Blog
Spiti Valley Cycling
The cycling in Spiti Valley drew me to this westerly corner of the the Indian Himalayas, each account I read overflowing with superlatives. The only ones I can offer are: breathtaking and magical. Each twist and turn offer an ever changing horizon, gone is the harsh light and arid almost moonscape like conditions of Upper […]
Kinnaur Valley Cycling
After pedaling uphill for two days the ceremonial sign for the Kinnaur valley welcomes you to the valley. By now the road clings to the side of the steep valley walls, and carves its way through the sheer rock faces only with just enough room for an Indian truck and no more. The driver’s mate […]
Sutlej Valley Cycling
The descent from Narkanda begins on a broken surface, care needs to be taken between dodging pot holes, cows milling in the road and hairy overtaking manouerves as cars overtake heavily laden lorries lumbering up and down from Narkanda. The road surface improves as I descend down to the valley floor. Temperatures noticably begin to […]
Pushing the pedals
A last minute purchase before the trip sees me sitting on the Ridge in the early morning watching school children file past. Next to me is a bike with no pedals, it would be laughable were it not happening to me right now. I sit considering my options when Hassan a Kashmiri tout I’ve been […]
Shimla
Once summer time residence of the Indian government in the time the Raj, Shimla today has a feeling of days gone by. Now an Indian tourist town rather than the clerical and bureaucratic power house under imperial rule. The Ridge and Mall offer glimpses of a bygone era. The Ridge a tree lined Victorian […]
In to the foothills of the Himalayas
Ever one to procrastinate the list of jobs I knew I had to complete before going away suddenly became over whelmingly urgent. Stress levels rose and some last minute glitches meant those closest to me looked on wondering whether I would be ready in time. As Sunday morning came, I woke with a knot in […]
India Bound
Almost two months ago, Cycling the Himlayas was tinged with melancholy. My grand plan changed at the last minute, I was grounded and forced to take stock. The prospect of being jobless and homeless with no fixed timeline for the start of the trip were both bewildering and daunting in equal measure. Time that I […]
Pennine Bridleway Bikepacking
Despite the bureaucracy which has delayed my trip, during the course of the year I’ve amassed a huge amount of new kit, not to mention a Surly Ogre custom built by the lovely guys at Keep Pedalling. Neither the bike or kit has been tested nearly enough and so I came up with a number […]
Cycling in the Himalayas
The past few months have been a whirlwind. Renovating a house, planning my big trip to cycle the americas, researching and buying kit, winding down at work and getting all my personal affairs in order hasn’t left much time for anything but stress and a lot of long days. In amongst all this I’ve been […]
Cycling the Americas
Update Plans change for better or worse: Cycling in the Himalayas Original Post Ask me at any point in time and I can reel off a list of different trips, races and adventures I’d love to do. Motivation for some pass whilst others stick no matter how stupid they are and you revisit them time […]
Toeing the starting line
Ask most people in the UK what they are working towards, and the answer generally revolves around elevating their standard of living in order to keep up with their peers. A better paid job, bigger house, nicer car, fancier holidays its a self fulfilling prophecy the one of ‘perfection’ that is only ever momentarily sated […]
A Brief Recap
I originally started this blog in 2005 whilst working as a web developer and blogged about many of the technical issues I was facing on a day to day basis. The project I was working on was fairly bleeding edge open source project at the time and was much an aide memoire for myself as […]