Nepal: Kakarbhitta to Kathmandu. 700km.

The final country on the Indonesia to Nepal ride, and it certainly packed a punch. The roads proved to be pretty intense and challenging; hot and steamy in the Terai and dusty and dirty on the middle mountain road. 

Kakarbhitta to hile

From Kakarbhitta, the border town with India in the SE, to Hile at the beginning of the middle mountain road, the riding was good. The first 107km from the border to Dharan was pretty hot, humid and traffic heavy, but being a well sealed road, it was easy to make good time.

The cycling from Dharan to Hile was much more enjoyable. The road ascends to 1400m in 18km from Dharan to Bhedetar, and then quickly descends to around 400m at the Tamor river. The road is fantastic quality, and although steep at times, makes for pleasant riding. From the Tamor river it is a steady ascent to Hile, situated at 2000m.

After the heat of the Terai, the weather here was really nice, cool in the evenings and not so sweaty in the day. I cycled from Kakarbhitta to Dharan in one day, then ended up doing just 18km to Bhedetar and taking the rest of the day off. Just so I could absorb the climate. It was then a short 50km day to Hile, but obviously this involved a lot of ascent.

hile to the village of chhinamakhu (approx 22 km from bhojpur)

So I didn't have too much information about the 'middle mountain road' to Kathmandu. My original plan had been to take this road all the way to the capital via Pyauli, Bhojpur, Diktel, Mahadevstan, Dhulikel and Bhaktapur, but alas this was not meant to be. 

The road was truly horrendous. The first 27km downhill from Hile to the Arun river took the best part of 5 hours, depsite it being a 2000m to 267m downhill. The road was mainly sand and dust, which filled your lungs every time a vehicle went past. I ended up pushing in deep sand for the most part as it was difficult to ride on, especially with heavy back panniers.

Eventually I came to the village of Leguwa, where I ate chow mein for lunch and stocked up on water for my nights wild camping. The road from Leguwa to Pyauli was only another 27km but again the road ascended to 1500m so it was slow going. For some odd reason the first 12km of road was bitumen but then the road turned to dirt again (much better dirt than the 27km from Hile to Leguwa though). I wild camped that night 10km before Pyauli and slept soundly in amongst the trees. 

The next day I managed the remaining 53km to Bhojpur, this took me all day and I arrived into Bhojpur just as the sun was setting. The first 16km after Pyauli (1350m) to the top of the pass at 2000m was actually alright, the road although dirt was pretty good quality and rideable. I got to the top and was actually thinking 'that wasn't too bad' when I began the remaining 20km of descent/flat to Bhojpur at roughly 1600m. I was wrong to get my hopes up, this 20km section was incredibly rough riding: deep mud, dust and rutted surfaces made for a difficult ride/push and took me roughly 4 hours of hard work. I was grateful to get to Bhojpur and found a cheap hotel (Bisauni lodge) to sleep at.

Diktel didn't look too far away on the map and I hoped to get there in 2 days but the road surfaces didn't allow for this. During this time of year the road is so difficult that only tractors and motorbikes are able to transit across it, something I wasn't aware of when I originally set off. I set off from Bhojpur and the road was relatively ok, a couple of times the route took me down rutted paths to a river but otherwise it was relatively rideable.

After around 22km of riding, disaster struck, I had just crossed a swing bridge over a river and was heading up difficult dirt track when I got a back puncture. Unfortunately the reason for this was that my back tyre seam had split, exposing my inner tube inside. Not good. I didn't have anything to seal a split seam and with the weight being so back heavy and the roads so fragmented, it was likely that I would be pushing the bike from now on. 

I sat by the road, fixed the puncture and pushed my bike to the nearest buildings, which made up the tiny village of Chhinamakhu. Bizarrely there was a guesthouse! I enquired if I could stay the night and it turned out the 18 year old daughter, Aakriti, could speak perfect English. Explaining my situation the family said I was welcome to stay for as long as I wanted and suggested I stay for the festival of Tihar (Diwali). Feeling worn out both mentally and physically, I gratefully accepted this offer and ended up staying for 5 nights. 

Village life

The next few days were incredibly interesting. The second day I stayed was Kukur Tihar, day of the dog. Dogs are considered a symbol of Yama, the deity of death, as Hindu belief states that Yama has two guard dogs that look over the gates to Naraka (hell). Any dogs I saw that day had garlands of marigolds around their necks and red tika on their foreheads. I also watched as a pig was killed, so it would be ready in time for dinner at the festival. It was pretty dreadful to watch albeit an interesting experience. 

The third day was Gai Tihar, day of the cow, a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Again garlands were placed around the cows necks and tika on the forehead. Me and Aakriti visited her grandparents house and picked flowers to make into garlands for the coming days. That evening Aakriti drew a rangoli of a flower on the floor outside the house and we lit tea lights along the balconies. Tiny footsteps, as a representation of the goddess of Laxmi ,were drawn on the floor leading into the house. This is to thank Laxmi, goddess of wealth and fortune, and welcome in prosperity for the coming year. 

The next day was Govardhan puja, we made garlands in the afternoon and in the evening we watched as groups of young people visited neighbouring houses. They sang and danced around the rangoli of each house in exchange for sweets, drinks and money. Again there were lights and fireworks, as well as an abundance of games, including a fair bit of gambling. 

The fifth and last day of the festival was Bhai Tika, worship of brothers, to provide long life and thank the brothers for the protection they provide. We visited the grandparents house in the afternoon and I watched as Aakriti and her mum blessed their brothers and nephews. Tika was placed on the boys foreheads, and oil dripped around them as a symbol of protection. Then mutliple colours of tika were placed on their foreheads, ears and neck. The boys then placed tika on their sisters before giving them a gift. I was very lucky to also take part in this ceremony, with Aakriti placing tika on my forehead and also giving me a scarf as a present, I gave her a necklace in return. We then ate a big meal and again in the evening neighbours visited each others houses and sang and danced. 

With the festival over, I decided to return to Bhojpur the next day, giving special thanks to Aakriti and her family in the morning. I pushed my bike back the 22km, before taking the 12 hour local bus to Dharan with my bike on the roof. 

dharan to kathmandu (approx 390km)

Back in Dharan I visited Dharan Riders, a local mountain biking group, and was able to get a new rear tyre for my bicycle, they even serviced my bike for free! I then began the long slog on the main roads to Kathmandu. The days were filled with easy, dusty and dirty riding stopping at Kanchanpur, Bardibas, Sindhuli, Dumja and Bhaktapur to sleep. There was a bit of a climb between Sindhuli and Khurkot, max elevation 1400m, but with good switch backs and surfacing it was an enjoyable experience. A final gradual climb to 1600m before descending to Kathmandu at 1300m was okay but there was a lot of heavy traffic and jams along the road.

And then that was it, it had been just over 8000km since I started in Lombok, Indonesia and 5 months of riding to make it to the final stop of Kathmandu.  I was lucky to meet up with a couple of cyclists from Germany in the historical town of Bhaktapur, who I had last seen on then coast in Thailand 2 months previously! I also had a wonderful warm showers host in Kathmandu itself. All in all it had been a rather special bike ride, meeting incredible people and sweating a lot along the way. I had a few weeks to trek in Nepal afterwards and then it was back to the UK winter in search of a job again!