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22nd August 2012, 13:36
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| Senior - BHPian  | 6 riders, 4000 kms - A glimpse of Spiti and Leh from a Biker horizon Last 3-4 years, the plan to do Spiti/Leh was struck in progress mode, never promoted to execution mode. Fast forward, decided to buy CBR250R with intention to complete the so called dream within a year. Dec 31, 2011 On new year party eve, spoke to my friend(Milind Hiremath) about my intentions of doing this circut. Super, i would also join with 2 more friends was the instant reply. Milind had already done this region once on a Enfield Bullet except that he had to skip the spiti valley due to weather conditions. Overall, he had a good knowledge about the terrain/roads, etc. So planning started, we divided the work of route/stay planning, spares(specially for CBR), transportation of bikes, To and fro ticket bookings, etc between ourselves. Intially, it was only 4 riders Milind Hiremath (CBR250R) Abhinav Sonakar (CBR250R) Raghav Sharma (Classic 500) and Myself (CBR250R) Initial plan was to Delhi - Shimla - Narkanda - Saraharan - Chitkul - Kalpa - Nako - Tabo - Kaza - Kee - Kibber - Losar - Kunzum La - Chandratal - Gramphoo - Tandi - Keylong - Barchala - Pang - Tagalanga La - Upshi - Leh Leh - Khardung La - Diskit - Hundar - Agham - Shyok Valley - Pangang tso - Leh Leh - Tso Moriri - Tso Kar - Leh Leh - Kargil - Phanikar - Rangdum - Padam - Kargil Kargil - Srinagar - Dalhouise (Chamba valley) - Delhi Circulated the plan with HVK and Laluks, got to know from them the plan is little aggressive and have to skip certain places. Before the start, and as mentioned by HVK, we decided Chamba valley would be too much to include in this trip and it has to be a exclusively done separately. Too add to that just before the start, got news that it was raining in Chamba Valley, too much of foggy days, so not worth doing it. So it was decided that from Srinagar it would be direct to Delhi with a stop over in between. By this time, there was one more rider added to the group. So it was 5 riders in total Prashanth (Classic 350) And just before 3 weeks from the journey, one more rider joined making it 6 in total. Ashok (CBR250R) 10 days before the trip, we packed all the bikes and transported it to Delhi through GATI. Bikes reached Delhi in time. Also got to know from Raghav who received the bike that one of the CBR side stand had broken during transit. What a way to start the trip !! 29th June Evening, we took a flight to Delhi. It was 4 riders from bangalore, 1 from Pune and 1 from Delhi. Reached Delhi and crashed at Raghav's residence. Bikes had actually reached Raghav's residence 3 days earlier. 30th June Time to unpack the bikes and fit back things like mirrors, indicators, etc which was removed before transportation. And also the side stand broken on a CBR had to replaced. As soon as we started unpacking, we were in for lot of surprises. GATI, had gifted us with a neat and huge dent on 2 CBR tanks, 1 CBR right handle was bent, as known earlier we already had the CBR side stand broken, C350 main stand was broken and the last CBR silencer cover was scraped. Called up GATI guys and they were literally no use. Practically it is waste of time, fighting with those people at this moment when we need to be on road next day early morning. The main repair was to get a new handle clip ons for one of the cBR. So called up couple of dealers and got to know that they have the handle bars in stock. Took the bike to the Service Center and we had the next shock of the day. They would require 2 days to change a handle clips ons. All they had to do his unscrew couple of bolts and nuts and refit a new one. After speaking the Service Manager, they agreed to do it in half day. In the mean, we had to do some small shopping like boots, engine oil, etc. After that we collected the bike from the service center and headed back home to retire for the day. July 1 Today's target - Saraharan What happened - Reached Narakanda We planned to start by 4 am but ended up leaving home by 5.30 am. Still we could cross Delhi without much traffic. Few kms from the start we had the first stop over, one of the CBR's luggage bungee cord was touching the tire and tore into pieces. One of our local friend joined till the breakfast point, finished breakfast headed towards Shimla. Un-eventful ride, we reached a Cafe coffee day on the way to Shimla and had lunch. As we were reaching Shimla, it started raining. Re-fuelled in Shimla, started towards Narkanda. Initial plan was to reach Saraharan but due to the late start in the morning, we could not reach there. Reached Narakanda around 9 pm and got into a hotel, retired for the day. All packed and ready  Final checkup  Stopover for the first glitch of the trip  First glitch of the trip, bungee cords touched the CBR tire and got cut.  