Day 1 Delhi to Naggar

Day 1 Delhi to Naggar   ( 536 kms )

Up at 2.45 for chai at 3 and departure at 4. We’ve all been required to stay at the Natraj hotel so that the rollcall will find out if anyone is still in bed. By Delhi standards the traffic is light, and we seem to be able to stay together as a bunch of 30 riders. We go through red lights but it seems to be OK and may be they have to get a bit redder before anyone thinks about stopping. Sheer mass enables us to push through the roundabouts which are generally a free for all.

All loaded up. Indian flag with IAA logo proved useful when trying to find other riders, but I would have liked a TEAM AUSTRALIA one.

I haven’t a clue where we are but as daylight comes, we are on a main highway lined with an assortment of industrial buildings and small workshops, all of which is pretty ugly and unplanned. It’s a 2 and mostly 3 lane road but there are clapped out old trucks running at about 40 kph in the far right lane so there’s no European style lane discipline here. At the chai stop I ask what is going on but am told that it would be a waste of time trying to get these drivers to stay in the left lane and if they did get fined, they wouldn’t pay !!!!!

At times the motorway comes to an abrupt end, and you drop off on to a side road which is then intersected by crossroads. Who is meant to give way?   Seems the least daring driver.

We stop for an hour for lunch – nobody’s in a hurry to move and then half an hour later are told to refuel. Since there’s only one attendant on the pump and he has to do the filling and collect the money, refueling 30 bikes takes nearly an hour and I’m a bit perplexed at the sense in doing it this way. What about a third of the riders stopping at successive fuel stations but I keep my mouth shut.

At the end of the plains and the start of the climb to Manali, the twisting road, is an opportunity for the tintop drivers to really show how daring they are, so coming round a corner you meet up with cars on your side of the road. Somehow you manage to get over to the left verge to avoid being taken out, but it’s pretty scary stuff and I’m not used to it. It seems to go for hours and it’s almost dark before we make the turn off to Naggar, near Manali, where our hotel is. The road becomes a goat track. It’s been a long day. A bike guide I spoke to before we left the Delhi hotel, who had just brought back a group of dutch riders back, thought we were crazy trying to do the 530 kms in one day. However the thought of a hot shower seems to be enough to make you happy.

 FYI -That’s a dhabba, a small roadside shop, and they sell Chai and often Indian style food. The food handling practices manual is nowhere to be seen so…………..

As we climb higher, and it gets colder, it’s great to be able to get inside and out of the wind, but this is a low level one as evidenced by the greenery on the rocks. And that’s Jebez 

Arkash has booked rooms in a 2 starish hotel, but it’s very suitable for our needs. It’s arranged that you will share a room with same guy every night and I end up with Jebez, from Malaysia, who is the only other person who can’t speak Hindi. He’s a nice guy and we get on well for the two weeks. He introduces me to the Indian poet Tagore, carrying a book of poems with him. Who said all bike riders were boofheads.  He doesn’t have any Diamox and I have plenty so I offer him a daily dose. It’s a drug with possible complications so it has to be at his own risk.

Day 6 Leh to Pangong Lake  (164 kms)

The road is initially fairly good (continuous tarseal), but as always you have to be super vigilant because of occasional potholes and the concrete spillways which channel water off the road high side. For these, it’s a case of get up on to the pegs and not throttling off, but the bike has a nasty habit of jumping out of gear as it receives a great whack. Still there’s no way, you want to be on the seat. We stop as usual at one of the many ”restaurants” that serve chai and have a long break. It’s the usual “herding cats” problem when we need to get going.

We approach the Chang La (17688' ) and the road up is turning to icy patches and slush with the air temp at freezing.

I’ve got rid of my old mesh gloves and have padded ones but have frozen hands so stop and try and get warm.

The road now has short bad sections of dirt and as I’m coming down a hill I see a broken piece ahead  but I’m travelling too fast and  maybe grab too much front brake. I go down and end up in a boulder filled drain on the side of the road. I lie there, and am too winded to get out. One of the guys following, gets the bike up and off the road and then gets me up. I’m feeling a bit shaky but the only thing is to get back on the bike and get moving. My knees feel a bit knocked about and could be bleeding but I don't check (big mistake as I later find out) Seems that's all and I’m very lucky. I went down on my previously broken shoulder side but fortunately there's no damage to it. I’m not looking forward to arriving at the camp because I know that I’m going to get ragged unmercifully by Akarsh, and this is my own fault for previously baiting him with the remark that this has been a ride for pussies and questioning the "adventure" content. The other guys are wonderful and all ask me if there’s anything that they can do – very heart warming.

