The night was a bit chilly, but not horrible. I had put sleeping bag on top of the sleeping pad and then just laid on top of it, just fully clothed. Woke about 1:00 a.m. to take a piss, which meant putting on shoes and leaving the tent. I just used the wall behind the tents, lots of plants to water and moon was half, so had good light, but still did not feel like trying to walk down the embankment and across the field to the pit toilet. And the roaming cows were another obstacle, startled the one right outside my tent when I first crawled out :)
Later in the night it did get cold, so unrolled the thermal bag insert I had brought along and just used it as a sleeping bag. Made things warm again. [This thing really works well, not only used it many nights on this trip, but have used it back in AZ a few times at the Overland Expo in Flagstaff and made the chill nights much better.]
I awoke at 5:00 a.m. to piss again, dawn light was just starting, so took a few photos and then went back to bed to await my 7:00 a.m. alarm.
But at 6:00 a.m. I was awake again, so just laid around till 6:30 and then got out of bed. The clothes I had washed the night before were still damp as the humidity levels had not gone down much over night, but were close enough I could still pack them as long as they were loose and on top of the bag so the days heat would get into them. Bit disappointed as these were supposed to be quick drying clothes and were not inexpensive. Moved them back onto the top of the tent to hopefully get the morning sun to help a bit before I packed them last.
Packed everything else up and changed back into the riding gear. Breakfast was around 7:30 a.m., then went down to the creek and splashed a bit of cold water in the face to clean up and wake up rest of the way.
Once the last things were packed and I had stuffed the sleeping bag back into it's sack I took my stuff down to the bike to strap it down.
Today I borrowed a few zip ties (something else I forgot to bring) from Mark to try and use the backpack with the rain gear as a small pannier on the front tank crash guard. 4 ties and my last bungy cord and I think it should work. Just has the rain gear, two small bottles of water and the GoPro 360 so I can get quicker access to it and try using it in a hand held way (not sure that will work either, but will give it a shot).
Rest of the bags went in the usual spot and dropped the camp bag over by the truck to be loaded. We finally got going about 9:00 a.m. with approximately 160km (100 miles) to ride today.
The trip down the rest of the valley to the main highway was nice, but nothing too amazing to note. Just more trees and villages. We later stopped for a short break and fuel stop. Once on the main highway we moved along at a decent pace since this was a better, wider paved road (had 2 proper lanes...most of the time). We stopped in Jeori for lunch after a few hours on the road.
We then had to stop at a checkpoint border between regions and show our passports/visa stamps and provide our bike license plate numbers to the officials. Took about 30 minutes to get us all through the process.
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| View while stopped at checkpoint. |
While were were stopped there we took time to relax, have a small snack and I also had the team mechanic look at my bike which was still acting very unstable in corners at anything beyond 35 mph, making it hard to keep up with the group. Turns out the front tire was down to about 10psi! So they filled it back up. [And never had any funny corners again and could finally enjoy the paved sections.]
We then headed on down the highway till we reached the turn off to ride up to Chitkul, known as the Last Indian Village (supposedly because after this you enter a wilderness area that is in a contested border region with China).
This was one of the routes I was looking forward too though as it was on the list of dangerous/crazy roads as much of it is chiseled right into the face of the cliff. While I was not feeling 100% having a bit of an uneasy stomach, I went forward into an amazing ride with some great views.
Stopped a few times along the way for photos and took video of this entire route.
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| Views from the road. |
Valley views (0:15)
Pulled off onto this small side road that went down and over the creek and then followed a very rough trail back into the forest area to the campsite.
Snack and dinner time came while I was getting the journal caught up, and I am thinking tonight will be an early night. It is already 9:00 p.m. and we will be up again at 7:00 a.m., and thinking I could use a good nights rest.
Made it up to Chitkul which is at 3444m (11,300 feet). Took some photos and then decided I was going to head back down the road to the campsite instead of riding the last few miles to the security checkpoint where you could not go beyond. This is where I knocked the bike over! Bike was on an incline, and another bike parked too close on the correct side, so tried to get on from the other side and instead pulled bike over toward me, so as I fell to my butt I just laid the bike down so it did not crash too hard.
Once I had the bike back up with the assistance of one of the team waiting there I headed back down the road to the campsite turn off which was about 10km (6 miles) away.
Tonight we will be staying in semi permanent tents (known as Swiss Tents) that are part of a camp compound just outside the village of Rakchham (Eskape Adventure Camp). These had a large concrete base which the tent was put up on, and then carpet laid inside. The tent was a heavy vinyl like you see on professional type event tents. It had a bed, small table, lights and a basic wash room with a toilet, sink and a bucket wash setup. (There would not be any hot water tonight though, but should be some in the morning.)
I got the last tent in the row and again was by myself. After putting stuff in the tent I spent some time in the washroom as I was not feeling too good in the stomach, had gas and bloating pressure. Had felt off all day and figured things would be clearing later tonight, but getting off the bike had helped a bit. I also took a Pepto Bismol to hopefully help things calm down.
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| Camp compound. (Tent at end of walk was mine). |
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| Inside the tent |
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| Bathroom at back of tent. |
Put the phones on the charger tonight, including the work phone, even though I am pretty sure it is not working correctly. I can call back to the USA, but does not appear they can call me? Oh well, not like I wanted to do any work on my vacation anyway. :)
Looking forward to another day of riding tomorrow.
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| Ride Route (190km/118 miles) |
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