Today was the start of our Royal Enfield motorcycle tour taking us up into the Annapurna Ranges of Nepal. Steve and I were excited as the Royal Enfield has a great history as it was an old English brand that was taken over by the Indian’s back in 1957 and basically they have continued to build the bikes since with very minimal change. The bikes you see in these pic’s are 2009 models with some modern innovation such as a disc front brake and left foot gear change!
The ride was to take us up into the ranges and soon became a lot tougher than either of us (and the guide) thought it would be. As it turned out there had been significant rain in the past week or so and the road had several rock falls along the way.
My bike was the first to have an issue within the first hour as it started to missfire which necessitated a stop and change of spark plug. The problem re occurred another hour later which at the time was concerning however after a bit of fiddling the problem went away and did not re occur, thankfully.
Mud soon became a major obstacle and would continue to be throughout the ride. Large rocks, significant water crossings and at one point we were forced to pay a load of local lads to carry our bikes down and up a hill due to a waterfall blocking our way. It was certainly turning out to be a great adventure.
By the end of the first days ride, my bike had lost (yes, it fell off) the rear brake lever and the front brakes (that were iffy to start with) pretty much packed up in the end. Mahitah, our guide had arranged for his work mate to follow up behind and he arrived at around 8:00pm at our accomodation with a new rear brake lever. It took 5hrs riding for the mechanic to get the lever to us and he had to now stay the night. We were certainly having a laugh.
Riding these Enfield’s is not about the destination, but rather the journey and it was certainly an exciting journey.
A Mad Ride - London to Sydney 