Since '02 xBhp is different things to different people. From a close knit national community of bikers to India's only motorcycling lifestyle magazine and a place to make like-minded biker friends. Join us

Castrol Power 1

Practice slow-speed riding.

Our Partners

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Spiti - Kinnaur Conquered!! - July 2012

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • [Photo Feature]: Spiti - Kinnaur Conquered!! - July 2012

    Prelude:
    It all started with the Leh Trip way back in 2009, from that trip on wards my love for the Himalayan ranges keeps increasing every day.

    I have one of the best group of friends who are always ready for any adventure. After the Leh Trip we did the Valley of Flowers trip in 2011 and during this trip seeds for Spiti Visit were planted.

    Leh trip in 2009 was done in Bullets (rented in Leh) and this time for the Spiti Trip we wanted to do it in our bikes. Our group already had couple of bullets and we wanted to test them on the grueling Spiti ride.

    After the initial discussion and planning it was decided that it will be 7 of us doing this trip in 4 bikes (3 Bullets & 1 CBR250R). The gang for this trip was
    1. Ravikiran & Mamatha (CBR250R)
    2. Sudhee & Sneha (Classic 500)
    3. Prasanna & Shama (Thunderbird 350)
    4. Prasanna (Classic 500)

    The Rides...



    Planning:
    Planning for this started with finalizing the dates and booking the Air Ticket to Delhi. Since most of people were working considering that we decided to have 2 weeks trip. Dates were from 30th June till 15th July. These dates were chosen taking into account vacations & opening of the passes. “Kunzum La” Pass opened in June this year so we planned to do the trip after 2nd week of June. First dates were from 15th June which was later postponed to end of June due to a friend’s marriage.
    Plan was to transport bikes till Chandigarh. Start the ride from there and complete the circuit.

    2 Classic 500, 1 Thunderbird & 1 CBR250R were chosen for this trip. Initially there were some apprehensions about taking CBR250R on this trip considering the hostile terrain but I was confident this bike will do its job. Though it’s not tailor made for this bike terrain but I believed in Honda Quality and was confident that bike will last this trip.

    We decided to start the ride from Chandigarh instead of Delhi considering that
    • We were riding with Pillions on this trip and wanted to keep the riding as less as possible
    • We wanted to avoid riding in Delhi Summer with temperature touching 40C
    • Delhi to Chandigarh is well connected with Air Conditioned busses which gave us more reason to start from Chandigarh.

    Route planning was done by going through multiple blogs, talking to friends and also getting feedback from “Ishita Khanna” of Spiti Ecosphere (Ecosphere Spiti - Travel, Adventure and Eco-tourism in the Himalayas). We did not book any hotels in advance but we did make a note of places where we planned to stay considering the options.

    Below is the plan what we decided
    30th June – Bangalore to Delhi (Air) & Delhi to Chandigarh (Bus)
    1st July – Chandigarh to Shimla
    2nd July – Shimla to Sarahan
    3rd July – Sarahan to Chitkul
    4th July – