Heading North

After inspecting the start of the Spiti gorge below Sundo and hoping to paddle toChango the army insisted we needed permits, which we didn’t have, so it was time to head to Keylong and the Chandra.

One of the many monuments covered in prayer flags along the pass.

We arrived in Keylong late afternoon, giving us chance to have a quick look at the Bahga, which looked really good, but unfortunately we didn’t get around to paddling it. We put on the Chandra at Koksar and paddled down to Tandi. I must say it was one of the most terrifying sections I have ever done, the water level was surging by 3ft at a time, meaning the features were continuously changing!

Our frantic schedule meant we had to carry on our journey that night, getting a jeep upto Leh and putting on the Indus at Nemu. Paddling the Indus had many plus points: First of all its an amazing section of big volume water, secondly we got to meet Shilabh of Splash Adventure Tours; who has been very helpful with the logistics of this trip and thirdly there was a bridge down on the road to Kargil, meaning we could beat the road block by paddling past it.

Exploring the Spiti Valley

Leaving Manali we headed over to the Spiti valley. Initially basing ourselves at Kaza we were able to explore the upper sections of the Spiti and some of its tribs. Initially the group split, with Ralph and myself choosing to paddle the upper Spiti, whilst the others attempted a walk in on the Gundi. I feel I made the right decision, getting in at the bridge 20km downstream of Lossar we found some of the most dramatic grade 2/3 I have ever paddled.

That evening we hired a jeep and went to investigate the Lingti valley. The Lingti is a tributary to the Spiti and comes in about 20km below Kaza. Except for the final 500m gorge the river looked good to go, mainly grade 3, with a couple more bits of interest. A local monk told of a big fall upstream which may be of interest to us.

The next morning we traveled back to Lalung and 5 of us decided to walk a further 3 or 4km upstream. We were pleased to find pretty much continuous read and run grade 4 below a nasty rapid, which we can only assume was the monks fall.

The treacherous walk-in.

Adam Holland on the Lingti above Lalung.

Our jeeps collected us from the bottom of the Lingti and took us up the Pin valley, another, but rather larger Spiti tributary. We set up camp in a farmers field along the ‘North Fork’ after the river split and in the morning enjoyed a great paddle into the Spiti, intending to get out in Tabo, but realizing at dusk we had overshot by about 8km.

The Spiti, aproaching Tabo.

A busy week in India

After having an amazing time on the Yamuna we headed for the Tons, a river we knew little about.

We arrived in the valley in the dark and pitched camp next to a hole we were sure was the size of a house, come morning, it was still huge, but more like a medium sized hatchback.

After an awkward first 2 kilometers, walking as much as we paddled the river calmed down and we enjoyed paddling for a few hours before setting camp and building a nice fire.

In the morning the river had risen a couple of feet and there was a thick layer of mist hanging over the river.

 

We carried on for annother few kilometers until an ominous looking gorgey bit, whilst inspecting the rapid, the army showed up and informed us we needed permission for this section of river. As we didnt have this permision he told us it would be in both of our interests if we left by the road, which we did.

Since then wee taken a hideously long bus journey up to Manali. Paddled the Manalus ( a Beas trib), the scariest thing Ive done in a long while and had a quick blast on the Beas, which resulted in the first swim of the trip for Adam and Tims boat sliding into the river.

Yamuna River

Ive paddled my first himalyan river. We got on the Yamuna not really knowing what to expect, but hoping for a nice warm up, getting used to our heavy boats. The Yamuna is the river that flows through Delhi and Agra, but we got on several hundered kilometers upstream in Naugon.

 
(Photo Ralph Evins)

The river was exactly what we needed, fairly continous, with a couple of impressive rapids before calming down a bit before our takeout at Yamuna Bridge.

Holiday Change-Over

Maddy has just taken an early morning flight back up to Leh.

We spent 4 days there, walking around the town, exploring the local temples, climbing up to the Gompas and generally having a relaxing time. We travelled to Hemis for the annual celebrations of the unveiling of a painting in a Buddhist Monastery.

From Leh we took a minibus over the worlds highest mountain pass to Manali, with just one break down and one puncture I think we escaped lightly.

