Top of the World
After an exhausting three-day succession of trains, planes and automobiles, I arrived at the old colonial outpost of Shimla, and met the other 13 riders taking the Blazing Trails tour to Leh and beyond. Herded in the hotel car park, a pack of Royal Enfields awaited their new abusers, ready to ‘dug, dug, dug’ into them thar hills.
I awake after insufficient sleep, head pounding and dizzy with travel, but there’s little time to mope, even less to explore Shimla, as we climb tentatively aboard our strange bikes, full of excited anticipation, chasing the inevitable rainstorm to the dampen spirits. We sail through twisting roads and climbing green scenery, bonding with our lazy machines. A precedent is set as we pull into the first of many dhabas for chai (cafés for tea), taking lunches in the same, never spending too long in the saddle without breaks or photo stops.
The brightening ride blows away clinging cobwebs, the freeing wind rush revives, as the misty majesty of India soars and opens before us. We arrive at our destination, a Hindu temple at Sarahan, and our bed and shower for the night. Despite this
