Day 1  Arrive  Calcutta’s Dum Dum International Airport We transfer to our domestic flight across the floodplains of Bangladesh and West Bengal to land in Siliguri in the afternoon. Our trusty Enfields are waiting in the hotel car park and have a little practice with the gearbox, brakes, starting procedure, etc. to the amusement of the inevitable little crowd of onlookers.

Day 2  introduces you more closely to the Tata truck, the only known predator of the Enfield motorcycle. And buses, taxis, bicycles, carts, bullocks, pigs, goats, dogs, pedestrians and possibly a camel or an elephant; all on the road where and when you want to be. But fear not, there is a system for survival and it works quite well. We have only a leisurely 120k to cover today, taking us to the lovely hillside town of Kalimpong for lunch and then into Sikkim which was gently annexed in 1975 to become the 22nd state of India. Our destination for the night is the capital, Gangtok.

Day 3 We spend the morning exploring the wonderful markets and bazaars of Gangtok before heading off to visit the Rumtek monastery, clearly visible from the capital although 25k away by road. It's the most important monastery or gompa in Sikkim, but has unfortunately been the subject of recent violent disputes between rival factions of otherwise peace-loving Tibetan Buddhist monks.

Day 4 sees us off to Darjeeling, winding alongside the rapid Teesta river and passing through lush tea plantations as we make a spectacular climb to approach this hill station, much favoured by the British in preference to the heat and dust of Calcutta, particularly of course, in the height of summer.

Day 5  If you feel like an early start, we can amble along to the nearby lookout to watch the sun rise over the Himalayan massif including Mt. Kangchenjunga, 3rd highest peak in the world. We shall then visit the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, established by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay following his ascent of Mt. Everest with Edmund Hillary in 1953, and the associated Darjeeling Zoo, centre of the world breeding program for the endangered and stunningly beautiful snow leopard.

Day 6  Being predominantly Hindu and Buddhist cultures in this part of the world we’ll find most things in town still open for business today. However, the local people do understand the significance of the Christian celebration and we'll raise a few eyebrows with our Toy Run through town to the local orphanage on our Enfields (bring your Santa hat and a small toy or souvenir from home!)

Day 7 Hopefully no-one overindulged too much last night, as we are on the road again to head back down the hills. The narrow-gauge 'Toy Train' line criss-crosses the road dozens of times and is slippery when the early morning mist hangs around, so take it easy! We're back in Siliguri for the night, prior to our border crossing into Nepal first thing in the morning.

Day 8 involves the potentially bureaucratic hassle of crossing into Nepal. Passports and visas will be double-checked, road tax has to be paid, bike ownership and registration papers will be double-checked, our Indian staff will be scrutinised . . .! Always a time consuming exercise, but soon enough we’ll be cruising westwards along the lowlands of Nepal, called ‘the Terai’, to a little dot on the map beyond Itahari, where our destination for the night is a wetlands bird sanctuary.

Day 9 has us continuing west through the Terai. Although very much the ‘poor cousin’ of Nepal’s main attraction (the Himalaya) and thus to a large extent ignored, the Terai has its own beauty and is a very fertile and prosperous area, home to half the country’s population. We pass through mud-walled villages, rice paddies and thatched houses built high above the floodplains of numerous rivers bursting out of the foothills. The plains are a mere 100 metres above sea level but over 1000 km away from the rivers’ final destination, the Bay of Bengal. We turn away from the border and reach Hetuada for the night, on the main Tribhuvan highway to Kathmandu.

Day 10 Heading for the national capital involves a full frontal attack on that huge mountain range we’ve been skirting around for a week, although we climb only to 1300 meters for now. We have lunch at Daman, which claims to have simply the best panoramic view of the whole Himalayas. Kathmandu sits perched in a bowl-like valley surrounded by impressive peaks on all sides. The valley is extremely fertile and has been cultivated into an almost manicured state of perfection. The timing of our visit, in the heart of winter, will ensure that the surrounding hills are covered in fresh snow, adding a picture-postcard touch to this surreal landscape.

Day 11 There are two other large cities in the Kathmandu Valley, but they are so close as to be almost suburbs of Kathmandu itself. Patan is just across the river and Bhaktapur is only 12k away; so we can visit one or both to examine their ancient temples and splendid artisan works, much of which is still being produced in the local streets and bazaars today.

