The lost i p ingdom of SHAfvlBHALA

摘要

In an epic bicycle journey spanning 14 months and 15,000km of the Himalaya, AG SOCIETY SPONSORED ADVENTURERDave Turner searched high and low for this mythical kingdom. IPACK AWAY MY TENT, much as I've done every morning for the past two weeks. The 3am moonlight glistens on the nameless, ice-covered river below. I'm 12 days into a climb to the river's source,high in a largely unmapped region on the Kashmir-Ladakh border, in northern India. Early starts are crucial to make the most of walking along the ice on top of the river before it starts to melt in the mid-morning sun. I strap my sleeping-bag and my tentto my bike, heave it onto my shoulder and make my way down to the river for what will become my final climb to the pass. There are no tracks and the riverbanks are steep, so I've been carrying my bike for nearly two weeks. By mid-morning I'm exhausted but happy to see the pass ahead, beyond a narrowing chute of snow and ice. My GPS shows the altitude as 5100m — I have 95 vertical metres left. The glaring sun is intense as I sit in the snow, bolstering myself for the challenge ahead.