Cycling 907kms from Rudrapur Utharakhad in India to Kathmandu in Nepal ( December 2016)

Cycling 907kms from Rudrapur  Utharakhad in India to Kathmandu in Nepal ( December 2016)

During Diwali, when I met Jo Skeats, a cyclist travelling around the world on a bicycle, I decided to join him in the adventure for at least 10 days. I made my plans to cycle with him from Rudrapur, Utharakhand in India to Kathmandu in Nepal. Prasad Samant and Saurabh Dighe were supposed to join us but they backed out at the last moment due to some official emergencies.

We were planning & checking at home stays, camping areas and hotels in our route and while discussing this with one of my ex colleagues and friends Srirang Bade, I got to know about Lekhraj Jadli who stays in Rudrapur. I immediately spoke to him and he was very happy to host us. For further stays, we were checking and posting messages online in cycling groups, etc., but only one Usha Titishu responded. Our plan was to meet locals/schools/colleges/Sports groups and make them understand why Jo was on this world tour on a bicycle and of course we also wanted to meet them and learn from them.

On 5^th Dec 2016, I left from Mumbai and reached Rudrapur Utarakhad at Lekrajji’s place were Jo was already waiting for me. We were totally charged up and couldn’t wait with excitement for the next day to start up. We had a great chat and enjoyed our dinner with Lekhrajji & his family. Next day morning Lekhrajji prepared omlet sandwiches for us and ensured that we were loaded with good protein so that we would enjoy our ride. Thank you very much Lekhrajji & family for your kind and unforgettable hospitality.

Day 1, 07^th Dec 2016:   Rudrapur to Bhimdatta, 95kms: After having good breakfast we left Rudrapur and started our ride towards Banbasa border. Lekhraji told us about a very good Gurudwara before Khatima, and we decided to visit. The Gurdwara was lovely and we had our langar (meal) and later moved on. Around 6pm we reached the border between India and Nepal Border where Usha Titishu & Tara Lama Tamang welcomed us with flowers and a traditional shawl along with the Immigration officers. This was an amazing welcome for both of us. Jo was saying he has never met such friendly people at borders. Tara Lama also arranged our stay in a 3 star hotel. Together we enjoyed dinner and next day continued our journey. Thanks to Usha & Tara for their memorable hospitality.

Day 2, 8^th Dec 2016: Bhimdata to Lamki, 109Kms: While chatting with Usha in the morning before leaving Bhimdata(Mahendranagar), she referred us to Yamlal who is a one legged cyclist and stays in Lamki. On our way to Lamki, my cycle luggage holder had some issues caused by my bags which were obviously too heavy for the holder. Luckily we found a cycle shop where we were able to get it fixed.  Yamalal was waiting for us so that he can cycle with us for 15 km, but since we were late he decided to cycle with us the next day. We reached Yamlal’s place around 6.30 in the evening and we decided to spend the night with him. We had lovely dinner with him.

Day 3, 9^th Dec 2016: Lamki to Kolahpur, 95kms: Next morning Yamlal welcomed us along with the villagers and we were amazed and felt like some celebrity, but the truth was, the main celebrity was Yamlal who was a ONE LEGGED CYCLIST and he cycled with us for 20kms. Initially we were unable to believe that he could cycle with one leg, but when we saw him fixing his artificial leg and tying it up with the carrier and later he just sat on the bicycle and started pedalling with his one leg, he was just incredible. He was riding at a speed of 25kms an hour which was amazing. His aim in life is to take a part in Paralympics. We have never met a person with so much positive attitude. He is working hard to get a new bicycle and a good coach, but due to shortage of funds and knowledge, he is unable to get them now. When we asked him about how he managed to get uphill and mountain terrain and doesn’t he find it really difficult, he just gave us a simple reply….In life we everyone has lots of ups & downs and we just need to cope with it to live our lives. I thank Usha for introducing us to this person we could never forget with such a positive attitude. After riding approximately about 35kms and lunch with Yamlal, we move on and Yamlal returned to his village. We made a promise to ride with him again in the future for longer distances and we would definitely to keep up this promise and plan it in India.

Moving on, while riding we saw wild deer and felt amazed. The ride was beautifully scenic through the national forest. Somehow after 95kms, we reached Kolahpur about 6:30 in the evening. Now we had to arrange a stay and decided to stay in a hotel for the night.

Day 4, 10^th Dec 2016: Kolahpur to Lamahi, 123Km: We were late everyday reaching our destination after sunlight, So on the 4^th day we decided to leave early as we were to cover 123kms to compensate for our shortfall during the previous days. We woke up early and left Kolahpur. The day was very cool and the road was very scenic with forests and very little traffic. Jo and I were thrilled and enjoying the beautiful ride but unfortunately in the afternoon, Jo realized that his spokes are broken and we had to stop and luckily he managed to fix it. We stopped after 123kms and decided to camp but couldn’t find a nice place, however we saw a beautiful farm near the highway. As we had already packed food for the night, we only needed to set up the tents and camp. We found a suitable place, not so great, but was good for pitching the tent for the night. We had our dinner and later we star gazed. The sky was magical, filled with beautiful glowing stars. We felt it was better than seeing the sky in a planetarium.

Day 5, 11^th Dec 2016: Lamahi to Butwal, 118 Kms:  Next morning, we got up early as we had to reach Butwal before sunset. While I was packing my stuff, I heard a scream and as I ran out to see, I realised it was Jo. Apparently he had gone to the farm to attend to a call of nature and got stung by a plant which lead to an infection. He was totally frustrated which I totally uderstand. After applying some antiseptic we left that place and moved on only to be followed by more and more frustration when when I saw my bike. The luggage carrier screw was missing and we were worried about getting it fixed. Somehow we managed to find a local cycle shop and got it fixed. We finally moved on and started riding hard towards Bhutwal. We were so happy to realise after a bit of hard pedalling that we had already covered half way. W reached Butwal in the evening and somehow managed to find a hotel. Since it was the high wedding season, most hotels were already full and it was a difficult finding a room. During our dinner at the hotel, a Nepali family, who were celebrating the pre-marraige ritual asked us to join the party. Jo and I were happy to join them and loved doing the Nepali dance with them all night. We somehow managed to escape the party and managed to get few hours of good sleep which was very much needed as the next few days were going to be fun riding inclined up hills.

Day 6,  12th Dec 2016: Bhutwal to Sidhartha Raj Marg, 68kms: We woke up very early so that we could start our day and started packing our things. Butwal was too crowded and we decided to have our breakfast outside the hotel. After enjoying our parathas, we started our journey towards Pokhara, after about 15kms, we saw a gorgeous wire bridge up on the hills which was in used by the villagers. The bridge was so beautifully set, Jo insisted that we should go and see it up close as the location was very scenic. We parked our bikes and went on foot to see it. The bridge was in the hills over a flowing river. It was a great opportunity to take in the beauty and get some amazing photographs. Although we loved stopping at the bridge, later we realized that we should move faster as we had a target to meet and these stops would delay us from meeting the set target. We restarted pedalling really hard and the incline was really hard for me because we reduced our pace. Jo was a little bit annoyed with me as I was not using my gears properly for the incline. I was not resting on my cycle saddle and pedalling in the standing position, which is the way it is to be done.. hahah..  The route was very scenic, but when we cycled up with so much effort, the road would wind down again and we were saying ‘ oh no, Pokhara is uphill” and we kept losing height again and we had to ride up again and again. Somehow with all the ups and downs, we managed to complete 68kms. Since the sun was going down, we decided to stop and camp. We found a beautiful scenic area to camp near the road. We made a deal that Jo will pitch the tent and I will go and fetch some food for dinner. It was totally dark and I needed to cycle about 4kms to the nearest place I could find some food. Jo had told me to Mark the camp location as it would be difficult finding the location again in the dark. I somehow got some dinner and we decided to set up a camp fire, but since we couldn't find any dry wood, we decided to skip it after several tries. Again we enjoyed our star gazing and then watched a movie on Jo’s laptop. I was so exhausted after the uphill cycling, I don't even remember when I slept.

Day 7, 13^th Dec 2016: Sidharth Raj Marg to Pokhara, 89kms: Next morning, we woke up with a stunning view of the beautiful hills. We packed our tent and moved ahead.  Pokhara was only about 89kms but inclined uphill. The motivating factor that day was that we were going to have a full day’s rest once we reached Pokhara. Most of the time Jo was very much ahead of me and about 15kms before reaching Pokhara Jo stopped at one place. From here we saw the most amazing enchanting view of the Annapurna Mountains, this was just spectacular. To add to the excitement of seeing the most beautiful view, another exciting thing was the next 15kms were going to be downhill all the way. With all the excitement, we reached Pokhara at 6 and stayed at Pokhara Grand hotel. We were very happy to reach Pokhara and finally we will have one day rest and we will not be cycling.

Day 8, 14^th Dec 2016: Day of rest but with a short trek to Sarangkot near Pokhara: Next morning we woke up and were able to see the entire mountain range from our beds. This was too tempting as this was a day to rest and we made up our minds that we will just rest in the hotel and if possible we will just stroll around the area nearby. But this was not going to happen, Surrounded by so much beauty and such beautiful mountains, we couldn’t just sleep and rest. We suddenly made a plan to go for a short trek instead of just staying in. The mountains were calling me and I had to be there. So we finally went for a short trek at Sarankot. We got back to the hotel at 4 and finally got some rest. Since my muscles were exhausted, I decided to go for a swim in the icy water swimming pool. The water was freezing but it relaxed my muscles and my body felt refreshed.  We decided to have an early dinner and went to bed early.  

Day 9, 15^th  Dec 2016: Pokhara to Prtithvi High way , 121kms: Next morning we woke up early and had our breakfast and started cycling towards Kathmandu, my final target.  We thought we should complete it in one day, but it was more than 200kms with almost 80kms uphill. After cycling the whole day for about 121kms we finally decided to stop near a highway and a good camp site near a river.

 

Day 10, 16^th Dec 2016 : Prithvi highway to Kathmandu, 89kms:  This was my last day with Jo and cycling with him. We left the place at 8 in the morning and started riding towards Kathmandu. The highway seemed to be very busy and also with more incline we were slow. After taking lots of breaks, we finally reached the top of the Kathmandu City.  When I saw the sign “Welcome to Kathmandu”, I was very happy that finally we had done it in 10days. While entering the City, it was too dusty and we somehow got out of the traffic and got into a hotel near the city.

Day 11, Dec 17^th Dec 2016 :  Next morning I started packing my things and was very upset about leaving Jo. The 10 days with the 23 year old cyclist, who is on a world tour on his bicycle was totally exhilarating. At 1am, Jo dropped me at Kathmandu airport and we said our goodbyes and I flew back to India with the last 10 days still fresh in my minds which will become an unforgettable achievement throughout my life.

Jo is still continuing his tour and currently has reached Thailand  and we are following his adventure cycle tour through his web page http://josiahskeats.com/

The 10 days, joining Jo in his adventure was thrilling. We met lots of people and learnt a lot of things from them. Thanks Jo for permitting me to ride with you. Will try and catch you in some other country shortly.