Life is a limited company with unlimited dreams. Its a beautiful journey where these dreams are unveiled. Regarding Leh bike trip, there were so many uncertainities and we had so many if's - but's when we started planning. With all circus, we were 8 people who decided "LETS DO IT". Its a dream that was accumulated for more than 8 years now.
Before the BIG start:
It would be apt to call it an adventure rather than a trip. Mentally, one needs to get prepared to a very large extent as nature has to accept us more than we venturing into Himalayas. Not sure, how many nights I've spent reading blogs, talking to multiple people who have done it in past. I was realized that it'll definitely not be a relaxing trip, ~3100 kms on the bike, specially, when you have a pillion rider as well is something for which mentally one needs to be strong and I kept on telling my wife that this is a lifetime adventure and just sit and enjoy the beauty around and it'll be more tiring for first couple of days and then it'll get better. Irrespective of how many bike trips we had done in past in western ghats, this is totally different.
Devil on the wheels is one of the very important websites which has loads of information and Dheeraj (Who is moderting the website) responds to all the queries almost immediately.
Its very important to talk to people who have done it in past and get to know the terrain and discuss the plan. Thanks to Praveen, Pranav, Suhas and Sharad for providing tons of information. Having atleast 2-3 buffer days is crucial. Had collected inputs from multiple people and finally prepared a plan which we discussed and frozen on:
Itinerary and Planner including checklist
Gearing up the bike:
Rented bikes are like carrying fire in your pocket, Though many people do it, its always better to carry your own.
- "Tyre protector" is a life saver in Ladakh region. (Near Nandini restaurant, JP nagar). This saves from hasty puncture problems.
- Getting bike serviced from a proper and known mechanic is one of the key things. Thanks to Shankar (City Bullet near back gate of City Engineering college, Konanakunte cross). Ph No: +91 88 80 458123
- Adding additional Clutch and accelerator cables to the bike as substitute cables would always be better.
- Getting it serviced at least a week before shipping and using it for a week inside city is definitely helpful.
- Irrespective of whether its a new battery or not, DONT use "self-start" (or atleast limit the usage) as once battery gets drained out, you can always expect the unexpected - This is very true with Royal enfield bikes as without proper charged battery, bikes wont even move a bit.
- Ladakh Carriers for the bullet was one of the key things to load all luggages on to 2 bikes. But, carrying saddle and tank bags for Apache and R15 helped to a very large extent.
- Shipping bikes properly packed and from a reliable packers and movers was one of the challenges we had and we found Union Cargo packers and movers near Bommanahalli for shipping. They internally use GATI for transport. So, it would make sense to directly goto GATI and talk to them for packing.
Its definitely made like a gun!
BIG STORY started:
Planned Itinerary:
2 Jul 15 Bangalore - Chandigarh (Flight) Chandigarh - Amritsar
3 Jul 15 Amritsar Gurdaspur-Pathankot-Udhampur-Patnitop
4 Jul 15 Patnitop - Anantnag - Srinagar - Dal lake
5 Jul 15 Srinagar - Zozi La pass - Kargil
6 Jul 15 Kargil- Leh
7 Jul 15 Rest Day Leh Acclimatization, Hire bikes, fill petrol, local sight seeing etc Leh
8 Jul 15 Leh - Khardung La – Diskit – Hunder
9 Jul 15 Hunder - Wari La - Pangong Tso
10 Jul 15 Pangong Tso - Durbuk - Chang La - Leh
11 Jul 15 Rest day
12 Jul 15 Leh - Upshi - Chumathang - Hanle
13 Jul 15 Hanle - Tso Moriri
14 Jul 15 Tso Moriri - Tso Kar - Moore plains - Sarchu
15 Jul 15 Sarchu - Jispa - Tandi - Gramphu - Losar
16 Jul 15 Losar - Rohtang - Manali (Solong valley paragliding)
17 Jul 15 Manali - Shimla
18 Jul 15 Shimla - Chandigarh
19 Jul 15 Chandigarh to Bangalore flight.
Followed Itinerary:
2 Jul 15 Bangalore - Chandigarh (Flight) Chandigarh - Amritsar
3 Jul 15 Amritsar Gurdaspur-Pathankot-Udhampur-Patnitop
4 Jul 15 Patnitop - Anantnag - Srinagar - Dal lake
5 Jul 15 Srinagar - Zozi La pass - Kargil
6 Jul 15 Kargil- Leh
7 Jul 15 Rest Day Leh Acclimatization, Hire bikes, fill petrol, local sight seeing etc Leh
8 Jul 15 Leh - Khardung La – Diskit – Hunder
9 Jul 15 Hunder - Shyok - Durbuk - Pangong Tso
10 Jul 15 Pangong Tso - Durbuk - Chang La - Leh
11 Jul 15 Rest day
12 Jul 15 Leh - Upshi - Chumathang - Hanle
13 Jul 15 Hanle - Tso Moriri
14 Jul 15 Tso Moriri - Tso Kar - Moore plains - Sarchu
15 Jul 15 Sarchu - Jispa - Tandi - Manali
16 Jul 15 Rest day at Manali
17 Jul 15 Manali - Shimla
18 Jul 15 Shimla - Chandigarh
19 Jul 15 Chandigarh to Bangalore flight.
With all the planning done and flight tickets to Chandigarh booked almost 3 months before, 2nd July morning, surprise awaited as Air Asia sent a message that their flight is being cancelled and we immediately had to search for another flight and book and start off our journey to Chandigarh.
This article helped us too much in planning:
Its a 17 days trip and had to ask each one in the group to build endurance and perseverance to sucessfully complete the trip. With this intention, had planned Amritsar from Chandigarh on the same day so that, everyone will get a feeling that, they have to build the perseverance to complete the trip. At the back of my mind, I was thinking, its just a teaser, bigger things await ;-)
Nature is unpredictable on Himalayas! Once we passed, next day, Khardung La was blocked, Rhothang Pass was blocked. So, jist is that "Be prepared for unexpected"
Road from Chandigarh-Amritsar and then to Patnitop was quite OK. Heavy vehicular movements started after Patnitop towards Jammu. Generally, riding was faster and continued to keep the average of ~80kmph. Usually, I drive consistently, if there is a drop in speed, will try to cover up in next few min and this is where I felt I was bit faster when compared to others and was riding continuously for couple of hours without breaks without conciously thinking about others which was one of the mistake I had to admit. With this I was like way too ahead than others > 20 km. Everyone started blasting me on this and then I had to slow down completely. But, when you are in a group, when the person moving ahead slows down, whole of the group will slow down. Though I had to correct this mistake of moving too much forward, this was continued by others over course of days and had to get used to this ;-)
When we started from Srinagar to kargil, we had to Pass through mighty Zozi La pass and it was terrible. Bullet itself was struggling hard to go up in mud and after crossing Zozila, until Drass, road condition is really bad. From Drass to Kargil, its as smooth as a butter :)
Everything else was normal until we reached Leh and got a day for acclamatization. One of the key things if you arent exposed to high altitudes is to start a course of Diamox tablet. Read more about AMS over google to get idea on this.
As we had planned Hanle, we had to take permit and process to get this one was also simpler:
We had to pay Environmental fee of Rs. 200/- pp and Rs. 20/- pp for Red cross. Along with this, we had to pay permit charges of Rs. 25 per day per person. (All with receipt)
From Leh to Khardung La, it took almost 4 hours to reach the top. Before I forget, need to provide a self declaration form at the check post before Khardung La providing all the bike details and person names. If you have taken permit, you can just give a copy of this.
Dont spend more than 20 min on top of Khardung La as it might affect the health severely. Also, if you are planning to go to Nubra Valley, after you decend 2000 feet (at ~16000 feet), you'll get a restaurant. Here as well, try to have a quick munch and get through if you are planning to stop here.
From Nubra Valley to Pangong, initially, we had planned via Wari La. But, since Satty had health problems before we reached Hunder, had thought, it would be wise not to gain too much altitude and take Shyok road. Other option was to go back to Leh and come back to Pangong Tso. But, again we had to cross Khardung La which would have made Satty's health affected. Hence we decided to take Shyok road. But, this was the most terrible road of our trip and many places we had to cross too high streams.
After this terrific challenge, I was quite happy to see the change in Satty that he was even more enthusiastic in helping others to cross the streams. At this point of time, I just remembered, my blog - Savari ! Its a fantastic transformation !
The mesmerizing experience which Leh region has offered nullifies all the pain endured during the course of the journey.
"Blue lake Pangong" is a true bliss! Beauty of nature cant be explained by words - Above pics say it all.
After Pangong, we had to come back to Leh via Chang La where we were seriously struck with snowfall and rain and temperature was dipping too low. It was one of the most challenging stretch as there was also a stream which was freezing cold and long enough for our legs to be frozen!
Then, after coming back from Leh, our magical journey towards Hanle started and from my perspective, its one of the most beautiful strech of Ladakh region. We had to cover ~280 km, but, none of us felt the strain because of the road and also because of the beauty. Unfortunately, by the time, we reached Hanle, rain started and we were not able to gaze the stars! (or stars were not able to gaze us ;-) and hence limited photos as well! )
Personally, I felt Tso Moriri is more peaceful and much more scenic than Pangong Tso. Some of the captures:
As we pass through Sarchu towards Manali, there is a beautiful transformation of the green from muddy-mighty himalayan mountains.
Huge moment of pride and joy!
With so much of memories, its hard to pen down everything. Just a glimpse of the entire trip can be found here:
Dreams continue... :)
Thanks to Mother nature for accepting us in all tough situations! and big cheers to entire group below to make this successful.
Bhargava
Punith
Kaushik and Anu
Myself and Sahana
Satty and Divya
Cheers
Manu