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There’s so much going on right now with the arrival of our new Royal Enfield 450 Himalayans, I’m finding it difficult to sort out the more immediate issues. There’s not that many to be fair but I’m a stickler for detail and like to spend quiet time trying to make sure that everything’s as best it can be.

The new 450’s cased quite a stir and it’s a good motorcycle. I’m riding one at the moment and another 30 will arrive in May this year. Just in time for the start of the Roof of India rides. I’m actually heading off in the next few hours for a very long ‘Adventure Bike Shoot Out’ riding the new 450 Himalayan alongside the latest KTM 390 Adventure and Triumph Scrambler 400 X. It’s all South India riding and some of the route I know and some I don’t. If you haven’t checked the ride out, again, it’s our own creation called ‘India Bike Wallahs’. Take a look as I’ve put it up on the website, here’s the link: https://www.nomadicknights.com/.

The Roof of India is an incredible ride and there are a few days that really stand out. One in particular is day 7. It’s a long riding day and it’s the day we ride into the Kashmir Valley. The guys at the UK-based Adventure Bike Rider magazine recently asked me to write an Insider’s Guide article for riding in the Indian Himalayas. For some reason, I couldn’t get day 7 out of my head. It’s special. Here’s what I wrote about it:

‘Part of the route we ride to cross over the Roof of India takes us deep into the Kashmir Valley. For many years, this was inaccessible from the southern end. It took 25 years of cutting and hacking through the mountains before a trail was established. I had tried to ride it previously, but couldn’t, as there was no road. It came to a dead end. I always promised myself that as soon as we could get access, we would ride it. And the Roof of India was born. It’s a stunningly beautiful part of the world that foreigners rarely ever visit. It’s likely that they don’t know it exists. The day we ride from Sural Bhathori to Daksum is truly breathtaking. It’s only during the May to October months we can ride there. This is a land of nomadic shepherds and herders that have lived the same way for hundreds of years. At around 45kms from our destination, we cross Sinthan Pass. At the top, at 12,500 ft, all you can see is hundreds of square kilometers of pine forest. And the final 40k is riding down through it all as the sun sets. It’s a magical motorcycling moment that will be etched in your memory forever. The next riding day is a short one at around 100kms and strap yourself in as we spend the night on exquisite 100-year-old houseboats on Dal Lake. I could wax lyrically about just how utterly awesome this experience is, but I couldn’t do it justice. It’s completely surreal’.

I’ve ridden the day 7 route many times and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the feeling of crossing over Sinthan Pass. As I mentioned, it’s special, I kid you not.

But these are my words and truth be told, I’m biker at heart, but I suppose I’m also biased.

So, don’t take my word for it. The remainder of this blog is what the riders have to say about it.

I was tasked with finding the best tour in the Himalayas for our 3-man annual Jolly Boys Biking Week.

It had to be epic.

It had to be the best bike trip we’d ever done, because it really was a once in a lifetime thing. A real, ‘if we don’t do it now, we may never get the chance again’.

It had to mirror our passion for finding our own way, for a true adventure with challenges, unknowns, laughs, beers, and a lifetime’s worth of memories of riding epic roads and trails and sharing new experiences.

We weren’t going to tick off sightseeing spots, we were going because we know from our own trips to the Pyrenees and the Alps and everywhere else (in Europe) that mountain motorcycling is amazing.

The awe-inspiring views that give a million photo opportunities if only you could bear to stop riding for a second. The experience of different cultures, foods, languages and people. The swiftly changing weather, roads and trails, and even the unexpected change of plans and dramas that pushing yourself out of your comfort zone inevitably brings when you take on the unknown.

The warm glow of sharing the personal moments and the highs and lows over a beer or four with the laughter and camaraderie of great people, every night.

An organised tour? Surely not!

Alex and the Nomadic Knights team have really got this sussed.

Our expectations were high for the Roof of India trip, they were surpassed, and then some. Who you choose to go with will make a massive difference. We three, and our new riding buddies on the trip, chose well. I firmly believe we couldn’t have made a better decision in who to trust to deliver the back-up, guidance, assistance, freedom and laughs we had.

It was awesome, every single day. Just Awesome!

Tony Charlton

My loved ones often question my sanity when I say I am going on another Indian ‘extreme’ adventure trip with Nomadic Knights.

They don’t get it, most people don’t get it.

These trips are more than riding motorcycles through some of the most beautiful terrain in the world. The ‘Roof of India’ is not for the faint-hearted. It’s a true adventure with like-minded riders. Some of the best people you will ever meet.

The sense of accomplishment, the friendships made, the laughter……oh the laughter…makes this an experience you will never forget. I’m 63 years young, a big unit, and I ached every night after an amazing day’s riding… but the spring in my step every morning, the anticipation of ‘what are we going to experience today’… made me feel alive.

I have done six, very different, trips with Alex, and the Nomadic Knights team… all different… all memorable.

A quote I love to live by, “JOBS FILL YOUR POCKETS, BUT ADVENTURES FILL YOUR SOUL.”

Never a truer statement made.

Michael Hobbs

For me, written on my face is the pleasure, especially with drinks in hand, and the trials of the Roof of India.

I look knackered and happy.

India is a beautiful but challenging country and that’s no doubt why you choose to live there. Lucky you. I truly found the trip tough and fulfilling. And that’s the point of it.

I hope these quotes are useful.

“Knackered and happy after a rewarding and challenging day on the Roof of India Adventure”

“Every day the Roof of India trip challenges and rewards in equal measure to the very last day. An amazing country to travel with friends, new and old.

Plenty of laughs, beer and whisky. The Nomadic Knights team and Alex leading somewhere way in the distance makes this Motorcycle Adventure unique, and much more than the unknown road ahead.”

Thank you.

Bob Hughes

https://www.nomadicknights.com/riders-stories/