km Kathmandu to Delhi via Pokhara and Mahendranagar

0 Kathmandu (1300m) road climbs to 1550m to get out of the valley then drops gently
more or less all the way to Mugling
103 Posh resort with accommodation
110 Mugling (1000m) Here there are many hotels. None that great but the people are friendly
and the food is cheap
You have to take the Right Hand fork at Mugling to go to Pokhara and the road climbs
gently up the river valley. When the road eventually leaves the river valley it climbs all the
way up to about 1650m before descending back down to about 1100m. From here the
road climbs gently up to Pokhara. This is a long day without a lot of accommodation
although it would be easy to camp
226 Pokhara (1300m) – lots of places to stay – just keep going straight to get to Lakeside
about 4km after the beginning of Pokhara town
The road out of Pokhara climbs about 200m and then stays at this height for a long time,
skirting around the edge of the river valley and never really going up or down.
266 Syangja – small town with GH's
There are also places to stay between 50 and 75km – small villages with small GH's
345 The road starts to climb after a nice bridge and rises from about 1000m up to 1650m. It
then contours around and drops a little to Tansen
366 Tansen (1550m) main town is just off the main road tom the right, loads of places to stay
After Tansen the road isn't great but drops steadily all the way down to Butwal at about
(600m)
406 Butwal – lots of places to stay
Leaving Butwal turn right on to the main Highway (ask about for a short cut from the
main town) The road is mainly flat from here all the way to Mahendranagar with only a
couple of climbs that you will notice.
474 Bhagwanpur – a few Guest houses (ask for 'Lodges')
Just after Baghwanpur the road starts to climb and rises about 400m to cross some hills
before descending back down to Lamahi
531 Lamahi – don't believe the maps that tell you that this town is closer..it's a long day
From Lamahi to Kohalpur is a long day of generally flat cycling, the road is OK but in the
late afternoon winds can pick up blowing in your face. It would be possible to camp in
many parts of the forest here.
646 Kohalpur – this is the town at the junction to Nepalganj. There are many GH about 2km
before Kohalpur and more about 300m down the road to Nepalganj (turn left at the
roundabout) Nepalganj is 22km from this junction.
About Babai river – very large bridge over river, look out for the Gharial crocodiles basking on
680 the banks. They are easy to see. There is a small village called Boorigon about 5km after
this and just after that there is a great dirt road short cut to Thakurdwara - the village
where Bardia National Park has it's main entrance. This short cut avoids all the touts at
Ambasa (and 15km) but you will need to ask locals the way. Just keep saying
'Takurdwara'? There are loads of places to stay in Thakurdwara – the most friendly is:
Bardia Hideaway Cottage, run by local legend Mr B and his wife Kali. They will come and
escort you down the short cut if you ring them on 9748 004 032
709 Ambasa – this is the small village at the junction. Turn left here for Thakurdwara (13km of
dirt road)
724 Chisapani – village on the banks of the Karnali river where the huge suspension bridge
crosses it. Two GH.
739 Small village – don't know it's name, with one GH on the right. Friendly and simple place
784 Atariya – town with several Guest houses
833 Mahendranagar – large town with lots of Guest houses, the most civilised and quiet is
the Oasis (turn left at the first big road, then left again after 200m)
839 Banbassa Border – Customs (only for tourists) is on the right just before the metalled
road seems to finish. Not easy to see!! From here follow everyone towards the Indian
border post which is just before the large dam on the left. Everyone else will ignore it so
don't expect locals to be going there. The border is open all the time but the customs
posts are only really open between 7am and 6pm. For traffic the border is only open 2
hours a day, but bikes and motorbikes don't count
From here follow signs to Khatima, Sitarganj or Kichha to help you head towards
Rudrapur. The tar is superbly smooth and fast and there are many great Punjabi Dhaba's
on the side of the road, serving great food. There is a really cheap and friendly one about
4km after the Dam.
934 Rudrapur. Lots of hotels, you may have to ask. There's a good one straight over the
roundabout and about 2km along on the left. There are also other ones along the road
(left at the roundabout) that you should take to head for Delhi.
Follow the highway as far as you can but just before Moradabad, turn right (ignore the
sign that says that Moradabad is left along the highway). Follow this road (the old road)
into the centre.
1012 Moradabad - Opposite the train station there are many Hotels (noisy and cheap) and
about 4km out of town there is a junction with 2 nice looking places on the right.
Moradabad has lots of cheap food.
The road to Hapur is at the moment (2009) being built, there are great bits and bad bits
1077 Ganges river – lots of shrines
1087 Garhmuktesar – the main town is off to the right. Lots of hotels
1117 Hapur – one hotel on the right in the centre of town. It has a sign on it's roof, but is easy
to miss. It is quiet and friendly although very little English is spoken. The street food here
was the best we had in India and the people super friendly
1172 Outskirts of Delhi

1182 Delhi – good luck finding your way to Paharganj