[Behemoth]

Great Travelogue and seriously hats off to your wife for doing a Solo Bangalore - Chandigarh drive! She had a good companion with the Jeep Compass
The Compass is a sturdy and reliable car and mine is also 4 years old now and still runs as flawlessly and we have never faced any issues with the car.
The Ladakh route is as mesmerizing as ever and lucky that you were able to escape from your daily grinds after the Covid phase and take this break.
Loved to see the pics and the clear blue sky and hope to be going back there soon!

[bharanidharang]

Wow. Both your travel and your writing are amazing. Here i am thinking a million times if I can do a solo trip by myself, whereas you have crossed all boundaries.

In addition to the essentials for the car, what other essentials did you carry for yourself (like medicines etc) ?

Hats of to your husband to let go of his car for you to have fun !! I am sure he had a whale of a time in the Spiti circuit

[Turbolove]

Wow, what a wonderful travelogue. Thanks for the details and the photos.
I did a similar Spiti expedition a week after you (16-22 Aug) with Mountain Goat expeditions in the BS4 Compass 4x4 manual. I didn't really need the 4x4 anywhere on the road, did you ?

You seemed to have encountered far more rain than me, hoping your air filter was fine in that case, mine got clogged like crazy.

How did your vehicle perform throughout the whole trip ? I was apprehensive since the nearest Jeep dealer was in Solan, but it was all for nothing as the car performed flawlessly. I'm sure the other ladder frame cars envied you for your settled ride on the bad roads as compared to them.

[bullitt1]

Great write up with photos and videos. Would be interesting to know the performance of awd if it was required anytime during the drive.

[rrsteer]

Can't believe your wife drove solo from Bangalore to Chandigarh and back. Still can't bring my head around this. And it seems she is quite experienced in doing so. Any which way, kudos to her achievement and also for a very well written travelogue. We are setting off for Spiti in two days time, and by strange co-incidence we seem to have booked the same places to stay, starting from Sangla.

[sam264_2000]

Brilliant travelogue with some great pictures and videos! Brave move by your wife to drive solo from BLR to Chandigarh and back. To such many more adventures, cheers!

[amohan78]

This is an amazing writeup. The entire story line is gripping to the core, interlaced with photos to break the monotone of the reading with visual delectation. I am sure you have installed the IoT devices to monitor the tire pressure that kind a gives you the forewarning of an impending puncture.

Anyway, the technicality aside, this is an interesting read to reiterate. I have know your better half from college and he is indeed lucky to be a part of this amazing adventure which very few of us can experience given the lack of fitness regime. Keep it up and I hope we see much more of such amazing adventures ahead.

[Mustang Sammy]

Trip of a lifetime, very well written and with lovely pics. Did you guys encounter any issues with acclimating to the altitude?
How did the Compass handle off roading compared to the other SUVs?

[HTLad]

@Shikha & @LIVETODRIVE,

The best 51 minutes of the day reading the post!

Its incredible to see such a detailed post with smashing pictures of travel. Itching me to take that first solo of my brand new Jazz now

[sunil thomas]

I was in office when I saw this, and moment I started reading all my official work came to a grinding halt! Literally or Virtually travelled with you throughout the drive Bangalore to Spiti! Written so well with wonderful videos and photographs, I actually took lot of time going through it. You make one fine adventurous couple no doubt CHEERS!!! Finally you managed to unleash your beast of a vehicle, the awesome JEEP Compass that too 4X4.

[ba run]

Excellent travelogue & very well captured trip.
Kudos to your spirit & enthusiasm.

[Amukherjea]

So wonderful to read about this trip. Must say I am amazed at the decision to do the staging Blr Cgarh Blr by a single lady.
HVK I have had pleasure of knowing through this forum from 2008 onwards when I was planning Mumbai Bhutan Mumbai in my Nissan X-Trail.. he always has been of great help in planning and following through during many journeys where I have sought his assistance.

My wife and I did Mumbai Chandigarh Simla Manali Kaza and back via Manali Palanpur Chamba Pathankot Ambala Jaipur Mumbai in 2005 July. The car was the Xtrail then 2 years old.

We had planned to follow the route that you did but at Narkanda were told that roads were washed out ahead due floods in Beas.
So we turned back went to Manali and further Lahul Spiti.
2005 the roads were what they were. However I remember that Gramphu to Batal was not too bad except for two spots where late afternoon the melting snow flowing down had created breaks in the roads.

One learns by experience. The friendly truck drivers told me one should try and cross the spots in the morning when flow is less.
On return we started early from Kaaza and had no difficulty in fording the streams.

Only two things happened to the car. A tyre punture with a bad cut on the side wall on a tube less tyre. This was right after Batal. Fitted the spare steel rim tyre ( luckily same size as the original alloys). We had carried a tube and used that to repair the tyre at the tyres shop next to the highest petrol pump that you mention. Finally got a new tyre back in mumbai.

Within 3 km of the tyre mishap I scraped the oil chamber on some submerged rocks, while crossing one small stream. Once again truck drivers passing by came to rescue made putty of soap and stuck it on. Oil leak stopped. Got the sump opened up and brazed the cut at a Jeep repair guy in Kazza.

We have photos of Kunjumla next to the board giving out the height. There were hardly any flags flying. We walked to the Mandir paid our respects, had tea out of a flask and set course again. Both times.

That was 32nd wedding anniversary when went over Rohtang pass going north.

I read this and tell my wife let's do it again.
She smiles and says let's see you drive to Colaba from Andheri and back during office time. Which I can assure to non Mumbaikars is not a trip for the faint hearted.

I wish Mr and Mrs Roy many many more of such wonderful adventures. May punctures never happen and you always find a clean toilet when you want it.

[vsrivatsa]

Superb travelogue and excellent narration - could visualize the entire journey.
WFH = Work from Himalayas! - sounds like a dream - good that you extended the stay - have been to Manali before and agree it is an amazing place!
Thanks for sharing!

[sid_deb]

Great travelogue! You write well, loved reading through it.

Did you feel the need for AWD? I am thinking of taking my 2WD Innova to Spiti and will be great to hear about your experience on this

[carrot_eater]

Originally Posted by livetodrive

Mr. HV Kumar, or as we all know him, HVK: He helped me plan out the routes, my night halts, upcoming places of food/fuel ahead, all these while I was on the move.

An excellent travelogue - voted for the 5*

We plan to do a Bangalore - Chandigarh drive. It would help a lot if you could share the plan for night halts and distances to drive.

Thank you
Carrot