This is it, the whole point of the trip, a loop through the Himalayan areas of northern India. I have wanted to ride this area since reading articles by Damon I’Anson in Bike magazine back in 2005-6 – so you could say this trip has been 10 years in the planning. It feels like a millions miles away from Manchester, but, in truth it’s hardly an adventure these days, there are countless tour companies that organise fly/ride holidays and many travelers have made the trips already. Here are some links that I have found useful / inspirational:

• Blazing Trails (a company set up by I’Anson) arrange trips between Manali and Leh (and in reverse). This makes up about half of the loop I want to do, reading through their site has been informative
• http://ladakh.hungryhacker.com/ has done the trip a couple of times and there are pages of useful info on the site
• http://www.losapos.com/leh_manali_highway has some stunning photos and useful infomation on the Leh-Manali road.
• Chris Scott in the Adventure Motorcycle Handbook describes in some detail the loop I want to take from Amritsar – Srinagar – Leh – Shimla.  Scans from his excellent book are here

The map looks very busy and it includes too much info at the moment, the listing of mountain passes, temporary camps and fuel stops is important in these remote areas. It also flags up some potential sites to visit if I end up flying into Nepal. I’ll try to tidy it up before I go…