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Cycling the high-altitude Himalayan highway

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    A road carved through mountains

    Carved through the Himalaya mountain range in 1987 and opened to foreign travellers in 1989, the 500km highway between the towns of Manali and Leh in northwest India has become a premier mountain challenge for intrepid cyclists, presenting one of the highest and most starkly beautiful rides in the world. Blanketed by snow for most of the year, the road is accessible for just three or four months – around June to September – when makeshift villages, such as the prayer flag-strung Marhi, 50km north of Manali, materialise. (Andrew Bain)

A road carved through mountains

Carved through the Himalaya mountain range in 1987 and opened to foreign travellers in 1989, the 500km highway between the towns of Manali and Leh in northwest India has become a premier mountain challenge for intrepid cyclists, presenting one of the highest and most starkly beautiful rides in the world. Blanketed by snow for most of the year, the road is accessible for just three or four months – around June to September – when makeshift villages, such as the prayer flag-strung Marhi, 50km north of Manali, materialise. (Andrew Bain)

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