We only spent a few days in Manali, staying in the new city and making day trips to Old Manali and Vishist, sampling the (extremely) hot spring baths.

Then followed a hellish journey, amounting to 30 hours on buses and trains to get to Ramnagar, the gate to the Corbett Tiger Reserve. Unfortunately we didn’t see any tigers, but did get to ride an elephant and see wild deer, monkeys, peacocks and some fresh tiger prints in the mud.

Then back to Delhi for a hectic day before a visit to the Taj. This was enjoyable, I’m really glad I went, but felt somehow strange, as everywhere else I have had no idea what to expect, but Ive seen hundreds of Taj photos.

Later today I meet the guys at the airport who’ve flown in from London with their boats and the second part of my holiday begins….

This is India!

Ive been in India for ten days now and wow what a country.

After flying into Delhi and leaving my boat in left luggage we got a cab into town. We found a place to stay and a helpful tourist office, we had a quick tour of the sights, a highlight being Gandhi’s Ashes.

The following morning we flew to Srinagar to stay on a houseboat on Dall Lake. It was beautiful, if a little eery with soldiers everywhere.

After a couple of days rest we set off on a four day trek into the mountains. Some amazing views and a wonderful experience to stay with a local family.

Since then we have made our way over to Leh and been on a few walks exploring the local moonscape.

Ive taken hundreds of photos, but didn’t bring the cable with me….So will put them up when I return.

All packed, I’m off to India

The time has finally come, Ive been looking forward to this for what seems like an eternity, today I fly to India.

I’ll be spending the next eight weeks on the sub continent enjoying two holidays:

For the first half of the trip Maddy and I shall be sightseeing etc around northern India, with elephants, the Taj Mahal and if were lucky a snow leopard on the to see list.

The second half of my trip I plan to be kayaking around the Himachal Pradesh region for my first experience of multiday boating.

My kit:

Ready for the aeroplane:

So, where did we end up?

I’m back from the alps after having a great few days. Driving down to Dover we still weren’t sure where we were actually going to go, but by the time the ferry arrived in Dunkerque we had decided that Val Sesia in Italy was the place to go. It was a long drive and we finally arrived at the campsite in the dark and rain. The rivers were up and we had a great time paddling some of the classics; Sorba, Sesia and Mastallone to name a few.

After a fantastic few days in Italy and a comedy meal out where we spoke no Italian and our waitress no English we headed for L’Argentiere in the French Alps and news that the kayaking ban had been lifted.

We had a nice relaxing first day on the Durance sunshine run and settled into drinking Panache through the day. We got several rivers in during our stay including the Gyr, Middle Claree, Romanche, Fournel and Guisaine.

Just before we left was the Student boatercross, which I entered and finished mid field in the advanced category, Tom Woodhead did very well, and after a disqualification was announced the victor in the old boys category.

All in all a great trip. I got a bit of a sun tan, met up with some familiar faces, feel happy in my new boat and its less than two weeks until I go to India!

Let the boating begin….

I’m off to the alps tomorrow for 10 days boating in the sunshine, well that’s the plan anyway. Currently the weather situation around Briancon in the French alps isn’t that desirable; heavy rain has turned the usual blue water into a thick brown torrent and after a death last week the local police have banned kayaking in the region.

We have the ferries booked but other than that are pretty flexible, so who knows where we’ll end up, but hopefully we’ll find something to paddle whether it be French, Italian, Swiss, Austrian or German.

We’re taking some climbing stuff with us to, I hope to have another bash at Via Ferrata whilst we’re out there and hopefully try and remember not to look down.

I was last in the alps in 2006:

Sunshine, amazing views and tasty pork pies

After finishing exams on Tuesday Maddy and I went for a few days in the Lakedistrict, with no rain on the horizon we left the boats at home. On the way up we stopped in Lancaster and Morecambe for a quick look around, as we plan to move to Lancaster later in the year.

 

Then on to see Porl before his crazy unicycle challenge in a few weeks.

Walking wise we were really lucky with the weather and went for a wander around Blencathra in the sunshine. We walked along the Glenderamackin, it was extremely low, but has been added to my to-do list when theres a bit more water.

I woke up early this morning and went down to the lake and got a couple of nice photos: