8th July, 2008.
Route: Manali – Rohtang La – Kokhsar – Tandi – Keylong.
Distance Covered: 118 Km.

The day that would be the most crucial for the tour. Again had to take cold water bath but it was comfortable. The weather was nice, not cold, not warm, not cloudy, not sunny. The first and foremost thing that was necessary was to search for an Air filling station. The petrol pumps in these region rarely offer filling up air in vehicles.

The ride from Manali was  good, the road was good, the progress was rapid. I thought I don’t know why people curse this roads, if roads are like these, we really don’t require much time. The landscape started getting beautiful and more beautiful as we started ascending on the Rohtang La Pass. The snow capped mountains on one side, lush greenery, and the river Beas on other became the regular sight.

Somewhere on the middle of the ascent to the Rohtang La Pass, we stopped for the first time for breakfast. The hotel was empty, but as soon as we ordered two more groups stopped; later that became the common sight. Wherever we used to stop for breakfast,  lunch or dinner the place used to get filled pretty soon.

The traffic to the ‘Rohtang La’ is quite high. Towards the top, the road starts getting worse; At few places the melted snow flows through the road to the valley; add to that the dirt from double lane’ing work in progress made the road slushy at few points. After  crossing ‘Rohtang La’ around 19 km’s later we found ourselves at Kokhsar checkpoint where everybody needs to get registered before embarking on further journey. The rods starts getting worse after the “Rohtang La” top. Even though it is decent all the  way till Jispa or Darcha the progress was slow.

We stopped at Kokhsar for Lunch. The next stop was Tandi, where we were get petrol for the last time before reaching Leh.

The day’s halt came at Keylong. Rooms at hotel Chandrabhaga were full but we got two tents. Shantanu and Madhavi slept as soon as we kept our baggage's in tents, did not even get up for dinner.

 

 

7th July, 2008.
Route: Kullu – Manali.
Distance Covered: 42 Km.

The day of rest and bike checkups, the most crucial part before starting further on the journey, as there would potentially be no proper mechanic shops until we reach Leh.

Started from kullu around 8.00 and reached Manali around 10-  10.30am. Had  breakfast break on the way to Manali. Found Bajaj Bike point, owned by Ashok, on the Manali-Leh highway along river Beas, where we were to get our bikes checked and serviced, where we were to get mechanic to accompany us during the trip. After giving our bikes to Ashok for checkup, we checked into a Hotel in Manali. The atmosphere was surprisingly quiet hot that day. Had cold water bath. Snow capped mountain peaks were visible through the windows of our room for the first time in our journey.

The pulsars are quite rough and tough bikes they were in perfect conditions; there was absolutely no need for any high altitude engine adjustments. Just tightened breaks and adjusted chain tension and wheel balancing. Sudhakar’s thunderbird needed attention and was in garage for most of the day. When the mechanic opened his bike, there was absolutely no engine oil in his bike and this had resulted in worn-out clutch plates.

Most of the day we spent at the Hotel. Finally after all bikes were services we ventured out in the Manali market. Had late afternoon snacks in place of lunch. Roamed into the market, went to hiddimba temple (there was ghatotkatch temple as well), went back to  the market. Sudhakar and Shantanu purchased hand gloves for rain protection. Had dinner at a continental hotel and went back to sleep. Tomorrow would be a big day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow we were to cross the last petrol pump at ‘Tandi’ before reaching ‘Leh’, a journey of 365kms without petrol pump, without cell-phone or a landline network. The only mode of civilian communication is the good old postal office.

6th July, 2008.
Route: Chandigarh – Bilaspur – Mandi – Aut – Kullu.
Distance Covered: 280 Km’s.

The Day marked the start of the tour. We had planned to start early by 5.30-6, but finally we managed to leave 7-7.30.  The day involved riding bike mostly through the highway between Chandigarh and Manali. A distance of around 320 km’s in comfortable 10 hours of daylight.

Shantanu had been looking forward to the famous Jallory Pass, the steepest climb in India. Others were not that keep, but deep inside had a feeling that the bike’s performance on climbing this Jallory pass will have indication of the things to come in the next 15 days of the tour.

The morning was pleasant,  the weather  was just perfect, not cold, not hold, slight presence of rain in the air, a perfect start to the tour. We crossed Chandigarh and Mohali, and soon we were on the Manali Highway.

