[KiranPatil]

Returned from Pune-Leh-Pune road trip on 25-Aug safely. Total distance covered was 5921 KM on XUV ODO without a single problem.

Route and Roads: Route taken was Pune-Mumbai-Vadodara-Godhra-Modasa-Udaipur-Beawar-Sujangarh-Sardarshahar-Sri Muktsar Sahib-Amritsar-Jammu-Srinagar-Sonamarg-kargil-Lamayaru-Leh-Hunder- Shyok river route- Pangong -Upashi-Sarchu-Manali- Mandi- Ambala-Panipat-Rohtak-Jaipur- Pali- Ahmadabad -Vadodara - Mumbai - Pune.

Roads were in excellent condition except at few places. Suggestion is to stick to the national highway wherever possible if you have a tight schedule.

I must say that road condition in Rajasthan is way better than in any other state we traveled through. Roads are freshly constructed, wide, clean and with less traffic. While driving in Rajasthan you just need to take care of cattle's sitting on road.

Crossing Srinagar: Crossed Srinagar on 15 Aug. without any issues. There were curfews at most of the places in the city. After consulting with army officials we selected Rainawari-HazratBal Dargah road to cross Srinagar city. This particular road had no issues whatsoever.

Permits : Getting permits is a 5 minutes job. You just need to fill a ready-made form available at nearby Xerox center, fill in the required information and submit it in DC office. These forms already have all the places mentioned but suggest you to mention your routes in details just in case.

Nubra vally to Pangong lake route by Shyok river is in is in excellent condition except at few places. Earlier there was a landslide and road was closed when we enquired in Leh but by next day it was all clear.

Cancelled Pangong – Hanle at last moment as 2-3 members were not in good health at Pangong lake itself. Promised myself to cover Hanle next year on a solo ride.

DO NOT CARRY ALCOHOL/LIQUOR in your car if your itinerary includes travel through Gujarat by State Highway from another state. They do check thoroughly each and every car for such items.


Overall it was fantastic experience to cover all this distance travelling through each state and visit Leh.

[TopSpeeder]

Any recent update on Manali to Leh route?

[bluevolt]

Any advice on taking bike on rent in leh city? Details of Costs, recommended rental provider etc? Many thanks in advance.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Any advice on taking bike on rent in leh city? Details of Costs, recommended rental provider etc? Many thanks in advance.

You get bikes in Leh behind the German Bakery. Charges per day vary from 800-1200 depending on the bike. (can vary as per tourist load)

[arjithin]

What kind of a diesel mileage we can expect from an Ertiga in the Leh - Turkut - Pangong - Hanle - Tso moriri - Kelong stretch? I am trying to compute how much additional diesel need to be carried with us.

Are there any Diesel filling option in this stretch once we leave Leh?

[coolkurt]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Any advice on taking bike on rent in leh city? Details of Costs, recommended rental provider etc? Many thanks in advance.

Apex Adventure Tours. Contact: Rinchen: 9622975375. Had taken bikes from them last month for Khardungla and Nubra. Their store is in the market. Was happy with their service. When one of the bikes had an issue, they replaced it without question.
Bullet 350 is for Rs 1400 per day. 500 is Rs 1600 I think. Himalayan is Rs 2000.
We dropped our plans to go to Pangong on bikes as the road was pretty bad.

Do check the bikes thoroughly before taking it outside Leh as most of the bikes are poorly handled and may have issues like poor pickup etc. A lot of times, we saw people struggling with bikes in bad sections while going uphill and had to be pushed from behind.

[Max63]

Hi,

Have almost finalised my route plan for the forthcoming trip to Leh - Ladakh - Kaza from Vasai (Suburb of Mumbai). Here is the tentative plan. Planned in May - June 2018

Day From To Distance in KMs
1 Vasai Kishangarh 1006
2 Kishangarh Patnitop 938
3 Patnitop Kargil 401
4 Kargil Padum 460
5 Kargil Leh 217
6 Leh Local 170
7 Leh Thoise 47
8 Thoise Pangong Tso 254
9 Pangong Tso Chusul 197
10 Chusul Hanle 115
11 Hanle Tso Moriri 159
12 Tso Moriri Sarchu 228
13 Sarchu Keylong 110
14 Keylong Kaza 186
15 Kaza Local 100
16 Kaza Tabo 47
17 Tabo Kalpa 149
18 Kalpa Chitkul 62
19 Chitkul Sarahan 119
20 Sarahan Jaipur 790
21 Jaipur Udaipur 393
22 Udaipur Vasai 712

This is the plan that I have worked out, although we are flexible and can change it enroute depending on the situation at that point. As of now three vehicles are confirmed. My Little Monster (Ecosport), a Duster and a Creta. As of now 11 members are confirmed. We are planning a max of 4 person per car. We all are going for the first time to this circuit and for this reason we are asking any experienced BHPians who has done this circuit earlier and have the experience are welcome to join us. We would like to have a convoy of cars going from Vasai (although outside Vasai are always welcome). We have planned this trip end May 2018 - June 2018. It would be roughly 22-23 days trip ex Vasai.

Suggestions / guidance required from TSK / HVK Saar. on the planned route. Any precautions to be taken. We have also prepared a check list for this route, like spares for the vehicle, compulsorily pre check before the drive at our respective service centres, Medicines, Food and some groceries etc.

Now regarding tyres for my Little Monster I have just replaced my stock tyres with Yoko Earth 1 Tyres. Will it be able to bear the brunt of the roads (No roads) of Ladakh and Kaza strip. Please suggest. Will I be required to have snow chain as we are going in the month of May-June thinking that lots of snow would be there.

