needs
sex when you've experienced the "John and Adam's Cycle India tour"? (and anyway... who's to say I have a problem... other than being obviously insane).
Sudipto arrives at the top 30 minutes after us, with Dad 45 minutes later.
By this time we've put on our warm clothes and Adam's bought himself a coffee for 10ru. Back in NZ who would buy coffee from anyone wandering around carrying a large thermos flask?
It's too cold to hang around, so all five of us head down through the murk towards Manali with Kunzum showing that she's back on home turf by dissapearing down shortcuts so as not to be left behind as we accelerate down the hill (carfully around the potholes).
Part way down, as the mist clears we see a flock of vultures sitting beside the road having a feed at the carcass of a dead cow.
Go Kunzum! - she takes them head on and these ugly but magnificent birds take to the air with difficulty in the thin air.
Nothing will convince Kunzum that she should carry on with us. And she's last seen with her head stuck up the cows backside enjoying the meal that the vultures have made so easy for her.
Although we have been feeding her it's probably the best meal she's had for weeks.
As we carry on down we see a very strange sight.
One deep cold gully is crowded with cars and people. Here is a trapped very large chunk of snow several metres thick. Most of these people have never seen snow in their lives.
One enterprising person has taken up skis and poles and (we think) is charging people to have their photograph taken posing at skiing. Comming from a country where skiing is common place all this appears quite comical.
Further down we come across a mini queenstown.
Tandem Paragliders cruise down for a short <5>
Manali is a beautiful town nesstled in the trees beside the river in the valley. Like most towns the main bizzar is free from traffic. What's different here is that there are no animals in the main bizzar either. It's clean, and the shops could be those on Willis St back in Wellington.
Countless eateries exist in Marhi, and Adam make a beeline for one labelled "Itallian Pizza" only to be told "Pizza not possible".
The phrase "not possible" is something that every waiter in India learns at birth. It's common to be given a delicious looking menu, but on asking be told that almost everything is "not possible". Leaving in most cases just a few basics.
Tomato soup is fantastic almost anywhere.. and it's never from a packet!.
As we prepare to leave Marhi to continue the 50k downhill who should appear but Kunzum, none the worse for wear other than a distinct blood read tinge to her snout.
At his point we decide that having Kunzum follow us all the way to Manali would start to cause us problems. So as she's back on her home turf we decide to leave her behind to latch on to the next group of cyclists heading in the opposite direction.
Kunzum obviously prefers westerners to Indians, since she's discovered that Westerners don't kick her or throw rocks. Even so it took a full 24 hours for her to really start to trust us, and even then wouldn't ride on the back of the bike (we tried). We suspect that she's been mistreated pretty badly in the past.
We head on down the hill through the trees, and again back into the mist with large drops of rain threatening.
Adam and I are well ahead of Dad and Sudipto when we reach Manali so we go to the one place we're absolutely sure that Dad will head for. The HPTDC Hotel. Note: Dad didn't tell us that there were two HPTDC hotels!
Dark comes and no sign of Dad so we head into town for a look around.
Manali is a beautiful town nesstled in the trees beside the river in the valley. Like most towns the main bizzar is free from traffic. What's different here is that there are no animals in the main bizzar either. It's clean, and the shops could be those on Willis St back in Wellington.
Down side alleys, and in Old Manali we're back to what I've become to expect of Indian shops. Small, cramped, and not an inch of waisted space.
This explains to me why back in NZ the Indian "Corner Dairy" is often very cramped. It's the store owners way of capturing his/her own slice of India back in NZ. Just the same -not an inch of waisted space.
In celebration of reaching Manali I treat myself to the most expensive item on the menu at a local cafe - "Butter fried Trout with vegeatables" with honey pancake desert. Absolutely delicious! (But considerably more than we've been spending on a nights accomodation while in Spiti).
Interestingly I had been aware of the need to watch for Altitude sickness as we climbed during our ride. However I had not anticipated any problems when decending. Although I do remember having suffered back in NZ during a high speed decent of 5,000 feet in a helicoper several years ago - and this was no different.
During the decent from 3820m to 1865m I developed a stunning head ache which stayed with me until I went to sleep at he end of the day.