The Dream Ride: Delhi - Manali - Leh - Manali - Delhi

The Dream Ride

There is a reason that bike trip to Leh is called the Dream Ride. It takes you on journey and experience which is unparalleled. It takes you to the land which is truly Paradise on Earth. But, the way to that heaven is sometimes through hell. You can reach there by any means, flight or car. But it is the bike ride which is an experience you cannot just explain. It changes your soul as one of the Ladakhi locals rightly said to us. Another quote comes to mind. "Travelling by car is like watching a movie. Travelling on bike is like starring in it." I have tried to bring out the experience in my travelogue but trust me, to describe what the experience was like, even the language fails me to let me do so. You got to experience it yourself, firsthand. I have also put some info and checklist at the end of the post for interested riders. Hope you can get even the faintest of glimpse of the experience because words grossly limit me to bring that out truly. Through all the dust, mud and slush, we never thought or said to each other that why we had gone there. And we realized this only later. It is definitely a trip of a lifetime.

Acknowledgements

First of all, great and many thanks to Chetan for lending me his bike and being an ever awesome friend that he has been for so many years. I truly appreciate and cherish your friendship for many reasons. No one would do what you did and have done many times over the years. I feel lucky to have friends like you. To Aditya Anand, who was my companion on the trip. Who supported all my decisions and was ever there without any questions asked. Without you the trip would not have happened. You too are a great friend and this trip has deepened the bond for life. To one other friend who has been a rock solid support for me. Who made me believe that despite the setbacks we would complete the trip and we did. Thanks in great measure to you. You have kept me sane and solid through everything crazy. Thanks to Pradeep Singh, for his inputs and help about the trip. Thanks to all of you.

Complete Travelogue

Sept 15^th, 2014

5:30 am - Noida: Finally the trip starts. After couple of months of trying to plan and asking people who might be interested in the trip, it starts on 15^th September 2014.

Early, stiffly Delhi summer morning and the journey began. The first phase of the long awaited “Dream Ride”.

With my sense of direction and roads it was quite an achievement to hit the highway out of Delhi. Thanks to Google maps apart from my impeccable sense of direction (which is, just to clear it up, pretty much screwed up).

7:45 am – Outer Delhi: I finally hit the highway to Chandigarh and successfully come out of Delhi. Took a break to let the achievement sink in J .

10:50 am – Chandigarh Airport: Reached Chandigarh airport. The ride was a breeze and covered 220 kms in about 3 hours flat. Amazing 8 lane highway with no blocks and very little traffic in the early part of the day. I idle away time at the Café Coffee Day on the airport till my friend arrives.

1:00 pm – Chandigarh Airport: My friend arrives lands at Chandigarh airport. We go to my bike and adjust our luggage to carry on forward. The boots I had been wearing for riding breathe their last at the airport and I had to leave them there. Thankfully I was carrying spare shoes although not meant for riding but something to have on my feet.

2:00 pm – Chandigarh Airport: We start again. Hit the roads on the way to Manali, our planned destination for the day which was around 310 kms from Chandigarh.

3:00 pm – Somewhere on the way: We keep following the sign boards for Manali suddenly find ourselves in a patch where there are no roads. Hilly roads had started but the roads weren’t there. It seemed that the process of cutting out roads from the mountains itself had just begun. After driving for over an hour on non-existent roads we realize we have somehow taken some other path. A bad unintentional detour. It was in the right direction though, but still, not the road that we ought to have taken. There was a lesson for us. If you have the help of technology we should use it. Not using Google maps and trusting just the sign boards led us to a path which seemed to lead nowhere. We drive on stones and in dust and dirt. We carried on and on as people said that this was also the route for Manali. Just to make it sound cooler, we told ourselves that we were making our own path rather than following the world. The statement also disguises the absolute ordeal we went through to cover those 50 kms in around 4 hours. Even onlookers seemed surprised to find a bike on those roads. We remember the song “Highway to Hell”. Only thing was this hell itself. We, luggage and the bike had become white from the dust resulting from cutting of stones. Even our eyebrows had become white with a layer of white dust. It seemed that we had submerged ourselves in talcum powder from head to toe.

Tip for travelers: While going to Manali from Chandigarh, do not by any chance take the route via Nalagarh. Ask and take the route via Kiratpur.

6:45 pm – Somewhere on the main highway: Finally we join the main highway where we should have reached from the other route. We take a break and give our butts a break which seemed to be too much stress from this ordeal. We sorely missed the pleasure of just comfortably sitting without feeling any pain or stress in the butts. If that had continued for a little while we might have had to explore options of getting a prosthetic butt later on. It was then we realized that in these close to 5 hours we had just covered 130 kms from Chandigarh. Manali seemed a distant dream and it was starting to get dark.

7:30 pm – Bilaspur enroute Manali: The roads were marginally better, or better to say that roads existed in some form. We reached Bilaspur with bruised bums and it had become dark. Looking at the condition of the roads we decide to make a stop at Bilaspur itself and continue to Manali the next day.

8:00 pm – Hotel in Bilaspur: We find a hotel with parking space and negotiate the rates with the person. It was the best we could find although it did not do justice even if the charges were half of what the hotel was asking for. We just badly needed a place to cool off for few hours so we take it.

9:00 pm – Bilaspur: Taking a bath was imperative. Lost almost 2 kgs of dirt and dust on me after the bath and ya the hair became black again from the recently acquired light greyish hue.

Sept 16^th, 2014

5:00 am – Hotel in Bilaspur: We get up, freshen up and pack our luggage and go down. All the doors are closed and we can’t get out to reach even the reception. We keep knocking for good 15 mins for the hotel guys to open the door and finally the guy comes and opens the door. We settle the dues and go to the parking lot and mount our luggage on the bike.

5:30 am – Hotel in Bilaspur: We start towards Manali. Pretty uneventful journey this with lot of changing weather on the way. Roads kept getting better especially after Mandi. We take sufficient breaks and ride comfortably.

1:00 pm – Manali: We finally reach Manali which seemed unreachable at one point the day before. I have already ridden around 550 kms. My friend had ridden for about 50 kms in the plains but since he was new to driving in the hills I did almost the whole stretch. Nothing to complain as I myself wanted to drive even though my friend offered to drive sometimes I chose to drive myself. (Ya I was being greedy to drive, as I always am)

1:30 pm – Manali: We find the bike rental shop (Manali Enfield Center) on Rohtang Road in Manali from where my friend had to rent the bike for onward trip. The guy at the shop seemed a nice, trustworthy soft spoken decent fellow.

2:30 pm – Manali: We finalize the deal and payments for the rented bike and then found a hotel close by to check in. For Rs 800 a night the hotel room had carpeted floors, individual balcony, river view, mountain view and forest view all at the same time. Seemed like a pretty good deal.

4:00 pm – Manali: After lunch we go to the bike shop and pick up the rented bike. My friend had to get used to the bike and we also wanted to see a little bit of Manali.

5:00 pm – Manali Market: We go to the market and just roam around. Randomly checked out few shops for window shopping etc. We have some snacks too.

7:00 pm – Manali: We come back to our hotel room, arrange and pack luggage and have dinner.

10:00 pm – Manali: After all the packing and chit chatting my friend who was very much keen on clicking stars in the night sky took out his camera and tripod and we sat in the balcony. He set up everything and then gave me tips and insights about this kind of photography. One of his motivations to come on the trip was star photography as he told now because in cities the city lights do not let the photographs come out good and especially in a place like Bangalore we do not get to see many stars in the sky.

11:00 pm – Manali: We call it a night and go to sleep. The next day we had to get up early to start the real journey.

Sept 17^th, 2014

4:30 am – Manali: We wake up and start getting ready for the trip. We pack our luggage.

5:15 am – Manali: We bring all the luggage down to the parking area.

6:00 am – Manali: All the luggage is mounted on the bikes and it was finally time to begin. We spend few minutes to live the moment, watch the surrounding vistas and decide to move.

6:15 am – Manali: We finally start the ride after clicking few pictures. The sun had risen and it was no longer dark.

6:45 am – Manali: We had to make an unscheduled stop at a local shop few kms into the ride as my friend felt that his bike was not properly balanced with the luggage mounted on it. We rearrange the luggage on his Enfield to balance it.

7:45 am – Manali: We start again towards Rohtang. The roads were good. Narrow in some places but still very good. The views were breathtaking especially with the morning sun lighting up the snow-capped peaks and pine trees on the mountains. We take quite a few breaks to stop and admire the views and click pictures. The thing was that the views were so amazing that we didn’t know how to capture it all in camera. You got to be there to see it and believe it, cameras do not do justice to those views. As a result we made slow progress despite good roads as we were yet to get used to the views. I have seen lot of mountains and hill stations and stayed in few. But even then, the vistas here were something quite out of the world.

9:00 am – Few kms before Rohtang Pass: As we climb higher, reaching very close to the Rohtang pass, chill starts to set in with strong, almost freezing winds making us shiver. We had covered around 50 kms on good roads till now and now were waiting to negotiate the toughest terrain in the whole trip which was crossing the Rohtang pass. Within 50 kms, we had climbed from 2000 mts at Manali to almost 4000 mts at Rohtang Pass.

9:30 am – Rohtang Pass: We enter the hellish roads. In fact, not roads, just a path and everyone was free to consider it a road or whatever they felt like. It had loose stones, small boulders, dirt, mud, slush, tar, potholes, mountain streams and everything you can probably think or not think of driving on. It was truly the beginning of getting a doctorate in biking. No wonder it is considered one of the toughest terrains to bike on. We were still lucky because the amount of slush and mud we encountered was still very less as compared to what it is in June, July or August when it also rains.

