Wednesday - NH22

We stop for chai at Spello on national highway 22. NH22 winds it's way along the side of the Sutlej River and after following it for many kms over the last few days, it's like an old friend. The section just before Spello is an amazing stretch of pristine tarmac, wide and black, with long straights on which to stretch the legs of the Enfield in 4th gear (top).

The trouble is, out of the blue the tarmac stops suddenly to be replaced by patches of bumpy gravel or sand with no warning, and often hidden by a brow in the road. At this point you rise to stand on the pegs to help the suspension cope with the extreme wheel movement- in effect your arms and legs become part of the suspension. Sometimes this is required only for a few metres, at other times much longer.

The main reason this happens is landslides. However good the road, it is at the mercy of the ground beneath. Running next to NH22 is one of nature's most powerful earth movers: a snow fed river, and it is this that frequently undermines the foundations of the road resulting in whole sections of road disappearing into the abyss below. The other reason is rockfall from above. The friable rocks are riddled with cracks and when water penetrates and freezes huge chunks can be dislodged, which often triggers other rocks and dirt to fall at the same time. In fact, while riding I had small rocks fall where I was riding. Luckily only a small fragment hit my leg.

The road engineers repair the damage as soon as they can, but these are never as good as the original road and often temporary repairs, using rocks and gravel to infill, become semi-permanent. Such is the nature of roads in the Himalayas and adds to the challenge of riding there.