[BunnyPunia]

INITIAL PLAN
My initial plan was to include Sach Pass as well but due to time constraints, I ended up chalking out a rather 'simple' ride from Delhi to K-top and back including a detour to Eastern Ladakh including the Marsimek La or the M-top

Dates
The ride took place from the 23rd to the 31st of August.

Riders
I wanted to make sure that fewer riders joined in. In the end, it was six of us.
1. Bunny Punia - Karizma
2. Nitinjit - Karizma
3. Vivek - Karizma
4. Chanderjeet - Energy FX
5. Ravi - Pulsar 220
6. Ishaq - Avenger 180

23rd August
As described above in the first post, we were six riders. Three from Delhi, the rest from Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Me, Nitinjit and Chanderjeet (the three punjabi lads!) being from Delhi, decided to meet up at the bypass before 5am. The rest of the gang had already moved ahead last night (20odd km ahead of the bypass) and had to meet us at 5:30am. Ofcourse, by the time three of us reached their hotel, they were still sleeping. A good 30min wasted, back on the road by 6:15am!

Unexpected fog hit us enroute Karnal. Riding speeds came down to 50km/h, though even on open roads, I didnt go beyond 80ish to be with Chanderjeet, who preferred to cruise at 70!

By 8am, we were at the line of dhabas just before the Karnal toll barrier. The plan was discussed over paranthas and chai.


We were back on the road before 9am. A boring (and fast) ride to Ambala, from where we took a straight to Chandigarh. It was decided to halt every hour for regrouping. Thankfully, the highway to Chandigarh was much better now. By 10am, we were in the heart of CHD, filled up petrol (relatively cheaper here) and carried on to NH21.


Roads were a mix of good and bad. Private buses were gunning it - keeping 90-95 on the speedo and chasing us for a good time. Though we had to stop soon for a regrouping session once again. The first set of hills had us surprised - lotsa fog which though last for a few km gave us a respite from the heat.

Everything went on smoothly till we encountered a bad stretch of road. A major landslide had us wasting 30min. At Bilaspur, we got a call from Chanderjeet about his bike's chain coming off! We all rode back, only to find him fixing it by himself. We running well behind schedule and it was decided to halt at the first restaurant for lunch and decide as to what to do.


Chanderjeet was the first to leave after lunch to get his bike done up at Bilaspur. We followed him soon. The mechanic seemed to take ages to repair the bike and it was close to 4pm! It was decided that Nitinjit,Ravi and Vivek would go ahead to book a good hotel in Vashisht, while the three of us would ride together once the bike was fixed.

At around the 5pm mark, three of us left ahead of Manali. We still had more than 160km to go! Riding at the 40-45mark, it took us no less than 4.5 hours to get to Vashisht, where thankfully, the other guys had booked a nice hotel. Ample parking, awesome roof top restaurant and cheap rooms.

My bike was carrying the following:
1. Tank bag
2. Saddle bags
3. My luggage in another bag
4. Lotsa books that Chanderjeet got for school kids
5. Me!


565km in 16.5 hours was well, quite frustrating and tiring. Gulping down a beer, I hoped for the best for Day 2!

Some pictures...

[sudev]

ahhhh settling down on the sofa and waiting for the complete trip write up...

[ASHISHPALLOD]

ohoooo,
something really interesting is coming up.

[laluks]

Interesting, Waiting for the pics and your experiences.
This is the highest road in the world is it?

[BunnyPunia]

Thanks guys.
Yes, it is believed to be the highest path any automobile has ever traversed. Though i have come across sites with info on some roads in Tibet higher than this.

[praJEEP]

So this venture made you unvisible all these months is it ! when is it going to feature in bike india, i mean which month's edition.

marismek la a group of bangy boyz did this year on a P 200 & three comets, heard some nice stories from them.

[BunnyPunia]

Prajeep : No man, work load has kept me off net for a long time. The ride was done in Aug, featured in October issue

DAY 2: Vashisht - Sarchu

We managed to leave our hotel by around 8am or so, riding our way upto Rohtang Pass. Unfortunately, bad roads and overloaded trucks meant that the going very slow. Came across quite a few waterfalls enroute Rohtang Pass

Rohtang Pass was surprisingly devoid of tourist. We had our breakfast here. Roads didnt improve after Rohtang Pass as well. The elevation did come down, but we constantly rode on dirt and roads devoid of tarmac all the way upto the base of the Baralacha La pass.

It was well beyond 6:30pm by the time we hit the pass. Temperatures were beginning to come down drastically. The Himalayan Saga camps at Sarchu were our stop for the night. AMS had hit us very badly - i was having severe headache, inspite of popping Diomax pills and taking lots of water.

My Karizma was returning an avg of around 32-34kmpl. Vivek, who wasnt pushing it much was getting around 36-38kmpl though

Pics
1.Parking of our hotel in Vashisht
2.View of the hills from our hotel
3,4,5.Smaller waterfalls enroute Rohtang
6.Traffic jam : overloaded trucks being the culprits
7.Scenic views
8.Yet another major water-fall. Also doubled up as our 'corn' stop
9.Rohtang pass: roads were, well, devoid of any tarmac
10.The loops, after Rohtang
11.Canon 350D
12.The roads were flat - though tarmac was an occasional luxury
14.The Karizmas
15,16.At the base of Baralacha : Pit-stop for water
17. Baralacha : The sun was going down
18. 15180 feet
19. 8.3 degrees and dropping. Add in the wind chill factor
20. Our night stop at Sarchu Camps

[ramkya1]

Hai Bunny Punia,

Congrats for doing such an ardeous track, a real test for man and machine.

Waiting for the rest of the story to unfold.

How many of you had AMS, all were on Diamox? Was it a big problem? Have read about AMS from many people at Sarchu who drive through Delhi, Manali and Leh. Did it ease off in a couple of days, say after day 4 or 5?

Keep posting, all eyes agog to read on...

--Ramky
============

[akas_chauhan]

Ladakh trip is always adventurous and interesting to narrate. Nice pictures there. I've plan to go there on July Next year. Lets c. I'm sure there are more pictures to upload..

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by sudev

ahhhh settling down on the sofa and waiting for the complete trip write up...

How can you be comfortable accessing your comp or laptop on a sofa.

[Locomotive]

Doing this trip by car was tough, I can only imagine how tough it would be by bike!! Well done you guys. I am sure it must have been an adventure of a life time

[sj_koova]

Interesting and good start Bunny.
Can to include the map and short descriptions for the pics

[akshay4587]

Ahh finally the log is up here.
waiting for the complete treat bunny

@Locomotive
It all depends on what you think,its easier to bike on these roads than take a car,but then its my view

[sudev]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

How can you be comfortable accessing your comp or laptop on a sofa.

Wifi access all over the house. A cold drink and bag of chips by the sofa side and feet up on a settee.....all this while browsing this thread.

[BunnyPunia]

ramkya: We all had AMS attacks - the headache, nausea, unable to eat.We had taken the pill before starting off from Manali and made sure each one of us drank lot of water. But it was bound to happen i guess. It eased off on day 3 - the log of which will come up tomm morning first things. Im outta Pune right now - im here - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post1082524

akas: Yes, i have just put up pics of two days. Rest of the days coming up

locomotive: it sure was. Plus, i believe u are one to one with the elements on a bike and can see nature properly on a bike. I recommend u try it out on a bike too, some day. The memories will be etched in ur heart forever!

sj_hoova: in my post for day 2, i have included description for each pic. OT: isnt it possible to cram the pics between my text? The manage attachment function doesnt seem to help

sudev: more stuff comin up for u!