When I last wrote the long range forecast suggested a weather window might form for a sea kayak journey to explore the uninhabited islands and islets that form the most southerly limits of the Outer Hebrides. With a few days in hand in the meantime I decided to hop on my bike and head north from Barra for a few days to explore some favourite places from the landward side, previously only seen from the seat …
Tag: cycle touring
Post-Himalayan Apathy…
It’s always ‘challenging’ returning home after a decent adventure but this time seems to have been, or rather ‘is’, particularly difficult. All I can think about it is the mountains – nothing new there – accompanied by a crippling apathy with respect to what passes for normal life. I’m tired too… really deeply tired so haven’t even been able to get it all out of my system with more riding… or paddling for that matter. Experience says …
Spiti etc
Bikepacking through the stupendous Spiti Valley in the Indian Himalaya, as part of a two-wheeled exploration of the Spiti and Kinnaur Valleys.
The Hindustan-Tibet Highway
Winding it’s way northeast through the Himalayas of Himachel Pradesh, the rough, landslide-prone Hindustan-Tibet Highway is an engineering marvel and makes for a great ride as part of a longer bikepacking journey.
Jalori La
Before I left home, and knowing there would be some significant stretches of asphalt, I did have a few brief doubts about whether the Surly ECR was the best tool for this journey… The Jalori La dispelled any remaining doubt about that, from the north side its final 15km or so are rough dirt rising at gradients up to around of 15-17% … the ECR exhibits a somewhat leech-like quality on such terrain, inching upwards …
On the road again (again)
It’s taken me 12 years to return to this part of the world on my bike mainly because of the journey to get here, it’s not a long flight, about 9hrs, but it’s followed by a 14-15hr drive (overnight bus or taxi) from Delhi on some terrible roads to reach the Kullu valley here in Himachel Pradesh. The right season for riding in the mountains also means that Delhi is an uncomfortable place to connect …
Lightweight bike touring gear list..
Over time gear changes (mostly gets lighter), personal philosophy changes, bikes change and as a consequence so does my packing list for a bike trip. The last time I wrote one (in 2011, here) it represented a pretty heavyweight outfitting for a long, partly off-road journey featuring mountains, deserts and the potential for really bad weather and as such is still completely valid to my mind even if these days I would probably leave some …
Dirt road touring / bike-packing Crete
I thought that, for once, I could perhaps make myself useful and scribble a general info flavoured post with info on maps and stuff – especially given that Crete is such an accessible destination with some absolutely fantastic riding that doesn’t require a big investment in time, messing with visas and so on. So..on that basis here it is.. Maps Crete is absolutely stuffed with dirt tracks and trails.. some harder to navigate than others but …
Archanes etc
I could quite happily have spent a week on the Lasithi Plateau… however with a flight on Wednesday it seemed like quite a good idea to arrive back in Heraklion (or rather the western beach suburb of Amoudara) on Tuesday afternoon leaving time for packing bikes, enjoying a post-ride beer etc… so that is where we are now, bikes are packed (something of a race against an approaching thunderstorm) and we can reflect on what …
Lasithi
After 9 days of riding without a break a rest day was in order…I’m lucky in that the temperatures have to be to closer to 40 degrees before I’m affected too much but even so the relentless climbing was beginning to take a toll. I would have liked one last high mountain camp but I’m not here alone so can’t have everything my way.. ;-) Instead a highly agreeable solution of one last big mountain …
A quick post beer post…
Oh it’s so good to be on the road again, albeit just for a quick trip. Having arrived quite late last night into Heraklion today was reserved for things like getting up late, drinking beer in the sun while looking at maps, putting bikes together, finding supplies and so on. Easy. It is rather fun to be on the road in a modern European country for a change with well stocked supermarkets full of good …
Agdz
The instinct is always to keep pushing on when travelling by bicycle, but aside from the need to rest from time to time it is always good for me to occasionally stop for a bit longer. I stopped here in Agdz for an extra day, in part because yesterday, with the adrenalin of the last few days gone, I felt so utterly drained that I barely stirred from my shady alcove in the courtyard of …
A head full of couscous
I’m not one of those lucky folk that is just ace with languages and that can switch effortlessly from language to language, rather I have to work hard to make a language stick and need to use it frequently to be even remotely comfortable with it, although stuff does come back to me eventually… so having been working hard to add some Arabic to my vocabulary while at the same time scraping the rust off …
When maps go wrong…
I’m resting up for a day in a dusty town on the edge of the desert called Aoulouz after a somewhat challenging day… my legs are toast and the temperatures here are in the mid to high 30’s still, despite winter being just around the corner… but more of that shortly… Heading south from Marrakech on the Taroudant road it is just 30km across a gently rising plain to reach the foot of the Atlas. …
Fiddling…
I’ve been fiddling around with my trusty old Nomad a fair bit this last few days in view of my imminent return to the High Atlas, Djebel Sahro and western fringes of the Sahara. Planning on a very much off-piste trip as much as possible having been twice before but both times on a bit of a mission, this time plan to spend a bit more quality time exploring backroads, tracks and trails. With that …