Phakhel

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In my quest to get out and explore the valley more, today's aim was to get to Kulekhani, a town 21km outside Kathmandu beside a hydroelectric dam that is apparently quite beautiful. A friend and I started with a ride through Bhaisepati, over the Bagmati river and up to the town of Pharping. This is where the road forked and a very helpful local came over to advise us on the best way to get to Kulekhani. The first way was longer and had more traffic but was flatter. The second was quieter and shorter but (unfortunately) went over the hills instead of around them. As it was getting hot and the traffic was picking up we decided to go over the hills. This seemed like the madder of the two choices but after getting several blasts of black smoke from the exhausts of lorries I didn't need much convincing to get off the main road. This road was indeed much quieter and the scenery of the rolling hills around us made up from the endless slog uphill. At the top of the hill, in a little town called Phakhel is where the road deteriorated from a road to a dirt track. The dirt tack was incredibly hard going and after a climb of 1600m over the last 16miles I'd had enough and it was time to turn around. We both agreed that we would take a rain-check on Kulekhani and enjoy the views at Phakhel for today.

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