The last days we have not done too much cycling. We have had a light programme. All the time however, it hung above our heads. Literally. The highest pass in the world that could reasonably be cycled without having to carry or push the bicycle all the time. Sebastian wants to do the Khardung La as a day trip on the day after our return. Two days later he will travel by airplane to Delhi and a few days later back home. We have more time; we want to cycle in the Spiti Valley after the Nubra Valley. But first we have to cross the Khardung La.

The Khardung La begins in Leh and crosses the Ladakh Range north of the Indus Valley. The pass is 5.602 meter high according to the maps and is the only connection with the Shyok and Nubra Valleys. The Nubra Valley is the farthest north that foreigners can get into India. Tourists and travellers must not pass any further than Panamik because of border problems with China and Pakistan.

The idea of cycling the highest pass in the world is simply too hard to resist. After four days of cultural activities and relaxing, today is the day. With only day luggage Jeroen, Willem and I try to reach the pass. We want to descend the same day to the Nubra Valley where we can sleep in one of the few hotels. Because we are lightweighted this way, the chance of reaching the Nubra Valley in one day improves significantly. But also without much luggage we must not think too easy about the climb. Leh is 3.500 meter high; that means that we have to climb more than 2.000 vertical meters, the second half on really high altitudes.

We start early in the morning. Like every day, the weather is magnificent in Ladakh. Crystal blue skies with only a few white clouds. Along the oases of Leh we climb. The first kilometers we see the wall of the Ladakh mountain range rapidly coming closer. Then the green valley ends and the road starts winding up the barren flanks. There is no wind and the temperature is perfect. Therefore, we proceed surprisingly well. We see the oases further and further down below us. We see a young woman pushing her bicycle upward. It is uncertain if she will make it to the top today; it seems impossible to push the bicycle the last thirty kilometer to the pass.

We reach South Pullu, an army camp where we have to show our permits. From South Pullu, it is only fourteen kilometer to go. We have to cross the chain of mountains that lie before us. It seems still a long way from here. Like all Himalaya passes untill now, the road deteriorates badly the last kilometers. The ascent of the Khardung La is no exception. The road gets more and more stony. There are no really big problems with river crossings or really bad stretches. We can go on fairly well. In fact, I am surprised as I reach the pass. Is this the highest pass in the world? And should not I have been much more tired now?

Soon the cyclists are united on the pass. Spirits are raised, knowing that from now on we can only go down. We get a lot of attention from the few Indian tourists that are making pictures or take a look in the highest temple of the world (and maybe the smallest too). The highest toilets of the world are closed.

The way down into the Nubra Valley is far worse than the ascent from Leh. The tiny road is made of stones that are too big to cycle faster tha a few kilometers per hour. A huge procession of buses and trucks is making life very difficult. Passing is not possible all the time. Sometimes we have to wait a minute or two. The first seven kilometer of the descent takes us an hour. That is more time than the last seven kilometer of the ascent had cost us!

Luckily, from here the road improves bit by bit. From the checkpost North Pullu the road is asphalted again. Landscapes float by in the long descent to the Shyok Valley. From the top of the Khardung La to the valley at 3.000 meter is 60 kilometer down. We can see the steep mountains behind the Shyok Valley. These mountains are much steeper than the mountains of the Ladakh Range. North of the Shyok and Nubra Valleys the mountains are becoming progressively higher untill the Karakoram Chain, with the 8.600 meter high K2. The sun is already going down, throwing increasingly deeper shadows of the mountains in the valley. The slopes are again very dry but still there are growing some lavender bushes here and there. The purple glow of the sunlit slopes increases the mysterious feel of this obscure territory.

After a few hours we are down in the Shyok Valley. The river lies between big mountain walls. Some of the side valleys are very green, other side valleys are completely barren. Every kilometer the landscape changes dramatically. Now we are in a large stone desert. Not a tree or a scrub are to be seen. After a few kilometers we reach the confluence of the Shyok and Nubra Rivers. An immense flatland of a few kilometers wide is here in the middle of the rough mountain terrain. We keep following the course of the Shyok River and end up in Diskit where we find a hotel and a Tibetan restaurant, value enough to fulfill our needs.

