Author: Garry

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in Nepal on Sunday, 13th-November-2016. Butwel to Lamahi. 78 miles. Well, that was a ride with a difference today! In all the miles I’ve cycled in different countries I’ve never experienced anything like it!

Bearing in mind, I’m on the main East-West highway, the main road across Nepal. I’ve cycled for eight hours, and all I’ve seen all day is ten lorries. No cars, no busses and only a handful of motorbikes! It’s been eerily quiet. The only other people on the roads were other cyclist’s local obviously, obviously (although I did meet another Brit on a bike heading towards Kathmandu) and the police and army! Apparently, there was some strike today. I don’t know what it’s about or how it works. But if it means the roads are going to be as quiet tomorrow as they have been today, let’s hope it continues!

One Hill

It’s been a flat ride nearly all day, apart from some pass I had to cross at 700 metres, and that’s where I met my fellow Brit on his way to Kathmandu. He’d been on the road for two years. He had started in England and cycled to Greece, where he caught a flight to India. I don’t think he had any major target or aim apart from he liked to go wherever he could get weed from and get stoned! Each to their own!

I’m staying at a nice little guesthouse tonight.

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Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in Nepal on Saturday, 12th-November-2016, in Butwel. Felt lazy today, so I didn’t bother moving! Besides, it’s Saturday, a day to sit around and drink beer all day! Also, the sooner I get to India, the sooner I’ll be going home! The other main reason for not moving is I need to wait as long as possible before getting to India to let some of the chaos die down that’s going on there at the moment!

You may have read or heard that the Indian government scrapped the 1000 and 500 Rupee notes. Literally overnight, and they are no longer legal tender! Which by all accounts is causing chaos at the banks, with people queuing all day to exchange their notes and long queues at all the ATMs.

That’ll Teach You

I thought that I was being Mr smart arse and didn’t exchange my Indian rupees when I crossed into Nepal because I knew I’d be going back, now I’m left with about 3000 unusable rupees unless I want to spend all day queuing at a bank to exchange them, but considering it’s only about £35, it really doesn’t seem worth bothering with, but £35 in India can go a long way!

On my last night in India, I was going to get some more cash out from the ATM so I wouldn’t have to worry about it when I went back to India, but the queues were really long then, just as well I didn’t!

Another reason for delaying my return to India or rather Delhi as that’s where I’ll fly home from is the pollution. Apparently, it was so bad the other day that they closed all the schools for 3 days!

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Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in Nepal on Friday, 11th-November-2016. Pithauli to Butwal. 55 miles. Turned out last night my “Jungle Island Resort” was all-inclusive apart from the beer and was actually in the jungle!

There were only six other people staying last night, four Americans and a couple from France.

After we’d all had supper together, everybody retired to bed (was it something I said? I had had a shower, so I’m sure I didn’t smell anymore. But maybe I did!) It left me to drink beer on my own and talk to the staff, who were much more interesting anyway!

After the obligatory couple of pints, I, too, went to retire to bed on the way back to my room which were all individual buildings like huts in a village. I bumped into a member of staff with a torch who told me he was looking for rhinos as they entered the resort grounds at night! He asked me if I wanted to see them. Of course, I said yes and off we went in search. We went down to the river that ran by the resort, and although I never saw them, I could certainly hear them. I think if I’d waited longer, I might have seen them, but I was getting bored, and my back was starting to hurt, so I retired to my room.

Managed to find my way back to the main road this morning, although that took me nearly an hour on the rough track, and it was only about 5 miles!

Once back on the main road, it was a very good smooth surface, which made for good cycling. There was only one fairly big climb today, but at least I knew how far it was as there was a sign saying sharp bends and steep hills for the next 14km! Luckily for me, it was only 7km up, then 7km down!

I think today must be the first day in a week when the roads have been relatively good, and I’ve not arrived somewhere at the end of the day covered in dust!

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Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in Nepal on Thursday, 10th-November-2016. Mugling to Pithauli. 49 miles. It was a really hard ride this morning for the first 25 miles or so, the road surface was non-existent and it took me until lunchtime to complete!

After those initial hard 20 miles, I’d had enough, and by the time I’d reached Narayangadh I was going to stop, but it was only 1 pm, and I thought that was just a little too early, so after stopping for something to eat and drink I continued on.

The roads improved a lot after Narayangadh, also all the mountains disappeared, and the terrain was a lot more flatter now!

I continued on for a while longer, but I’d really had enough, so when I saw a sign for some “jungle island resort”, I followed them. Something I very rarely do; I normally just wait until I see something on the road I’m on!
And I could see why I don’t normally deviate from my route! 4 miles later, down some track, I found my resort! The trouble was the road started off ok and just got worse; the trouble is when do you stop and say no, enough is enough and turn back; it could just be around the next corner, so what do you do? You just have to keep going!

Watch Garry’s YouTube video of the Narayanghat-Mugling Highway.