A Tour to Leh on Motorcycle
26th August 2007
We, my self and Puneet did complete this trip in the first half of June 07. It was a very interesting trip of a our life. we went on on our Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle to ride over 1900 kms and enjoyed every single instant of it. I returned home about one week ago and so far I am not able to shake off the menace.
We started our journey from Delhi at 4.30.00am. First day we traveled around 450 kms and reached near to Mandi and finally stopped their due to dimness in the weather conditions. Our first day of journey on Bullet motorcycle was a day of gaining knowledge as me and Puneet had one go down each. After going through these falls one can start regarding the Bullet and also be trained to handle the Royal monster with care.
Next day ,we could not leave before 9.00am as we both were tired.. After one hour of our ride, we saw a boat camp in which a flat floating structure of timber used as boat. Puneet has this strong attraction for water. Puneet insisted me also on the boat. By the way we found that the day we reached there was the last day of boating being allowed in the area. After boating of approximately 14km of the distance, we finally reached Manali by 7.00 in the night and after keeping our luggage in place we speedily went for shopping for sea boots, ropes, tarpaulin, raincoats and eye protection safety glasses.
Next day we started early. We reached Rohtang Pass by 9.00 in the morning and as soon as we reached there water fall started Puneet could not stop him self with the excitement of taking bath in the waterfall. Me and Puneet spent half an hour at a suitable place much to the enjoyment of inquisitive onlookers. Although water is an immense pleasurable it also does is eat away your energy, this I was learn latter. We rached Keylong at 3.45 in the evening by that time I was deadly exhausted. Fortunately where we stopped for having tea accommodation was also available there. We decided to stay there and finished our third day journey on our motorcycles .On the way the thing important to mention for day was our crossing of river first time. Me and Puneet also took videos and snaps of each other and also put petrol in our Royal Enfield bullet motorcycle to reach our next station which was approximately 350 kms from this place.
I felt little bit better by next morning when I wake up. I was with more positive in managing the torrent and terrible roads which followed latter on. I also noticed that Bullet rides by its own. I signify the absolute easiness with which we maneuvered on the rocks and all the way through water had more to do with the Bullet’s inborn steadiness to a certain extent than our own skills to handling the living thing. Our day was ended at Pang. In the way we crossed Baralachla where I had a major incident of headache. . was . We also crossed the very gorgeous camps at Sarchu/Darcha. The beauty of the place was getting better all the occasion.
We arrived at Tanglang la Pass - 2nd Highest Motorable Pass after few hours of leaving our Pang camp at Pang. On the way , just after crossing Pang there was a huge mud field. But here again one can realizes that the “Bullet motor cycle ” was the vehicle of preference. After we crossed the Tanglangla we found that the better road starts and which becoming better and better onward.. Also the things to see turn from magnificent to wonderful, filling us with supplementary astonishment. Our This day journey ended at Ley at 3.00 in the evening.
Puneet and my families joined us and collectively and we all went to the very gorgeous lake called Pangong – this journey we completed in Innova instead of our motorcycles. Our next trip to the Khardong La the Highest Pass was without the families. Only Puneet very sporting sister went along with us till highest pass .One could really feel the profound air on the top of the world.
Our families went back from Khardong and after seeing off our families we moved to our next destination -Kargil. On the way we did two mistakes,one we forget to put petrol in our bikes’ tank resulting petrol level in tank came down very low and caused a obstacle in the bike’s carburetor. Second mistake we did, Puneet and I kept on riding our motorcycles in spite of being very exhausted and that also in the night which cost us energy and valuable time. We really trust that both of us Puneet and I earned our “cascade” on that meticulous day. We also gone away with minor bump. This is amazing to be renowned regarding the Bullet that except you are building labors to get yourself physically injured by driving fast and rash too the Bullet will not permit you to get injured.
We started from Kargil by 10.00 in the morning. The present road stretch between Kargil to Srinagar beauty cannot be explain in the words. On the way, we frequently kept stopping for watching the beauty which was all just about of us. We took few snaps and also made a video film of that beautiful surroundings all over. One can really experience the wonderful blow of the sights after reaching that place only. On this exacting day Zo Zilla Pass was the only bad part of the road. Immediately after crossing this part we reached Sonmarg and came across substantial forces deputed for security.. After every half kilometer, Security personnel were posted with fully AKs armed .The Dal Lake of Srinagar seemed so common in evaluation to the landscapes we had seen as a consequence distant.
After spending few hours we returned bakt to Delhi. On the way we also took a halt at Ludhiana to avoid night riding.