Across Tibet

A bicycle tour from Lhasa to Kathmandu, August 2012

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This story is from the days before Strava… remember those? I took a journal and a camera with me, and have used these as the basis for this epic ride across Tibet. This inaugural trip across Tibet was arranged by Xplore and its indomitable founder Alex Harris.

Alex continues to offer this trip, amongst others.
For details visit www.xplorethisworld.com

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I first heard about the idea to ride across Tibet to Everest base camp while finishing a 2 week trip around New Zealand with my family in October 2011. The opportunity to head to a bucket list destination and to ride 1,000km across the Himalayas was one not to be missed and so I signed up. My training since then had been progressing well, but shortly after starting day 3 of the iconic sani2c MTB race in May 2012, I fell, landing hard on my butt. Shaken and in pain, I carried on to the finish.

A week later I decided to go for x-rays, followed by a CT-scan, as I was still very uncomfortable and had dark bruising around my hips and buttocks. The scans showed that I had compression fractures in my sacrum, which explained why I found it hard to sit down on my saddle. I was advised not to ride for 8 weeks, which felt like an eternity! After 6 weeks of convalescence I found that I could manage short rides without much discomfort, and so started to pick up my training again. However, I had only about 7 weeks before we set off for the Himalayas, and I felt really undertrained as the departure day approached. The story picks up once we had arrived in Lhasa.

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11 August 2012, Lhasa, Tibet

The day started off very slowly. There were plenty of sore heads around the breakfast table at the Hyatt in Kathmandu. This mostly had to do with our sightseeing trip into Tahmel yesterday afternoon, which turned into a tour of not just the tourist markets, but also the many bars in this old part of town.

After breakfast we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Lhasa. Getting through security seemed to take forever, but soon enough the flight was called for boarding and actually left ahead of schedule. I had a window seat which was worth its weight in gold. Our flight path took us right past Lhotse and a partially obscured Everest. The peaks seemed very close indeed, despite our cruising altitude of almost 10,000m. Majestic!

After landing at the new Lhasa airport it took us hours to clear the immigration and customs checks. Every single bag was scanned and searched. We had been forewarned not to bring any maps and guide books, and so all 16 of us were finally permitted to carry on outside. An air-conditioned bus then drove us into town, along a very impressive newly tarred motorway. As we drew closer to the centre of town, the impressive Potala Palace could be seen from its elevated and prominent position above the city.

We checked into a very average hotel, before heading out to get a bite to eat. Over many courses of good Chinese food Alex briefed us on the trip ahead and logistics for the next few days. Most of us then headed to bed – the effects of the night before, and the altitude (Lhasa is at 3,650m above sea level), made for an early night.

12 August 2021, Lhasa, Tibet

I awoke feeling largely unaffected by the altitude other than a slightly raised pulse and shortness of breath when climbing stairs. After a reasonable breakfast of fruit and an omelette we met outside to assemble our bikes, which had arrived with our support crew after a 24 hour drive from Kathmandu to Lhasa. Most of our bikes seemed to have survived the trip reasonably well and after some minor adjustments were ready to roll. A few extra parts were required and so we headed across to a local bike shop, mostly stocked with Merida stuff. This should have been a quick trip, but with a large cohort of cycling fanatics, this was like inviting kids into a candy store.

It was lunch time when we finally left the store, and my good friends Grant and Andrew and I decided to take a scenic route through the bustling street markets to find some food. While taking photos in a large square we were befriended by young man who had ridden his bike from Mongolia to Lhasa and was curious as to what trip we were doing. Despite his broken English, we chatted about his travels while we strolled and rode through the streets. We invited him to join us for lunch, which was handy given that most people we had met in Lhasa so far couldn’t speak English. We parked our bikes up outside the small restaurant we found. Our Mongolian friend, Yan, insisted on using his small bike lock so we locked Grant and Andrew’s bikes together, while mine was leaned up next to the door next to our guest’s bike. I could see one of my bike’s wheels from where we sat near the door, and so we settled into a meal of dim sum, noodles and beer.

