[AnandB]

Day 15 & 16 - Fri & Sat, 1st & 2nd Oct: Anandpur Sahib to Gwalior to Raipur

We left our stay around 9.30am and visited the Gurudwara before leaving.

There was another place here that i had to visit. It's one the most popular museums in India, Virasat-e-Khalsa. I'll be honest i didn't know much about it and i visited because my father wanted me to. And i am glad i did. Its such an amazingly made and maintained museum. It opened 10 years back but still looks new inside and outside. Even if you are not a Sikh it is a wonderful place to learn about history during those times. I'd give it more than 5/5 if it was possible. I only took some pictures of outside premises as what's inside needs to be seen.

It was almost 1pm when we finally left. I wanted to reach Raipur by tomorrow night and like the start of our trip reach Gwalior tonight. It was approx 680kms from here and from Gwalior to Raipur would be another 870kms. But unlike that time because of the patched tyres our max speed was limited to 78 kmph.

And that limit had quite a big effect. Only making a few stops for food we reached Gwalior just past 2am. We found a hotel that was 3/5 but we just needed to sleep for a few hours anyway.

I wanted to leave Gwalior early but because we slept late last night we left the hotel around 10.30am. We had even more distance to cover today but all we wanted now was to get back home. We ate at both the same restaurants we stopped at on the first day. Eventually around 2am we reached my home.

And so our 16-day, 5740km trip came to an end.

(unwashed car the next morning)

[AnandB]

Closing Thoughts

• I am very happy with how my Kodiaq handled the trip. Reduced power because of altitude was never a problem (maybe the remap helped) though there was certainly more lag than usual. Nor the DSG was ever confused. But more than that the ride quality and comfort were much better than i expected. I drove more than 5400 kms of the 5740 km trip and never felt tired even after traveling whole day and back to back days. And i was able to do enough off-roading that i wanted to without any problems.

• I usually get an average of 11 kmpl but on the return trip i got an unexpected average of 16 kmpl simply because of speed limit of 80kmph meant most of the time we were driving using cruise control. The car cruised in 7th gear around 1300 rpm. I only calculated average on the last day because we topped up in Agra and then just before reaching home. A distance of around 1004 kms for 63 litres which made me check it.

• We missed out a lot of stuff that i regret now. Believe it or not we didn't even visit one monastery The plan meant we were moving to next destination each day and couldn't really explore properly. I wish i had an additional day at-least at each of the locations. I wanted to cross newly made Kela Pass but because of Chushul route to Hanle opening up we didn't. Similarly the highest motorable pass in the world, Umling La, i didn't try to because we had read only people with army connections were allowed to visit as it's not open to general public and we didn't really have time. But now it seems every one is able to visit it. On the bright side it also means i have lot of reasons to visit Ladakh again.

• Our 16-day trip cost just about 1.05 lac or 35k per person. This includes diesel, stays, food, etc. Anything we spent money on during the trip we shared equally. Diesel cost just over 43k and tolls around 3k.

• The two tyres that burst did cost me 32k to replace with the same MRF Markus tyres. I had no experience with a burst tyre but now i know they can be fixed sometimes with patch and tube. I drove over the worst roads of Ladakh and they survived. I traveled more than 4000 kms with them and still worked fine except for the speed issue. So i will carry some patches and tubes next time because they charge a lot of premium for it which is expected in a location like Ladakh. And nobody has tubes over 16 inches.

• Lot of taxi drivers of J&K and Ladakh have very bad attitude and its best to not argue or fight with them. Being local and because of their unions they think they have the authority of those roads.

• Definitely get one BSNL post-paid connection for remote locations of Ladakh. Even in Pangong Jio and Airtel don't work.

• Get a hydraulic jack! Very useful even if you are not going on a trip.

• You can cover Ladakh even with a small car as long as you stick to the main road and don't try to take short cuts. From Leh the route to Nubra, and to Hanle is very good.

Thank you for reading

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[ampere]

Beautiful! Especially the astral photographs! Hanle is always a great place to read about.

[McLaren Rulez]

Is the wheel well of the Kodiaq deep enough to store a proper full sized spare? This space saver trend in luxury cars is really unfortunate.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Is the wheel well of the Kodiaq deep enough to store a proper full sized spare? This space saver trend in luxury cars is really unfortunate.

In the seven seater, only the doughnut will fit. Five seater versions Can take a full size space but that version is not available here.

Nice travelogue. We also ripped a tyre in similar circumstances in Spiti- a Tempo Traveller ran us of the road

[AnandB]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Is the wheel well of the Kodiaq deep enough to store a proper full sized spare? This space saver trend in luxury cars is really unfortunate.

Yeah. Early on i tried to replace the space saver with a full-size but dropped the plan when I realized it would not fit. That's why I knew only MRF and maybe Pirelli had the exact size tyre. There weren't many options.