First breakfast   Awesome four laners to Shimla  Roads in between the mountains  Famous Shimla train track  Freshly laid and inviting road to Shimla  Scenic view  Pitstop due to rains  July 2 Today's target - Chitkul What happened - Reached Chitkul Instead of taking metal roads to Saraharan, we thought we will try some interior roads and took the roads via Baggi. Roads were not good and took a toll on the time. So we had to skip Saraharan, rode to ramapur directly. Had lunch in rampur. From here, we reached tapri by 6. Except few places, the roads were too dusty in these regions. There are in the process of metalling the roads i believe. As we were near Sanga la, a local person stopped by and enquired about us, where we are going, etc. As we mentioned that we are heading to Chitkul, he warned us there is a nala just 5 kms before Chitkul and it might be overflowing because of ice melting during day. This was a surprise for us, because we had got information before that all nala on the way to chitkul have bridges now. We had two guys race ahead and check the status over there. We enquired about the Nala in Sangala, but folks mentioned that we can easily cross it. We reached the Nala around 9 pm and as mentioned by the local guy earlier, it was running high and fast. So first obstacle of the trip, freezing cold water, knee level, rapid force and to add, big round stones in the nala path. And one more thing to add to the twist, its pitch dark night now. Phew !! Just 5 kms away from destination ! We crossed the nala and reached chitkul by 10.15 pm. Found a hotel, which was run by a lady. She made us hot yummy roti and sabji. Finished dinner and hit the bed. View from the hotel at Narakanda  Hotel at Narakanda  All set to start for the day  With the horses ready  Group pic  Starting of the off beat road  One more view  Scary roads  Towering mountains and awesome view  Challenging roads  Twisty  Break and photoshoot  A new challenge after every turn  Not far from Shimla  One more turn and one more challenge  Wow !! what a view  One more view  Get together, break, little chat and the next plan  Local architecture  Last edited by rk_sans : 10th November 2012 at 19:58. |
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22nd August 2012, 20:45
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| Senior - BHPian | Re: 6 riders, 4000 kms - A glimpse of Spiti and Leh from a Biker horizon Day 2 Pics Contd. Sitting on a edge and enjoying the beautiful view  Roads we left behind  Scenic view  Waiting for others to join  Road which lies ahead  Break point and admire the beauty of nature  Some locals  Looking ahead what in store  Beautiful view from the top  One more view of the nature  The famous road and its characteristics you get to see all along  Posers  Interestingly cut !!  Best view i could capture  Did the contractors testing their pen was writing or they planned the road !! Hmmm  Rivers were always by our side throughout the journey  Again, one more turn and a new challenge  A guy from Chandigarh, cycling all the way to Chitkul, Hats off to him. Felt we did not accomplish anything after meeting him.  Rivers/bridges and dams all the way along  Can you see the road on the extreme left, edges of this road were really scary as they were very loose.  First view of beautiful Chitkul  Snow capped mountains around Chitkul  The nala we crossed in the night  July 3 Today's target - Kaza What happened - Reached Nako As we reached chitkul in the night, we were all waiting to see this beautiful village in the day light. When we got up and saw the village, it was mesmerizing. Village was surrounded by snow-capped mountains, beautiful "BASPA" river flowing right in front of the village. We had our breakfast and started from Chitkul. We thought to refuel the bikes in Sangala and when we reached there, we found that there was no petrol at all. Next re-fuel was at Reckong Peo only. One of the bullet and one CBR was running low on fuel. But we did not had any choice but to ride further. We reached Recokong Peo and re-fuelled. We filled the spare jerry can with few