10:30 am – Rohtang Pass: Everything was moving along nicely. We were negotiating the pass slowly and steadily and then the crash happened. On a slope which was the typical Rohtang Pass terrain, a lorry in front of me stopped. As it was a very narrow strip I stopped quite some distance behind it. And then suddenly the lorry started reversing. Without any of the helpers coming down from the lorry and guiding the driver, the driver just reversed and kept on reversing. All my honking and shouting was of no avail and ultimately my bike is almost run over by the lorry. I do not remember when did I leave the bike but I had not even a scratch on me but bike was substantially damaged. The left handle cracked and bent quite a lot. The left footrest was broken. The right mask of the front of the bike was broken and the front mudguard was cracked.

We shout, pull the driver out, abuse and argue with him. We were around 50 kms from Keylong and 70 kms out of Manali. Keylong is supposed to be the last place where anyone can find some mechanics on this route. We hoped if we can somehow take the bike to Keylong maybe someone will fix it there. The driver agrees to go to Keylong with us and get the bike repaired and pay for the repairs.

11:30 am – Rohtang Pass: The bike was still in a condition that it could be ridden, although with a lot strain on the body as the left handle was completely bent towards the front and it was a very straining posture to keep the wheel straight with the bent handle. I gingerly negotiated few turns to try to get used to the new posture and start again towards Keylong. It was hellish to ride like that with bent handle and left foot hanging because the foot rest was also broken and top of that to negotiate mud, stones, slush and what not. People swear by crossing Rohtang pass with bikes in perfect condition and I was being forced to do it without even a proper handle position. It really was a painful ride for the left wrist and my back and I seriously felt I should be getting a PhD in biking for this stunt.

The thing with Rohtang pass was, that now, I don’t categorize roads as good or bad. It is roads or no roads. Any road is a good road. Only that some roads are exceptional and some are just roads.

12:15 pm – Koksar: We reach Koksar to find a road block ahead because of repairs being done to the bridge which everyone had to cross to proceed towards Keylong.

1:00 pm – Koksar: We have lunch in the dhabas in Koksar and wait for the traffic to start moving again. I got a much needed break from the painful riding with bent handle.

2:30 pm – Koksar: The bridge work is done and the block clears. We start moving again.

3:00 pm – On way to Keylong: We stop and stop the lorry to discuss and negotiate. The lorry driver seemed like he wanted to go to his base which was before Keylong and we did not want to do that as would have wasted our time and in his base there would not have been any negotiations. The driver said that he was ready to pay whatever he could for the damages and then we can go on our ways. We agreed as we also had to keep track of where the lorry was if we had to take him till Keylong. After long heated arguments we let the lorry go. It almost came to a fist fight but we calmed down and let him go and proceeded on our way to Keylong. The roads were pretty decent broken in patches and good in others.

4:15 pm – Keylong: We reached Keylong and scouted all mechanic shops in an attempt to get the bike fixed. Since there were no Hero Honda showrooms, Karizma spare parts like handle etc could not be procured to replace my bent, cracked handle. On top of that no mechanic seemed even willing to put his brain on if by some other ingenious way the handle could be fixed so that we can complete our trip. Leh was still 365 kms away and there was no surety that we would find something for Hero Honda there also even if we try to go to Leh with that handle which might come off any time. And there would be no phone networks and shops between Keylong and Leh. It was really frustrating and we started thinking that our trip would have to come to a premature end, given the situation.

5:00 pm – Keylong: We check in to a hotel and start discussing the plan ahead. We discussed whether to go back to Kullu (40 kms before Manali, 150 kms backwards from Keylong) as there was a Hero showroom there to get the bike fixed or if to proceed ahead then how to do that.

9:00 pm – Keylong: After spending long hours of frustration, gloom and anger we decide to head back the next morning and get the bike fixed in Kullu and then decide further plans.

Sept 18^th, 2014

7:30 am – Keylong: We check out with the intention of heading back to Manali and then to Kullu. It was very depressing to do so but we felt we had no choice. We had contemplated going ahead on one bike but the problem was where to keep my bike safe for those few days. It was more worrisome as the bike was my friend’s who had been an amazing friend to lend his bike to me for the trip. No one would have done that. Just then the Hotel guy offered us that he will keep the bike and extra luggage in hotel’s garage for a nominal rent and we can pick it up on our way back. Just then I remembered what my other friend had said the night before on the phone that it was just a setback and we will complete the trip one way or the other. It was then we realized that though it was a little risky and worrisome to leave the bike there but we could do that as the hotel had a proper garage and they had clearly said that would charge some rent so there was no smooth talking by them but plain and frank terms which made us trust them more. My friend was a great support and had said to me that whatever I decide he would go with that and never showed any signs of his own personal wishes whatsoever. It dawned on me that, like in life, it was a setback but we need to go on towards what we intended to achieve.

