The Alaknanda River.....

The last part of our journey in the Indian Himalayas

We set off early from Manali trying to get a head start on the 12 hour journey to Rishikesh.  We got stopped in the Kullu Valley by the Police on a drugs check, but after we told them that we were kayakers and the rivers we had paddled they realised that we were crazy enough and sent us on our way.

With Buddhist prayer flags dangling in the windscreen we knew that someone was on our side, so overtaking no matter whereabouts on the road was a formality.

The only thing that slowed us down was a puncture, but what made it more interesting was just how it was repaired and with the spare parts sitting by the side of the road we could also get a re-tread done!!

We arrived in Rishikesh early evening, met up with Gappu and the boys from Red Chili for a sun downer on their balcony overlooking the Ganges.

The next morning saw us get an early start, we stopped off at Aquaterra's camp to pick up my kayak and continued our journey up the valley.

We passed Devprayag and the confluence of the Alaknanda and Bhagarathi Rivers that form the mother of all holy rivers in India - the Ganges

The views over the Himalayan foothills was amazing and it was not too long before we finally got to our put-in on the Alaknanda.

It was great to be back on the Alaknanda again and what was even better was that we were taking out at one of THE best river lodge locations in the world.

We have been coming to Shivanandi since it was being built and it really does feel like home from home.  Ute who is an interior designer by trade left some drawings and plans for furniture when we were last here and the carpenters did a fantastic job.

The banana plants had really grown and of course of Robson Paddle was blending right into the environment!!

Steve was also taking time to relax and enjoy the scenery while watching rural Indian life pass bye.

Our time was limited as we had spent so long in Himachal Pradesh, so we were back on the river the next day.

Arjun also joined us.  He lived right by the put-in at Karnaprayag and watched kayakers head off down the river from his flat and so after meeting Shalabh he was offered an opportunity to learn to kayak and really change his future.

The Alaknanda is a medium volume river towards the end of the year and with plenty of rapids it always is a lot of fun to kayak.

There were also some great waves to surf, even in a big, heavy creek boat!!

Arjun kayaking his home river with us..

Ute running another sweet rapid on the Alaknanda River

Our last night in Shivanandi saw us getting our kit dried out, relaxing by the fire and promising that next year we would come and stay for longer.

Shalabh was driving back to Rishikesh so we joined him for the ride, which sometimes became a roll of the dice - especially when we were trying to pass trucks on tight mountain bends.

However our attention turned to the setting sun and with a glow in our hearts we knew we would be back again.  This was our 7th consecutive year to this part of the Himalayas and the more we come back the more we find to kayak.

The last thing to do in Rishikesh was to have a shave before heading to the airport and back home to what we thought would be a very snowy Austria...