Day 19: Diskit - Hundar - Diskit - Sumur - Panamik - Sumur 95 km

Today we want to explore the Shyok and Nubra Valleys. First we want to visit the Monastery right above the hotel. A footpath leads up steeply to the rock on which the gompa is built. We have some nice views into the Shyok Valley. Then we take off for Hundar. In Hundar is a small strech of sand desert with nice dunes. Here lives the Bactrian Camel, a specific race that is able to survive on these altitudes. We do not spot one of those camels from nearby.

After Hundar we cycle to Sumur, where we find a hotel. Willem and I cycle on to Panamik. Panamik is as far as we can get. It is the most northern place of India that foreigners may go. Because of border circumstances foreigners are not allowed to go north further than Panamik. I have to admit that Panamik is less than spectacular. We return with a fierce wind in the back. The wind is blowing harder and harder and we see a sandstorm growing. We cycle back to Sumur as fast as we can, but we take pictures too. It is a magnificent sight. We are back in Sumur just in time. Right after we close the doors, the world around us is veiled in powder and dust.

Day 23: Khoksar - Khhatru - Upper Lahaul Valley 45 km

In Panamik we kind of reached the end of the world. We simply could not get any further any more. We decided to take the bus back to Leh and then another bus to Khoksar, the place where we also slept after our first Himalaya Pass. From there, we planned to go upstream along the Chandra River. The Kunzum Pass divides the Lahaul Valley from the Spiti Valley. The remote Spiti Valley has three famous thousand year old Tibetan monasteries, the Key, the Dhankar and the Tabo Monastery. So we go happily on our way from Khoksar after a long, dull and tiring bus excursion. How can all those bus passengers believe that cycling in the Himalayas is tiring when they have to experience this every travel day?

After a few weeks of travelling in the Himalayas we already knew there were always specific problems that makes life uneasy. So we had learned to cope with high altitude, bad roads and severe river crossings. On the way to Spiti we have goats. And sheep. And they have lots of friends! Every few minutes we can ride, there are as many minutes we get stuck inside a herd of goats. it is a lot of fun to try to manouevre a way in the flowing stream of goats and sheep. The animals add a lot to the couleur locale and provide a welcome rest. We find out that the combination of a river crossing and a goat herd rendezvous is a guarantee for wet shoes.

Unfortunately the weather deteriorates badly. We take shelter in a windy tent in the village of Khhatru. Severe monsoon clouds flow across the Pir Panjal Mountains and icy rains pour down. After two hours the worst has gone and we proceed for another fifteen kilometers very rough terrain. It is already freezing when we arrive in a lonely dhaba late in the afternoon. I have some problems with my stomach and go to bed without eating.

Day 24: Lahaul - Kunzum La - Lhosar 45 km

After our first cold night in the Himalayas we are happy to see the first sunrays shining over the mighty mountains of the Pir Panjal. We leave early in the morning. The landscapes we cross have a wild splendour. Everything around us is awe-inspiring. Huge cliffs rise up left and right from the valley. Immense glaciers are cracking their way down. We cycle through fields of boulders with the size of complete houses. The road is rough but not too bad. We proceed slowly but fast enough. There is one last tea stall before the road winds up above the valley. We sit down for a long time enjoying the sights as well as the tea and biscuits.

After the break we climb rapidly above the valley. We zigzag upward. Many zigzags above our heads we can see the hill becoming less and less steep. We have to climb at least untill there before we reach the pass. Despite the passes we have climbed before, the ascent is again an exhausting experience. Luckily the pass is not higher than it looked like from below (usually this is not the case and there is some extra work to be done). We have reached the 4.554 meter high Kunzum La Pass. Not the highest but surely one of the most impressive.