8:00 am – Keylong: We decide to go ahead. We start reducing and rearranging our luggage to fit on one bike.

9:00 am – Keylong: We are almost ready to move forward. We have a cup of coffee.

9:30 am – Keylong: We hop on the Enfield and proceed further leaving my bike and extra luggage behind. The mood was soured because of the developments of the previous day and we were worried about the safety of the bike but then I decided not to think any further of it till we came back. I also thought about the possibility that if we could not find the bike on returning then I will have to buy a new one for my friend and that was the worst that could have happened. Then we started feeling happy about our decision to move forward because as soon as we left the city limits, it presented us with unparalleled views along the way. It was overwhelming to soak in all of the natural beauty that we were seeing.

10:30 am – Jispa: We reach a small café in Jispa and take leisurely breakfast of parathas. We had covered around just 30 kms in the hour as we took breaks in those 30 kms as well and we had time to reach Sarchu which was our destination for the day. Sarchu was around 120 kms from Keylong. We get to talk with some other bikers who were returning from Leh about the road conditions etc and shared our stories. When one of them said that I should be given a Nobel Prize or something equivalent for crossing Rohtang with bent handle and no footrest, I liked the compliment and realized that, that whole part of the trip I had no major recollection as I was too focused on just keeping the handle straight and reach Keylong. I didn’t remember how bad that stretch was and didn’t recollect till that point that how stressful it was. Anyways, that was behind us and I would have to do the same again while going back and decided to think about it then.

11:30 am – Jispa: We start again after the breakfast and proceed towards Sarchu. We would have to cross Baralacha Pass which is again considered one of the toughest climbs and we were excited to be heading towards it.

12:30 pm – On way to Baralacha: We start the ascent to Baralacha after crossing Zingzingbar. We took breaks liberally and clicked pics, happy to be back on the trip once again. We had found only good roads till now except for few small patches in between.

2:00 pm – Baralacha Top: We reach the Baralacha top and saw the snowy mountains very close to us. The snowy mountains presented an awesome view hard to express in words. I had seen snow and snowy mountains from close before too, but this was something different. There were small stones piled in groups on one side of the road and asked a cab driver, who had also stopped there, that what it meant? He explained to us that it was a local custom to make wishes by piling stones. We do the same and then move forward after clicking few pictures. By now the AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) had kicked in me and I was having a bad headache because of lack of sufficient oxygen at those heights. We had taken medicines (Diamox) in the morning but that was not enough as it is advisable to start the meds at least a day before.

2:45 pm – Tent Dhaba after descending Baralacha: We descend and find some tent dhabas and decide to stop for lunch. My headache was becoming worse and I was also feeling pukish. I knew the only solution was to descend to lower heights as we go forward and try to ignore the uncomfortable feeling.

3:15 pm – Tent Dhaba: We start towards Sarchu which was around 25 kms from here and was kind of a mid-point of the Manali-Leh route. We encounter bad roads from this point and brave out the headache, sick feeling and bad roads by taking breaks.

4:50 pm – Sarchu check post: We reach Sarchu check post and realized that this was an uninhabited stretch and check post was actually the end of Sarchu. We had seen some tent camps few kms before and had thought that we would find more after Sarchu and would stay there. The Police guys told us that there was nothing for 80 kms so we turn back 5 kms to find a tent camp.

5:15 pm – Tent Camp, Sarhcu: We get a tent to stay. I quickly unpack, take medicines and apply balm on the head for headache which was raging now.

6:30 pm – Sarchu: I go off to sleep. I did not wake up for dinner or anything. Just slept through the night.

Sept 19^th, 2014

8:00 am – Sarchu: We get ready and get all the luggage mounted on the bike. My headache is gone and I feel much better and energetic. We have a cup of coffee and decide to start towards Pang on way to Leh. Our destination was Leh for the day which was 250 kms from Sarchu but we had heard that it was doable as roads were good for majority of this distance.

8:30 am – Sarchu: We start towards Pang which was around 80 kms from Sarchu. We knew from people that road till Pang was bad and if we reach Pang we can consider that we have reached Leh as roads are good from that point on. We encountered bad to pathetic roads with little good patches on way to Pang.

12:00 pm – LaChungLa Pass: We reach the top of LaChungLa pass at 17000 ft. We could easily feel the difficulty in breathing. Even the smallest of walks took left us out of breath and even talking to each other was an effort. We stop and click pics and then move forward.

1:00 pm – Pang: We reach Pang and stop a tent dhaba for lunch.

