Day 3

Started the day off with coffee in a tin mug, yellow tents still standing in the valley, cold air that made you glad you brought the hoodie. The ride out of Ani dropped into a river valley, with colourful hillside towns stacked up on both sides of the gorge and the road hugging the cliff face as it wound downstream.

About halfway through the 165 km we hit a landslide, a section of hillside that had recently relocated onto the road. Bikes, buses, cars and cows wedged together at the blockage, everyone waiting with varying degrees of patience while the rubble got cleared after around two hours. Just part of Himalayan riding. Once through, the route climbed and the dry rocky gorges gave way to snow-capped peaks, small mountain towns with Hindu temples and Hanuman statues standing watch over the road.

After a long series of switchbacks, the destination was the Mountain Serenity hotel in Kalpa. It had a terrace looking directly across at a wall of snow-covered peaks, clouds moving through at eye level. A significant upgrade from a tent.

Click here for Day 4