Now we only have to go down to reach the Spiti Valley. We see that the mountains on the east side of the Kunzum La Pass are not as high, steep and rough as the Pir Panjal Mountains we passed westward of the pass. The mountains may lose some sheer grandeur, they gain at subltlety. The mountains are made of a thousand different colours, continuously changing as we look from ever different viewpoints as we proceed. Humping and stumping we let us flow down the rocky trail. Soon we have descended into the upper reaches of the Spiti Valley. Through the flat, wide, boulder-strewn valley we go on and soon we reach the first village Lhosar where we stay for a relaxed afternoon and a good night sleep. Strange enough, we meet some colleague cyclists. An English guy and an English girl are leading a group of mountainbikers through the rough highlands of Spiti. They provide some helpful tips and information of sights and trails here and there and everywhere in the Indian Himalayas.

Day 25: Lhosar - Hanse - Kaza 60 km

Today is going to be an easy day. Sixty quite flat kilometers divide us from Kaza, the district headquarters of Spiti. We have heard that the road from the Spiti Valley further down into the Sutlej Valley and Shimla is closed for more than two hundred kilometers. We decide that we do not have enough time to try this uncertain way down into the Indian lowlands. This means also that we should not cycle any further than Kaza. From there we can reach the famous monasteries of the valley on easy day trips.

Despite the landscapes are once again splendid, I have an uninspired day. After a few hundred meters I have a flat tyre because of a huge spike. The tyre is completely worn down. The spare tyre is also flat a few hundred meters further and after a few kilometer I have a third flat tyre. I cannot cope too well with the bad luck. Only because the bad luck has left me after the three flat tyres and because of continuous extraordinary landscapes, spirit is slowly coming back. Eventually we reach Kaza where we find a place to stay for a few nights.

Day 26: Kaza - Key - Kibber - Key - Kaza 40 km

The first of our day trips brings us to the Key Monastery and to Kibber. The Key Monastery is surely one of the most beautifully situated Tibetan monasteries. The tiny white houses are perched on a perfectly coneshaped rock outcrop, high above the village of Key. The monastery is a thousand years old and is one of the older Buddhist monasteries in the Himalayas. We are invited for a ritual cup of tea.

After two hours we make the ascent to Kibber. Cycling without the heavy luggage is a true delight. I do not seem to feel the altitude of more than 4.000 meters any more. Our destiny, Kibber, is the highest village of the world according to some travel guides. Kibber lies at an elevation of 4.200 meter. I am sure that the account of highest village is highly untrue. In Peru and in Bolivia I have been in higher places and there must be many places in Peru and Bolivia that I have not visited which are even higher. Nonetheless the altitude is fair enough. There is not much to be done in Kibber but from the restaurant we have a pleasant sight on the village. Within an hour we descend back to Key and Kaza.

Day 27: Kaza - Dhankar - Lalung - Kaza 70 km

The second daytrip brings us further down the Spiti Valley. After twentyfive kilometers along the Spiti river we have a serious ascent to the Dhankar Monastery. The Gompa lies a few hundred meter right above our heads on top of a giant cliff. Without luggage the ascent is not too difficult. We reach Dhankar where we cannot visit the monastery. There is a festival for the elder monks. Some children monks are waiting outside and have some fun on our bicycles.

From the English cyclists in Lhosar we heard that there is a trail leading to the very remote village of Lalung. The trail is of the worst order. I get a flat tyre on a large boulder and I fall from my bicycle once after a small misconduct between the stones. This is some expert cycling. It takes a long time before we reach eerie Lalung, a very beautiful village. There is one restaurant/hotel in the village. There is a very welcoming atmosphere in the recently opened place, we feel sorry that we have our luggage and stuff back in Kaza. The owner owes the key to the monastery, again a 1000 year old monastery. While the monasteries of Key, Dhankar and Tabo are very famous, the village and monastery of Lalung are virtually unknown. The frescoes of the monastery are though highly original. The village, the monastery, the remoteness and the welcoming atmosphere: the Shangri La really DOES exist!