[CEF_Beasts]

What a brilliantly documented travelogue

I think doing such trips where tyre puncture shops are far and wide, it’s better to carry atleast one full sized spare and keep it along with the luggage. Because the space-saver spare wheel is absolutely useless! When not using the third row, a setup similar to the Audi Q7 can be used to hold a full sized spare using the tether down points on the C and D pillars of the Kodiaq.





Have Leh-Ladakh on my bucket list for long now, will definitely visit it atleast once in my lifetime.

[docsr]

Anand B,
An inspirational and beautiful post. Read the entire thing in one go.
The time lapse of the core of the Milky Way was exceptional - the visuals, the planning of the shot, the composition and the end product with music ...all very very good.

Was this on the full frame Sony? What lens did you use? A bit of the setup would be nice to know.

Other than the tyre issues, were there any mechanical issues with the Kodiaq?

Nice travelogue.

Sanjay Rao

[AnandB]

Originally Posted by docsr

Anand B,
An inspirational and beautiful post. Read the entire thing in one go.
The time lapse of the core of the Milky Way was exceptional - the visuals, the planning of the shot, the composition and the end product with music ...all very very good.

Nice travelogue.

Sanjay Rao

Thank you for your kind comments.

Was this on the full frame Sony? What lens did you use? A bit of the setup would be nice to know.

I linked in the intro to my setup post in our T-BHP thread about Mirrorless Camera (Mirrorless or EVIL Cameras). That's why i didn't detail about it.

I used a Sony A7C full-frame mirrorless camera.
For the landscape and night sky photos i used the Sony 20mm f1.8 G lens.
For normal shooting i used the Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 DG DN Contemporary lens.
I only used my Tamron 70-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD lens once when we were in Thang. I could zoom and see the other sides outposts and bunkers and the village. I wanted to try it for bird/animal photography but as i was driving most of the time i couldn't.

Other than the tyre issues, were there any mechanical issues with the Kodiaq?

No issues. I am happy that i have a BS4 diesel as after the trip i read couple of members had DPF issues in their BS6 diesels on their Ladakh trip (a Tucson, a Fortuner).

[ValuableRecluse]

Fantastic travelogue with great astronomical photos. I know how tough it is getting the settings right in the dark, freezing cold!
You've had quite an adventure!

Tires are without doubt the weakest link in a modern 4X4, (now we also have DPF's in hot pursuit.)
For enhanced road manners, fuel economy and refinement, some vehicle manufacturers insist on outfitting their 4X4's with HT's, equipped paper thin sidewalls.
If you plan to return to Ladakh or do Spiti, I recommend you seriously consider fitting a beefy set of AT's on your Kodiak.

In 2016, my family and I drove from Hanle to Karzok by a direct route. The only vehicle we saw for 5 hours was a lone Gypsy with local government officials coming in the opposite direction. Since I was navigating on a map and wasn't completely sure that I could infact proceed directly to Karzok, I flagged them down to inquire.
The Gypsy driver told me they were coming from Karzok. What a relief!
My next question was, will I have a problem getting there on this track?
The Gypsy driver looked admirably at my new Maxxis AT's and declared, we will not!

So we soldiered on, fording streams, clambering over rocks and even a small section across a dune. And like the good man said, we didn't have a problem.

Until today this remains the most daring and unusual drive I have undertaken!

Some photos shot during the drive.

[Sanjivvohra]

Lovely travelouge. Thanks for sharing.
Planning to do a Leh trip in 2022 Sep, from Bangalore.
I will be using some of the information shared by you to plan the trip.

[QuentinTino]

Lovely travelogue Brother! Really loving the long exposures shots of the milky way 👍. According to you guys, what would be the “ideal” car to take to Leh-Ladakh? I’m assuming Thar?

[AnandB]

Originally Posted by QuentinTino

Lovely travelogue Brother! Really loving the long exposures shots of the milky way 👍. According to you guys, what would be the “ideal” car to take to Leh-Ladakh? I’m assuming Thar?

Yes a 4x4 would be best. Thar is good imo if you have 2 people at most. Otherwise Fortuner or Endeavour. But even pseudo-suvs will be fine really and they are the most you see there.

[Livefree]

A very detailed and factually chronicled travelogue. It will definitely help future travellers travelling the same route. Kudos on keeping the determination strong even after the 2020 debacle which threw the proverbial spanner into your plans and recruit fellow travellers to keep the appointment with the mountains. Even I missed out on a bike trip planned for June 2020 to Leh and Hanle and haven't been able to make it up. They are still calling
Loved the brilliant photos of the night sky and aptly placed videos along with maps and routes.
Noob question coming up - Can non Sikhs also schedule to stay at gurudwaras like you guys did? Any calls need to be made or such?