Day 12  Fly parallel to Mt. Everest and other renowned peaks of the world by mountain flight run by Royal Nepal Airlines . The whole majestic panorama of the world's greatest mountain range spreads out before us for an hour, and it is a totally captivating experience. Then when we come back down to Earth, we have the rest of the day to explore Kathmandu’s bustling bazaars and streets, or simply relax in our resort hotel.

Day 13 gives us another rest day in Kathmandu, as last year's clients insisted that two days was not long enough in this captivating capital! Trinkets and embroidered T-shirts seem to be the order of the day, along with a drink or two at the world-famous Rum Doodle bar.

Day 14 We head out of the Valley to the west, for the trekker Mecca destination of Pokhara. En route we have to cope with Nepal’s most hectic road, the Prithvi Highway, but you can handle anything by now. The scenery along the route is spectacular, with terraced hills back dropped by the magnificent Himalayas the whole way.

Day 15 Many serious Himalayan treks start from here, including the Annapurna Circuit, Jomson Trail and Dhaulagiri Base Camp treks for the serious walker. We take a half-day ride up a nearby ridge to Sarangkot for a bird's-eye view of the famous fish- tailed mountain, Machhapuchare and Pokhara with its picturesque Phewa Tal (lake), where we can rent paddle boats for the afternoon or simply lie around taking in the awesome beauty.

Day 16 sees us heading south, but remaining within the Himalayan massif. We cross the mighty Kali Gandaki river gushing out of the mountains in a perpetual torrent, and make our way down to Tansen on the very edge of the plateau; a picturesque little town affording fine views of the plains we'll be riding tomorrow.

Day 17 and we now get to do the western Terai. Huge tracts of these floodplains were uninhabitable until the early 1950’s, when a successful malaria eradication program was introduced. The subsequent land-grab rush from the hill tribes saw much of the wilderness cultivated almost overnight, which in turn had a devastating affect on the habitat of large animals such as the tiger and the Nepalese rhino. Virtually the only place these can be found now is in the game reserves, and we arrive this afternoon at Royal Bardia National Park.

Day 18 we spend in the Park, searching for tiger on elephant back (er, that's us on elephant back, not the tiger…). The chances of spotting one here are far greater than the more widely-acclaimed and therefore more popular Chitwan, with the inevitable commercialism having less of an impact here. We can also indulge in a relaxing float down the river for a spot of bird-watching.

Day 19 sees us heading to Mahendranagar to cross back into India just as quickly as the two bureaucratic border posts will let us, which probably will be anything but quickly. Then we are back in the foothills of the Indian Himalaya and we wind through more valleys to the picturesque hill station of Nainital for tonight. This beautiful lake is said to be one of the emerald eyes of Shiva's wife Sati, whose remains were scattered all over northern India when Vishnu and Shiva had one of their altercations. Jim Corbett, one-time tiger hunter before turning tiger conservationist and establishing the nearby Jim Corbett National Park, lived here in Nainital.

Day 20 and we're heading out of the hills for the final time. We throw ourselves headlong into the chaos and madness that is India's highway system, but we're ready for anything after 3 weeks on these bikes. We reach Gajraula, an uninspiring little town but a necessary staging post on our way to the national capital New Delhi.

Day 21 winds down the clock on our India Nepal  Motorcycle Safari. We ride in to our hotel in New Delhi, where we bid farewell to the Enfields and perhaps have a celebratory ale or two. 

Day 22 sees us at New Delhi railway station by 6:00am for the Shatabdi Express, heading 200k south to the one-time Moghul capital city of Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. The magnificence of the Taj cannot be overstated; it is simply the most superb building and is a mandatory side trip for anybody visiting the north of India. In the afternoon we shall visit the incredible deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri, also once the capital of the Moghul Empire for a brief period before being completely abandoned, due to a total lack of foresight in obtaining a reliable water source! We return to Agra for the evening train back to our hotel in Delhi.

Day 23 We have our last day in Delhi. We can have a look around Old Delhi, including the Jama Masjid, India’s largest mosque where we can climb up inside the towering minaret for a panoramic view of the Old City. We can take in the magnificent moghul architecture of the Red Fort, and perhaps do some last-minute souvenir hunting in the bazaars before having a farewell meal in one of the popular restaurants in central New Delhi's Connaught Place, then transferring you to the airport for your next destination.