I was determined to walk the kora around Ganden before our departure from the area having read that the views were spectacular. With much gusto and enthusiasm I stomped back up the hill to the monastery in order to walk before the arrival of pilgrims and tourists. From our campsite we had already seen a row of monks walk the kora at sunrise and had heard singing carried in the breeze from the direction of the monastery.

Just before I started the kora I looked back to view the campsite below - I could not see K or the bikes at all, we had dismantled the tent already and as a result there was no sign of our presence at all from such a distance.


I walked along winding paths, sometimes rocky, sometimes hardpack, either way they were well trodden and worn. Sometimes the paths would fork, one would trail off to a small shrine or juniper burner and then would join back up again, at other times the path that split would dissapear down or up the mountainside, no doubt to another important shrine or rock.


The views from the kora of the surrounding valleys were amazing. Jutting peaks in the distance stretched out as far as the eye could see, few were snow topped now that the weather was warmer. I had the place to myself and all that I could hear was the sound of the early morning chirping birds and the occasional breeze through nearby shrubs.



Sometimes I lost the path, this was worse when I reached a dead end at a cliff edge. There were so many prayer flags in the area that I could not see a path onward and decide to head down the mountainside a little. As I headed down I realised that I was leaving the high kora and starting to head down towards the valley, doing a U turn a climbed back up to the clif and eventually managed to find a steep stone staircase hidden by a web of prayer flags which I had to brush my way through.


I surprised a large hare as I walking, it was the largest hare that I had ever seen and I watched it run down the mountainside and dissapear from view.


Looking at the road which we had climbed the previous day from part of the kora.


Finally I made my way back to the front of Ganden. Stall sellers recognised me from the day before (my bike horn had created curiosity as well as our achievement of riding up) and cried "hello" and waved, congratulating me on having done the kora.


I then headed back to the campsite quickly having walked the kora and thus created luck for our future journeying (or for mankind, or for the Tibetans.... ;-)

Everything was packed up at the campsite, K was lost in a bookworld so I sat down to rest for a while and slather on the sun cream in preparation for a day in the saddle under high altitude rays. We gradually moved the bikes and gear down to the rocky pilgrim path which we were going to ride down in order to head back to Lhasa. As I picked up the last few items (my helmet and camera bag) I descended from the campsite thinking how great it was that we had found such a cool spot and that neither of us had injured ourselves (the latter being a bizarre and unusual thought indeed). As thoughts go moving on to something else as quickly as you have thought them, mine proceeded to think of ants in my helmet and that I should warn K about hers. All of a sudden within seconds of all this happening, I found myself hurtling my helmet and gloves through the air as my ankle twisted sideways on a rock edge and I banged my knee and back into the sharp rocks surrounding me. The pain was excrutiating (I had many years ago twisted my ankle very badly) and I lay on the floor uncomfortably amongst the rocks rolling around in agony unable to make a sound. K who was very close by and had her back to me did not see any of this happen, I could see her but could not communicate. Finally, I managed to weakly say something like "help" or "fell" (neither of us are sure which) and K ran over to my aid. She administered the necessary first aid to my bleeding knee, bruised ankle and damaged ego (the star that she is) and I eventually felt strong enough to move on. We decided that we should continue on with our planned route down the rocky path rather than back up to Ganden and down the tarmacked road that we had ridden up. We were both desiring some offroad action and my ankle did not feel as though it would hinder us, besides I am better on two wheels than I am on my own two feet...

Looking down at the rocky path that we were going to follow down to the valley floor. After the corner the path dissapeared from view and we did not know what would be on the other side.


Looking back up towards the campsite and part of the descending path which we had just ridden :-)


The path started fairly smoothly but very quickly deteriorated into steep rocky sections that were unrideable due to the amount of luggage that we were carrying in our panniers.

Here I am enjoying one of the easiest sections with a smoother surface :-)


For the most part the road was very narrow and there was no margin for error on our part.


There were sections were it would have been too dangerous for us to even attempt to ride due to large chunks of rock which covered our "path" and we would have to carefully maneuvre the heavy bikes and luggage on foot. Using a techinque by rotating the bike on the back wheel by pulling a little wheely using the back brake we could position the bike over the easiest of the rocks, dabbing the front and back brakes accordingly would prevent the bikes and our kit from rolling away downhill and dragging us behind.



Here I am having a rest after a successful navigation of an incredibly steep and rocky section which by any account of responsibility and containment of self control I would not have ridden. Alas, the terrain presented itself to me and having spent some time over the last hour getting used to the handling of the bike offroad whilst laden, I found that I was back to my normal devilish self and unable to ignore the challenge of riding some scariness. It was great, I feathered the front brake whilst picking my route, I rolled the front wheel over large rocks and kept my weight shifted back whilst I ensured that I pressed down on the bars enough to compensate for the light front end because of the luggage on the back. There was a drop to the right hand side which had not been a very good deterent either and I found myself descending on the edge of my panniered skill and it was all very good, life giving, adrenaline fuelled fundido :-) :-) :-)


K was a ROCKSTAR too. Occasionally she would go first but for the most part I rode up front judging the rideability of the terrain - it being my forte. I do feel as though this was an oxymoron on her part though because we all know that I lack any sense when it comes to offroad rockiness, having a want to always ride steeper and rockier and push my skills to the edge :-)



It was certainly steep in places and we would have to keep our eyes on the road - occasionally we would be able to catch a glance of the awesome view surrounding us.


It's ok K, just grit your teeth and bare it, your mother will be proud :-)


Sensibly I did not encourage her to ride this part...


"Eagle Eye" K spotted this lizard on a rock. Soon there were many scurrying between rocks around us, I was on a particulr steep section of downhill when one ran in front of my bike and I just managed to avoid squishing it...


Looking down into the valley which we would eventually descend into. Even though we had already spent an hour or so descending we still had a long way to go...


The trail continued down...


I was much happier (and so was my ankle) riding the bike than walking it (no surprises there) and soon after a few hours of descending the strain was beginning to take it's toll on my ankle and I was feeling that it was getting weaker. I informed K that I was at a point where I could no longer walk and that we would have to reach the end of the rocky section sooner rather than later. We had just descended down an incredibly steep section of rocky switchbacks and I was at the end of being able to maintain my sure footing. Five minutes later as we descended into a rocky wash, once again pushing the bikes my ankle finally gave way and I fell into a heap on the floor with the bike on top of me. Again unable to speak, K came to my aid lifting the bike from me. She got my shoe and sock off and had my foot elevated within moments of me finally being able to let go of my foot. We were concerned that I may have broken my ankle but upon closer inspection we agreed that I had badly sprained it. She pulled out a roll of tape from the first aid kit and made a support over the top of my sock. I was OK to ride but could not push the pedals too hard. K got my bike up to a rideable section and we soon joined a smooth dirt road. Soon spotting a mountain stream I stuck my foot into it in order to reduce the swelling, this helped immensley. We watched a worker irrigate a field and redirect a stream as we sat in the sun and I soaked my foot. Eventually we got on our way again and joined the main road. K took up the front and we pacelined it back to Lhasa with me getting a free ride on her slipstream.

We were both exceptionally tired after our few days of riding and have spent much of the last few days recovering with me trying to rest my ankle as much as possible...I'm sore, but I will be back on two wheels in no time :-)

We had an amazing trip with some exceptionally good riding despite having to push the bikes on occasion :-)


Thanks for reading!