We get to Pangong lake and stop by it for a rest. It's a beautiful azure colour and 70% is actually in Chinese territory. 

Unwisely I stay too long on the "beach" and have to ride with one of the guys who says he knows the track to the camp site. He doesn’t and we end up pushing bikes out of the sand stretches – pretty exhausting at over 13,000’ and I’m feeling knackered by the time we get to the camp.

Camps like this are used by hiking groups and bike riders for about four months of the year and then dismantled. They have a large tent as a dining room and buffet style dishes on burners. 

It's cool but not really cold so there's no need to put on heaps of clothing at night. Thermal u/wear is enough.

Day 5 – Rest day in Leh.

Down to drop off the laundry (you wouldn’t even think about washing it for the prices these guys charge) and I go to the internet café to do the hotmail thing. Leh is very traffic congested and the air is bad but it’s warm and the day is great.

I see this, and can’t believe it – an almost immaculate Yamaha RD 350 (a hot two stroke twin from the 70s and very sought after in Aus.) How did this end up here? Later I find out that this was one model that was imported but why a bike whose chief virtue was that it could blitz everything on the road big time.. Not quite what I would have thought, India needed most. They’re being restored in Delhi and exported.

Now back to non bikestuff –

When we got to Leh, I saw Buda (not sure how he even got there) was in a really bad way and being loaded into a van and taken to a hospital. We hear that his oxygen level is 32 – critical. At sea level healthy people are 100 and we could drop to 70 on the high passes ( I think).

Leh is 3524m - 11562' ) and a lot of people fly in and pick up bikes but you would need to spend a few days acclimatizing before heading north over the passes. I spoke in Sydney to one of the Moto Guzzi guys who lost one of their group when a truck turned in front of one of the riders and he was fooling around with his Go Pro, so didn’t react quickly enough. Death didn't have a very good effect on the ride morale.

The power crashes regularly and the internet goes down. It's been great being able to get hotmail along the way at the bigger towns, so when it happens, you are suddenly aware of the distance.

Near the hotel is a very well constructed stone building, being the "Moravian church", with a little park and cemetery opposite, but the gates are locked and so I left wondering what this is all about.

How did missionaries from an obscure 19th century central European state, end up here.

Behind the area the hotel is located is the Jaismid Mahal mosque with the Palace behind and a stupa at the top of the hill.

It was a great day in Leh and gave everyone a re charge to face the next two days with the two highest passes coming up, but having managed seventeen and a half thousand feet,it seemed safe to think ( with the acclimatization that we’d had ) that unless you did something silly, like taking in a lot of alcohol, then AMS wasn’t going to be a problem. However as in Buda’s case, it can affect people differently and no one knows why.
We head down to the petrol station and buy exra fuel for the ride next day to Pasong lake because of there being no fuel there, and we'll need to get back to Leh. 

day 4 Sarchu to Leh.

Day 4  Sarchu  to Leh,   ( 230 kms)

“Don’t be big fools
Follow the road rules”  BRO roadside sign

Day is fine but cold and the road is a mixture of the terrible to the magnificent.

We rode along this valley on a good surface for about 20kms.

These bits of road give you a break from the pounding and the riding is great because rather than be totally preoccupied with threading your way through the potholed road, you get an opportunity to take in the dramatic landscape. It’s very barren desert with scree slides off the steep mountains, not dissimilar to what you get in the Sth Island of New Zealand.

Next it was this, as we had to claw back the altitude lost in the run down the valley from Sarchu. 

Yes, that road looks good but when I was down there two minutes ago, it was crap. Potholes and frost heave damage.

It’s cold and dry up here and nothing grows, even in the summer.

The long climb up on to the Taglang La  at 17582' goes on for many kilometres and the bike throttle response seems to be getting progressively worse. This was the whole point of getting a fuel injected bike rather than a carburetted one because carburettors become markedly less efficient as the air pressure drops. I'm very less than impressed with this bike and dream of being on one of my own bikes.
This is the second highest motorable road in the world and while it's cool up here, the day is fine and
really enjoyable.

We drop down on to what seems to be a high plateau, (Is it the Moree plains?) and run on a beautiful piece of black bitumen road which despite no centre marking is 4 cars wide and goes for 20kms. Can’t see Mr Moti’s (PM) holiday house so who knows.





















One of the typically Tibetan styled  monasteries (or were they stupas) perched on the mountainside.

There are welcome breaks to get chai at the Tibetan roadhouses and to try and re group because people are moving along at very different speeds. It’s the classic argument - do you try and get over the broken road as fast as possible and “fly” over it, or just pick your way through. The result for the fast ones as we discover later is that frames crack and break and my room mate, Jebez, loses the whole back light and number plate assembly plus the rack breaks, and he dumps it.

