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Posts Tagged ‘Unitour’

Unipal: Day 8 Yak Kharka, back to Manang!!!

Apr 13th, 15 / Comments Off

What turned out to be a pleasant sprinkling of snow the day before, turned out to be about 20cm of snow the next day! We woke up, looking forward to heading to the last stop before Thorung La pass, our highest point of the tour.  Instead, we were greeted by a white landscape completely blanketed in snow.

It was unseasonably cold and snowing (this is normally the time when climbers summit the peak because of good weather). Unfortunately this meant that our attempt to cross the pass would be too dangerous. If we waited out our rest day at Yak Kharka, we risked being snowed in completely and unable to descend.  Either way, it meant that we had to abandon the pass and head back down to Manang.

Despite the disappointment among the riders, we still had some good riding ahead of us- DOWNHILL!

The singletrack that we climbed up the day before was now covered in snow, which allowed many of us to practice our snow unicycling skills. It made quite a different experience compared to the day before. Eric shows off his crazy Canadian temperature regulation by stripping off to ride in the snow (it’s warm and sunny!)

There were also many Yaks on the trail, who were befuddled by these weird one wheeled creatures riding in the snow.

Events, MUni, Unitouring

Unipal: Day 7 Manang to Yak Kharka 4000m

Apr 12th, 15 / Comments Off

Todays ride would take us up to 4000m, which is higher than most people in the group had been to before.  We started by weaking through the backstreets of the old village in Manang, with many alleyways, before heading up the hill towards Yak Kharka.  There were several ‘Stupa’ stops, where we had a chance to take in the views.

We stopped a beautiful teahouse that looked out at the mountains, before proceeding along the trail.  It was all singletrack riding from Manang, which was not overly technical but a lot of fun riding.  We crossed one of the longest swing bridges on the tour so far, which was slightly disconcerting on a unicycle.

When we arrived in Yak Kharka we took huddled into the teahouse with hot soup, lemon tea and other beverages.  It started snowing when we arrived, but an intrepid group decided to go for a walk up the hill with our guide Dawa.

Later in the evening, one our group members, Bruce, developed quite severe acute mountain sickness, so we had to send him down with 6 porters taking turns carrying him to Manang in the middle of the night (whilst it was snowing!).

MUni, News, Unitouring

Unipal: Day 6 Manang rest day

Apr 11th, 15 / Comments Off

It was great day for sleeping in, washing clothes, doing some shopping, except for those of us who were sick!  Several of our party, including myself (Ken) come down with a tummy bug.

After breakfast, a small group went for a 3-4 hour hike up to an old glacier.   The others explored the village, which was a good place for buying clothes, shoes, hats and other trekking supplies.

In the afternoon we headed to see a movie at the local theatre, which was showing “Seven Years in Tibet”.  It was a cosy little theatre complete with fireplace and popcorn!

Some of the medically inclined went to a lecture by the Himalayan Rescue Association, which covered aspects of mountain medicine including altitude sickness, gastro-illness, frostbite and other general health issues in the mountains. It was a very interesting talk presented by the US doctors who were working there at the time.

Events, MUni, Unitouring

Unipal: Day 5 Pisang to Manang 3540m

Apr 10th, 15 / Comments Off

Another beautiful days riding…the track was relatively smooth ‘Nepali Flat’, framed by gorgeous Himalayan peaks.

We stopped for a break at Humbe, which has one of the highest airports in the world.

Manang is a bustling village complete with it’s own movie theatres, plenty of trekking shops, hotels, and a medical centre.  Those of us who arrived early were busy tucking into chocolate cake, apple pies and other delicious fare at the hotel tea shop.

We were pleasantly surprised to bump into unicyclist Steve Colligan, who, unbeknownst to us, was in Nepal with his family!

Events, Unitouring

Unipal: Day 4 Chame to Pisang 3300m

Apr 9th, 15 / Comments Off

After a hearty breakfast we were very much looking forward to todays ride. It was described by our guide Dawa as ‘Nepali flat’, which roughly translates to hilly, with ups and downs, but probably more up than down.

Many of us had found yesterdays riding a little challenging, with a lot of hiking up steep sections. Todays ride, in contrast, was on much smoother trail. Notwithstanding that it was ‘Nepali flat’, it was also much more rideable.

There was some snow on the road as we crossed some forests along a little valley, and various swing bridges to cross.  We arrived in Pisang just before 3pm, which gave us plenty of time to explore the village before dinner.  We were staying in lower Pisang, but upper Pisang was across the river and up  a very steep mountain overlooking the valley.

A group of us made the hike up to upper Pisang, with it’s gorgeous  views of the village and river below.  When we arrived at the monastery perched at the top, we were offered hot lemon tea by the monks…absolute bliss!

Events, MUni, Unitouring

Unipal: Day 3 Bagarchap to Chame 2630m

Apr 8th, 15 / Comments Off

After the exhausting ride the day before, our riders were raring to go.  All our unicycles were intact, despite the rough transfer the day before.

We had our group photo with some of the Annapurna peaks in the background, and then headed off up the trail.  It was a beautiful day with amazing views of the mountains rising up to the sky.  The riding was, however, quite difficult, with a lot of steep climbs littered with boulders.  Our route along the Marshyangi river led us across some amazing waterfalls along the way, and the rhododendrons were out in bloom.

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Unipal Day 2: Kathmandu to Bagarchap

Apr 7th, 15 / Comments Off

Today was our transfer day, so were were up for a bright early 6am breakfast.

Because the trip started in the Annapurna region, we had to do a road transfer to our starting village of Bagarchap.  Jason and Blair had warned us it would be long day, with about 9hrs driving, but we weren’t counting on a general strike across the country.

Due to some difficult to understand local politics, most the Nepal had shut down for general strike action. This meant that travel was restricted and most shops were closed.  Luckily, the army which set up roadblocks at every town were still letting tourist buses through. However, we had a mandatory stop at all road blocks, which meant that travel was slow and tedious.  On the other hand, it gave us a chance to stretch the legs, and some riders even getting involved in a cricket match with the locals.

It was well past mid-day by the time our bus rolled into the lunch stop.  We hungrily wolfed down the buffet, enjoying the magnificent splendour of the Himalayas now rising before us.

After lunch, our tour bus could no longer take us further, as it was a rough 30km jeep track to our starting village of Bagarchap.  After a furter delay, we got into our convoy of 4WD jeeps.  It was fun for about an hour, as the jeeps negotiated the impossibly steep road into the Annapurnas, negotiating boulder sized rocks with steep drop offs along the way.  The novelty soon wore off, however, as our backsides and spines felt the effects of the trail.  It was getting dark, so we would be arriving rather late to Bagarchap.

At least two of our jeeps fell to pieces, with one losing the driveshaft and requiring roadside repair.  At one stage, all the riders had to get out of the jeep to walk across a dangerous section of the track with our flashlights. We were told there was a cliff on the side and only the drivers would put their lives at risk!

By the time we arrived in Bagarchap, were were exhausted and ready for bed. We had been travelling for 16 hours! Our hosts did have a hot meal waiting, but after wolfing it down, we headed to bed, covered in soot from the 4WD adventure.

Events, MUni, Unitouring

Unipal: Day 1 Kathmandu

Apr 6th, 15 / Comments Off

The tour officially starts today.  We were to meet up at Hotel Manaslu, for the tour briefing at 5pm.  Some of our riders had already been there for several days, but many of us were arriving in the afternoon/evening, or transferring from elsewhere in Kathmandu.  Hotel Manaslu was quite a nice hotel, a couple of kilometers from the tourist district of Thamel.

Tour briefing was an enormous affair.  Our tour leaders were Blair Coburn and Jason Williams from Grasshopper Adventures; but we also had local Nepali guides- Ankit, Dawa and Mingma; as well as 15 porters who would join us at the start of the trek. In total, we would have 50 riders and support crew on tour!

Jason and Blair gave us a rundown on the route, riding conditions, health and safety and other logistical issues.  Ken distributed the Unipal T-shirts (much to his relief), and we then headed to a restaurant down the road for our first meal together.

Dinner was entertaining, with some Nepali dances and music to liven up the atmosphere.  Our last riders to arrive- Chris and Tom, finally made it after flight delays, just in time for their Dhal Bhat.

We were all set for the tour!

Events, MUni, Unitouring

Vietnam to Cambodia by Unicycle- OXFAM Cycle Challenge 2004

Oct 25th, 14 / Comments Off

This was what kicked off my interest in Unicycle Touring, and inspired this website.  Back in 2003, I heard about a charity challenge being put together by OXFAM.  A group of bicyclists (and one unicyclist!) spent a year fundraising for OXFAM in Cambodia.  We cycled from Saigon to Siem Reap, having a lot of fun visiting our sponsored OXFAM project along the way.

 

Events, News, Unitouring

Unistan: Unicycling the Silk Road, Uzbekistan

Dec 7th, 13 / Comments Off

Here is the long awaited slideshow of the first ever unicycle tour of Uzbekistan. Watch as we travel the Silk Road, through ancient cities, over mountains and desert.

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