1:40 pm – Pang: We proceed further towards Morey Plains which is a little stretch of plain at a height of approximately 4000 mts. We find amazing flat roads as far as the eyes could see and was pure bliss to drive through that stretch with amazing views on both sides.

2:15 pm – Morey Plains: We found couple of guys stopped at the side and it looked like they were in some trouble. We stop to check if we could be of any help. One of the guys had fallen down as his bike had skid at a turn and his clutch lever was broken. Since we could not do anything we gave them some water and eatables and moved forward. They told us that one of their other friend was ahead and if we find him we should convey him the message.

2:40 pm – Ascent to Tanglang Pass: We crossed the Morey plains in a breeze. We didn’t find the other friend those guys had told us about, and continued towards TanglangLa.

3:40 pm – Tanglang La: We reach the top of Tanglang La at approx. 17500 ft. The wind was stormy and freezing at the top. We click pics and start freezing in just a short while. For the first time on this route we found snow and played with snow a little.

4:00 pm – Tanglang La: We start to move towards Rumtse which was around 30 kms from here and 80 kms from Leh. We find good roads and very little traffic and descend to Rumtse in decent time.

5:00 pm – Rumtse: We stop a small canteen in Rumtse to take a break and have tea.

5:40 pm – Indus first View: After starting from Rumtse we move ahead till we reach a point called as Indus First View point. This place the place where Indus river can be first seen in India.

6:00 pm – Upshi: We reach a small town called Upshi and make an entry at the check point. It was starting to get dark. Leh was now only 50 kms away and that felt exciting.

7:40 pm – Leh: We just keep on driving through the dark and good roads to reach Leh town. We passed Shey Palace and Thiskey Monastery on the way just before Leh.

8:30 pm – Leh: We find a hotel on Fort Road and check-in.

9:30 pm – Hotel in Leh: After dinner we just celebrated a little bit on completing one half of the trip. It was a great feeling. The ride had been tough but the experience was amazing. It is for a reason that this whole territory is called as Paradise on earth. It felt amazing to be there.

10:00 pm – Hotel in Leh: We talk and soak in the moment and decide to go to sleep. A much needed sleep and rest.

Sept 20^th, 2014

10:00 am – Leh: We had discussed that we will try to look for my bike’s handle if we can find it in Leh. That would enable us to stay one more day in Leh as per our original plan. Otherwise, we would have to cut down one day in Leh so that we can get the bike fixed on returning. We just came to know about a bandh in Leh for this day. No vehicles were to be allowed on roads and all shops were shut. That dented our plan to look for my bike’s handle.

11:00 am – Leh: We go out on foot to see the town in general as much as we can. We found that Leh palace was not too far and could be done on foot, so we decided to head there.

12:00 noon – Leh Palace: We reach the Leh palace after climbing uphill and few steps to the palace. The view of Leh from the palace which was at a higher ground was simply mesmerizing. We relished the views and cool breeze and took a tour of the palace. The palace was quite big but seemed in a bad condition. It was still in the process of getting resurrected by the Archaeological Survey of India to be in a better shape. It was a good experience especially for me as I like to visit palaces, forts and other historical places.

2:30 pm – Hotel in Leh: We come back to our hotel disappointed that everything was closed and because of that we would not be able to go to Pangong Lake. Maybe next time, I thought. We took lunch and rested.

6:00 pm – Leh Market: We go out to see if the effect of bandh has died down and shops are opening or not. Local market was opening. We explore the market and check out Pashmina products about which we had no idea. We even got educated on Pashminas in a local shop selling them. We roam around a little bit more in the market.

7:30 pm – Leh Market: We head for dinner at Lamayuru Restaurant. The dinner was good and reasonably priced. We had our fill.

9:00 pm – Hotel in Leh: We come back to our hotel and decide to go to Khardungla next day. We also decided to check the parts for my bike tomorrow again if the shops open. If we were not able to find the part the next day, we would have to head back on Monday, leaving Pangong Lake as incomplete.

Sept 21^st, 2014

10:00 am – Leh: We start off in the morning to check out shops for bike spare parts. There were hardly couple of such shops and that too were closed as it was Sunday. So our last hope of staying one more day in Leh was crashed.

11:00 am – Leh: We find a mechanic shop to get at least the rented Enfield checked up before heading back. After looking in many places we at least found one small mechanic shop and get the bike checked up for our travel ahead.

12:30 pm – Leh: We start towards Khardungla which is the highest motorable road in the world at approx. 18500 ft. It was 40 kms from Leh. The major part of the route the roads were in good condition even though they were a little narrow. The last 10 kms the roads were bad and all of a sudden the last few kms were freezing cold. Our fingers and toes were frozen to numbness which we did not anticipate considering it was middle of the day. At one point it seemed that the last 3-4 kms were never ending. But we kept climbing up and the views just got better and better with snow covered mountains coming ever so close to us.

