Ever since I’ve started riding, the snow clad mountains and starry sky have a special place in my heart and thanks to Delhi’s pollution, the motorcyclist in me always wants to ride out to Himalayas at the drop of a hat. So after reading so many travelogues on xBhp forum, I decided to pay a visit to the cold desert of, Lahaul-Spiti, as it has been an old favorite for many xbhpians.
The literal meaning of Spiti is “The Middle Land”, i.e. the land between Tibet and India. The Spiti Valley is a desert mountain valley located high in the Himalaya Mountains in the north-eastern part of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
And this trip was long due, it was cancelled previously at least 2-3 times. But this time I finally made it happen. August was the chosen month for the ride, despite known that its ‘Monsoon time’, the little adventure seeker bug in me and my trusted mile muncher, Karizma ZMA was confident enough for the different experience.
Before starting the ride, I made a route on Castrol Power Biking App so that I can keep a track of my exact kilometers covered, Mechanic shops en-route and most importantly the SOS feature (just in-case anything goes wrong) I can ask for a help.
The Castrol Biking App also helps you in making a checklist for your ride.
After starting my journey from Delhi, I made my first night stop at Narkanda due to rain where I also visited one apple orchids the next morning. But god had planned something different for me. The rear wheel got bent after hitting a pothole on the Tapri to Karcham stretch and air started leaking, hence my plan of halting at the last inhabited village near the Indo-China border, Chitkul got screwed. One nice gentleman who was tailing me for the last 20-30 kms came near me and said – Son, It makes no point of going up to Chitkul with a broken bike and suggested me a mechanic some 2-3 kms ahead on the Karcham – Nako road. The entire section from Sarahan to Kalpa was in pretty bad shape, I would suggest everyone to be very careful while riding in that area. So the bike got repaired, Day2 halted in a PWD guest house at Pooh. The cook over there made some awesome Raajma Chawal.
One can even find a Castrol bike point while on a roadtrip to get the motorcycle serviced, if required.
The next day, plan was to visit Tabo Monastery and Dhankar Monastery. But before that I needed a tyre tube for my rear wheel which I found near Chango.
Tabo monastery is the biggest monastery in Spiti. With more than 100 Buddhist monks here. Also there are several caves on the northern side where the monks used to meditate.
The picturesque Spiti Valley remains cut off from the world for more than five months a year due to heavy snowfall. It reopens once the weather starts becoming warmer causes snow to melt after mid-April.
Rudyard Kipling in his novel “Kim” described Spiti as “a world within a world” and a “place where the god lives”.
And I was exactly thinking the same thing after reaching Dhankar Monastery, situated at an elevation of 12,774 feet and a perfect place to see the junction of Spiti and Pin rivers, especially during the second half of the day. The setting sun makes the entire landscape surreal. In fact, I sat there for almost an hour as I was awestruck by the same.
I couldn’t find any suitable place for the night halt near Shichling and staying at Dhankar was not an option for me due to altitude sickness. Thus heading to Kaza at night was the only option left which was around 40 odd kilometres ahead.
If you are planning for a ride in this region, make sure you have sufficient spares to fix your bike, especially if you plan to ride at night. Carry a tyre inflator air pump, Puncture repair kits, some basic tools and extra fuel if required. Luckily my bike has a range of around 500 kms. The entire region has just two fuel stations – one at Tandi in the Lahaul Valley, which is around 100 km from Manali, and the second in Kaza (world’s highest fuel station at a height of 12,270 feet above sea level).
Riding to Kaza at night was a big task in itself. I had no back-up plan, the road was completely empty. The only driving force was the reducing kilometres. It took me around 2hrs to complete that stretch, and there were multiple thoughts running through my head. But when I saw the Zostel’s board, I couldn’t explain my relief. In the end I realised that, the risk could have been lesser if I had planned it properly and left from Dhankar earlier.
The rain gods continuously blessed me during the entire ride. The next day plan was to visit Komik, Key Monastery and Langza, the fossil village in Spiti Valley.
Since I had been encountering rain consistently from the start of my journey, I decided to stop thinking about it too much as it had become a part of my ride itself! So I continued with rain. Key Monastery isn’t much far from kaza and I arrived there in almost no time. After spending some time sightseeing, I proceeded to Langza. Now, this has been one of the best parts of my journey as the route to Langza from Key Monastery is quite something. The road is bad and rain made it worse, but the whole route is beautiful. You ride through the mountains and it literally feels like you’re a part of the whole atmosphere. It is wonderful and the whole Langza itself is possibly the most beautiful part of Spiti valley.
One of the highlights of Langza is the big statue of Buddha situated at the top of a valley overlooking the Langza village. I also spent some time with some local kids there and they are as cheerful as you can imagine them to be. They greet people like us with a lovely smile and sharing a piece of chocolate widens their smile further. Talk about finding happiness in small things in life!
And just when I was on my way to continue to Komik, the rain became harder and it no more looked like a safe plan to continue my ride. So, with a pinch of dissatisfaction, I returned to Kaza.
Now Kaza is a prominent town of Spiti Valley and has the only ATM of the entire region. It is like a lifeline for people who live there and travel there. Kaza offers various hotels and restaurants and is basically a nice place to stay. The place attracts people from not just India itself but from outside as well. Kaza has lots of shops to buy various kinds of stuff. It’s the happening place in the entire Spiti! As I finally departed to my hotel room, my day at Kaza came to its end.
Next day, I left for Chandrataal via Kunzum, however, it was possibly the hardest section of this entire route as it took me nearly 6 hours to reach Kunzum. It was also the first mountain pass in my journey. To be absolutely frank, though, I made good number of pit stops on the way to capture the majestic mountains in my camera. The road is virtually non-existent and it even led the air to leak out of my motorcycle’s rear tyre. Thankfully, a group of people in a Fortuner were passing through and they helped me as they had an air-pump. I eventually arrived at Kunzum and the weather was considerably cooler than Kaza.
I finally reached Chandrataal. Now, this is again one of the best places to be. Given my inclination towards photography, I was more than happy to finally reach Chandrataal as it is a photographers’ delight. I also bumped into some fellow xBhpians at the camp where I had pre-booked a space for myself and after having some good chat, I carried on. You cannot take your motorcycle right to the lake anymore as it is no more allowed. So, it’s a around a kilometre walk which is not really a bad thing to do. Situated at a height of 4,300 metres above sea level, Chandrataal gives an extremely clear reflection of the surroundings. At night, it is one of the very few places where one gets a glimpse of the Milky Way galaxy. Yes, the home of our planet! While the sky was not very clear because of the rainy season (bad timing), I still got a good view of the galaxy when the clouds cleared. It was something. One thing to always keep in mind is to have plenty of food and not be hungry even a bit. Since it is a high altitude terrain, having stomach full of food always helps in coping up with health issues that people not used to such places might encounter.
Next day, I started my return journey to Delhi.
And finally, this entire journey has been re-created on http://www.power1bikingroutes.com website for my fellow bikers who might be interested in following the same. Please click here to check my ride there. You may also find a whole lot of other interesting routes there to follow next time you plan a roadtrip.
