Spiti Valley

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Spiti valley day. Set off in rain at 7.15am which luckily soon stopped. We wound our way back down the steep valley through pine woods to the main road and headed left towards the Spiti valley. The road follows the fast flowing river up the valley. Very soon the road deteriorated and there were long sections of rough dirt replacing the smooth tarmac which makes it quite challenging to ride the old Royal Enfield Bullets as these bikes are called.

The bikes were originally designed back in the 1950s and a factory was set up in Chennai to manufacture them for the Indian market. Very little changed in the design until well into the 21st century. Our bikes were the old design, built in around 2003. The engine is a single cylinder 500cc and produces about 20 horsepower. This gives it a top speed of only about 55mph! The suspension is archaic with only about 2 or 3 inches of travel. However, they are low and consequently it's easy to get your feet on the ground. Off road, the only way to ride is standing up or you will be bounced out of the saddle which is also fairly unforgiving! Unfortunately the handlebars are too low and the tank too wide to make it comfortable riding standing up for long periods of time. The best qualities of the old Bullets are their amazing stability off rode and their incredible strength and toughness. The best way to ride off road is as fast as possible as the bike then bounces from bump to bump, spending quite a lot of time in the air. We became quite used to the crashing sound of the suspension hitting the stops on maximum compression and the stand hitting the ground.

We gradually climbed higher following the Spiti river towards its source. After a quick stop at one of the very many road side cafés to top up with a cup of chai, very sweet spiced milky tea, we then left the river when the gorge became to narrow for a road and began a climb higher and higher into the mountains. The scenery is extraordinary with continually changing colours in the rocks and often no sign of vegetation or indeed life. We stopped for lunch at the top of our first pass at around 13500 feet at a cafe run by a family as often seems to be the case. We were met by the wife saying 'good morning, lovely to see you. You are very welcome’. It amazes me that almost everyone even in the most remote villages spoke some English. The people of the mountainous northern part of India look very much more Nepalese than further south and always seem to be smiling. The daughter of the owner served us our food. She was very pretty and had the most amazingly perfect white teeth I have ever seen.

Attached to the cafe there is always a shop where you can buy bottled water or fizzy drinks. There are also always loads of crisps, snacks and sweets and chocolate. I was astonished to see that, at the top of the pass in a small village in the middle of nowhere, the owner was chatting away on what appeared to be a new Samsung Galaxy mobile phone! In India phones and services are incredibly cheap and there is signal almost everywhere, even in the most remote mountains.

After the inevitable choice of spicy noodles or curry we set off down the mountains towards the Spiti valley. A few hours later, mid afternoon, the river gorge that we had rejoined open out into a wide flat valley floor and the river turned from a fast flowing torrent to many meandering streams about a quarter of a mile wide across the valley floor. Vegetation appeared, fields occasionally line the river bed managed by small farms and flowers and trees appeared.

About 6pm we entered a small town and filled up at a petrol station, the first for about 100 miles. We queued up and filled each bike in turn, 14 in total and then the person in our group allocated petrol whalla duties paid. It was then back on the bikes for another hour and then turned off the main road. After 5 minutes ride, in the middle of nowhere there was a nice hotel with comfy beds, hot showers and a rather blizzard mix of food, cheesy pasta, moussaka and curry. After one too many beers it was off to bed. The problem with the beer in the hotel's we visited is that the only beer they sold was Tubourg, the 8% alcohol variety. Inevitably we were thirsty and, by the end of the evening, slightly drunk as well.

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Comments

[michaela]

Your teeth must be rotten to the core by now!
Hey Kevin, Lovely to hear you...despite your belly full of Tubourg, your grammar is perfect as always! Next time you pop into a shop next to a cafe....can you check if they are selling Shruti branded stuff...ha ha!! I know what you mean about technology reaching the far reaches of the planet.....always amazes me the mobile connection is often better in india than in Cirencester! Moussaka, cheese noodles and curry.....eeeeeeeeek! Need a lead lined stomach for that one....that said, how lovely they are catering for all, seriously......it would have been so easy just to dish up a curry and boiled rice..... I love the thought of the 'bullet'....tough little workhorse...powering away in the face of adversity. Bless them! Looking forward to your next chapter Samuel Pepys! Mxx