Day 28: Kaza - Tabo - Kaza 100 km

Today Willem and Jeroen do not feel like cycling. Because I want to see the monastery of Tabo, I am leaving on my own. Tabo is the most downstream village of Spiti. The first twentyfive kilometers are the same as yesterday. Five kilometers further, The Spiti river is at once surrounded by steep slopes. The river valley is narrow. the river is not at all flat anymore, but flows with quick currents downstream. I lose very much altitude meters although there are some steep ascents as well. I am afraid that the return trip in the afternoon could be very tiring, especially because I will have head wind on the way back. The last kilometers to Tabo are magnificent. I am very close to the border with Tibet. I can see the valley that goes up towards Tibet. At the end of that valley must be the Shipki La, the crucial pass from the important old trading route which is now closed due to the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

I reach Tabo, once again a 1000 year old monastery. Rumour says that the Dalai Lama will possibly retire here. The monastery is stylistically very different from all the other monasteries. No whitewashed buildings this time but earth brown adobe houses. I do not have much time in Tabo unfortunately. I have to go back. There is 50 kilometer to go with lots of climbing and loads of head wind. Untill now I must not complain these holidays but the 50 kilometers to Kaza are devastating, even without luggage. I am dead broken as I finally return in Kaza after many hours of struggling against wind and altitude. Tomorrow we will return to Manali with the bus.

Day 30: Khoksar - Rohtang Pass - Manali 75 km

Yesterday we went by bus from Kaza back to Manali across the Kunzum La and the Rohtang La. At least: that was supposed to happen. Even before we had to climb up for the Kunzum La, the bus had its first flat tyre. The spare tyre was hardly better. It had large holes and cracks. It was not a surprise when we stood still again fifteen kilometers further across the pass. After hours of non-decison whether to go further or wait for a miracle, we drove slowly to Khoksar. It was already seven o'clock in the evening when we arrived in Khoksar. We could not get a spare tyre within a clear timespan. Another period of non-decison came. We did not want to wait for a miracle. We took a dhaba for the night and decided to cross the Rohtang Pass ourselves, tomorrow, on our bicycle.

So now we are cycling up to the Rohtang Pass for the second time, this time of course from the other side as we did on the way to Leh. Then it was our first pass and a big confrontation with the altitude. Now we are completely used to the altitude. That time we were impressed by the poor state of the road. This time we are surprised by the excellent quality of the road. Doing the road twice is not too exciting but gives a good insight in the way we have got used to the circumstances.

The ascent from Khoksar is much shorter than the descent to Manali. It is big fun to have such a long descent. Early in the afternoon we reach Manali.

Day 31: Manali - Kullu - Bhuntar 50 km

Down along the Beas river. A month ago we cycled the secondary road on the other side of the river, above the valley. This time we take the easy way. Not too interesting after everything we have seen the last weeks, but nonetheless okay. It is quite a change to cycle in the humid air among such a green landscape after weeks of high altitude deserts. We stay the night in the same hotel as one month ago, in Bhuntar.

Day 32: Bhuntar - Manikaran - Bhuntar 70 km

Today we will go without luggage to Manikaran, a holy Hindu site, the place where Shiva's wife Parvati shed tears because a serpent stole her earrings. There is a warm water spa at this place where Hindus wash their bodies in Shiva's tears.

The Parvati river is a tributary river to the bigger Beas river. The river is flanked by steep hillsides. It is impressive to see such a big river in such a narrow landscape. It is 35 kilometers up along the river to Manikaran. Most of the time the road is not too steep. The weather is a bit uncertain. It is clear to us that the monsoon has not left North India right now. Unexpectedly, it remains dry the whole day. We reach Manikaran where we check out the village. We have a lunch break at a village not far from Manikaran. A long descent brings us back in Bhuntar.

Day 33: Bhuntar - Bajaura - Kandi - Jogindernagar 100 km

We have decided to cycle to Amritsar, the City of the Golden Temple and the Sikhs. Amritsar is the perfect final destination of the trip. Today we want to reach the Kangra Valley on the southwest side of the mountains. It is bloody hot as we wind up over the small local road up into the mountains. The landscape is overwhelmingly green again. We are not higher than 1.200 meter altitude so the temperatures are much higher than we are used to the last weeks. The road goes up steeply. Within a few hundred meters I am completely wet. Beads of sweat are flowing down all over my body. The taste is more and more salty. The ascent is much steeper than the high altitude passes between Manali and Leh. Climbing on "normal" altitudes is nonetheless much easier. After two hours we reach the pass at Kandi. There is a teastall at the pass where we take some rest. We are in the clouds right now. After a long descent, we find out that there is one more hill ridge that is dividing us from the Kangra Valley and that ridge is surprisingly high. Worse, the road that takes us over the ridge is surprisingly steep as well. With a temperature between 35 and 40 degrees we are climbing on a road with a steepness of 20 %. There is no shadow. There are clouds everywhere except between us and the sun. It takes us 45 hallucinatory estranging minutes to reach the ridge. We are completely exhausted and keep drinking on the top.

