We left Mahei with the rain finally stopped although yesterday's gear and shoes were still soaking.
As usual we went straight into a climb with an 800 metre gain to reach the Rohtang pass over the 17 kms.
This is a notorious road that only opens for a few months of the year and requires a mountain load of immigrant road workers to maintain !
We were soon into the mist but not before some amazing views back to Mahri and last nights campsite as the switchbacks took us back and forward across the mountain.
After yesterdays reasonable performance I was struggling at the rear not because of the altitudes effect on my breathing but its effect on my leg muscle group turning them to jelly !
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Some sections (sometimes 1 km or more) were nothing more than mud after recent rains with repair workers almost laying stone by stone to repair.
A couple of hairy corners had to be negotiated by stepping close to the precipice with traffic stuck on both sides.
Grinding it out I made it to the top of the Rohtang pass with the group which overall entailed a 54 km climb over 2 days and some 2,000 meters in altitude.
The descent started off superbly with well tarmaced road but ended in farce as it turned into rock' then mud and rock of the worst kind. Jeeps, trucks and motorcycles in both directions were trying to negotiate with only enough room for 1 & cars while we fitted thru any gap we could.
To frustrate matters a boulder was being moved off the road in one section requiring carrying the bike to bypass while in another a grader was working completely stopping traffic in both directions.
Amazingly our group made it down without incident but with self now sepeated with no road signs I was concerned due to lack of traffic that I was going the wrong way.
While cursing and walking my bike through the mud my eyes nearly popped out of my sockets when a tour cyclist came from the other direction equipped with 4 panniers and riding in the mud !
Discovering he was from Belgium and 2 months into his 3 month touyr I bade him farewell and went in search of my group finally finding them a few kms further on.
The remaining riding to Keeling passed through stunning scenery Mtns that looked like Scotland on a grand scale, massive waterfalls and numerous glaciers providing a stunning backdrop.
At one bridge we stopped to observe a truck winching operation where the truck had gone straight over the edge into a ravine - the results for those on board would not have been good !
Some of the riding on tarmac was great while other large sections off road were rocky traps that one had to really keep their wits about them.
Unfortunately one of our strong riders coming downhill on a dirt section struck a small girl who had raced out without looking requiring both to be treated by our tour groups Dr ( yes we have our own Indian Dr!)
Alan was taken to hospital for precautionary screening while the little girl apparently although cut and bruised appeared OK
So after 9 hours on the road we arrived at Keelong with self not having energy in reserve this was one of the toughest rides I have ever done !
Stunning scenery , terrible roads and one hell of a bumpy ride !
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