Day 11 Leh – Tanglang la –Debring -Pang- Sarchu – Jispa – Keylong –Gramphoo- Rohatang La – Manali – Mandi = 610 km
It was last day of my Ladakh solo ride as from next day it was going to be just ride to reach home back from highways. Packed the lugguage and started from the Lings guest house on 4.30 AM with a cup of tea from care taker. It was very cold and misty with empty road, the duke tank and reserve cans were filled on last night so started riding on Manali road with fresh mind. Soon reached the Upashi check post, made an entry for Manali and started again.
The target was to reach Manali so that I can reach Pune in next two days, it was not very challenging target however you can not take the road and the weather in Ladakh region for granted. The first hurdle was to cross Tanglang La, the road is awesome and one can easily ride constantly on 50 Km/hr speed. It was around 6.30 AM when I was climbing Tanglang La, sun was still behind the mountains. The road was covered with hard ice bed at some water crossings which was difficulty to cross, bike was going fish tail so I was very cautious. On top of that it was badly cold there and I was feeling the cramps in my figures. At one water crossing the patch of hard ice was very long so I waited for a truck to cross it first so that the slice will break and then it will be easy for me to move on. After riding for 15 min I reached at the top of Tanglang la 17480 ft. The top was totally deserted, clicked some photos / videos and started moving. I was very used to these passes till this point so did not interested to spend time there.
In my last trip to Ladakh I missed this road as Rohatang opened twice and closed with heavy snow hence we have to come back from Zozi la. Riding on this road was dream come true for me. I was dreaming of this road for so long as many Royal Enfield Himalayan Odyssey videos are made on this road. Then come the More Plains. If I am not this patch is of around 40 km where the road runs from middle of the mountains and Sumkhel Lungpa river at some places. It was amazing experience of riding on More plains. Nomad tribes with ships and goats are the only companion I had for long patch of more than 50 km and nothing else. These people are living in removable tents with their hundreds of ships and goats.
More plains ends suddenly like a magic and the road turn right downhill, the natural mountain structure on this location is awesome. After travelling around 4 km downhill I reached the Pang, first place after Upashi where you can get a food, shelter and most important is the puncture shop. There are lots of tent which provides good accommodation and food for travelers. I had a good breakfast here, it was a bread omelet with tea. Had some 10 min rest for natural call under warm sun, enquired with hotel owner about road condition ahead and started for Sarchu.
Leh to Manali road is the road of passes after staring form Pang I travelled around 25 km to reach the next pass Lachlung la. The road after pang is in very bad shape and truckers have made it worst. I forced to ride behind trucks couple of time which was frustrating because neither you can stop nor overtake them. Reached Lachlung la after spending good amount of time eating the dust behind the Indian Oil truck. Lachlung la is placed at height 16600 ft, then Naki la which is at height 15547 ft. After this pass the famous ghata loop starts which is of just 10 km however I felt it like never ending. Truckers have made some short cuts here to avoid long travel however I didn’t dare to take those short cuts as I do not wanted to end my trip with damaged bike or my body. I rode straight from road and soon reached Whisky Nallah, the view was breath taking. I searched a lot on internet for how this name is given to this place however didn’t find anything. And then come the brandy nallah. I think this names must be given by either truckers or army people. I stopped at these two nallah for video and then moved towards Sarchu.
In my earlier plan we had planned my stop for this day at Sarchu however I reached Sarchu lot early than lunch time. Saw lots of tent accommodation here which were looking just beautiful on those mountains I have decided that I will stop here for a day in my next trip for sure. I met the BCMT friends here again from Hanle, when I left to Leh from Hanle these people left for Pang from Hanle on same day. They were staying at Pang last night and have started for Manali. I had a cup of tea with them, fill the 10 liter in petrol tank as the tank was below reserve. KTM Duke just rocked these hilly roads and on full tank I covered more than 270 km.
Next attraction was Baralacha la which is 40 kms away from Sarchu. Road is of mixed condition, it was good at some places and worst at some places. After crossing couple of water crossing which was a challenging and fun experience. At one of the water crossing Duke submerged at half engine level however no single miss fire or hitch up and we kept moving. Baralach la is at height of 16040 ft and very cold. The ice was still on both side of road and it was sliding at couple of places. The road was very narrow which can hardly accommodate 2 crossing vehicle, on top of that there were some idiots with cars like Fortuner and Pajero who had parked there vehicles on road. Two minutes traffic jam at Baralacha la so two minutes silence for these three idiots. Again very small break for video and moved ahead.