We are thousand meter above the Indian Plains now. We can see the lakes, the cities, the villages below us. Our road remains high however. The road to Dharamsala follows the ridge, sometimes on the northside, sometimes on the southside. There is one last ascent of an hour before we reach the small city of Jogindernagar where we find a hotel.

Day 34: Jogindernagar - Bajinath - Palampur - Dharamsala 80 km

The first highlight on the way to Dharamsala is the temple of Bajinath. The Hindu temple was built in the 8th century and is one of the older temples in Northern India. The temple has an extraordinary atmosphere. Between all the Gods and Goddesses we find a plastic colourful Donald Duck. India keeps surprising. It takes us quite some climbing and descending before we finally reach Dharamsala. From here it is seven kilometer up to the mountain resort McLeodGanj where the Dalai Lama has taken refuge after his flee from the Chinese in 1959. This will be our last ascent of the journey. I take it as a kind of time trial. The road is very good and because of the heavy rainfall there is lots of oxygen in the air. After a month high altitude training I seem to be flying upward, despite the luggage.

Day 35: McLeodGanj (Dharamsala)

From the beginning to the end of the day torrential rains pour down over McLeodGanj. The rains stop at seven o'clock in the evening. The rains have made a huge impact. There are cracks in the road, in some places parts of the road are completely washed away. We see a house which is nearly completely divided by a crack from bottom to top. McLeodGanj is one of the wettest places on Earth, but the showers of today were exceptional, even in this place. Despite the damage, life seems to go on as usual.

Day 36: McLeodGanj (Dharamsala) - Triund

Today we wander to Triund. Triund is a very special viewpoint at 3.000 meter altitude. On the alpine meadows of Triund it is possible to see the highest mountains of the Dhaula Dhar mountain range 2.000 meter above and the Indian Plains, 2.500 meter below. We are lucky to have dry weather between days of nearly continuous rains. The views are superb, despite the Dhaula Dhar mountains are surrounded by clouds. When we are down in McLeodGanj, it spontaneously starts raining again. It is definitely time to leave this unearthly wet place!

Day 37: McLeodGanj (Dharamsala) - Nurpur - Pathankot - Mukerian 135 km

We pack our bicycles early in the morning. We visit the family where Willem has done a voluntary project nine years ago. We are welcomed heartily. We have lots to talk about. After our lang stay with the family, we nonetheless manage to cycle 135 kilometer. The roads are good, the terrain is getting less and less hilly and there is no wind. After Palampur we have finally left the Himalayas. We are in the Punjab now, the fertile flatlands of India and Pakistan where the basmati rice is produced. We sleep in a town called Mukerian.

Day 38: Mukerian - Batala - Amritsar 95 km

Huge showers of rain mark our final cycling day in India. Everything is wet and muddy. It is no fun to cycle in these circumstances. There is nothing to be seen in this weather. I am yearning to reach Amritsar. For this time I have had enough of cycling.

The last 35 kilometers from Batala to Amritsar the weather improves fortunately. Jeroen is far ahead of us as we reach Amritsar. Only, Jeroen is nowhere to be seen. Where could he be? He would not cycle on his own into the city? Willem and I do not know what to do and decide to cycle into the city towards the Golden Temple. No Jeroen. We keep searching around the temple complex but we cannot find Jeroen. After phoning home, we still do not have any sign of life of Jeroen. It is six hours later as we coincidentally bump up against Jeroen after leaving a phone cell once again. How lucky we are, to meet each other spontaneously in a place of more than a million inhabitants! We are very relieved. We have made it! We have two days in India. Tomorrow we can go back to Delhi by train and the day after we will be able to make a day trip to Agra to see the Taj.