The blankets, the beans and the donkey.

I am back in Bageshwar stuffing down juicy mangoes after a visit to the barber shop for a much needed shave after 7 days of mountain biking bliss on the trails to Pindari Glacier.
Cycled the first 40 kilometers through a scenic valley to the tiny settlement of Song which is the trailhead for the trek. After Song a 5 km steep climb to Loharkhet brought me to my first nights halt which was spent in a British built bungalow. The British in Imperial days were keen trekking enthusiasts and cut paths, logged trees, shot tigers and leopards, brutally suppressed the locals and built bungalows wherever they went to make it easier for the next time they came. The caretaker of the bungalow knocked together a simple meal of rice and lentils as he explained that other cyclists had made it this far last year before abandoning their mountain bikes and doing the rest by foot. The night was very cool compared to the heat on the plains and I was glad to have a nicely burnt brick red shoulders and back; a result of a couple of hours topless cycle repairing on the Bageshwar hotel roof top; to keep me nice and warm through the night.
The following day saw me pushing and carrying by cycle up a steepish and very rocky trail for 3 hours which gave me an understanding of why the other cyclists had abandoned their bikes. The trail crawled up over a 1000 meters from Loharkhet to the near 3000 meter Dwarki pass which is the main access route for the donkey caravans in and out of the valleys and can be blocked for weeks in winter. Men died on the pass last year in an attempt to trek over to Song to fetch supplies but where caught in a blizzard and perished.
The descent down to Khati was astonishing, a winding singletrack rocky trail through thick forests down to the river where the trail traversed the valley side for about 5 km before arriving at the medieval looking village of Khatti and presenting me with my first clear sight of the snow capped Himalayas and a greeting party of a hundred or so excited villagers who had seen the first ever cycle to visit the valley.
Tomorrow promises to be brilliant the local trekking expert Mr Prakash is taking a group of Latvians to the Pindari Glacier and is planning to camp just below the Glacier itself he has room on one of his donkeys for a few blankets, a spare tent and a few tins of beans for breakfast. The plan is for me to cycle the 23km and 1500 metre ascent and meet them at "Zero Point" at 3700 meters above sea level tomorrow.

Come back for more tomorrow for part 2.

Will the misadventurist make it?
Will the donkey eat all the beans?
How many blankets do you need to keep warm at 3800 meters?