Base Camp On A Bike

“Did you say a bicycle ride to Everest Base Camp? Isn’t it an 8 day hike up high passes and across rocky terrain?” You would be right to think this is one of the craziest ideas you have ever heard of, but gear up, because it is very much a reality.

- Debra Bouwer

The start of one of the worlds’ longest cycling trails to Nepal begins high on the vast Tibetan landscape in Lhasa at a staggering altitude of 3680m above sea level. Cycling along the old famed ‘Silk Road,’ the route detours to visit the shadows of the highest mountain on earth, Mt Everest. Where else can you claim to have visited Everest Base Camp on your bicycle!

Spanning an area twice the size of Texas or France and an average of 4500m in altitude, the Tibetan plateau is vast. High mountain peaks straddle borders with Nepal, azure blue glacial lakes spread through endless valleys, and crops of barley bask under the high altitude sun. Early morning, monasteries erupt into a flurry of red capes as monks gather in prayer, as the sound of yak bells ring out on the streets below. Fields come alive with song as men and women head out to till the soil. Along temple walls, prayer wheels inscribed with mantras turn under weather beat hands sending silent prayers into the universe, while brightly coloured prayer flags gently flutter in the breeze.