HIMALAYA CROSSING
The Himalaya cycling project started in Summer 2005 and was scheduled for several months on the road. The starting point was Lhasa in Tibet following the 'Friendship Highway' and crossing the Himalayan Range to Kathmandu in Nepal. From there the route was not exactly determined, but the objective was to reach Mumbai in India before Christmas. From the start we were three cyclists but only two of us finished the journey in Mumbai. All in all we cycled some 4000 kilometers in four months including a three weeks hiking trip in the Annapurna Conservation Area.
On this page you find all kind of travel documentation and materials from all the stages of the tour.
TIBET
The initial stage in Tibet started as a guided tour for us cyclists, due to the restrictive visa and permit issueing of Chinese authorities. Accompanied by Puchun (guide) and Geysang (driver for the guide), we cycled from Lhasa via Shigatse through the endless and unique Tibetan Plateau before climbing the steep ascents of the main Himalayan Range. On the way we stopped at the Mt Everest Base Camp being nearly the only visitors, due to the end of the climbing season. We crossed the Himalayas at the most moderate elevation at 5200m a.s.l. and reached the border of Nepal in lush forests after not having seen a single tree for three weeks in the sometimes misanthropically appearing Tibet.
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NEPAL
In Kathmandu we disbanded our fellow Benny and continued the cycling trip in the Nepalese flatlands called Terai. We cycled in Northwestern direction passing Pokhara and finally entering India at the most Western point of Nepal in Mahendranagar. Before reaching there we spontaneously decided on the way (in Pokhara) to leave our bicycles for a few days parking and to alternate the load to our legs with some mountain hiking. The Annapurna Circuit offers a fantastic hiking lap around the 8091m peak and gave us some distraction from the sometimes slightly monotone cycling in the Terai.
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INDIA
The last stage of the tour led us to India. We cycled in the Northern province Uttarakhand and passed Rajastan and Gujarat on the way South to our final destination Mumbai. From the very beginning of the cycling in India we followed the headwaters of the Ganges River passing Rishikesh and other Hindu places of pilgrimage. In Rajastan we passed the Thar desert and visited the capitals Bikaner, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Ahmedabad before taking the last meters to the metropole Mumbai.
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