Then comes the miraculous Suraj Tal with clean blue water, I saw a board there which renames this to Vishal tal. An armed force captain Vishal lost his life here when his helicopter crashed in Suraj tal. Rest in peace champ!
Road from here ahead are in decent condition and you can achive good speed. After riding for around 10 Km I reached the Zing zing bar. I saw that couple of biker where riding ahead, chased them for some time and found that this was the same group to whom I met at Rangdum Zanskar. Presented thumps up on the go and moved ahead. Lots of bikers particularly bulletrs where come from opposite side as well. At one corner a truck was climbing so slowed down and riding from valley side, from now where I saw a bulleter started over taking that truck with full speed. Without thinking I just tried to save myself however his Ladakh carrier (one of the worst accessories bulleter use for Ladakh trip) crashed my saddle bag, for microseconds I thought that this is going to be end of the trip however managed to force the bike to other side and come on road again. I was literally in mood to smash that person’s face however he left the scene in dust.
Soon I reached Darcha CP where some drunken HP police where harassing everyone so prepared myself as well for the encounter however when I made my entry they were busy in looting one trucker so did quick entry and left the place.
Road after Darcha is very good except some land slide patches where the road work was going on. I was feeling good now as I can at least some greenery here which was missing from last 10 days. I kept riding and soon crossed Jispa. Jispa is nice village on road side facing the mountain and angry river. Himachal rivers are really angry and muddy. With no time I reached Keylong which was again back up plan location to stay but as usual I was ahead of time and its was just 3 PM. Searched for a nice hotel and stopped for lunch. The lazy hotel owner promised to serve me food in 10 min but took around 30. So I lots unnecessary 1 hour here.
The road from Keylog to Gramphoo to Rohatang is in very bad shape and full of dust. My helmet was all pack from neck but still I was eating the dust. Excavators and trucks were blocking the road at many places, soon I crossed the famous fuel station Tandi which I always use to watch in all videos with special note of no petrol pump for 150 something km ahead. My duke was still long above reserve so I didn’t bothered to stop for fuel.
Started climbing Rohtang la which was not challenging but very frustrating because of those trucks and excavators. There is not road at all and you just right through stones and mud. After riding for long 25 km on those road the good road started which was upper part of Rohatan la. Voila! I reached Rohatang, this pass is very different than others. Not much snow however it is misty and the cloud were literally on road. I was on cloud 9. It was very joyful moment. I pulled helmet out so that I can capture this heaven but realized that GoPro was running out of memory. My mistake, I left the camera on recording while climbing the Rohatang which it kept capturing for long 30 min which ate the whole remaining memory. That moment was like what the hell in heaven.
Enjoyed the environment and decided to move on.
I was warned by everyone at Ladakh those who came from Rohatang that there are heavy water crossing so take care, being a solo rider I was very tensed from morning about it. At this point I laughed on those advices. Heavy water crossed? I did lot more water crossing in Zanskar than this.
There were lots of bikers riding toward manali I meet a group from Ahemadnagar when I stopped for some clicks, they were riding Vstorme, Tiger and Duke 390. It was time to wrap up now as the sun was going down and tall trees were adding to it. After riding curvy road of Manali road for couple of kms nonstop I reached Manali. It was around 7 PM so did quick chat with HVK and decided to move on till Mandi. I aimed Mandi so that I can reach Jaipur or Bilwara on next day and then Pune. When I refueled bike in Sarchu from reserve can, it gulped only 7 liters so filled the remaining in tank at Manali and started riding ahead towards Mandi. It was evening time the road to Mandi was full packed with cabs and buses. Somehow made the way out of the crap traffic and started riding towards Kullu. The road is very narrow and with heavy traffic. At one point I thought that it was wrong decision of aiming Mandi and I could have rested at Manali. There was no other way than reaching Mandi so kept moving. I reached Mandi around 9.45 PM, checked into the hotel booked by HVK. Parked the bike securely and called it day with hot shower and good food.
On this day I didnot click much using DSLR but did GoPro wonder, so watch a 10 min video below: