Tuesday - Manali to Narkanda

It rained last night; all night. It rained this morning; all morning. It rained this afternoon; all afternoon. In fact it hasn't stopped raining. It's still raining now. The forecast for tomorrow is, you guessed it, rain! It's not torrential monsoon rain, just steady persistent drizzle, heavier at times. We are lucky, last year they had four consecutive days of this. Not nice.

As a consequence we are, except for a fortunate few, soaked to the skin after riding the longest day in the saddle: 210km. Even Alex said this was one of the worst days of riding in bad weather and it included the most challenging uphill section we've encountered, the Jelori Pass.

The approach to Jelori Pass road was through the Beas (Be-as) river valley, yet another valley type different from what we've seen so far, with paddy fields along some sections. Where the road came down to river level you could feel the cool air from the icy water and a mist hung over it. The water was flowing fast with the rain and it was easy to imagine how damaging the river could be. The road itself was mostly tarmac allowing a good pace; cows, buses, dogs and trucks permitting. I followed Alex, the convoy leader, for a good portion. It's always good following Alex as he sets a good pace and knows the roads, although I thought we stopped too often today, when I just wanted to push on. I know some others thought the same too.

The tarmac section also included a long unlit tunnel. This was probably the most dangerous road we've ridden on as the Enfield lights are not brilliant and oncoming traffic often has faulty headlights. Also, you have cars behind wanting to overtake in the dark feature-less tunnel. It was a relief to exit.

As it rained so much there had been quite a few landslides on the roads we used and we had to wait for them to be cleared and get through the bottleneck of traffic. Those cleared patches became offroad sections to enjoy again.

The climb up to the Jelori pass was winding and steep on gravel, mud, and broken tarmac. I love these roads! Mostly first gear and lots of throttle. The bikes could not cope with a couple of the larger lads who came up in one of the support vehicles. We are enveloped in mist for most of the ride and at the top. Shame, as the views are probably good. We stop for lunch/chai there, where there is another temple and a couple of dhaba shacks; little more than a shed with a stove but very welcome. Two of the support crew slip off their sandals to offer prayers at the temple, which was nice to see.

After descending on similar but not so steep roads on the other side of the pass, the last few tens of klicks were on major roads which meant over taking trucks and buses on the twisty tarmac. Great fun.

Despite the weather today was another blast and we rolled into the hotel and collapsed into the welcome arms of pakoras and hot tea. Later a hot shower and dinner around the covered campfire. Doc will play the guitar and we'll hear a few songs not fit for family audiences. After surviving the roads of India we're all big boys and girls now.

Tomorrow is the last day and we roll into Simla. Experience says the last day is when most incidents happen as we get de-mob happy. So we'll have to take extra care.