We had enjoyed Pokhara and this morning we left to make our way to Kathmandu. Upon leaving Pokhara we got to understand the real size of this city as we we staying at “lake side” which had a very different feel to the commercial side of the city which we found ourselves navigating. The commercial side was exactly that, busy, more people and stuff happening.

The ride was very pleasant except for the pollution from the trucks. At one point we encountered a severe traffic jam as we negotiated a mountain pass which caused problems for the bikes getting very hot due to lack of progress and high ambient temps.

We made it into Kathmandu and the GPS thankfully negotiated the small streets of the city well, taking us to the hotel we had arranged to stay at that night. Steve had unfortunately dropped his bike as we were making our way in traffic as he put his left foot down which went into a hole allowed the heavy bike to tip and go over. Fortunately no injuries or damage, but just a big effort for us both to lift the 280kg BMW upright once more.

The  day finished with a well earned beer and a walk to get accustomed with the area.

Day 2 Enfield Ride was certainly proving to be a great adventure, both in terms of bike riding and the experience of being in these amazing Annapurna Ranges.

Firsty the mechanic who brought the new brake lever had to fit it to my bike, also replacing the front brake pads as they were worn down to the metal and also re attached the exhaust muffler that had fallen off in the latter part of our ride yesterday. This was before we set off for the day! Ha

We headed further north and shortly found our selves at a large waterfall that was blocking the road for anything but large trucks. Our guide enlisted the help of several local lads who carried the bikes down the hillside across a rickety footbridge and back up the other side in order to get around the obstacle. We were back under way.

At around lunch time Steve’s bike decided to stop due to an electrical problem. The fault was eventually diagnosed as a faulty ignition coil which meant our guide had to ride off to the local town and find one, which he did and eventually we were back under way, albeit running behind by now.

We had lunch at a small township Marpha before heading back towards the our stop for the night at a small hotel in a quaint valley.

Steve dropped his bike a couple of times as the conditions were very difficult with deep mud and water crossing with large round rocks to ride accoss.

Before the day’s end, Mahitah  our guide found the rear brake lever that had broken off my bike which was quite amazing considering the deep mud.