A short while later we were interrupted by an elderly woman begging for some money. After she had departed I realised that I could no longer see my bike wheel, and, on rushing outside, found that my bike was gone!

To travel half way round the world to do a bike tour, and be so close to starting off, only to have one’s means of transport stolen from under one’s nose was gut-wrenching. I should have been more cautious for sure, but I simply hadn’t thought about crime since I had arrived. I would never have left my unattended back home in South Africa…

Most street corners and intersections have police stationed at them, as well as a multitude of security cameras, and so I asked Yan to help me explain to the police what had happened. We were taken to a formal police office a short distance away where we were interviewed again, and many phone calls were made. Everything was quite casual until one of the officers asked me what the value of the bike was. “About $6,000” was my response. At first there was disbelief, but on multiple confirmations of this figure, the wide-eyed policeman adopted a far more serious and attentive disposition. More phone calls were made.

I was marched to a larger police station about 500m away where the interrogation was repeated. A short while later a car screeched to a halt nearby and two plain-clothes policeman jumped out and approached me. More questions followed, and I was taken back to the crime scene to explain what had happened. They then drove Yan and I to the main Lhasa police station, but not before I had asked Grant and Andrew to return to our hotel to let Alex know what was happening. I also suggested they ask Tensing, our Tibetan tour guide, to come and assist me and to give me a lift back afterwards.

At the main police station, the policeman typed up all my details and the case notes, printed it out and asked me to sign it and place finger prints over the English bits. The whole document was in hanzi, save for my name and the a figure of $6,000! Nevertheless, it was sufficient for an insurance claim when I got back home.

By the time I left the police station Tensing was waiting for me outside. I thanked Yan profusely for his help and jumped into the Land Cruiser. Tensing drove me to a monastery in the centre of town where the rest of the group were already wondering around, and after a few hours of sightseeing went went back to the hotel. I was not in good spirits.

Later we congregated at the Himalayan Mountain Club and drank some beer while watching a film called Sucker Punch. Drinks turned into more drinks, pizza, and a few more drinks. After dinner, Alex gave us some depressing news – some tourists had caused a scene near Everest Base Camp which had resulted in the Chinese authorities closing the whole Base Camp area to tourists. The Tibetan borders were also closed to all inbound tourists, meaning we were lucky to be in the Tibet at all. I was deeply depressed by this news given that the two days we should have spent at Base Camp were what I had been looking forward to most of all. All in all a pretty miserable day.

13 August 2021, Lhasa,Tibet

I woke up excitedly looking forward to our planned visit to the Potala Palace. I would have to sort out my bike problem later. The palace is perched on top of a prominent hill on the eastern side of town. It was built in 7BC and has been the royal and political centre of Tibet since then. It has a number of steep staircases that lead to the main entrance. From there one goes through numerous brightly coloured rooms and various prayer, meditation, and reception rooms before eventually being led into the red brick religious part of the complex, right at the top of the palace. This area contained many tombs housing past Dalai Lamas, as well as a large assembly area for resident monks, as well as housing many collections of religious artefacts. The palace was certainly impressive. However, I left feeling that a prior knowledge of the region’s history and religious structures would have been useful. Our tour guide spoke very little English, and thus couldn’t explain things well. But we also had a large, rowdy, and restless group, which made the guide’s job challenging, and overall I think we were lucky to have left the palace without anyone being arrested!

After our visit to the palace I set off in search of bicycle shops to find a bike. While hiring a bike would have been the cheaper option, most of the hire bikes looked well used and in poor condition. So I headed back to the Merida store we had previously visited and purchased the best bike they had. The aluminum hard-tail MTB I became the proud owner of, was far heavier than my old carbon Specialised bike, but beggars can’t be choosers…

Dinner that evening was a chaotic affair at a popular local restaurant. The idea was to have a Hot Pot meal, where all the ingredients are thrown into a large pot in the centre of the table, and cooked while one looks on. Plenty of saki and beer was consumed, mostly to dilute the sichuan spices, I can assure you. It was almost midnight by the time we got to bed. Excellent preparation ahead of our first day of riding.

