Prologue:
Ever since I became a member of the online biking community, one question has itched me the most.
When will I get leh’d?? The enlightment, salvation was attained on Aug 15th 2008
My soul never felt so content before!!!!
The riders were as follows:
- Jay : CBZ Extreme : Starting from Pune
- Pankaj : Pulsar 180 v2 : Starting from Noida
- Sripurna : Pulsar 150 Classic : Starting from Bangalore
The adventure started much before we began riding. My bike had not arrived at Noida by 9th evening (loaded her on 2nd) and the GATI guys said that it will be coming on 10th evening & the delivery would be made by 11th morning. That was simply unnacceptable as everything would go haywire. The decision was made to pickup the bike from the Gurgaon godown as soon as the bike arrived there & not wait till it arrived in Noida.
The bike finally came by 10th morning & we went there in the afternoon to pick it up. The location was a bit hard to find as it was on the outskirts of Gurgaon & after a good hour & half of riding we came to the godown successfully.
The bike was covered well & no bent/broken stuff. Unpacked & everything was good to go except for the fuel line which had got cut, thankfully at the end. Somehow managed to get it to sit on the carburettor for the time being.
Pankaj made a dash for petrol bunk & got two litres of petrol. Tummy full & I tried her, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty kicks & she was refusing to start. Finally went to a near by bike shop & the carburettor was full of water & sludge. Not sure how it got there!!!
Came back to noida by 8 and both us were exhausted to core.. Jay had managed to get some spare parts for his bike.. we got the cash out from the ATM & tanked up our bikes to start early in the morning..
Drat.. double Drat… We were already 1 day behind by the schedule!!!
Day 1: Baked Pulsars & fried CBZ for the menu!!
Loaded the gears on the bikes by 4.30 & we were good to go.. kick started her & she came alive. I closed the throttle & the RPM’s were still high!!! I was like WTF
.. Some hunting around the accel cable & some more dirt & muck had occupied around it which was not allowing the throttle cable to close completely.. Applied some engine oil for the time being & things started to look up..
As Haddock says, “
Blistering Barnacles”.. it was already 6 by now.
We chugged out of Delhi safely & hit the NH1. The ride was smooth uptill Ambala & by that time, the sun was baking us for free. We reached Chandigarh around 12 in the afternoon & I made a quick dash to home to visit my parents, while Jay & Pankaj headed towards the Ropar-manali road. We were back on the road by 2.30 & making good progress towards Kiratpur. The rain gods did not show any mercy & the marathon rain session started. Out came the rain suits. The roads were full of red slush & pot holled. The traffic sense is non existant in this part of area. Finally the hills started after Kiratpur. Sigh!!
Our target for today was manali & we were in Bilaspur at around 8 PM. Mandi looked too far, let alone Manali. We found a small hotel just before Sundarnagar & crashed for the day. We still had to do more than 100KM to reach to manali.
Day 2: Rain Rain all the Way!!!!
Got stuff loaded by 7 & off we went. The stretch from Sundernagar to Manali is awesome!! We were finally enjoying on our saddle. The long stretch of army truck convoys made their presency felt to us early itself.
We hit manali by 11. Tank full & we were out to claim Rohtang la. Just then, a long army convoy also had sneaked in front of us & thus a jam ensued. Slowly we crawled upto Gulaba point & moved up to Marhi. Just after marhi we had the first taste of the many landslides we would see on the trip. The BRO guys were @ work already & we crossed it in 30 min.
Rain was not abating & Rohtang looked far. The chill made itself felt as the altitude climbed. My hands were numb when we reached Rohtang.. The usual crowds were abuzz in the small patch @ Rohtang la.
Telugu, Tamilians, Bengalis, Mallus, Delhiites, Punjabis, Phirangs from Germany, Britain, US of A, other places, felt like the whole India & world had thought of meeting up @ Rohtang
. Both myself & jay were doing involuntary body break dances @ the top. The chill was painfull.
Surprisingly, could not spot the board which said this patch of land is the Rohtang Pass. The fog+mist+rains was getting dense.
The other side of the Rohtang la had pathetic roads. The descent to Gramphoo was hurting!! Long convoy of army supply trucks & hair pin turns which had muck completely drained us out.
It was 6 by the time we left Gramphoo. We had enquired about the state of roads ahead & had not good news. There was no roads for another 6-10KM & on top of that, It was dark & it was still raining.
Every metre felt like a Light year & we three trickled away into the dark. Finally after Sissu, the roads were looking promising but then suddenly saw a long queue of Red lights in the distance… It was a jam. WTF.. A small girl from the nearby village had been mowed down by a Army fuel truck (drunk driver) & had sped away
. The little one had been admitted to the nearby hospital. But the villagers blocked the road demanding that something be done about the unruly trucks that ply on this road.
Minutes came & went!!! We requested the villagers to let the three of us go, but they refused. We started taking turns to knap on the bike itself. They had called the police station in Keylong and asked a FIR to be lodged. To top it off, the blood of the little one was on the road & needed to be taken as an evidence.
