Vassana and I went on a 12 day bike tour with Himalayan Roadrunners from Kathmandu to Lhasa in Tibet with a side trip to the Everest Base Camp. This was a challenging but highly satisfying trip with some great riding and spectacular scenery. There were 6 of us on this tour and we were riding Royal Enfield Bullet 500s. These tough bikes were well suited as we did not need great speed or power. We rode out of the Kathmandu Valley which was very attractive up into the mountains and crossed the border into Tibet. Then after staying two nights in Tingri we had acclimatised to the altitude and took the dirt road for an 80 klm adventure across to the Everest base camp at over 5,000 metres. Then 100 klms back to the main road again. This part involved frozen river crossings and dry river bed sections as well as flat dirt riding. The massive north face of the tallest mountain in the world takes your breath away. Then we crossed several more passes over 5,000 metres on the way to Lhasa. The constant views of snow covered peaks were wonderful with great expanses of space across the high desert. The Tibetan people we met were all super friendly and invited us into their homes. The bikes were reliable, well prepared for the trip and we had a support vehicle with spares and a couple of excellent Nepali mechanics. Himalayan Roadrunners have been operating for many years so know how to do these tours and our tour leader, Rob Callander has been leading tours around the Himalayas in several countries for twenty years. We had no breakdowns and with a good group of experienced riders, no-one fell off. We visited several Tibetan temples and remote villages along the way. A trip of a lifetime really. How many people have ridden a classic bike to the highest mountain in the world?
Bullets of Bhaktapur
out of Kathmandu
Nepali Tibetan border
Bullets of Bhaktapur
out of Kathmandu
Nepali Tibetan border