An adventurer’s ideal holiday through the Himalayas on a mountain bike

Part guidebook, part travelogue but definitely all adventure, join author Richard Williams and photographers Manish Maharjan and Ananta Poudel as they cross the Nepalese Himalayas on a mountain bike.

Originally from Pembrokeshire, but now resident in Switzerland, Richard details this most remarkable of journeys through some of the most stunning landscapes and environments the world has to offer.

Along with the remarkable textual and photographic account of the full route split up into its various stages, the book also contains maps, information on Nepal, how to prepare for the trip and plenty of other information you might need if you fancy undertaking the journey yourself. You can see the full content of what’s included in this fascinating guidebook on the next page.

Richard Williams says, ‘With this guidebook we hope to bust the myth that the Himalayas is an extreme and untouchable realm of travel for regular cyclists who enjoy endurance sports and adventure riding.

‘It is not well known that the Himalayas is divided into three mountain ranges: upper – with Mount Everest and the foreboding 8000m peaks; lower – along the hot, lower lands bordering India; and the middle Himalayas – an untouched and stunningly beautiful range that runs through the heart of the country at altitudes of 1000-3000m, and teems with life, fertile lands, and countless landlocked subsistence-farming communities. The middle Himalayas is the setting for this great cycling journey, 1650km of uninterrupted riding through the heart of one of planet Earth’s most spectacular natural arenas. If there was one road to rule them all for the adventure cyclist, then The Road is quite possibly it.’

Olympic medallist, four-time World Champion and five-time Cape Epic winner Christoph Sauser has contributed an insightful foreword about the rise of adventure cycling across the globe and what people can gain from their ride across ‘The Road’.

Christoph says, ‘Richard’s book serves as a comprehensive guide to crossing the middle Himalaya range of Nepal, as well as providing informative and passionate words and anecdotes of the country and its beautiful people. We hope The Road will attract more cyclists and provide a source of sustainable income to some of the poorest and most remote communities in the Himalayas.

‘If you are looking for a once-in-a-lifetime cycling adventure in a challenging but safe environment through the mother of all mountain ranges, look no further than The Road.’

Richard Williams grew up on a farm in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and spent a number of years through the 1990s working in kitchens in Australia and teaching English around Asia. After a degree and master’s degree in Development Studies from Exeter University and the LSE respectively, Richard worked as a technical writer at the Global Fund to Fight HIV/Aids, TB & Malaria in Geneva and later at the United Nations.

Some years later, Richard moved into the food business, creating Switzerland’s Holy Cow! Gourmet Burger Company. More recently, Richard has enjoyed creative writing and has had three novels published by Graffeg, the most recent as part of the Books Council of Wales’ Quick Reads series in 2023.

After a terrifying bus journey on the Leh to Manali Highway in 2000, Richard swore never to travel that way again, and invested in a mountain bike for all future mountain adventures. Since then, he has toured the mountains of Nepal and the Indian Himalayas a number of times and has participated in several stage races around the world, including Nepal’s Yak Attack, Colombia’s La Leyenda del Dorado and the Swiss Epic.

After the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, Richard set up a foundation, Driftwood Association, focused on supporting rebuilding projects in remote Nepali schools, which he continues to run today. It was during these school visits on his bike that Richard discovered the beauty of the Mid Hills and developed the idea for The Road.