A sad and thoughtful start to the trip

With the scale of last weeks disaster still unfolding with 39 confirmed dead and dozens still missing (including, bizarrely, a Brit also called Chris Pugh) it was always going to be a solemn start to the trip, a trip which was until last week going to be doing the Annapurna circuit, one of the worlds best trekking tours and now mostly accessible to mountain bike as well, where so many of the trekkers perished.

A plan B was being worked on all of last week which now will initially be a 3 day bike tour round a national park on the outskirts of Kathmandu, followed by around a week biking on the western side of Annapurna which remains open and unaffected by the issues. What we actually end up doing, well, we will find out, what will be will be.

But, first things first, a day of sightseeing in Kathmandu itself, a small but chaotic city suffering the same fate as so many other cities that go from bike to motorbike to car as the preferred form of transport - 24 hour gridlock and poor air quality. My personal highlight (so to speak) was watching a traditional funeral procession - the family bringing the body to the river, preparing it and then publicly cremating it, before the ashes are swept into the river to begin the process of reincarnation. No females were present, only males attend the funeral.

For the seven of us on this tour however Kathmandu is better known as the gateway to the himalayas - all of us just about tolerated a day of tourism but every one of us was itching to get on our bikes tomorrow and out into the Nepalese countryside, where the hills are waiting for us..

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lgzd8p07qwdrm0y/AAA4TB0Brc1Cf42_18UYgvm9a?dl=0