Manoj was in the lead followed by me, Sudhakar and Shantanu. Sometime around 9.30-10, Shantanu called up Sudhakar to tell that he has a flat rear tyre. The tube had literally cut, no chances of repairing. All the tools were with Manoj and since he was leading he sped off and there were no signs of him. After sometime Manoj came back thinking of some problem, but by that time Shantanu had found puncture shop pretty close by. The Puncture guy, removed the rear wheel for replacing tyre but couldn’t fit it back correctly. Sudhakar, Shantanu and Me helped him put back the rear wheel. After loosing an hour and half or so we started again.

The progress was slow, not because of problems, but we were enjoying the beauty of the nature and partly Shantanu became very cautious while overtaking trucks. Sometime in the afternoon the rains started and there were no signs of stopping, reducing the progress speed. The rest of the day was uneventful. The Road was in superb conditions, with no potholes and double lane the speed was very good.

Somewhere near Bilaspur, we stopped for Lunch. Ordered Aloo paratha’s and Lassi as punjabi’s eat. The waiter asked whether we need butter or dal along with Paratha’s. We ordered dal and 3 butter. The guy came back with 3 NutraLite butter packets(200ml).  Sudhakar was stunned. We promptly returned back 2, the remaining 1 also we couldn’t finish.

Even though the progress was good, with innumerable breaks for taking photographs and general tiredness, we could only reach Kullu by evening. We decided to halt at Kullu for the night.

Tomorrow being the day of bike checkups we were relaxed. We did cross some ghat sections, but the much awaited Jallory Pass did not show up or we forget to realize its presence. Later locals confirmed that we had to take diversion near AUT from the highway to reach Jallory Pass. We passed through a tunnel near AUT, the tunnel kept going on and on. After coming out of it, it clocked 2.8km’s on odometer.

 

5th July, 2008.
Route: Bangalore – Delhi – Chandigarh.
Distance covered: 2298 km's.

The day started quite early; surprisingly the cab driver was at our place even before our alarm rang. Got ready, picked up Manoj and then Sudhakar on the way. Manoj had forgotten his bike’s papers so went  back to his house again and then left straight to the airport.

The journey looked predictable and comfortable, little we knew that  time that it will take a lot longer. We reached Delhi sharp at 10.00 am and were out of airport by 10.30am. The flight was comfortable, the journey pleasant and on time, as always with Jet airways. Took a pre-paid taxi to the nearest Metro station, Dwarka sector 11. The Metro station is surprisingly very clean and well maintained. We were to board metro till ISBT; it involved change of metro at ‘Rajiv Chowk’ or as previously known ‘Cannaught Place’. The journey by Metro took longer than expected, reached ISBT by 1.00 pm.

There was some confusion over whether we would get VOLVO to Chandigarh or not. One could observe a typical Govt.. attitude especially at the Punjab and Haryana roadways booking counters at Delhi ISBT. The guys were literally sleeping at the enquiry counters and they themselves were not aware whether VOLVO to Chandigarh would come or not. Their only answer was to wait and watch; thankfully bus arrived by and left promptly at 1.30pm. We were to know later that there is only one Volvo that runs and it is not actually a Volvo but a look-alike, and it had not been operational for past 2 days because of breakdown.

Reached Chandigarh by 7.00 pm. Shantanu, Manoj and Sudhakar checked-into the hotel in sector 17C. The hotel was worthless for the price paid. Rushed around Chandigarh to buy a Helmet, and woodlands shoes. It seems market in Chandigarh closes by 8.00pm.

Got a call from my Aunt, who had been to Laddakh few weeks before; she and parents strongly objected going on bike trip to Laddakh. Convincing them was a tough job and to add to the problems the phone battery died in between. Worst, access to any contact was lost because of the died battery. For the first time the realization of our reliance on the cell phones hit me; the address book, the phone numbers, appointments, notes and what not; everything came to a halt. Went back to Shantanu’s hotel, charged cell phone for 5 minutes, wrote all important contact numbers in a diary and then proceeded back to collect the bikes.

It certainly looked easy and quick to collect bikes from the courier company, but it wasn’t; almost another 3 hours, to be precise 23.55, to take bikes out of the premises. What looked trivial things like unpacking bikes, getting petrol from the nearest petrol bunk, starting the bikes, finding that one of the bike’s key is comfortably in the bags at the hotel and getting that key back took eternity.

Madhavi’s cousin had been waiting patiently for us for dinner, which was really late and we had to leave early morning at 5.30 from their place.