The police took their own time to come (Just like in the movies). The inspector took a photo of the evidence from a dingy looking MOBILE CAMERA. We looked @ each other & said WTF…
It was dark, raining & god knows what pic would have come?
Everyone was satisfied by now & they allowed the traffic to move @ 10.
Within half an hour we were in Tandi & asked for a hotel to stay only to be told that Keylong is the best option and another 7KM of bumpy, slushy ride. Around 11 we made our entrance into a sleepy Keylong. Found a hotel & a restaurant.
Airtel works in Keylong (Only Postpaid).
The day’s ride ended @ midnight!!!
Day 3: Haywire!!!
View from hotel in Keylong.
We started around 7 in the morning. The rain was still accompanying us. Everyone warned us to be carefull on the roads & lookout for the slippery stuff @ keylong. We chugged along slowly. Just as we reached Jispa, Jay was not feeling well. He was shivering madly & uncontrollably. We stopped at a road side dhaba & had umpty number of tea rounds. Nothing seemed to stop the shivering. Finally we decided to look for a place to stay for the day & let Jay recover.
We found
Hotel Padma Lodge in Jispa & shacked up for the day. All were keen to get some sleep & make the most of this rest day!!
We may not have travelled more than 25KM.
Day 4: Ride as far as possible!!
Views from the hotel!!
Jay was better now & so were we. There was only one thing in everyone’s mind, to get to Leh as fast as possible. The original itinerary was tossed out. We were not sure which places needs to be axed or visited. Enroute, the first pass of the day was Baralach la. Pretty empty but serene place to say the least. One can make STD calls at the army post in Patseo. The last we contacted our families was in Keylong.
The Beautifull Deepak Tal!!!
Tents before Sarchu!!!
The rain had stopped for the time being & we headed towards Sarchu. The roads from Baralachla were more enjoyable. Sarchu came & went very fast. We were now going to start the “
21 best loops in the world, the Gata loops”. Thoroughly enjoyed the ride upto Nakee la. Ascent to Nakee la was not felt much.
By the time we started for Lachlungla, it was dark & then the rain started. The most horrible 50KM i have done in my life. The pot holes were many, it was completely sloshed out roads. The trucks had dug up huge ruts on the side of the road & it was slimy to say the least. Pankaj had a small spill here. We were keeping an eye for a water crossing that comes before Pang, not sure of the name (Krishna nullah). Luckily the bed of the crossing had a thick layer of concrete & it was fairly easy to cross. Finally we reached the army checkpost near Pang @ around 9.
Found a dhaba & shacked into the bed. We were the only three to be using the full tent.
We slept with the thought of having to do Tanglang la in rain!!!
Day 5: Got Leh’d!!!
The night was a bone chattering festival. AMS hit me pretty badly, continous headache ensured that I could not sleep well in the night. Got up in the morning & popped in a diamox. The rain was showing signs of parting ways with us.
Was having a small walk in the morning around the tents & spotted three bikes, A KA, & 2MH bikes. Out of sheer luck bumped into
Praveen Shirali,
Navendu & Manoj. The trio were coming back from the "
Spiti-Leh tour". They warned us of the hazards on Tanglang la & gusty winds in Morey plains.
Bid them farewell, & we started for Tanglang la by 8.30 in the morning. Once we entered Morey plains, it was a complete transformation of sorts. The weather was looking sprighty, the colours were amazing. To add to it, snow bound mountains seemed to be escorting us to Tanglang la. The 40 odd KM were done with lot of breaks.
The ascent to tanglang la was pretty straight forward, it is only the last 10KM which has broken roads owing to the widening process being undertaken by the BRO. We were @ the top of Tanglang la. To say it is comfortable sitting on top of T-la is very dangerous. I had hard time just putting the bike on its main stand with all the luggage on it. Also walking around the pass takes the wind out of you.
The last turn was very treacherous!!!
The descent was again frought with deep ruts & in one of them I had enough muck that covered my ankle completely & I had to literally drag the vehicle out of the situation. Again, felt like someone had sucked the breath out of me with a
vaccum cleaner. Lot of small breaks ensured during the descent to Rumste.
The roads from Rumste to Leh was a pleasure to ride on & after 5 days of riding in rain, We were happy to be basking on sun’s rays.
The landscape was a treat & photo stops were made on the fly.
After we crossed Thicksey, the wind suddenly picked up out of nowhere & with it came fine sand like particles that prick on the skin. The bike was swaying uncontrollably with all the luggage. At one point, the gusty winds pushed the bike from my lane to the shoulder of the right side & that too with oncoming convoy of Army trucks. IT WAS SCARY!!! (Jay was behind me & he said that it looked like I was going to commit suicide.. LOL..
)
Hurray!! We reached leh by 5.30!! It never felt so good & I repeat again….
My soul never felt so content before!!!!
We stayed @
Hotel Kang la. Nice place. We requested for the permits to “
Khardung la & Pangong Tso”. We had to axe “
Nubra & Tso Moriri circuit” owing to the unforeseen delays.
Stay tuned for the Pangong special part tomorrow!!!
-Sri
, ive been waiting for it for a long time. Very well written.
