Thread: The Road to LEH(2011)

It's never too late, they say(though this one is almost a year late).

After seeing the preparations for this years Leh journeys, I thought I should share my experience about Leh. And the roads opening, who knows the pics might just increase the restlessness in this years riders to Leh.

Like most of the riders, riding to Leh was a long overdue dream. I had been reading about the trips to Leh for few years now but had only a week for the actual planning.

Our dates were confirmed by 2nd week of August and we started our trip by the 3rd week. We were four riders, my bro, his 2 friends and myself.

The planned route was:
Delhi - Manali - Leh - Kargil - Srinagar - Jammu - Chandigarh - Delhi

But the route taken was:
Delhi - Manali - Leh - Manali - Chandigarh - Delhi

We had to replan in the middle as the 3 had to return for their exams of which we came to know after reaching Leh.

There wont be much of writing(saving the words for this years ride), would like the pictures to speak for themselves.

Some preview pics.

More pics in a few hours.

Leh Triplog Approved

1st Picture is not correctly visible. Please check the link.

thaks bro for this thread.. Was just thinking if you can post the name of the place also somewhere in the post.
Was taking time searching the road conditions and places.. And your thread came just in time (not planning any trip this season though).

Originally Posted by antz.bin

Leh Triplog Approved

1st Picture is not correctly visible. Please check the link.

Just uploaded the pic again. Should look fine now. Thanks.

Originally Posted by muztariq

thaks bro for this thread.. Was just thinking if you can post the name of the place also somewhere in the post.
Was taking time searching the road conditions and places.. And your thread came just in time (not planning any trip this season though).

Ya sure man will add the trip log also along with the details.

Still waiting for the travelogue and photos.

Day 1: Delhi-Manali(570 kms)
Start date: 27-08-2011
No. of people: 4
Bikes : FZ, Pulsar's & Karizma

It was the 2nd week of August, my brother(Retesh) informed about having two weeks by the month end for a Leh trip and that is when we started to get ready for the big ride. Two of his friends, Gopal & Abhinav joined us.

We had only 1 week to make all the preparations. Me and my bro decided to drive from Delhi while the other 2 were to join us from Manali. I was in Chennai while the other 3 were in Delhi. So I booked my flight ticket from Chennai to New Delhi while my bro got all the stuff for the journey like cold clothing, eatables, bags, rope, rain coats, etc. from the Army canteen in Delhi.

I had my bike, a Yamaha FZ and another friends Pulsar 150 for my bro. Gopal and Abhinav had booked a Pulsar and a Karizma from a rental in Manali.

After servicing the bikes I loaded the FZ and Pulsar in train from Chennai central on 23rd August. I had to get an agents help since I did not have train tickets. He got 2 second class tickets till Delhi and booked the bikes with them. I sent the bike keys and the receipt to my brother thru Blue Dart. The bikes reached Delhi without even a scratch and my brother took them on Thursday as soon as they reached.

Since I had applied for 10 days of leave, I had to finish all the pending work. For the whole week before the trip I had to stay late in office to finish off the work. In the few hours of sleep that I got, I only dreamt about the trip.

I took an evening flight to Delhi on 26th August and reached New Delhi airport by mid-night where my brother was waiting to pick me up. After reaching home we started packing the stuff which had already been bought. The other 2 guys had reached Manali a day before to check on the bikes.

The route planned was Delhi - Manali - Leh - Srinagar - Delhi as mentioned before.

The plan for day 1 was to do the whole Delhi to Manali stretch in a single day as others were waiting in Manali. We planned to start by early morning 4 AM so that we could reach Manali by evening if we stopped for few short breaks.

Day 1:

We slept at 1 AM and woke up at around 3.30 AM and got ready. It had rained that night and was still drizzling. Still we got ready and tied our bags to the bikes and were ready to start by 4.15 AM.

The petrol pump near our house was closed and so we drove till we found the next open pump near ISBT. After full tanks we found our way out of Delhi and hit the highway crossing the by-pass by 5.00 AM. We drove for few hours and stopped for a tea break after nearly 100 kms.

The road was awesome till Panipat, after that it was good in pieces as work was going on till Ambala. We stopped for breakfast just after Ambala. Hot parathas and curd, it was an awesome breakfast. We reached Chandigarh and missed the by-pass road, so had to drive through the city which was irritating with the traffic and the hot sun. Still with difficulties we were just out of Chandigarh when it started to drizzle. We put on our rain coats, covered our bags and were back on the track.

The plains were coming to an end and the mountains were at sight. For the next few hours we drove through the mountains along with the trucks which were in plenty on the road. It again started to drizzle as we approached Bilaspur. Our next stop was for lunch, just after crossing Bilaspur. A late lunch at around 4.00 PM and we hit the road again as we still had a long way to cover.

After Bilaspur we reached Mandi in a couple of hour enroute Sundarnagar. We were supposed to meet our uncle at Sundar nagar but dint stop as it would further delay our schedule. The route from Mandi to Manali was picturesque and really awesome. The 3 km long Bhubhu-Jot tunnel between Mandi and Kullu was unexpected as we had not known about it.

The road from Kullu to Manali was really bad. We had to drive in the dark for a few hours and by the time we reached Manali it was almost 10.30 PM. The guys had already booked a room near the old town. The long, hard drive had come to an end after 570 kms on the trip meter. We were completely exhausted and were sleepy after driving for nearly 18 hours.

We dint find time to take pics on the first day as we were in a rush.

Day 2 and more to follow.

WOW!
Another Leh trip log ...
Aane do..
Subscribed

Nice one. What type of bag did you tie on the FZ tail. Looks like a large garbage bag

If I read your log correctly, you guys took 18 hours to reach Manali?

Originally Posted by Nagesh Patankar

WOW!
Another Leh trip log ...
Aane do..
Subscribed

Day 2 and more by tonight. Just started writing.

Originally Posted by madelikeagun

Nice one. What type of bag did you tie on the FZ tail. Looks like a large garbage bag

If I read your log correctly, you guys took 18 hours to reach Manali?

he he he... Its not a garbage bag, it was a big backpack covered with large plastic bags to protect from rain and it was easier to take out things when needed compared to covering it with sheets.

And yes it took us 18 hours as it was raining all along and there were places where it was so heavy that we had to stop for long durations.

Waiting for more. Want to know how FZ fared on those gruesome altitudes Would be taking that next year most probably