The Himalayas started for me when I climbed up to Darjeeling at 7500ft. They immediately gained my respect and frightened the hell out of me. Darjeeling sits on a mer foothill and it took me a very full day to climb it, and I’m planning to climb to twice the height which is the second highest road in the world. Well that was 3 weeks ago, and although I don’t keep any records, I sure I’ve done over 50000ft of climbs already (good training ).
So how do I climb a mountain? Well the short answer is very slowly and that is something that I’m the best there is. At the moment I’m climbing multiple climbs each day of between 1000 and 3000 ft and its vital that I don’t blast the first climb and have nothing left for the rest of the day . I’m carrying 20 kg or more of luggage so it’s straight into my lowest gear at the start of the climb. This gives me a typical speed of 3 mph, increasing to 4mph when it flattens out, and decresing to 2mph on the nasty bits. I’m sorry if this is a bit nerdy, but heres a bit of maths. If the hill is the best part of 10 miles then I’ll be climbing for 3 hours AND I LOVE IT. The scenery is big and magnificent but it is still the people that make it so incredible.
Let me give you 24 hrs in the life of onion Johnny in the mountains. I stayed in a hotel in the town of s and got chatting to the owner who was quite young at about mid 30 s. He invited me down to his office and there I got the shock of my life. He showed me a selection of photos of drug and achohol addicts within the town. He, without any help from local or national government, was running a rehabilitation program for local addicts. His dream was to set up a home where they could be helped and vaguely hoped that I was some eccentric millionaire who could held him. I went to bed deeply moved by it all but frustrated that I probably couldn’t do anything to help him.
The Hotelier and his dream.
The day started on my first climb of the day into the mountains. At about mid morning a motorbike pulled along side me and started chatting even though he was going the other way. He insisted I follow him and he took me for a breakfast of rice pudding, curry and tea. He gave me his mobile no and insisted I ring him if I had any problems at all. He tried to give me money which I just about managed to refuse. Can you imagine this ever happening in the western world.
Bring treated to a breakfast, I’ve lost count of how many times this has happened to me.
The Himalayas had the nasty habit of serving up a big climb at about 4.0 p.m. when I was at my most tired and in need of somewhere to sleep. My mapping wasn’t good enough to show where the top was so it was I started the climb hoping it would be a modest one. Two hours later, with no sight of the top I knew I was in for a late night. I came to a mountain village of about 20 houses all facing the road with each of its occupants sat on it doorstep, very remanisant of Britain in the 40 s and before. Now my speed of 3 mph was a lot slower than the speed of the doorstep telegraph, and before I reached the middle the whole village had turned out to chear me on. These villages are very communal and even the people having their evening wash by the side of the road, in a state of partial undress were cheering me on. The children were all running along side me desperate to touch there hero. I was no longer Onion Johnny, I was Bradly Wiggins escaping from the pack and winning the Tour de France. I entered that village with tired legs, I left as a young 30 year old who really could win the TdF.
The village that helped me win the 2016 TdF.
Now for some photos.
The scenery is big and beautiful, and these are only the foothills.
Monkeys are never far away, and so are other things!
Land slides, big and small are never far away. I always ride on the opposite side of the road and keep listening all the time.
I love the mountain paddy fields, not a square inch is wasted
Nepalese children are how I would design children if I was God. Nepalese architecture
It’s July 3rd and I’m about 3 days from entering India, where I do the big boys mountains.
Onion Johnny goes to the Himalaya's 
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