Nowhere in the world, will all your senses be tested, as they will on this motorcycle adventure. As bikers, we know that when travelling in a car, you are in a compartment, so what you see is like watching it on a TV. You’re just a passive observer, and it’s all moving by you; boringly, frame by frame. On our tours, riding the classic Royal Enfield 500 Bullet; the frames are gone, and you are in the scene. You’re not just watching anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.
India has so much diversity, and every day, your eyes will see something new. From abject poverty, to amazing wealth, and everything in between; you will hear, see, smell, taste, and feel it all. Bustling crowds in the capital, to the vast expanse of space, we cross the magnificent Himalayan mountain ranges. So much contrast on one tour, embellishing your thoughts months later. Like many clients, you will probably want to do it all again.
The overall experience of just being in this amazing part of the world, would be enough for most people; though, we will visit some amazing sights and stay in some very unique places; such as, the houseboats on the Dal Lake in Srinigar, the capital of Kashmir.
Day 1 of our tour involves the logistics of having all of you fly in from different starting points at different times to all somehow meet up in Delhi. From your first glance at the sprawling metropolis you will immediately begin to appreciate that India is a land of contrasts, a land of diversity and variation unparalleled anywhere else in the world. Abject , squalid slums sit incongruously alongside amazing modern buildings of stunning beauty, like the lotus shaped Ba’hai temple. Five star hotels are served by 1950s vintage Morris Oxford taxi cabs with engines the same size as their batteries. At times confusing, at times challenging and at all times chaotic. Delhi is never still, never restful and never boring.
Day 2 has us on an air conditioned train, the Shatabdi Express, heading north to the Haryana state capital of Chandigarh. This relatively small city is a much better place than Delhi to jump on the Royal Enfields and ease our way into Indian traffic. We deliberately break you in gently, with a short casual ride of only around 30km to Parwanoo where your hotel has a swimming pool and a cable car to take you to your rooms.
Day 3 sees us proceeding another 90km along a hilly and winding road to the Himachal state capital of Shimla, frequently alongside the railway track where the “Toy Train” runs on the narrow gauge line through more than a 100 separate tunnels in less than 100km, up to the picturesque hill station. Shimla was the summer national capital in the days of the British Raj, when the entire government would relocate up here for the three months every year to avoid the sweltering heat of Delhi. The main street is still called The Mall where the locals enjoy a daily hawakhanna , their evening stroll. We arrive with plenty of time for you to have a look around and explore this beautiful town.
Day 4 and we are on our way to Mandi, along twisting roads above stunning terraced slopes such as might be seen gracing the cover of travel magazines in Bali. Densely wooded hillsides flank the many streams of the area. We cross the turbulent Sutlej River in the morning and arrive in Mandi in the afternoon on the banks of the boiling Beas ( Bee-Ahs), a popular river for rafting or angling for India’s famous Mahseer, that monstrous freshwater fish weighing in at 30 kilos
Day 5 brings us to the wonderful Kulu Valley, a spectacularly beautiful region of lush green hills alongside the Beas. The narrow , winding road clings to the side of the sometimes steep gorge, with the river at times 300 meters directly below us. We encounter a rather daunting tunnel along the ay, 3km through a hillside and without lighting! Make sure you know where the Enfield’s headlight switch is, and slide your sunglasses down your nose.
Day 6 we shall spend having a ‘rest day’ in Manali, which could mean trekking through the forest to check out a 500 year old temple. Or we can just wander through the markets, picking up bargains in the Tibetan bazaars. Today is also our first acclimatising day, before we start the serious business of climbing the Himalaya proper.
Day 7 is when we really start getting into it! On with the gloves and jacket liner this morning. As we reach the snow-line the sundial begin to disperse the mists, revealing the most sensational views ever imagined. Endless valleys stretch out in every direction from the 3,978 meter Rohtang Jot, ( pile of corpses) where we enter the remote world of the Lahaul Valley. Your head will be swivelling from side to side in amazement all the way to the tiny village of Keylong, our home for the night.