liters just as a backup. Headed to Kalpa to watch the beautiful Kailash-Kinnaur mountain ranges. We had lunch while watching the mountain ranges right in front of us. Our initial plan was to reach Kaza but as we reached here only in afternoon, we realised Kaza was not possible. We revised our target for the day as Tabo. Our pace for the day was not up to mark to reach even Tabo. It was getting dark as we reached near Nako and we took a wrong road near Nako, ended up doing 9 kms on a wrong road. One of the local person, stopped us and informed us that we are heading in a wrong direction. He also warned us that we won't be able to reach Tabo, reason 1, its dark already. Reason 2, "Malling Nala". He informed us that "Malling Nala" was flowing with too much of water and we won't be able to cross it at this time. So we had to re-calculate our target for the day. We decided to reach Nako and stay. Reached Nako, had dinner, there we meet one Bhpian(sorry do not remember name) and his couple friends, who had travelled from Mumbai in a Gypsy. They told us that they have camped near the helipad area for the night. We also decided to join them and camp for the night.So first camping of the trip. First view in the morning of Chitkul  One more view  Our rides sleeping  Baspa river at Chikul village  Electrocuted Sumo  Scenic view right in front of the room  Bike and the snow capped mountains  Last edited by rk_sans : 10th November 2012 at 20:07. |
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10th September 2012, 20:17
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| Senior - BHPian | Re: 6 riders, 4000 kms - A glimpse of Spiti and Leh from a Biker horizon Day 3 Pics Contd. some more Snow capped mountains    On the way back from Chitkul  Milkway !!  The views which we missed during our night ride to Chitkul   One of the 'n' numbers of bridges we crossed  Mermersing views at Chitkul  One more bridge  Break point just after the nala  Nala, which was over flowing in the night  Was really surprised with the water level in the morning  Crossing it Was a cake walk in the morning  Last one to cross  It was just roads, bikes and rivers along  Lots of ups and downs, zig-zag  Where is the road ??  Bike trying to compete with the water speed  Kailash-Kinnaur Mountain Ranges  One more view of the mountain ranges  View of the mountain ranges from the hotel  Bikes take a break, as we have our lunch facing Kailash-Kinnaur mountain ranges   Landslides getting cleared  Is it water or milk going down   Wow !! what a view !!  Nature at its best  A small break and photoshoot  Last edited by rk_sans : 10th November 2012 at 20:18. |
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10th September 2012, 20:31
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| Senior - BHPian | Re: 6 riders, 4000 kms - A glimpse of Spiti and Leh from a Biker horizon Day 3 Pics Contd One more stop for landslide clearance  Break and a photoshoot  Posing with a style  New police check post in this area, heard from the police that they would be introducing permit compulsory in this area soon.  Break, photoshoot, hydration break, etc.  It was just we, our bikes and the river all along.  Camping at Nako  Camping at Nako  July 4 Today's target - Losar What happened - Reached Losar Early morning, we decide we will cook our first maggi of the trip for breakfast. As we left Nako, our immediate stop was "Malling Nala", heard from army personnel over there that, the previous night it was over flowing too much that even the army trucks were unable to cross. It had mellow down in the morning and we crossed the nala. Next stop was Tabo. A silent and beautiful village. We visited the Tabo Monastery and stopped over here for one more round of maggi and tea. Next we reached Kaza, headed straight to Kee and Kibber monastery. First we went to Kibber monastery, had lunch over there. Then on return back, we visited Kee Monastery. Reached Kaza, as it was re-fueling point, next re-fuelling was at Tandi next. Re-fuelled and left Kaza towards Losar. Most of the road till losar was good, except few kms before losar. As usual, two of our bikers reached losar early and booked a hotel to stay. We reached Losar pretty late, had dinner and retired for the day. Losar was very cold that night. Early morning view at the camping place, Nako  First cooking of the trip, maggi for breakfast  Lucky Labbie, got to see Spiti and Leh on a gypsy  Nako Monastery  Group pic at Nako  The famous Malling Nala  Army trucks crossing the malling nala  Crossing Malling nala  Even though water was less in the morning, it had huge round stones, so team work needed badly over here  Final look after crossing the challenging Malling nala  Just after malling nala  Amazing landscape  One more amazing landscape with beautifully tarred road  A kid at one of the checking point.  Road to Tabo  Beautiful Landscape  Straight road to Tabo  Tabo Monastery  One more pic of Tabo Monastery  The famous Tabo Monastery  Each turn would lead to a different terrain and challenges  One more turn  Last edited by rk_sans : 10th November 2012 at 20:26. |