2:00 pm – KhardungLa: We reached the K-Top and the weather and view was simply breathtaking. We found snow around us and freezing winds. The surprise was a small canteen which was serving hot lemon tea and pakodas. It was quite an experience to eat pakodas with tea in freezing cold. And since we had not thought about how the weather might be here, we were not fully appropriately dressed, with just a thin jacket over the shirt which was proving to be inadequate. We could still bear the cold when we were at the top and not driving but while driving it was bone chilling. We click pictures on the snow, have tea and pakodas and spend some time admiring the view, before we start on our way back to Leh.

3:45 pm – Leh: We reached back to our hotel and had lunch. Leh felt considerably warmer as compared to the place we were coming from.

4:30 pm – Leh: After discussing all options we decided to start to head back to Manali the next day as we needed one or two buffer days to get my bike fixed as it would not have been good to not get it fully fixed before giving it back to my friend.

7:00 pm – Leh: We discuss, analyze, plan and decide to try to target to reach Keylong the next day itself. We had heard people say that it was undoable to do 365 kms in one day in that terrain. We analyzed our trip while coming to Leh and saw how much time it had taken from place to another with lot of breaks. While going back we won’t be taking so many breaks as the time spent in clicking pics etc would not be used and we could take even lesser breaks. Plus we had got the hang of the Enfield and were now more used to riding it than we were while coming. We realized it was a tough and maybe an impossible task but we decided to give it a shot and even if we were able to cross the Baralacha pass before getting dark we could reach Keylong as roads after that till Keylong were good and we knew those roads as we had come by that road. We decided that if at any point we felt we would not be able to cross Baralacha and couple of streams after that before getting dark then we would stay the night in the nearest possible place. So we would have to ride for around 14 hours, with minimal breaks to achieve this. It was decided to leave around 4:30-5:00 am the next day to give maximum day time in the parts where roads were worst.

8:00 pm – Leh: We pack our luggage and mount all but one bag on the bike to avoid wasting time on this in the morning, as leaving on the decided time was very important.

9:00 pm – Leh: We settle the hotel dues, have dinner and go off to sleep. The more interesting part of the trip being over, now I again felt a little worried about the bike we had left behind and how to get that fixed as there weren’t any service centers or shops which had spares for my bike.

Sept 22^nd, 2014

5:30 am – Leh: We finally got everything ready and were about to begin our journey back. We were around half an hour delayed already which could mean anywhere from 15-20 kms distance behind which might be crucial with respect to the tough terrains. But still not so delayed which was good. And this was our earliest start on the whole trip. As soon as we started riding out we began to experience numbing chill all through our body. Early morning cold in hilly areas was something I had forgotten after years of staying in Bangalore weather. Only after a while it felt like we might have to cut our fingers to get rid of the pain given by cold. But, we braved on. Especially my friend who had decided to ride this early part of the route. All our joints had started hurting and were inadequately equipped to handle that cold. We just rode and rode and hoped for sun to come out soon. But even when the sun came out, no sunlight was reaching us down because the whole route till Rumtse had mountains on both sides and sunlight was getting blocked from reaching us at the roads. The only way for respite from this was to cross this stretch as soon as possible.

7:30 am – Rumtse: We covered around 85 kms to reach Rumtse and stopped at the first canteen where sunlight was streaming down. It was the first place since morning where sunlight was reaching us to warm us. We even warmed ourselves by staying close to the stove the canteen people had. We had tea and warmed ourselves but the thought that we would be crossing Tanglang La next gave us the chills. That pass was freezing when we had reached there in the afternoon, so we could not even imagine what would be the state there at this time. Just then we heard few people shouting and saw that another lorry had reversed and rammed into our Enfield which was supposedly safely parked in front of the canteen. My friend rushed to the lorry driver and I rushed to the bike. Thankfully the damage was minimal. The front mudguard had come closer to the tyre which I pulled back in to proper position and it worked. Great thing was that the bike still did not fall even though the impact was from a lorry and it was on side stand. We would not have been able to take the Enfield not in appropriate condition back to Manali, as there were no mechanics or phone signals till Keylong. We again shouted, abused and fought with the driver that how could he reverse without looking back? And the amazing part was that the bike was not even on the road that time. Luckily the damage was only cosmetic with mudguard getting a little dented and scratched.

8:00 am – Rumtse: This uncannily similar second crash wasted around half an hour for us. We decided to continue forward towards Pang. On the way we crossed Tanglang La and surprisingly we didn’t feel the wind biting into us. It was still cold there but I guess we had been hardened by the extreme conditions during the morning travel.

11:00 am – Pang: We reached Pang. Had a quick lunch and headed towards Sarchu. It was crucial for our time check to see when we reach Sarchu. If we made it till Sarchu till 2:30 pm at the latest, Keylong would still be doable otherwise it would become riskier and riskier and by the minute.