Any suggestions are welcome from BHPians

Cheers
Live to Drive

Subrata

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by TopSpeeder

Any recent update on Manali to Leh route?

I recently took Tso Moriri - Manali. The road is exactly in same state as it was explained in few posts earlier. Barlacha la has good roads, all others are patchy and broken. More plains, Gata Loops are good black tarmac. From Sarchu onwards upto manali its mediocre. Rohatang la pass climb from leh side is very slushy and bad due to heavy truck traffic. Chances are you will get stuck if a localite acts smart and blocks your road. We had snow in Barlacha la pass, Killing Sarai is perfectly fine.

Originally Posted by arjithin

What kind of a diesel mileage we can expect from an Ertiga in the Leh - Turkut - Pangong - Hanle - Tso moriri - Kelong stretch? I am trying to compute how much additional diesel need to be carried with us.

Are there any Diesel filling option in this stretch once we leave Leh?

You get diesel in Diskit. Tangtse has private cans from your hotels at premium price. Same applies in Hanle. The only next pump after Leh can be found in Thandi. 365 Kms away. If you are doing Turtuk - Pangong - Hanle - Tso Moriri - Keylong, should carry additional diesel. In my XUV an extra 20 ltr can helped make this exact route without any issues. I had around 15 ltr still in tank when i filled at Thandi this morning.

[raihan]

I'll be reaching Chandigarh on Sep 09(12pm) & plan to reach Manali the same day via a rental car.
How's the rush to Rohtang pass these days? I see that not a single permit has been issued for Sep 10 http://admis.hp.nic.in/ngtkullu/
1) Does it mean I can make a later start by 6 or 7am & still avoid the rush?
2) we plan to make our first stop at Jispa, is it possible to do Jispa - Leh in the 2nd day without tiring too much?
3) Is it possible to do Turtuk - Pangong in a day(12 hrs?) or returning to Leh & starting next day is a better idea? Is there any accommodation along Agham & Shyok?
4) I've 11 days in hand & the return flight to Bangalore is on Sep 19 21:00. Is it possible to cover turtuk & pangong apart from local sight seeing in Leh.

thx in advance!

[jacs]

Originally Posted by raihan

I'll be reaching Chandigarh on Sep 09(12pm) & plan to reach Manali the same day via a rental car.
How's the rush to Rohtang pass these days? I see that not a single permit has been issued for Sep 10 http://admis.hp.nic.in/ngtkullu/
thx in advance!

Comments inline.

1) Does it mean I can make a later start by 6 or 7am & still avoid the rush?
Earlier better as the oncoming traffic would reach Rohtang by the time you reach late.

2) we plan to make our first stop at Jispa, is it possible to do Jispa - Leh in the 2nd day without tiring too much?
Technically possible with an early start according to all people I met during the journey. I was descending as my onward was via Srinagar and hence no challenges at all.

3) Is it possible to do Turtuk - Pangong in a day(12 hrs?) or returning to Leh & starting next day is a better idea? Is there any accommodation along Agham & Shyok?
Not recommended. If Agham route is confirmed to be open, best accommodation options will be in Diskit.

4) I've 11 days in hand & the return flight to Bangalore is on Sep 19 21:00. Is it possible to cover turtuk & pangong apart from local sight seeing in Leh.
No doubt each additional day will give you more comfort and coverage. 11 days from Manali to Manali is good enough to cover places of interest though not lavishly.

[narsi_6989]

Hi,

My colleague along with his friends is planning to ride to Leh this month end. They plan to ship their bikes to Chandigarh and then start the ride from there. The dates are from 28th Sep to 6th Oct.

I personally felt that it is bit too late to take up this bike trip at this time of the year. May be a week or 2 earlier would have made things easier. I am no expert though and hence looking here for valuable suggestions.

The route planned is via Srinagar.

If in case they are going ahead with the trip, what are the challenges they should be ready to face?

[jacs]

Originally Posted by narsi_6989

Hi,
The dates are from 28th Sep to 6th Oct.

I personally felt that it is bit too late to take up this bike trip at this time of the year. May be a week or 2 earlier would have made things easier.
The route planned is via Srinagar.

If in case they are going ahead with the trip, what are the challenges they should be ready to face?

Absolutely! Earlier the better. I have not come across any who did it beyond September by road.

Challenges I could think of are

• Weather is known to be colder from October onwards and biking could mean more fatigue resulting in lesser miles munched per day.
• Difficulty to obtain ILP if weather is not favorable.
• Many temporary facilities for food and shelter en-route are known to shut once the tourist season ends.
• Availability of helping hands on road.

[TopSpeeder]

Guys,

We had bike trip last week to Leh from Dharamsala, Road conditions are same like mentioned in earlier post. Except after Rohtang pass they have laid some fresh roads.
Also heard that some of the on they way tents getting closed for this season.

[bluevolt]

Returned From Ladakh tour 8-13 September. I went to Nubra valley via not so popular shyok river route returned via khardung la. Found shyok river route to be all right at this point of year. Never experienced any problem in terms of navigating through the roads of ladakh. The roads condition some times test your driving patience, but overall we didn't face any specific route related problem.

More details about the trip in a separate travelogue.

[gajadonga]

Just back from Ladakh.
Small update from Hunder to Pangong Pso.
Used the route via Agam and Shyok to reach Durbuk and then to Pangong lake. The route is worth every penny. Some small stretchs are bad but overall a good route with freshly laid tar 35 percent of the route.
Returned from Pangong to Leh via Changla pass.
From Durbuk to Karu the road conditions are bad. Lots of snow in Changla. It took 3. 30 hrs for this stretch with about 10mins halt at the Changla pass.