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11th September 2012, 20:37
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| Senior - BHPian | Re: 6 riders, 4000 kms - A glimpse of Spiti and Leh from a Biker horizon Day 4 pics Contd.  Tabo to Kaza road  Interesting way of living, hats off to them     Winding roads to Kaza  The bridge just after Kaza, straight goes to Kee and kibber, left goes to Losar  On the way to Kee and Kibber  Best place for photography  Long straight to go..  Famous Kee Monastery  Looks like a art work, amazing landscape and place  A beautiful view of a far of village   No words to explain  Sun playing hide and seek in between the clouds  Kee monastery seen for away on the way to Losar   Is this our own India ? Wow !! unbelievable  Incredible India  Photoshoot on one of the straight roads after Kaza to Losar  July 5 Today's target - Darcha What happened - Reached Keylong We had our breakfast at Losar, started early as we had a long journey today. Today's road condition would be horrible till we reach the Leh road, after that we would have the metalled road. Every inch of the roads from Losar was a challenge for the biker. Today we would pass the famous "Kunzum La". We reached "Kunzum La", stayed for sometime taking pictures. Next destination was "Chander Tal". For this once we come down from Kunzum la, we have to take a right deviation towards Chandertal. From deviation, it is 11 kms to Chandertal. There is absolutely no words to explain the road to chandertal. The width of the road was same as a width of big SUV. If there is one more vehicle from opposite direction, then there was no option to go past each other. Apart from this, the roads slant on both sides like this "^". Bikers could not ride on the left side, as a small mistake over here, would send you tumbling down the gorge. On the right hand side, there were huge round shaped stones on the road, which made the riding impossible. This was for 6 kms of stretch. We almost took 2 hrs to complete this stretch. We reached Chander Tal, here we need to trek for a km to reach the lake. We were tired because of the 6 kms super stretch, we could trek only 3/4th towards Chandertal. Saw it from far, took pictures and returned back. On the way back, we stopped at Batal for quick snacks/tea. After this the roads were challenging till we reached the intersection to Leh road just after Rothang pass. Had my first fall of the journey over here. We stopped for photographs, and just after the stop was a nala, i started the bike and entered the nala, the front tire got struck in between the round stones and i could not move further. The bike titled towards the left, i held on to the bike, but later realized that in that process i might either sprain my hand or legs, so slowly left the bike on the ground and luckily because of it there was no damage to the bike. After this, for a change i was leading the pack and did not realize that some of them were left behind. Once i reached Chhatru, realized nobody was behind me. So decided to stop there and wait for others. As i was hungry also, decided to have a maggi in a dhabha over there as i wait for my friends. 15 mins, no sign of my friends.. 30 mins, no sign..ah, i got into thinking mood, never in 4 days, none of us were distant from each other for not more than 10 mins difference. 