A new challenge is born

June cont....

With no news still and after reaching out to some experts with local knowledge we made the decision that the Everest trip was no more.

With our flights lost, but the trip itself refunded, we set about finding a new challenge.

It obviously had to be hard, a once in a lifetime trip and something that would be worthy of people donating their hard earned money to support and if had to also take place within the date range.

In the end we found an equally challenging trip that still takes us up high into the Himalayas.  Although a little disappointed we cannot go to Nepal, Tibet and Everest base camp our new trip see's us reaching even higher as we get to 5,600m above sea level.

Below is a little summary of what we can expect on our journey.

• One of the most spectacular journeys in the world; crossing six passes, including two of the highest road passes in the world!  
• Mountain scenery of the Indian Himalaya and magnificent wild camping Ancient Buddhist monasteries and gain insight into the culture of Ladakh. 
• An exhilarating 2000m descent from the Khardung La back to Leh! 

11 days of cycling through the Indian Himalayas riding an average of 60km a day over 11 days riding over 6 spectacular Himilayan passes with extended periods of riding at altitudes over 4,000 metres above sea level reaching a high point of 5,600 metres! With a fantastic 2,000m decent thrown in too.

To get to Leh, the capital of Ladakh, we embark upon one of the world's most spectacular bike rides across the Himalaya. Our journey starts in the state of Himachal Pradesh, around Manali, which is surrounded by beautiful pine clad valleys with rushing mountain torrents and flower-strewn meadows. We have time here for acclimatisation rides. Leaving Manali we cross the Rohtang Pass into Lahoul, a semi-desert land, protected from the summer monsoons by the Himalayas. The people here are Buddhist and although the land is perhaps less barren, the lifestyle and villages are very similar to Ladakh. From Lahoul we cycle over the Baralacha Pass which takes us across the Himalayan Range and into Zanskar. The scenery becomes more barren as we cross the Lachalung La and the Nakli La into Rupshu and on to the Changtang Plateau. We spend a night at the high altitude Tsokar Lake, an area inhabited by Tibetan nomads with their huge herds of yaks. Our final pass is the Taglang La, one of the highest road passes in the world, which brings us into Leh. As a final challenge we have a day ride to the Khardung La, the highest motorable road pass in the world. 

But were only riding I hear you say how hard can that be, well;

The surface of the roads over the high passes is often nonexistent and there will be rough sections and maybe muddy sections crossing the high passes, particularly the Rothang and Taglang La. The altitude should not be underestimated and presents a considerable challenge. Some of the riding will be at above 5000m and there will also be some steep and long climbs

Moving onto the altitude, as we are doing a fair chunk of our riding at altitude we have been given the altitude warning to read in preparation for our trip, eeeks!

Sounds like this one will be just as hard, so it was back to the training.