2:30 pm – Sarchu: We hit Sarchu just in nick of time and decided to continue towards the tent dhabas at the base of Baralacha. We skipped a break and although our bums were screaming for rest but we carried on towards Darchu on the way to Keylong.

5:30 pm – Darchu: We crossed Baralacha in time and the two streams and a patch of bad road and reached Darchu while it was still not dark. We took a much needed break and relaxed. The hardest part was over. Keylong was now in reach and we knew we would spend the night in Keylong.

6:00 pm – Jispa: By the time we reached Jispa it had started to get dark but we knew that roads were better in the final stretch except for couple of patches which were not dangerous and remote as they were intercity roads. Keylong was now less than 30 kms away.

7:30 pm – Keylong: We finally reached the hotel in Keylong and celebrate with high fives and cheers on being able to do this. It was a record breaking epic ride of 14 hours to cover 365 kms in that terrain where people say ideal distance every day is to cover anywhere between 120-180 kms. All our estimates and calculations were spot on as regards to the timing. I congratulated my friend on braving the early morning ride and he congratulated me on driving practically nonstop with good average speed in the areas of worst roads. I checked my bike and it was there in the same condition as we had left. The hotel guy was trustworthy after and we thanked him for his help.

8:00 pm – Keylong: As we were still outside and relaxing and chit chatting, another biker came and stopped in front of the hotel. My friend got talking to him and we came to know that he had a workshop in Manali. We showed him my bike and he very confidently said that he would fix it the next day when we reach Manali the next day. We felt ecstatic that probably our problem would finally be solved.

9:00 pm – Keylong: We have dinner and discuss plans for next day before dozing off after the bik-athon of today.

Sept 23^rd, 2014

8:30 am – Keylong: We wake up and rearrange our luggage and mount on both the bikes. We settle the dues and give the charge for keeping my bike safely.

9:00 am – Keylong: We start towards Manali. We only had to cover 110 kms to reach Manali. We had time so we took breaks liberally. More so, because it was too straining to drive for long with the bent handle and no footrest.

12:30 pm – After Rohtang Pass: Finally the horrible terrain of Rohtang pass was crossed, once again with the bent handle. We took a break and realized we were almost there and had crossed the worst. Good roads had started and while descending from Rohtang Pass there was a place where we drove straight into the clouds. Literally the clouds were on the roads and we drove through them. It was a first in my life to drive through the clouds. We stopped to savor the moment and view. It took time to sink in what we had just witnessed. A whole bunch of low clouds right at our level on the roads. It was simply breathtaking.

2:30 pm – Manali: Eventually we reached outskirts of Manali and found the workshop of the guy we had met the night before. By the time we reached the workshop the handle of my bike completely came off. Now the situation had become even graver.

3:30 pm – Manali: We ask the guy to look and try to figure out and fix the bike as it was in absolutely no condition to drive. We discussed at length and ultimately he gave that he could do nothing and we would have to arrange the handle somehow. After being so overly confident the night before he was not even willing to put any thought to how possibly the handle could be temporarily fixed to enable us to reach a place where we could find a showroom to get it properly fixed. He told us that there was a new Hero showroom around 17 kms from Manali and we should head there to check for handle. He did not even have the number of the showroom and told us that it would close around 5 pm.

3:50 pm – Manali: With no other option we start rushing to that showroom.

4:30 pm – Hero showroom, Patlikul: The guy at the showroom told us that he had no spare parts as the showroom had newly opened. We engage in elaborate discussions with him to try to get us at least the handle if not the footrest holder by next day. He enquired and said that the handle was not available even at the Kullu showroom (40 kms from Manali) and was there at Mandi showroom (100 kms from Manali). We earnestly ask him to procure it from Mandi and give it to us the next day. He said he could not commit but would try his best and let us know by 12:00 noon the next day. We then talk to our bike rental guy from whom we rented the Enfield. He told us to bring the bike somehow to his garage and his mechanic might be able to figure something out.

5:00 pm – Manali: We reached the bike rental shop (Manali Enfield Center) and told him everything once again. Then we left for workshop where we had left my bike to bring it to this shop.

6:00 pm – Manali Enfield Center, Manali: I somehow managed to drive the 4-5 kms with clutch in my lap to bring the bike to the rental shop.

6:45 pm – Manali Enfield Center, Manali: The mechanic finally takes a look and assures us that he will do something for the handle and the footrest so that we can proceed towards Delhi. We were desperately hoping that he would do something positive as till now who ever had responded confidently had only disappointed us. The mechanic asked to come at 12:00 noon the next day and he will have the bike temporarily fixed.

7:30 pm – Manali: We leave my bike at the shop and check in to a hotel.

8:00 pm – Hotel in Manali: Despite all the frustration, we freshen up and celebrate on completing the Manali – Leh – Manali leg of the trip.