Yesterday’s ride was wonderful, particularly after escaping the crazy traffic in Lhasa. We followed the Lhasa river for many kilometers on the main road to Shigatse. While it carried quite a lot of traffic, the vehicles would typically hoot politely as they came up behind you, and then give one a wide berth.

The riding was slow, comfortable and mostly flat. A good acclimatisation ride. At the small town of Chusul, the Lhasa river empties into the Yarlung Zangbo river which we crossed, and then followed for about 10km to our camp site. The was situated on some old cultivated terraces above the river, with a spectacular view to the west of two 5000+ peaks crowned with snow.

We had arrived at camp shortly after lunch, and so I had some time to replace my new wheels with a set of tubeless wheels we had brought as spares. I had already had one puncture leaving Lhasa, so this seemed a sensible (and lighter!) upgrade. After that I hiked up a nearby ridge to enjoy the evening light on the distant peaks.

Our first camp dinner was a magnificent affair: a 3 course meal on a beautifully laid table, accompanied by Chinese beer and South African wine. After a hearty daal (soup), we had curried chicken with rice and vegetables, followed by fruit salad. Alex was clearly delivering on his promise of a luxury camping bike trip.

Stage 2: Chusul to Nargatse camp

Distance: 93km Ascent: 1661m

Today I woke up with a sore throat, but as it went away during the day, I put it down to altitude and dehydration (playing poker and drinking whiskey late into the night couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with it…). Breakfast of oats, freshly baked muffins and delicious coffee got our day off to a good start.

Our ride started uphill immediately from our camp as we had camped at the base of the Khamba Pass. What Alex had thought was around a 12km long climb, turned out to be a 23km climb, with 1100m of vertical ascent, which took me 3 hours. Thankfully coffee and snacks were waiting for us at the summit of the pass (at 4794m above sea level) and between the clouds we had intermittent views of the turquoise waters of Scorpion lake far below us.

The rest of the day was spent riding along the edge of this magnificent lake. Thankfully is was also pretty flat, as I’d worked harder up the pass than I would have liked, and was pretty tired and dehydrated by the time we stopped for lunch. The last 15km or so did take us uphill, and a few of us started experiencing high heart rates and headaches, which thankfully required a slower pace.

After what seemed to be an endless bit of climbing up an increasingly rugged and barren valley, watched by soaring snow-capped peaks, we could at last make out the large orange dome mess tent and then, soon there after, our smaller individual tents. It was wonderful to get off the bikes after 7 hours in the saddle and a few of us enjoyed a quick swim in the freezing glacier-fed river followed by a hot shower.

The temperature dropped quickly as the sun disappeared behind the peaks. Dinner was a quick affair of pasta and some wine, followed by some slabs of chocolate. Most of us were in bed early, but not before some whiskey was consumed in celebration of Hilton’s 40th birthday.

18 August 2012, Tsuo La

Stage 3: Nargatse Camp to Gyantse

Distance: 83km Ascent: 520m

After a good, albeit chilly night’s sleep, we packed up and headed up the road towards the Karo La pass. I was sad to leave the spectacular campsite, but it wasn’t long until the bite of the 9km climb up to 5034m took over my thoughts. Many of the riders had altitude headaches, and so there was marginally less racing, at least to begin with.

After our initial warm-up, we descended into a lovely fertile valley planted with wheat and rape seed. Later we had to work for our lunch as this was served at the top of another pass (at 4330m) which overlooked a large dam. The descent past this dam and great, and the flat run into Gyantse was fast!

We checked into a pretty average looking hotel, but it had comfy beds and hot showers. We spent the afternoon wondering around the town. I wanted to visit a large monastery perched on a prominent hill, but sadly it was closed. Instead we strolled through a large market selling fruit and vegetables as well as all sorts of meat from open tables.

We enjoyed a delicious Nepalese dinner accompanied with loads of garlic naan bread and copious amounts of beer. I turned in early for a change, leaving the usual boisterous pokers players to carry on without me.

Stage 4: Gyantse to Shigatse

Distance: 98km Ascent: 77m

This was a fabulous, flat and somewhat descending ride for most of the day. Alex had suggested splitting up and making our way to Shigatse as we pleased. While some of the riders opted for the dirt tracks and paddy fields adjacent to our route, I stayed on the tar, liking the idea of a rest day.

At about the 40km point I hooked up behind a large, slow-moving truck and enjoyed its slipstream for over 15km, leaving the rest of the group far behind. I was eventually dropped on a small hill, and was left riding by myself for a further 25km. I took a detour to look at a nearby monastery, where I was treated to a guided tour with a young monk who spoke a little English.

When I got back onto the tar road, a headwind had started up, and so I wasn’t looking forward to doing the remaining 22km by myself. I was therefore very relieved to be caught by Alex and a few other riders, and between us we shared front wheel duty as we sped along the highway into town.

By the time we had checked in to our hotel and cleaned up, there wasn’t much time to explore Tibet’s second largest town or its impressive looking fort on the nearby hill. Instead, we tried out a local tea room and finished their stock of beer. Dinner was a delicious yak stir fry with a few more beers. After that we proceeded to play poker in our hotel’s reception area, for wont of anywhere else to play.

Stage 5: Shigatse to Tso La hot springs

Distance: 138km Ascent: 900m

The longest stage of our tour started easily enough with a flat and fast 90km route along a large river valley, again filled with cultivated fields. After crossing the Sha Chu river however, we started climbing, and the terrain become more barren.

I was also feeling pretty flat and wasn’t looking forward to the 10km Tsuo La pass which lay ahead. The gradient proved to be gentle and soon enough we crested the summit at just over 4520m above sea level. After that things did get a bit tough, but only because we sped down the descent on the other side of the pass, and literally time-trialed the remaining 25km to the hot springs where our tented camp lay waiting for us.

I was looking forward to soaking my sore legs in the hot springs, but was rather disappointed by what we found. The springs themselves were extremely hot, and the bathing pool wasn’t filled. So we retired inside the adjacent restaurant which provided some respite (and cold beers) from the late afternoon heat and the sulphurous fumes from the springs.

Dinner in the mess tent was superb: stir fried pork with vegetables and rice, followed by camp-made cinnamon rolls. Shortly after dinner a large storm rolled in and it rained heavily for most of the night. It was wonderful to be camping out in the middle of nowhere again, and despite the rain, I slept very well indeed.

Stage 6: Tsuo La to Xegar Camp (near Tingri)

Distance: 96km Ascent: 1341m

This was one of the hardest days I’ve had on a bike. It was raining when we woke up and our camp was pretty water-logged after all the rain in the night. This made for pretty miserable packing up not to mention wet and muddy cycling shoes. By the time we left camp it had stopped raining however, it wasn’t long before the rain was back. The first 15km of our day were consequently pretty miserable.

After some time the road forked; we turned left and headed up the Gyam Tsuo La pass. The tarred road wound its way upwards for 25km next to a magnificent gorge with a raging brown torrent racing noisily past us in the other direction. The gradient was unrelenting, with very few flat spots like the switchbacks on the Khamba La pass. I found it tough going, particularly because the weather was so changeable and frequently hid the majestic scenery that would otherwise have cheered me up.

I had started the day cold and wet, but needed to quickly shed layers when the sun came out at the bottom of the pass. 30 minutes later I had to stop and put layers back on before riding any further in the cold mist that enveloped me. I had been dropped by the group early on in the day, and must have covered 10km of the climb by myself in the mist. Thanks to some good music from my iPod, I kept the pedals turning over and thus distracted, almost rode into the back of Pieter who emerged suddenly out of the gloom. We then rode together, mostly in silence, alternating places depending on who was suffering less at any one point. Being caught by the sweep vehicle didn’t help my mood, and I was somewhat pleased when it drifted off up the road into the swirling mist.

I drifted off the back of Pieter’s wheel, content to suffer alone rather than trying to make small talk. The thin air was evident with my rather ragged breathing. My mind was in a deep and dark place and my legs were screaming at me.

The summit finally appeared, adorned as usual with a multitude of prayer flags. At an altitude of 5074m, there had been snow here in the morning when our support vehicle had set up the lunch and coffee tables. The alternating sun and rain had mostly melted this away by the time I arrived. Some high mountains were visible in the distance, but sadly my hopes of seeing Everest were dashed by heavy cloud cover where we should have been able to see it.

After some lunch I put on as many layers as possible as we had been told to expect a cold and wet descent. The main group had left shortly after I arrived, but thankfully a few of my mates had waited for me to rest up and rolled down the hill with me. We were passed by a truck and a few chaps dived into the slip stream. Our group wasn’t big enough to all sit behind the truck, and my legs weren’t up to a high speed chase, so I dropped off the back with two others.

The three of us suffered for the remaining 40km, with a headwind and more rain thrown at us. When things really felt like they couldn’t get any worse, it rained even harder. A cold, piercing rain. It felt like being hit by thousands of small needles made of ice. It was a brutal day out, and we were only too pleased to reach a little village where we found the rest of the group taking shelter in a tea room. We only had about 5km left to ride for the day, but we stopped and had some tea. I even ordered some noodles – I was that broken!

On finally reaching our campsite, rain looked to be heading up the valley, and so we had to scramble to pitch tents and get showered before it arrived. I was shattered at dinner time. Noodles and some roast chicken perked me up no end, and so I managed some red wine with it too. After that I ended up playing poker and sipping some whiskey. All the while it poured with rain. As I finally drifted off to sleep sometime later, it crossed my mind that it didn’t seem as though we were in the “post-monsoon” season after all….

Stage 7: Xegar Camp to Tingri Camp

Distance: 80km Ascent: 375m Altitude: 4359m

It was raining when we woke up so we decided to delay our start time to 10h00 in the hope that the rain stopped. It didn’t!

So we set off towards Tingri in the rain. The road took us past the turn off and checkpoint that should have led us to Everest base camp. Disappointingly, we still weren’t allowed to go that way, and so we carried on towards Tingri. The undulating road was made more unpleasant by the persistent cold wind and intermittent rain. My mood darkened along with the dim light as low clouds skidded across the sky. We had covered over 600km to get to Everest. Now we were not allowed to go any near it, and due to the weather seemed unlikely to even get a glimpse of it.

My mood improved somewhat at our lunch stop as our chef had rustled up some french fries which disappeared as quickly as they could be brought out. Our new route that took us away from Everest was at least flat, but the disappointment among the group was evident by the lack of racing to our next camp.

Our camp was situated adjacent to some hot springs, so we gamely went straight there for a swim. The pleasantly warm rock pool, which was filled with lumpy algae, would have been the centre of a pretty good looking spa years ago. Sadly, time and neglect had made sure that one was more likely to consider the pool a health hazard more than anything else.

After a good soak, and a few beers, we headed to the mess tent for dinner. It wasn’t long thereafter that I fell into bed for a well deserved sleep.

Stage 8: Rest day at the Tsamuda springs

I was rudely awoken by my friend Andrew because the clouds had lifted and some of the high mountains were visible. So we scampered up a nearby hill to see the view. The impressive Cho Oyo, which rises up next to Everest, was clearly visible despite being many kilometers away, but Everest was hidden by some clouds. So a few of us climbed up an adjacent hill which was a bit higher and sat waiting for a while to see if the clouds would clear. After some time the clouds did open up and we got a fantastic few of both Everest and Cho Oyo and managed to snap a few pictures before the clouds obstructed the view once again.

The rest of the day was spent reading, playing cards games, and also a brief ride to the nearby village and amongst some ruins. With a backdrop of thunderclouds over Everest and intermittent sunshine in the foreground, the scene was set for photography!

