After three months, 17,000 kilometres and 23 countries we have arrived in India and are presently enjoying the delights the Punjab.

From Kashgar we followed the Karakoram Highway (KKH) 2000 km to Islamabad, which is the most spectacular road we have ever ridden.

Before we departed for Pakistan we rode out to Yarkland, once the end of a major trade route across the Himalaya to India. Today, another stopping point in Rebecca's search for jade.

The first stage of the KKH took us through the Chinese Pamir range, to the holy mountain of Muztagata, through an extrodinary combination of glaciers, freezing plateaus and sandunes!

We crossed into Pakistan over the 15,000 ft Khunjerab Pass, days before it closed for the winter. At this stage of the journey the heated jackets were saving us from the weather, but two wheels on iced tarmac were certainly seen as utter lunacy by the locals.

As soon as we crossed the border, the road changed from smooth tarmac into an unpleasent mixture of mud, ice and rubble. As the road descended, the soaring peaks grew around us, their glaciers reaching the very edge of the road.

Once through customs (which are 40 km inside Pakistan, due to the remoteness) we stayed for three days in the ancient capital of the Hunza region; Karimabad. Both of us hugely enjoyed the people, scenery and warmth of this incredible valley.

We only stopped for lunch in the fabled town of Gilgit, as the Polo was cancelled.

From the Hunza valley we turned east and followed the Indus to Skardu, another fertile valley seated below K2 and the Karakoram range. Our precarious campsite received a rude awakening as locals started blasting along the cliffs for gems 100 yards from the tent.

With time against us, we returned to the KKH and swung around a million hairpin bends, watching the pine forests appear on the lower hills. We eventually spent the night at Batgram, which is still full of refugees from the 2005 earthquake.

We had initially decided to turn east from Gilgit to visit Chitral and the Swat valley, however the day we were to ride there 30 Pakistani soldiers were killed and four policemen beheaded. The area was immediately out of bounds to foreigners. Throughout our time in Pakistan we were greeted with nothing but freindship and a desire to dispel the international view that the North West Frontier Province is at war, however the situation is tense and may become considerably worse before it improves.

Lahore and its terrible pollution did not leave a favourable memory, although the Mughul architecture was outstanding, if in need of a little restoration.

We crossed the border into India at Attari, after watching the extravagrant ceremony, which sees the border closed each night.

From the Punjab we will head north to the old British hill station of Shimla where we have booked in for a little five star recouperation.