45 mins..still no sign of anybody..no phone network..my mind started thinking.. just then saw a Tata sumo coming from that direction. Stopped them and checked with them and they mentioned that they saw the bikers and they had stopped there. They didn't know the reason. The news again got me into serious thinking mode, what next, should i return back ? then need to think about the petrol also ? lot of things were running on my mind. 1 hour, then saw two bikers coming. Stopped them and checked with them. They told me that one of the bullet had a slip in one of the nala and air filter went kaput. They were repairing it and they were getting ready to start from there. This information gave me some relief that all were fine and they are on their way. 30 mins later, they arrived at Chhatru. As we reached the intersection to Leh Road, metal roads invited us. And this was the end of the famous Spiti/Lahulal Valley. We quickly had a cup of tea, as we thought we will reach Tandi early and re-fuel. We were running late due to the wonderful roads we encountered at Chandertal and our target had to revised to Keylong. But by the time we reached Tandi, the petrol bunk was closed. We could not get any accommodation at Tandi, so we reached Keylong and called the day off. It was quite a tiresome day !! Kunzum La  Clouds and snowcapped mountains around Kunzum La  Chander Tal   Batal, regrouping, chai, etc  Roads after Batal towards Keylong  Lost count of Nalas over this stretch  Waiting for others to join at Chhatru  Last edited by rk_sans : 10th November 2012 at 21:12. |
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29th October 2012, 20:49
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| Senior - BHPian | Re: 6 riders, 4000 kms - A glimpse of Spiti and Leh from a Biker horizon Day 5 Pics Contd If i am not wrong, this the nala just after Chotha Dhara  Analyzing how to cross it  Teamwork  Gift from the nala to the bullet  Rest after crossing the nala  Time for the personal belongings to cross the nala  July 6 Today's target - Pang What happened - Reached Pang Today, we decided to do some basic checking of the bikes as we had done quite kms till now(Appx 1000kms and not good roads). And also most of the roads today was metaled, assuming we could cover the distance we need to easily. We checked for the loose bolt and nuts on the bike, cleaned and lube the chain and checked for tire pressure. Had breakfast at keylong. We had one more issue today, as we did not re-fuel at Tandi the previous day and the next re-fuel is at Upshi/Karu. We went back to Tandi, refueled and started our journey. Next we stopped at Sarchu for light snacks. Then a small pitstop at Darcha for photos. Darcha known for camping or trek's paradise area and there is lot of tents available for accommodation. Next stop was Baracha La. Few of them encountered the snow for first time, so they spent quite some time over here enjoying the snow. After this before our final destination for the day, we went past Nakeela and Lachalung Pass. We covered these passes little late in the evening, so it was very cold. Finally we reached Pang and called the day off in one of the Dhabha. View of the mountains from the room at Keylong   Before Barchala    On the way to Barchala   Barchala  One more pic at Barchala  Darcha  Surrounding Darcha  Gata Loops  July 7 Today's target - Leh What happened - Reached Leh As our today's target was Leh and had to reach Leh early so that we can get the required permits and wouldn't have to waste one more day for that, so left Pang early. We crossed Morre Plains, we missed the original morre plains, riding on the sand, as they had metaled the road just then. But just after morre plains, the roads were horrible. In fact had my second fall here. As there was too much of sand, people made their own roads at these stretch. At one stretch, the road was on the slope of a small hill with lots of sand, i was doing pretty slow speed over here. But still lost the grip of the front tires and had a slide. As i was in slow speed, left the bike on to my left, without hurting myself neither to the bike. We reached Debring Camp and had a relaxing tea. After regrouping, started and reached Tangala, the second highest motorable road in the world. Spent some time clicking pictures and then headed straight to Leh. Reached Leh around 3 pm and went straight to Commissioner office for the permits. As we knew what all documents to be taken plus the application form filled earlier itself, we were out of commissioner office with permits by 4pm. Next was to find a accommodation. One of the check post person near Upshi had given us a hotel card. We thought to check there and found the place was reasonable, had good parking space for the bikes plus we could do some servicing of the bikes peacefully without disturbing anybody. So here we are finally, reached Leh after 7 days of awesome, mind blowing riding. Pang  Freshly laid roads at Moore Plains  Group photo at Moore plains    View of the roads from Taglang la  Taglangla  View of the roads from Taglang la towards Leh   July 8 Rest day As it was the rest day, first thing we did was get the bikes washed. Found a good place little away from city and got the bike washed neatly. Got back to the hotel. Started with some small maintenance on the bike like oil filter and oil change, tightening of the bolts and nuts, air filter change, tire pressure, coolant top up, chain cleaning and lubing,etc. By the time we finished up with this it was 4 in the evening. Then we headed to Leh palace, spent some time. From Leh palace, we went Shanti Stupa. From there headed to much important place, "ATM". Then had our dinner and retired for the day. We got the news from local that there was a major landslide on the way to Pangong Tso lake and it would be blocked for next 2 days. First disappointment of the trip, reason being, Our initial plan was to do Leh - Hundar(stay) then reach Pangong Tso through Shyok Valley. Stay at Pangon Tso and then return to Leh. So now with the landslide, we had to revisit our itinerary. So we decided to skip Pangong Tso(with heavy heart). Leh City  Monastery opposite to Leh Palace  View of the Leh City from Leh palace  Last edited by rk_sans : 10th November 2012 at 21:21. |
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8th November 2012, 06:26
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| Senior - BHPian | Re: 6 riders, 4000 kms - A glimpse of Spiti and Leh from a Biker horizon Day 8 Pics Contd  Shanti Stupa  July 9 Today's target - Hundar What happened - Reached Hundar As we had heard roads to Hundar except in between the Khardung La were very good, we finished our breakfast at Leh itself and started little late in the morning. Passing South Pullu we reached Khardung La, the highest motor able road in the world. Everybody were very excited as this is known as the place in the bikers fraternity and all of them achieved it in one piece. Spent sometime here, had the best lemon tea and maggi at the Army's Canteen. Started from Khardung La, went past North Pullu, roads till Khardung Village is not good. Reached Khalsar and had lunch. Roads to Hundar is just awesome, super twisty. Reached Hundar and spent time at the Sand dunes. Watched the double hump camels(well known in this area). Then found a place at the Hundar Village and retired for the day. Personally, after Chitkul, Hundar was the next place i liked a lot. Again a very calm, beautiful small village. Here, we meet a person by name "Satyajit" from Calcutta, a mid 50's aged person, he stayed in the same place at Hundar. He was a riding a FZ-S all alone. His plan was similar to one like us to cover Leh and Spiti valley. As we talked, he mentioned that he is heading to Leh next day and then to Tso morriri the next day. As our planned also was same now, we decided to ride together. India Gate  Khardungla  Group photo at Khardungla  Finally got Leh'd  Timepass  Snow blanket at Khardungla  Roads towards Hundar from Khardungla  Landslide clearing  Waiting for the clearing of the road  Hundar  Sanddunes at Hundar  Near to Hundar  Double Hump Camels  Entrance of the homestay at Hundar  July 10 Today's target - Pangong Tso What happened - Cancelled Pangong Tso due to landslides, reached Leh Next morning, we got the chance to have fresh Ladhakhi bread prepared by our host. Got some insight about their living in those areas, about their forefathers, etc. As our plan to Pangong Tso got cancelled. We decided to head back to Leh. On the way back, we stopped over at Disxit Gompha. A very beautiful Monastery and you get a very scenic view of the surrounding area. One more stop at khardung la, it was very cold there, i believe it was just 3 pm or so. Army Canteen were closing down due to the weather change. And then reached back Leh. Widely seen in this region  Dinning Hall at the homestay   On the way to Disxit  Disxit Monastery  View from the Disxit Monastery  Beautiful Landscape around Disxit Monastery  Statue at Disxit Monastery   What a way to see the world ?  With the rides   Group photo at Disxit  Way back to Khardungla  Last edited by rk_sans : 10th November 2012 at 21:29. |
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8th November 2012, 10:33
