What’s it like to cycle in Nepal? James Baile

What would it be like to take a bike tour through the mountainous regions of Nepal?

Well in today's mid-week episode of Cycle Shorts, we hear listener James Baile share his experience of doing just that.  James undertook this journey in 1986 and the memories of what occurred on this day have stayed with him ever since. 

You can find out more about James via his instagram account - @baile_james and learn about his current adventures from  his website - https://vintagevan.life/

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:24

Hello everyone, it's Bella Malloy here, host and producer of Seek Travel Ride. Welcoming you to another episode of Cycle Shorts. These are our miniature midweek episodes which share what it was like for one of our listeners during one day of their trip. This episode features listener James Bale, and he's going to be taking us back to one day of his trip, which occurred on a magical adventure in Nepal. Up until this point, he had been cycling with his friend, but as his friend had encountered a mechanical issue, that meant that he would be on his own. So we are going to get transported now. Without any further ado, let's listen to James talk about what it was like on that day.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Hi, my name is James. I'm currently sitting on the southern shore of the Black Sea on the North Turkish coast. I'm here to tell you about a beautiful day, a day on my bike like no other, the day I grew up. I started my cycling journey aged four or five. I can't be sure if I was four or five, but that's not important. I'm now sixty, but I still remember the day. It's one of my earliest memories. On that day, I jumped onto my sister's bike and pedaled and pedaled. I pedaled so hard. It was the first time that I'd ridden without stabilizers. We lived in a beautiful English village, green and lush. At the end of our road was a triangular green, maybe two hundred meters from the house. I pedaled and I kept pedaling, for this was the first time that ever peddled alone. I still feel the sense of empowerment that I felt in those early days cycling alone without stabilizers. The sense that anything is possible, any place is possible, all you need is a bike. By the time I sighted past the green, I started to wonder how I would stop. Stopping was not a skill I possessed. In the end, I ploughed into a grassy bank, elated in a euphoric, age four or maybe five, with my new sense of independence and adventure. That sense, coupled with burning curiosity deep in my belly, has taken me far and wide, sometimes on foot, sometimes in an old vehicle, but often by my favourite mode of travel, my bicycle. By the time this day, November the fifth, nineteen eighty-six, arrived, I'd already carried my bicycle to Mount Everest Base Camp. I'd carried it to the top of Ben Nevis in Scotland. I pushed it along the South Downs way in England. On that November the fifth day, I'd set off early in the morning, I'd left my friend Richard behind the previous day. We'd started the journey together, but Richard had to have an accident on the way down from Everest Base Camp to Namche Bazaar and tried to fix his bike in Kathmandu from where we cycled to Pokera. But in Pokera Richard decided that was as far as he could go. So the previous day I'd set off on my own and managed to get to a place called Tancent. Feeling very alone, in the middle of nowhere, the day beginning to draw to its end, as the sun started to set, I began to worry. Worry about where I would sleep, where I would get food and water to keep me going the following day. I came across a house somewhere down the road, a beautiful long house, one that later I learned was owned by a Gurkha. Asking if there was a place to stay nearby. They welcomed me into their house. They fed me, watered me, and put BBC Radio One on. We had sparklers because it was November the fifth, Guy Fawkes night in the UK, a night my Gurkha host remembered from his days attached to the British Army. I'm still humbled to this day by the fact that the family took me in, fed me, gave me a bed in their house, sleeping alongside all of them. Their trust in me, warmth and generosity was something that I will never forget. It's one of the first times aged twenty two that I realized the importance of human connection at the most basic and personal level. Connection and trust and friendship are the things that we take forward as we travel, none more than when we travel on a bicycle. We are vulnerable and must trust. Connection, trust, and friendships are the things that I now cherish nearly forty years on. And looking back, it was that day that I grew up and became James.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Thank you so much, James, for sharing that experience of what it was like for one day of your trip. One of the joys of this podcast has been hearing these types of tales from my guests, those guests who have found themselves in countries where they are so isolated and out of their elements, and in moments of vulnerability are taken in by complete strangers and shown the utmost generosity, kindness, and hospitality. It sounds like this was the very thing which you needed at that moment, James, and the very thing which that lovely family in the pool gave you as well. And by the sounds of it, it's had a lasting impact on you and your perspective of the world. Listeners, James is currently touring at the moment as well. Not necessarily on a bicycle though. He's currently in a very old-looking awesome van. But that yearning to discover places on two wheels certainly hasn't left him. Inside that van he has packed his Brompton and on those trusty two wheels enjoys exploring new places as well. Can I also just have a shout-out to how incredible that first trip must have been as well? Exploring those high mountain passes in Nepal in the 80s. I know that I have interviewed guests who have done this very thing most recently, but I don't know whether it's just my perspective or not. I mean the effort required to pedal up a mountain pass doesn't change, doesn't matter what year it is, but I just feel a journey taken almost 40 years ago now, things were a bit more raw, gear wasn't quite as refined. Perhaps though, stripping it back things were a little bit more simple as well. Regardless, James, thank you so much for sharing your experience on the show. And perhaps when you are back and settled away from this van tour of yours, we can sit down and actually record a full episode and hear some more insights from that journey too. I'd like to also now take the opportunity to say thank you to my super generous supporters on Buy Me a Coffee. Each week, your messages of support and donations to the show keep coming in and keep blowing me away. And I just want to say right now at the outset how appreciative I am that you're taking the time to do this for me and show your thanks for the show. Stuart writes, really enjoying listening to the podcasts, particularly as I'm lugging my fully laden bike up long hills. I've really found it excellent for pulling me along. Thanks, Bella. Thank you, Stuart, for supporting the show. I wonder if I was to ask you the question, would you prefer riding your bike into a constant climb or into a constant headwind? Which one would you be choosing? Sounds like we were listening to the stories of my guests which are helping you up those climbs, so perhaps you're gonna fall into the majority of us all and choose Cheam Hill Climb as well. Thanks again for supporting the show. Sophie says, I absolutely love your podcast, Bella. Thank you so much for skillfully bringing such amazing inspirational adventures to my ears. The information I'm gathering from your shows is no doubt going to empower me for my own journeys in the future. Thank you. Well, thank you so much, Sophie. I really hope that you're taking on a lot of the information from my guest's experiences in this podcast, packing them into your own panniers, and getting yourself ready for a super adventure as well. Do me a favor, keep in touch when you take that journey and let me know where you go, how it's going, and perhaps there's an interview with you down the road as well. Roads to Rome says, loving not only the inspiring stories from your guests, but also your style of interviewing them too. Keep up the good work. Thank you so much. I'm really glad that you are enjoying the style of these podcasts. I would call them long form conversations, and hopefully you are finding the stories inspirational for yourself as well. And then I have Greg who says, Bella, I love what you do. Thanks so much. Your interviews are so inspiring. Thanks a heap, Greg. Thank you for supporting the shows, and I'm glad you're tuning in each week and drawing inspiration from my guests. Now, if you too would like to support the show on Buy Me a Coffee, all you need to do is check the podcast show notes in your podcast player app. Click on the link to buy me a coffee, and the rest is quite straightforward and simple. Once again, thank you to everyone who tunes into this show, everyone who supports me on Buy Me a Coffee and helps keep this microphone turned on and these episodes and guest interviews released each week. I honestly could not do any of this without your support, and I am really thankful that you keep Seat Travel Ride on the airwaves. Thanks so much. Until the next episode, I'm Bella Malloy. Thanks for listening.