Dinner was another delicious meal of pork, vegetables and rice as well as the Meerlust Rubicon (a famous South African red wine) we were meant to be enjoying at Everest Base Camp. While the rain had largely stayed away during the day, it came back with a vengeance during dinner. I have to say that it is always a lovely sound to go to sleep to when in a warm sleeping bag and a waterproof tent.

Stage 9: Rest day at the Tsamuda springs

While a lot of the group went off riding around the valley we had explored yesterday, I decided to put my feet up and read a book. Time off the saddle is under rated and much needed, in my view. Besides, I got to chat about life and the world with Stuart, our chef, while enjoying freshly brewed coffee and camp-baked bread.

Stage 10: Tsamuda springs to Shishapangma Camp

Distance: 73km Ascent: 398m Altitude: 4647m

The day started off up a wide river valley and passed a number of ruins which some of us (the non-racing bunch) explored and photographed. The valley became a bit steeper and narrower with craggy sides and even a few caves. We couldn’t resist the temptation to climb up and explore. We were rewarded with beautiful views back down the valley. I even managed to pick up an ammonite from a local herder who had spotted us clambering around from across the valley.

The weather remained unkind, with low clouds and rain following us up the valley for most of the day. This was a pity as while we were surrounded by high mountains, we couldn’t see them at all. At the base of the Lang La Pass we turned south and headed a further 8-9km to a wonderful little campsite alongside a small river. We should have been able to see the 8000m Shishapangma peak relatively close by, but sadly it remained obscured while we were there. We spent the afternoon scratching around the river valley and a few small caves before the smell of Stuart’s dinner and the late afternoon chill lured us back to the mess tent.

This was to be our last night of camping on the trip, and also our last night on the high Tibetan plateau. After the group had largely drifted off to bed I stayed up for a bit longer, watching the lightning flashes in the distance and feeling the rumbling of the thunder a few seconds later. I would have loved to have been able to see the stars over my head and the snow capped peaks on the horizon.

Stage 11: Shishapangma Camp to Nyalam

Distance: 83km Ascent: 602m Altitude: 3815m

We woke up to a dry morning and a spectacular sunrise (but still no view of the high mountains). We broke camp after the usual delicious breakfast of oats, pancakes and coffee. We then headed off up the valley along an intermittently muddy jeep (or perhaps cart) track. This 20km “short-cut” to a bridge between the Lalung La pass and the Thang La pass took us almost 2 and a half hours and so I was a bit grumpy by the time we reached the comforts of the tar road. We had saved ourselves a large climb, but the track had also been hard work!

The Thang La pass was 13km long and took us up to 5125m. It seemed to take an eternity to get to the top and I was grateful for the company of my buddies Andrew and Grant. We enjoyed some coffee at the top of the pass, and with some sadness prepared to head down the other side. I say that because we were leaving the high mountains behind – parts of them had occasionally been visible, but we hadn’t ever been able to see them properly.

But I was also looking forward to the next part of the ride. It was going to be my ideal kind of riding… 60kms of downhill! The road down to the town of Nyalam was billed as the world’s longest downhill. I know this not to be true having done a longer descent outside La Paz in Bolivia, but I wasn’t about to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

We descended over 1500m in vertical height in the ensuing 60km. We sped along a fantastic tar road through a deep gorge, with sharp switchbacks and sheer rock walls. The descent was made more dangerous with the intermittent squalls of rain and the occasional trucks labouring up the hill in the opposite direction. We raced into the scruffy cliff-hanging town of Nyalam in an exhilarated, albeit rather wet, state. Beers and some very average Indian curry rounded off the day. The plank of a bed I slept on made me long for the relative comfort of my camping mattress.

Stage 12: Nyalam to Dulikhel

Distance: 120km Ascent: 1176m Altitude: 1249m

Nyalam was not the sort of place to stay at for long and we were only too happy to head out, particularly as we had more descending to do. We covered 38km of breathtaking scenery as we plunged down over 3000m in height. We were again riding in a deep gorge with vegetation which got increasingly lush as we descended, while the humidity climbed. Waterfalls and large vertical cliff faces appeared around every corner, making the tar road an incredible engineering feat indeed.

The border post into Nepal brought us to a standstill. It took us over 2 hours to achieve due to some mind-numbing beauracracy which meant we had to unload our vehicles and carry all of our gear across the border, before reloading the vehicles.

From the chaos of the border town we continued our mad descent. The only difference now was the extra volume of trucks and the steadily worsening road condition. When the descent finally ended we were only at about 650m above sea level with thick vegetation all around. We found a roadside tea house and enjoyed some Cokes and a light lunch.

We had one challenge left – a rather nasty climb up to our hotel in Dulikhel. The heat and humidity rose throughout the day and my early assault up the early part of the hill caused me to overheat and head into leg-cramping territory. I found Grant and Andrew pouring water over their heads from a hosepipe next to the road, and thoroughly enjoyed doing the same. After that however, I couldn’t keep up with them and was unceremoniously dropped.

I clawed my way slowly up the hill and its endless switchbacks, stopping frequently to rest under shady trees. I was desperate to find more water to drink and to help cool me down, but it was a long time before I found some. A garden with a sprinkler watering the grass was a very welcome break.

As is typical of moments of deep desperation and self-pity, I didn’t see any vehicles or a single truck coming past me that would have been able to give me a lift! There were no roadside shops stocking cooldrinks or water. And I couldn’t see how far I had left to go due to never-ending zig-zags and the thick vegetation. I fought my way up, alone and exhausted, and stopped at any opportunity to take photos and to reduce my core temperature in shady spots.

I eventually rounded another bend and found myself at the Snow View hotel. I got a rousing reception from the rest of the group who had long since completed the race for the King of the Mountain award, had showered and were already into their second or third beers.

The one benefit of this stage’s torturous finish was that the last stage into Kathmandu was a short 35km stretch, and we had already done the climb we would otherwise have had to do first thing tomorrow. With that in mind I set about enjoying the mountain views from the hotel’s elevated terrace and the local beers.

Stage 13: Dulikhel to Kathmandu

Distance: 35km Ascent: 417m Altitude: 1340m

The day started with a fabulous breakfast looking out onto the Himalayas in the distance. We had covered 960km and were about to head back into civilization and the hustle and bustle that would bring. I didn’t really want to leave. Not yet. My body was tired, and the views were just so mesmerizing and restful. The prospect of the spa at the Hyatt was appealing though, and so I rolled out my trusty Merida for one last ride.

We hadn’t quite finished the pass yesterday, and so our first 4-5kms went straight up to the actual village of Dulikhel. After that it was fairly pleasant ride with some undulations and a descent into the outskirts of Kathmandu. The traffic increased the closer we got to town, and things became pretty hazardous indeed with the sheer volume of cars, trucks, motorbikes coupled with the random flow that the traffic seemed to take. Our arrival at the oasis that is the Hyatt was a serious anticlimax: relief from the noise and traffic of town, but also a sad realisation that our 1000km ride across Tibet was over.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in town doing some shopping. I located a few bike shops and managed to sell my Merida at one of the stores that hired out bikes to tourists like us. I actually got a reasonable price… probably due to the good job I’d done of cleaning it and my “barely used” sales pitch…

After that we packed all our stuff, dismantled bikes, and loaded everything onto our bus that took us to the airport. Our flight out of Kathmandu was delayed, meaning we had to spend an extra hour in the rather hot and sticky airport. But that did mean that we had another hour to reminisce over our incredible bike tour across the Himalayas.

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“And thus came to an end our crossing of the Himalayas. It was an adventure like days of old…

We passed where few have, and certainly fewer with their bikes. We camped in places told and places old. We ate and drank like kings, and we gazed upon vistas fit only for extraordinary people.

We were, just for a time, explorers in a rare and lost kingdom.”

Alex Harris

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Route map