THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD EXPEDITION
As I woke up at the Chail Palace and watched the monkeys playing outside my window, I wondered if there was any way that the day could get any better than it already was. It was tempting to just stay put, but I had places to go and bikes to ride!
It was day two of the seven-day Trailquest expedition to the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, in the foothills of the Himalayas. If I took my eyes off the monkeys for a moment I could see a neat line of Royal Enfield Himalayans outside, and just remind myself that yes, it was going to get even better than this – we would be riding the dinky adventure bikes among the colourful, noisy and jubilant chaos that is everyday India.
ON INDIAN ROADS
Having had our first taste of Indian traffic and mountain roads the previous day, our group set off for our next destination, Narkanda, much more confidently than before. It would be an overstatement to say that we were fully at ease with our new surroundings, but the odd cow in the middle of the road, lorries approaching on the wrong side of the road, or the road simply disappearing in front of you
