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It was raining heavily when I went to sleep on Friday with a question mark on my weekend ride to Chitkul. But who can stop a rider 
I had to drop my Ladakh plan because of some unavoidable reasons which I have been waiting for a long time. Therefore my riding instinct was calling me to treat it with at least one good ride.
Me and my would be Ladakh partner joined hands again and agreed each other for a ride. As always the destination was not finalized until Friday.
June 05, 2010
Woke up at 3: 45 went direct to the terrace to enquire about the eather condition. It was all cloudy and the moon was nowhere in the sky it rained all night and anticipating the problems to be created by trucks on NH 22, I became somewhat lazy while getting ready. I prepared a tea for myself, perhaps first time ever before my ride
I was expecting rains in the higher regions so I kept the rain coat also which I had bought for Ladakh ride after a long research and search
To my surprise as I crossed Parwanoo, I saw a clear horizon and as soon as I was going further it was all clear and sunny day
Meanwhile there was a golden glow in the sky, I took a shot and moved on until Dhalli (after Shimla)
Near Parwanoo:
Before Dhalli:
the dense forest at the outskirts of Shimla before Dhalli:
At Narkanda:
Some pictures after Narkanda
The road starts ascending from few kilometers before Rampur and hence falls the temperature. Perhaps it rained lesser here than the plain areas like Chandigarh yesterday. The roads were excellent so far but there are couple of places where you need to be extra careful where there are water passes below the road which makes the road a little higher than usual. You will find a hard jerk at this place and need to control. I am talking about the stretch along Satluj before Rampur.
As mentioned in hundreds of threads JP hydro power project is going on between Rampur and Karchham, its all dusty path. But to my surprise it was easier to ride than I expected. Actually there is another hydro power project going on between Uttarkashi and Gangotri and it made me all exhausted in the last September. Hope it would be better until my next ride to Gangotri.
At the dam site, colour of one of the water streams was strangely blue. You can see the same in the pic.
Some pics taken between Rampur and Karchham:
As I was approaching Sangla, vistas were changing so rapidly, especially the sky. You can notice the same in the pictures. It was best part of this ride which I enjoyed the most. Sangla is a beautiful place situated on the banks of Baspa river but quite commercialized.
First view of Sangla Valley:
My digicam could not escape from overexposing the sky at some of the places where the sun was facing me.
Pictures taken around Sangla:
Shades of Green:
As I was approaching towards end of the road, I had to stop every now and then for photographs. I would suggest people to leave their vehicles at Sangla only and start trekking, if possible. it is so beautiful that you just can not keep on riding. At the right side below, there is a huge river bed near the Banjara camps, another side of the river you will find a long array of snow capped peaks with dense forests at the bottom. Several frozen and melting nullahs scattered through the forests. You can see the same in some of the pics. For the first time, I felt need of a better camera with a wide angle lense .
Pictures taken between Sangla and Chitkul:
Deadly combination of Flowers, Forests and Snow peaks, nothing can be better than this:
Looking back to Sangla Valley:
First view of Chitkul:
TO BE CONTINUED..
I had to drop my Ladakh plan because of some unavoidable reasons which I have been waiting for a long time. Therefore my riding instinct was calling me to treat it with at least one good ride.
Me and my would be Ladakh partner joined hands again and agreed each other for a ride. As always the destination was not finalized until Friday.
June 05, 2010
Woke up at 3: 45 went direct to the terrace to enquire about the eather condition. It was all cloudy and the moon was nowhere in the sky it rained all night and anticipating the problems to be created by trucks on NH 22, I became somewhat lazy while getting ready. I prepared a tea for myself, perhaps first time ever before my ride
I was expecting rains in the higher regions so I kept the rain coat also which I had bought for Ladakh ride after a long research and search
To my surprise as I crossed Parwanoo, I saw a clear horizon and as soon as I was going further it was all clear and sunny day
Meanwhile there was a golden glow in the sky, I took a shot and moved on until Dhalli (after Shimla)
Near Parwanoo:
Before Dhalli:
the dense forest at the outskirts of Shimla before Dhalli:
At Narkanda:
Some pictures after Narkanda
The road starts ascending from few kilometers before Rampur and hence falls the temperature. Perhaps it rained lesser here than the plain areas like Chandigarh yesterday. The roads were excellent so far but there are couple of places where you need to be extra careful where there are water passes below the road which makes the road a little higher than usual. You will find a hard jerk at this place and need to control. I am talking about the stretch along Satluj before Rampur.
As mentioned in hundreds of threads JP hydro power project is going on between Rampur and Karchham, its all dusty path. But to my surprise it was easier to ride than I expected. Actually there is another hydro power project going on between Uttarkashi and Gangotri and it made me all exhausted in the last September. Hope it would be better until my next ride to Gangotri.
At the dam site, colour of one of the water streams was strangely blue. You can see the same in the pic.
Some pics taken between Rampur and Karchham:
As I was approaching Sangla, vistas were changing so rapidly, especially the sky. You can notice the same in the pictures. It was best part of this ride which I enjoyed the most. Sangla is a beautiful place situated on the banks of Baspa river but quite commercialized.
First view of Sangla Valley:
My digicam could not escape from overexposing the sky at some of the places where the sun was facing me.
Pictures taken around Sangla:
Shades of Green:
As I was approaching towards end of the road, I had to stop every now and then for photographs. I would suggest people to leave their vehicles at Sangla only and start trekking, if possible.
it is so beautiful that you just can not keep on riding. At the right side below, there is a huge river bed near the Banjara camps, another side of the river you will find a long array of snow capped peaks with dense forests at the bottom. Several frozen and melting nullahs scattered through the forests. You can see the same in some of the pics. For the first time, I felt need of a better camera with a wide angle lense .Pictures taken between Sangla and Chitkul:
Deadly combination of Flowers, Forests and Snow peaks, nothing can be better than this:
Looking back to Sangla Valley:
First view of Chitkul:
TO BE CONTINUED..
Awesome clicks out there. A few pics were so beautiful that my jaw dropped and was staring at it for quite sometime.. 
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