At Upshi, 40 kms from Leh, the road improves dramatically and we get into race mode (well the nearest thing you can get to, on an Enfield). Akarsh the I A A chief, rides a KTM 370 Duke and is a great rider but we try and stay with him.

Getting into Leh, the pollution becomes very apparent and vehicles, especially the trucks are spewing black clouds of sooty exhaust. There are no DPF filters (diesel particulate) fitted in India and the result is pretty bad. Makes you wish that you’d bought a mask with you, and some of the locals have scarves wrapped around. Not sure about the micron rating of scarves though.  We get to the hotel and the irreverent subgroup  I’ve become part of do a ritual “ Fnn Incredible India – YEEHAH.”  Great to be here and the hotel seems fine for 1 or 2 star. We go to the Il Forna restaurant and while the others have curry stuff, I have bascaiola. Never did a meal taste so good.

Day 3 Naggar to Sarchu ( 235kms )

Day 3 Naggar to Sarchu ( 235kms )

Here's a map so that you have some idea of where this trip took us. Delhi to Pathankot only because when the others headed for Delhi, I went on my little sidetrip to Dalhousie.

Up at 3 and supposed to be gone by four but we lapse into I A A time and it’s a late start. However it’s still dark and the drizzle and the goat track road are challenging. We pass down narrow roads (by passing Manali) and try and get through the herds of goats that are being moved along the road. We have our first casualty – one of the guys who is riding a 220cc locally made bike, with a pillion. He tries to climb out of the lower centre part of a bridge onto the wheel tracks with predictable results. Apparently, he’s new to biking and hasn’t the required road skills, so he packs it in there and then and gets into the support vehicle. He’s paid the required amount to secure both of them a place in it and one of the support boys takes over the bike. I see him only once again on the bike and that’s on one of the easier sections.

This is National Highway 21 between Manali and Sarchu (not quite the M7)

And another view of the road (and not as soft as it might look)

The climb up on to the Rohtang Pass comprises a lot of long section switchbacks which just keep doubling back with sharp corners to get us up in height, 4290m.

We reach the top and I'm relieved to find that despite the quick ascent from 1800 to 3970m (13050') , I don't feel affected by A S, just the fingertip tingling sensation that often accompanies the use of Diamox.
It's time for a chai, the ritual stopping at the dhabbas that we will do everyday.

I wonder what is under all these tarps but find out that they’re quad bikes. Apparently it’s a novelty for Indians to come up and get around in the snow.

Today’s distance is only 235kms and  I remember thinking, when looking at the ride schedule in Australia, that it seemed a short stretch, but now….
We are climbing up to the Baralach La, but on the way have to try and get up this water filled cutting and end up pushing bikes through the freezing water. My boots fill up and after while my feet are really cold. I should have put glad bags over my socks. 

 

That’s about 150mm of water flowing down the cut over slippery boulders.
Yes, and it’s still NH 21

We climb up and over the Baralacha La (16040'-  4890m) so having got to it and feeling no AMS symptoms, I’m happy.

It’s starting to snow, or it could be sleet so it’s very cold and we have to stop at a dhabba, run by friendly Tibetan women who sell chai and food. As you can see, they have stone end walls and when the oncoming winter necessitates their closing down, the roof is removed. Note the nice doonas and cushions and they didn't jack up when some riders got beneath them in their dirty gear.
I drop down on to what looks like a couch thing but find that it’s a rectangle of rocks covered with mats.  Very comfy. These were lovely women.

I’m feeling cold and a bit nackered and it shows.

At least I have good warm riding gear, esp the Firstgear rain jacket which I got while in the US, which covers my mesh jacket and being bright yellow, will hopefully be helpful in saving me from being wiped out by the guys who think that my side of the road belongs to them.

In an e mail I asked Akarsh about bringing wet weather gear but he said not to bother – “It doesn’t rain up there”.

Hullo.  There seems to be a level of dampness today.

We get to the Sarchu tent camp, before dark but at 4290 m, ( 14,070') it’s going to be a cold night. One of the doctors looks to be in a bad way and collapses onto the bed in our tent without even pulling off his boots. We leave him there but later on, Madan, one of the ride organisers, comes over and tells him that he has to come to dinner and the briefing, trying to pull the blankets off him. Buda merely pulls them back over his head so we burst out laughing, but it’s more serious than anyone realizes, as we find out at Leh. Dinner is an all Indian menu affair and I’m past eating. Go to bed with a padded jerkin and a fibre filled jacket on. Jebez, my tentmate, has less warm gear and uses one of those chemical warmer pads during the night.  Says it works well.