Sideburn in the Himalayas

It's been a month since I returned from the Himalayas and I haven't mentioned it once on the blog, which even strikes me as weird. The main reason was I didn't want to post any photos that Ben ended up using in Sideburn 23, that we're working on right now. That article is laid out now, so I can share a few of my own snaps.

This Himalayan adventure was the second Sideburn-endorsed fly-ride road trip. The first was our desert and mountain trip to Morocco that Ben took (with the excellent MotoAventures) back in the Spring. Read about it in Sideburn 21. We're running another Morocco trip in October 2016, and all 12 places sold out in six days to riders from Australia, USA, UK and Kuwait. If there are people who missed out on this trip we could run another in October 2016, with a special guest Sideburn representative, so get in touch.

And we're also almost definitely doing another Himalayan trip to the Pangi Valley next September. So if you fancy that, email us for details. The date is likely to be September 10 - 18. Same route as this year's, same Helmet Stories crew.

The idea for doing these trips is simply Motorcycle Fun Times. To bring a group of like-minded people together (like-minded because they all read Sideburn - or that was the idea, but the word spreads and we've had a few people on the trips who didn't know anything about the magazine and were told about the trip by mates, which was unexpected but not a bad thing). It's also so we can work with and promote small companies we like.

For a tiny company Sideburn tries to do a lot - make and sell magazines and merch; organise Dirt Quakes and other events, videos; attend other people's events; pay artists, writers and photographers; sponsor races and now run trips. We are massively appreciative of everyone who supports us and makes all these things happen. Please keep doing it because no one's getting rich making niche magazines and we want to keep going.

Here's some more info about the Indian trip...

It's a long way down in the Pangi Valley. No barriers, dirt roads... Up ahead is Mark from the Jerkyls, the Australian dirt track club. I'd never met him before and now I love him like one of own eyes. That's what these trips can do. In turn, Mark enjoyed the trip so much he signed up for our 2016 Morocco as soon as it went on sale. He's bringing five other Jerkyls with him. It's going to be carnage.

Young Dan getting a move on at dusk to get the tents up before sunset.

We rode along valleys for days. It was hard at times, but never boring. 

A lot of the rest of the time was going up and down mountain passes. Look at this photo. Who wouldn't want to do this trip?

Four nights in a hotel, four nights free camping. One night the field the guides had used previously had been 'stolen' by another tour company, almost unbelievably. The guides spoke to the locals, and one of the guides jumped in a car with them and drove off. We hung around for half-an-hour or so, tired and wondering what was going to happen. Then the car reappeared and we rode 15 minutes up a mountain track, in a long conga line of Royal Enfields, until we came to this heli-pad, at 10,000ft. We camped around the side, gathered wood for a massive fire, washed in the stream running down the mountain side and had one of the wildest nights of the trip.

Motorcycle fun times! 

If our trips don't work with your schedule Helmet Stories run other trips in India.

MotoAventures run tours in Portugal, South Africa, Greece and Morocco on KTMs and BMW twins. Quote SB23 when booking to get a discount on any MotoAventures trip. G