The Himalayan Challenge - Day 15 & 16
Reports by Syd Stelvio. Photos by Gerard Brown
~~~~ Day 15: October 5, 2018 ~~~~
Bardia to Pokhara
Press on
The Terai can be a noisy place and the permanent inhabitants of the low lying jungle parts of Nepal seem to like an early start. So it was this morning, most crews didn’t need an alarm clock to get them out of bed.
The monkeys on the roof provided a much more authentic reveille. No one actually saw any of the big cats that shared the forest with us but, given the commotion in the shrubbery around our huts, the ever watchful langurs on the roof surely did.
Today’s departure MTC wasn't in the hotel itself, it was just outside of the Bardia National Park, on the main road. As a result, the crews were able to enjoy a slow run through dozens of small farming communities just as the inhabitants were waking and going about their morning routines.
Driving through this almost pre modern world was incredible and Ann Gillis was only one of the crews who commented on the many wonderful photo opportunities which presented themselves to us through our windscreens.
At 452km, today was slated to be a long haul, the longest of the rally in fact, but we were promised both a good lunch in the middle and perhaps even a steak at the end. Before we got to enjoy these rewards though we had a few hours of tight timing and difficult roads to negotiate.
Covering ground in this part of Nepal can be pretty simple and the road to the first Time Control at Satbariya in the Bagar Baba cafe was mostly arrow straight, pancake flat and made of good quality tarmac, which we shared with all manner of other vehicles. Long stretches of this were also set deep in the trees, which kept the edge off the 27°c heat.
Despite this easy start to the day, Bagar Baba was a welcome rest stop and although the crews took on some extra fuel in the form of chai and sweet biscuits, their cars weren’t so lucky, as on the way to it some of the gas stations had run dry. As a result, Matthias Bittner and Denis Billon’s Volvo ground to a halt soon afterwards. Luckily they had a 5 litre reserve with them which was just enough to take them to the next service station and then on to the second Time Control and lunch in the Baabari Restaurant in Rupandehi.
Following a most satisfactory lunch of veg’ curry with dhal, the road to the Regularity at Chappani was typically Himalayan. Steep, loose in places and occasionally busy but, nevertheless just as in India everything and everyone got through safely.
Our Classics category leaders, Mike Velasco and Peter St George however had a bumpier ride than most. They’d lost some pages from their route book en route to the Regularity which fortunately were collected and returned to their rightful owners by Tony and Lee Strelzow. Following this close shave however they had a coil spring break but a new one was quickly installed by Andy Inskip and Russell Smith. These delays meant that they arrived at the start of the section with only one minute to spare which could have put a lesser crew on the back foot. In the event however they managed to keep their heads and kept a clean sheet.
On the way down the hill and out of the Regularity, we then saw the Polish crew of Artur Lukasiewicz and Adam Tuszynski stopped by the roadside, tightening a spare wheel which had shaken itself loose.
At the following Passage Control Karendanda, in the most excellent Roadside Cafe, we enjoyed the best coffee since we landed in Delhi - period. And, they had western chocolate and Internet access!
From here we only had 45km to go until the night halt in the Atithi Resort and Spa, in Pokhara. As the last car pulled away the sky darkened and the heavens opened.
Tomorrow we turn for Kathmandu where we’ll enjoy a couple of well earned rest days.
~~~~ Day 16: October 6, 2018 ~~~~
Pokhara to Kathmandu
Bienvenue a Kathmandu
As dawn broke and the sun rose over the horizon this morning, and the full grandeur of our surroundings became plain, today’s dawn chorus comprised a series of expletives followed by the question ”....is that Everest”?
In fact, it was not Everest, but nevertheless what we awoke to was an amazing sight. Four of the world's tallest mountains, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu and Machapuchare, the fishtail mountain, loom large over Pokhara, and provided quite the send off for our trip to Kathmandu.
With this inspiring view, most of us began channeling our inner Sherpa, but Andy Mudra, a native Austrian, went above and beyond the call of duty and turned up for breakfast in his lederhosen. You can take the boy out of the Tyrol but obviously you can’t take the Tyrol out of the boy.
Today was a transit day, we had to use the main highway plain and simple and, if the road out of Manali had shades of a Bridge Too Far, then today we were thrown straight into the set of Where Eagles Dare. A time control was set at the bottom of a valley which then led to a passage control some 2.8km away, on a hilltop high above the Trisuli River.
There was a twist to this seemingly easy task however. This was a John Spiller special - a ‘sans vehicule’ PC - which required the crews to check in with Guy Woodcock down in Kurintar at an altitude of 258m and then take the cable car to Gill Cotton in Manakamana sitting pretty at a heady 1,302m.
Once they’d got their time card stamped at the top, there was also the Temple complex to visit before the descent back to the valley where another buffet lunch was waiting.
It is believed that the Hindu Goddess Manakamana to whom the Temple is dedicated, grants the wishes of all those who make the pilgrimage to her shrine to worship her and we couldn’t help overhearing some fervent requests for help from a couple of our crews. Improved suspension was top of the list followed by a more BHP.
With lunch out the way, the final obstacle for the day was the 112km into the hotel, which included an ascent of the so called staircase. A road which leads up the valley to Kathmandu. This particular section is 12km of steep, lorry choked hairpins, over which Marina Goodwin claimed to have passed 162 lorries before reaching the top.
From the top of the hill it was just a case of surfing the waves of Nepalese traffic into the green oasis of calm that is the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Waiting for us in the lobby, it was good to see some old rally friends who’d turned up to cheer on the crews. Joost van Cauwenberge, winner of the 2016 Rally of the Incas along with his wife Christine had flown in from Belgium whilst Hok Kiang Sia, had hopped across from Malaysia to meet some of his old sparring partners.
We’ll be here for two full days, during which time, all manner of activities have been arranged, from breakfast at Everest base camp to a fixed wing flight over the very same mountain. There’ll also be the obligatory laundry service and doubtless a bit of car repair as well.
Reports by Syd Stelvio. Photos by Gerard Brown