To the Manang Boundary: Dharapani (Photo Feature)

En route to Manang, after our layover at Syange (1,100m), we hopped onto our saddles early the next morning. We had to make it to the day’s stopover scheduled for Dharapani at 1,860 meters, some 25km away. If the ride to Syange was challenging, the pedaling subsequently proved more testing as we had to navigate the tricky, narrower dirt road, gnarly and riddled with rocks with debris left by the recent landslips—the elevation gain pushing us from the tropical to the subtropical zone.

The demanding ride had its typical chiseled charm, though, as we moved past cliffs, feasting our eyes on the greenery and the landscape with many a massive waterfall that stole our hearts. We learned we were still in Lamjung and would step on the Manang soil only after Dharapani.

And to our delight, we often stopped to regain our breath, take a respite and much-need cup of tea and light nibbles at fetching towns with rows of back-to-back tea shops and lodges with slanting colorful roofs, mostly two-storied, flanking the road. 

The notable quaint towns and scattered settlements included Ngadi, Bahun Danda, Ghermu, and others. The light began to fade as we got a bird’s eye view from a steep ridge of Tal way down across the Marsyangdi River—pretty as a picture.

In between, the crashing and tumbling Marshayngdi that had kept us company right from our kick-off spot from Beshisahar and the perpetual distant snow-clad mountains served as fascinating interludes. Darkness enveloped us by the time we struggled it to Dharapani—the chill in the air pronounced.