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| Senior - BHPian | Re: 6 riders, 4000 kms - A glimpse of Spiti and Leh from a Biker horizon Day 10 Pics Contd.   July 11 Today's target - Leh Revised Target - Tso Morriri What happened - Reached Tso Morriri I am going to keep the target destination as what we planned on day one of the trip, so that we know how we changed plans due to unpredictable weather conditions in Ladhakh region. I will also add my revised target destination also. As we knew we would be doing Tso Morriri, we had re-fuelled our bikes the previous day and also filled all the spare jerry cans also. Road to Tso morriri till Tso KyaGar is awesome. Except that we had to stop couple of places where BRO was clearing landslides. From Tso KyaGar, next 30 kms are pure dirt track. Finally we reached Tso morriri by 7pm. Our plan for the night is to camp and cook dinner for the night. We were running late on this as it was getting dark. So quickly 5 of us decided to pitch tents and remaining 2 went to the village and get some vegetables for the dinner and breakfast. We pitched the tent and prepared decilious maggi for dinner. That night at Tso Morriri was really cold. On the way Tso Mooriri    A small and beautiful village on the way to Tso Mooriri   Turn to Tso mooriri   First view of Tso Kyagar  In front of Tso Kyagar  Road Unknown - best tagline made for Honda CBR  My favourite pic - On the way to Tso Mooriri   One more favourite pic   Camping Site at Tso Mooriri  Tso Mooriri  Evening tea in making  Our tents and temporary kitchen    July 12 Today's target - Tso Morriri Revised Target - Leh What happened - Reached Leh Next day morning, we prepared some omlet plus bread(carried from Leh) for breakfast. Started from Tso morriri back to Leh. It was un-eventful journey back to Leh. We had say Adieu to Mr.Satyajit at Debring Camp as his plan was to head to Spiti Valley. An extremely experienced person, runs a adventure based business at Calcutta, had trekked most places in Ladhakh region. Reached Leh late in the evening and retired for the day. Tso Mooriri  Crystal Clear Tso Mooriri Lake  Group photo is front of Tso Mooriri Lake  Some of the locals    First view of Tso Kar   Last edited by rk_sans : 10th November 2012 at 21:34. |
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8th November 2012, 20:51
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| Senior - BHPian | Re: 6 riders, 4000 kms - A glimpse of Spiti and Leh from a Biker horizon Day 12 Pics Contd. Near Debring Camp, where we said bye to our friend Satyajit  Red Mountains  July 13 Today's target - Leh Revised Target - Kargil What happened - Reached Kargil We bid adieu to Leh city and headed towards to Kargil. On the way we stopped over at Magnetic Hill, and reached Kargil late at night. Here again couple of them were left behind and they reached pretty late to Kargil. Found a place and retired for the day. Magnetic Hill   Lamayaru Monastery    July 14 Today's target - Kargil Revised Target - Padum What happened - Went till Rangdeum and reached back to Kargil We do not have any refuelling point at Padum, except that some shops sell petrol at padum. So re-fuelled the tanks and jerry cans at Kargil. We had the first issue with bike here after covering appx 2750 kms. One of the CBR Chain slider had fallen down. We had spare but we were missing the t-spanner of 8mm, so he stayed back to get that fixed. He got that fixed late in the afternoon, so he stayed back at Kargil itself. Remaining of us headed to Padum, reached Phanikar and stopped over for a quick snack/tea break. We under estimated the roads to Padum. By the time we reached Ragdeum, it was 3 pm. We had our late lunch, then started thinking should we continue or stay at Ragdeum or head back to kargil. Then we decided to head back to Kargil. I was literally standing all through the ride back till Kargil, such were the condition of the roads. By the time, we reached back Kargil it was pretty late and tiring. Some random pics from Rangdeum Area           July 15 Today's target - Padum Revised Target - Srinagar What happened - Reached Srinagar Again before we started our journey, we did little maintenance on the bikes like checking bolt and nuts, chain cleaning and lubing, etc. We reached Kargil-Tiger hills area, where they have the memorial place for the soliders who died fighting in the kargil war. Spent some time, as the Vijay diwas was approaching, they were practice some events for that day and also there was huge flag post being installed for inguration on that day. Then we crossed the famous Zojila, we had some scare moments here. By the time we reached here, there was little rains and made the roads little dangerous. Reached Srinagar, rented a boat house and retired for the day July 16 Today's