A Great Adventure

In my early thirties I had one of those adventures of a lifetime that always seem to happen to other people.

I met a guy with a 750cc BMW motorcycle while on a boat from Kuwait to India. When the ship docked at Bombay, the customs officials impounded his machine, due to their not accepting his Bahrain customs documents.

We had parted company at the docks after arranging to meet up later. It was much later, in fact three days later he emerged from a crowd in the middle of a Bombay street (it was still Bombay then 1981) with the sorry tale.

We pooled efforts, appealed the Indian Customs decision, bought time and acquired a Carnet from Lahore. We teamed up and, successfully on the road again, I was treated to a remarkable experience.

Amongst many I suppose one of the most memorable events was travelling from Kargil in Kashmir to Padum in Zanskar. The road was un-metalled and only open from late June to October due to the high passes (over 4,000m) being blocked by snow and ice.

About half way is the Buddhist Monastery Rang Dum Gumpa, a modest yet imperious building perched atop an isolated mound of Himalayan rock standing proudly above a great plain at the conference of two glacier fed rivers.

It was a sublime adventure. The picture here just about sums up to me what biking is all about. Thanks to Trevor Thomas I had a really great adventure.

(Olympus OM1n 85-250mm Zuiko Kodak Ectachrome)