Cycling in Kerala

And now for something completely different; I'm going cycling. This could be a mistake. Although I've got a bike, it rarely gets used. I've never gone further than 50km (did that for the first time last week) and the 50km a day schedule, I'm about to embark on is definitely a big 'step' into a physical unknown. I'm going to cycle in Kerala in India, a 14 day trip with Exodus. Christine, who has had about the same amount of bike time as me, is coming with me. After a month of gales on the south coast I can't wait to get some sun and, after last year's trip to Kashmir, I can't wait to get back to India.

The schedule looks fantastic. It includes 10 days actually in the saddle, averaging 50km per day with one day involving a 1600m ascent (36 hairpin bends). Billed as an 'exploration of India's tropical south' it covers a lot ground. Starting in Mysore we cross the Western Gnats and then head all the way down the coast almost to the southern tip of India. It could be amazing.

Accommodation will be hotels.  Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I'm hoping for WiFi. If the WiFi works I'll publish every day, otherwise it could be a couple of weeks before I can let you know whether or not this was a good idea.

A Guide for the GR1 Sendero Histórico

Europeans have access to great walking right on their doorstep.  It's the continent for 'easy walking' - where walkers can travel long distances through wild, varied and remote countryside, and find at the end of the day a warm bed and great food.  Even in Europe however, Spain is special.  Spain was the last country in Western Europe to experience rural depopulation. The ancient infrastructure, built for a population where everyone walked, is still there.  The GR1 Sendero Histórico follows paths and trails that, until the 1960s, were the main way people and their animals moved from village to village.  Although sadly, the days when every village had a bar, Cantina or Hostal have now gone, there are still just enough to make walking from place to place the best way to travel.

Back on the GR1 Sendero Histórico - September 2013

I'm committed to writing a guide on the GR1 Sendero Histórico for Cicerone.  Great fun but a lot of work and just a bit of rescheduling in terms of the trips I plan to do.  So last September instead of going to France and walking around the Ecrins circular, I went back to Spain and another two weeks on the GR1.

It was happily a great trip.  Good thing too, as it would be a bit late to discover that I didn't like the GR1.  It was great to walk the route at a different time of year.  I'm already looking forward to my next and hopefully final trip next April to its eastern end before completing the guide next summer.

Dhaulagiri Circuit and Dhampus Peak - A Review

It is definitely a personal weakness but I'm a sucker for recommendations.  I booked a trip to Kanchenjunga after seeing a claim that the base camp there was the most beautiful campsite in the world and I did something similar with Mera Peak after reading that it provided the best mountain landscape a trekker is ever likely to experience. Once I had seen that Dhaulagiri Circuit was No 1 Adventure Travel's top 100 treks I was caught - hook, line and sinker!

Dhaulagiri Circuit

Days 15 -17 Dhaulagiri Circuit - Back to Kathmandu

The last few days were frustrating and perhaps Jagged Globe need to think again about the schedule for future trips.

It's standard practice on a trip like this to have a contingency day. But by combining the last two days into one - the descent down to Marpha, we ended up with two.  This meant three nights hanging about: two at Marpha and one at Jonsom, before we could get the plane back from Jonsom via Pokora to Kathmandu.  Having watched the planes fly in and out on Monday and Tuesday it was ominously quiet on Wednesday.  It turned out it was foggy in Pokara so no flights, and we ended up having to get back to Kathmandu by "road".

With any other group this could have been totally grim but with this group it was just grim.  In my experience groups go through a distinct life cycle. As the trip draws to a close you start to think about the journey home and life after the trip. The group, whose only purpose is the trip, starts to lose cohesion as people disappear into their own thoughts.  With this group this didn't happen and everyone continued to get enjoyment out of each other's company to the end.

Day 14 Dhaulagiri Circuit - Marpha

Everyone has been focused on getting across the French Col and climbing Dhampus Peak and hadn't really given the last day of the trek much thought.  It turned out to be a real sting in the tail and longer and harder than anyone had expected.

Actually, according to the schedule, it was a two rather than a one day walk but no one had noticed.  We knew it involved a massive descent (2,000 metres) but had all somehow assumed that this would start almost immediately and not after a tough three hour walk through the snow.

The campsite we stayed in last night was not exactly comfortable.  Just beyond the Dhampus Pass it had been carved out of deep snow at just a smidgen below 5,000 metres.  The weather had also changed, the wind had got up, spindrift was blowing of the top of Dhampus Peak, and cloud building up in the valley below.  After yesterday's perfect weather today felt just a bit ominous.

Tougher than expected final trudge through snow

Day 13 Dhaulagiri Circuit - Dhampus Peak

Pasang went round the tents with the "early morning cup of tea" at 4.30 and it was very cold. Everyone sees the cup of tea as some sort of starting gun rather than a chance to gently wake up.  All around me there are noises of zips being zipped and bags being tossed out of tents and already I felt off the pace.

Everything seems harder to pack in the cold, bigger and less malleable. Even without the huge plastic boots it seems impossible to get everything into the bags.

Apart from Steve I'm the last person to get to the mess tent for breakfast.  The casualty list from last night has shrunk, Mandy and Andy are going to attempt to summit.  I manage two bowls of porridge but can't stomach the stodgy pancakes and Nick's discovery of a rotten one puts me off the eggs.  Despite the limited breakfast I'm still the last person to leave the table and have only had time to put on one of a decidedly suspect pair of gaiters from Shonas before we set off.

Everyone had their head torches on as we crossed the valley but within minutes the summits of the mountains to the south west were starting to glow from a sort of pre-dawn light.  The Swiss party had already left but there was no sign of them ahead or any indication of the route they had taken. Ominously one of the Sherpas was walking well to right of the group and may well have been looking for a trail. If he was he didn't find one.