target - Kargil Revised Target - Srinagar What happened - Stayed in Srinagar As we had extra days in our schedule, we stayed at Srinagar in a house boat, morning we went for a ride in the shikara on the famous Dal Lake. After sometime we got to see the famous shops on the Dal Lake. Then we returned to the house boat. Had lunch at the famous restaurant Mughal Darbar. Then lazed on the balcony of the house boat rest of the day. July 17 Today's target - Srinagar Revised Target - Pathnakot What happened - Reached Pathnakot We left Srinagar after breakfast, it was a quite journey back to Delhi until crossed Jammu. After Jammu the traffic become very horrible on the ghat section and took toll on our timing. Because of that by the time we reached Pathnakot, it quite late in the night. To add to this, one of the bike headlight switch was broken and we could not switch on the light. So literally we had to escort him all the way till Pathnakot. At Pathnakot, we found a dhabha, had dinner and slept at the dhabha itself. It was getting very hot from here. July 18 Rest day Revised Target - Delhi What happened - Reached Delhi Got up early in the morning, thinking we can cover the distance to Delhi easily as the roads would be very good. Never imagined the ride to Delhi from Pathnakot could be so tiresome. Just after few kilometers after Pathnakot, the heat started taking toll on us. So probably each of us that day would have drank more than 8-10 liters of water. By the time we reached Delhi was almost 8 in the evening. Headed straight to friends house, had a good hot bath and awesome homely food for dinner after 18 days, retired for the day. July 19 Today's target - Pathanakot Revised Target - Delhi What happened - Delhi As we had some issues with the transport who ferried the bikes from Bangalore to Delhi, we decided to find a alternate transporter for it. Checked some places and finally found a vendor who transports Hyundai cars. Made a deal with him and he suggested us to leave the bikes the next day and it would be loaded in front of us to the truck. Mission accomplished. July 20 Today's target - Delhi Revised Target - Delhi What happened - Delhi After breakfast, we reached the transporter for loading of the bikes. We decided to load the bikes with the saddle bags. The transporter carefully got our bikes loaded and keeping our fingers crossed that it will reach Bangalore safely, headed back home. Finally, the bikes reached Bangalore after 4 days and thankfully there was absolutely no damage to any of the bikes. Last edited by rk_sans : 10th November 2012 at 22:09. |
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12th November 2012, 10:36
| #10 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | |
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12th November 2012, 11:48
| #11 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Plano, Texas
Posts: 687
Thanked: 751 Times
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12th November 2012, 12:10
| #12 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Re: 6 riders, 4000 kms - A glimpse of Spiti and Leh from a Biker horizon @mac187, Will add the spreadsheet and have some videos from the trip soon. Quote:
Last edited by rk_sans : 12th November 2012 at 12:11. | |
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12th November 2012, 20:27
| #13 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 7,369
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12th November 2012, 21:08
| #14 |
| Distinguished - BHPian  Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: New Delhi
Posts: 6,201
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| Re: 6 riders, 4000 kms - A glimpse of Spiti and Leh from a Biker horizon Wow what an incredible travelogue !! To ride across Spiti and then to Leh is my boyhood dream. Hope I will be able to do it soon in my Classic 500. This travelogue is such a great inspiration. How did the Classic 500 behave in the whole trip? Any problems cropped up as such? |
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12th November 2012, 23:08
| #15 | ||
| Senior - BHPian | Re: 6 riders, 4000 kms - A glimpse of Spiti and Leh from a Biker horizon Quote:
You know the routes better Sirji, no words to explain. I do not remember sitting on the bike comfortably and riding that stretch, it was stand up riding throughout. Quote:
Especially Rangdum area, the screws where the exhaust and engine fits came off. | ||
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