Day 9 And it just keeps getting better. the day starts with us tackling the 21 switchbacks of the Gata Loops up the side of a rocky mountain, then zipping flat along a flat, straight, lunar-landscape plateau where nomadic peoples tend to their goats and yaks, which appear to have developed the ability to survive on a diet of gravel and sand! Then its up, up and more up as we climb to the Tagalong La, at 5,328m the second highest road in the world. ( Dont worry , we are doing the highest in a couple of days, beyond Leh) At this altitude the Enfield as well as ourselves may have difficulty breathing the rarefied air- there is not a lot of oxygen up here! Its also cold, so after the obligatory photographs we then proceed to legendary Leh, the Ladakhi capital and a stunning green oasis in this otherwise desolate area. Red coloured run off from the copper rich bulk of the Zanskar mountains ( zans means copper, Kar is white) feeds the sacred Indus river, source of all life in this region.
Day 10 is a Leh-day ( pun intended!) to allow further acclimatising. Either today or tomorrow we will ride back long the Indus Valley a short way to the Thikse Gompa, a dramatic Buddhist monastery clinging to the side of a hill and eerily similar to Lhasas Potala Palace in Tibet. A little further on, Shey Palace houses a huge Buddha and fine collection of Thankas, ( Tibetan wall hangings). We can cross the river and ride back to Leh via Stok, where the Ladakhi royal family now reside.
Day 11 has us heading further north. Our objective today is the Khardung La, at 5,600meters the highest road in the world open to traffic! We have the satisfaction of knowing that no-one anywhere has driven or ridden higher in the world than we are right now.This is as close to heaven as we will ever get on a bike! This whole area is actually a military zone and special permission is obtained from the authorities because it is fairly close to sensitive border with China, aka, Tibet. If anyone should happen to get shot, please advise your tour leader as soon as possible ;) We return to Leh again for the night.
Day 12 sees us follow the Indus Valley, home of one of the oldest civilisations known to mankind. We head west with the river , passing some amazing scenery until we arrive at possibly the weirdest of it all, a “moon-land” of lightcoloured composite rock wedged into a high little valley. We then proceed a little further to Lamayuru, a spectacular 1000 year old Buddhist gompa built in the traditionally accepted manner, i.e. clinging to an impossible hillside. this gompa is the oldest and one of the most important in Ladakh, but even more impressive is the medieval village beneath it. Its a little catacomb of dark passageways and stone dwellings virtually unchanged in over a thousand years and well worth more than just a casual glance. ! 
Day 14 Srinigar has been the centre of the dispute over Kashmir since the troubles began at the time of Partition, 50 years ago. Violence has peaked and ebbed several times, all but destroying the tourism industry upon which much of the city’s economy depends. In the mid 1980’s, 650,000 tourist each year flocked to the beautiful lakes of Srinigar to enjoy the decadence of lazing on a houseboat for a week. A decade later only 5,000 per annum were venturing to Kashmir, although the position has improved considerably in more recent years. We will spend a day here to judge the situation for ourselves, lounging around on our houseboats or paddling through the city’s quiet backwaters in a shikhara, the unique Kashmiri gondola-style paddled boat.
Day 16 will take us to McLeod Ganj, back in the state of Himachal. Since Tibet’s spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was forced to flee in 1959 following the Chinese invasion of his homeland, this has been his home and the seat of the Tibetan Government in Exile. While the rest of the world seems to have forgotten that Tibet should be a sovereign state in its own right, the Tibetans have never given up hope that they will one day be permitted to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. ! 
Day 20 Today we get to view the road from the opposite prospective. We charter a bus to take us 200km south to the one time Mogul capital city of Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. The magnificence of the Taj Mahal cannot be overstated; it is simply the most superb building and is a must for anybody visiting the north of India. We will also take in the impressive red-sandstone Agra Fort before heading back to Delhi on our air conditioned bus!