10:00 pm – Hotel in Manali: We go off to sleep after dinner.

Sept 24^th, 2014

10:30 am – Manali: We head out to the market and have some breakfast and roam around in the market.

12:00 pm – Manali Enfield Center: We reach the rental shop to check the progress if any with the bike. The mechanic came up and very nonchalantly told us the obstacles he faced to carry out his initial plan to fix the handle. But before we would become depressed he said in the same breath that he still managed to get something done by drilling and welding so that the handle would hold. It was a great relief to see the handle in its proper position though not very correctly but still manageable.

2:00 pm – Manali Enfield Center: My bike is as fixed as it can be, given the conditions. We return the rental bike and take my bike to head to the hotel. We pack our luggage. The shop owner and mechanic were the rare people who delivered what they promised. The rental did not give any problems ever and they fixed my bike too. More so the mechanic did not even ask for any money for the repairs. We still gave some for sweets and mutton in gratitude. The rental bike had a little damage on the mud guard but the shop owner (Keshav) did not charge anything for that too, saying that we already had suffered losses and the mudguard thing was not that big a deal. It was really great to see nice people especially those who are operating a business to be so considerate and honest. We also checked up on updates from Patlikul showroom and that guy said that he had somehow managed to get the part from Mandi to Kullu and was going to get it from Kullu now.

3:00 pm – Hotel in Manali: We check out and start towards Chandigarh, planning to stay the night in Bilaspur like in our onward journey.

4:30 pm – Patlikul showroom: We take the handle, pay the guy and thank him for his help. The temporary handle was sturdy enough and we decided to get it replaced in Delhi itself and kept the handle.

9:30 pm – Bilaspur: The drive to Bilaspur was slow with bad roads but we eventually reached and checked into a hotel. We freshen up, have dinner and go to bed. The trip was on the verge of getting complete.

 The next day and day after was pretty much uneventful and finally the trip was complete. We amassed a little more than 2200 kms on the bike during this whole trip and it felt exhilarating to do so. 

Info and Checklists

This section is for all riders who are planning to undertake this trip.
First of all, if you are used to riding Enfield or own an Enfield it is advisable to rent it out in Manali. I am not endorsing Bullet. And frankly, I don't like Bullets and did not enjoy riding it on this trip. But the thing is, in terms of service and parts availability, that is the only bike for which you will find sufficient availability. If you ride a different bike and want to take that, make sure you have essential spare parts, because after Mandi (100kms before Manali) there are no showrooms or service centers for other bikes. Even if there are some small ones, they do not have spare parts which you might need.
So you need to carry
 - Handle bar or different handles, depending on the handle of your bike. Especially for Karizma riders. Being a Karizma rider for close to 10 years now, I know that if a Karizma falls, 90% of the time its handle will take the brunt of the fall and I faced the same again.
 - Clutch and accelerator wires
 - Spark plugs if required
 - Bulbs for head and tail light
 - Clutch and Front brake levers
 - Disc brake pads just to be extra safe.
Apart from these it is up to your discretion and judgement what you want to carry.

- Plan for atleast 15 full days for the trip to be able to see all the places and keep couple of days in buffer for contingencies.
- September is a little colder than other months but the roads are mostly dry and in the best condition that they can be. So this is the best time to go. Before this or during rainy seasons you will too much of slush and streams.
- The last petrol pump before Leh is at Tandi (110 kms from Manali and 365 kms from Leh). Depending on your bike's mileage and tank capacity you might need to carry extra fuel.
- Keylong is the last place before Leh which has couple of mechanic shops and has telephone network. All telephone networks work till Keylong. After Keylong, no network will work till you reach Upshi (50 kms before Leh). From Upshi, only BSNL/MTNL and Airtel POSTPAID connections work.
- For road conditions etc you can get that info from the travelogue above.
- You need to be willing to wear the same jacket and jeans for the length of the bike trip because no matter how frequently you change, it will become dirty in half an hour. So avoid carrying extra luggage. Just keep couple jeans, tshirts and shirts along with thermal inners.
- Waterproof riding boots would be helpful in some places to keep your feet from getting wet while crossing streams.
- Good biking sunglasses which cover the eyes completely from all sides are essential as there would be lot of dust.
- Keep medicines for all general problems like headache, loose motions, stomach ache, fever etc along with Diamox for Acute Mountain Sickness. Start taking Diamox (250 mg) two days before you expect to reach the higher altitudes. Take one tablet after every meal (3 times a day). It might save you from severe headaches and vomitting at higher altitudes.
- Carry cash. You find ATMs till Keylong and then in Leh but it is better not to rely on them completely as they can be found broken as well.
A detailed checklist would be posted later but these are the essential ones.

** Everyone needs to do this trip atleast once in his life **

Read More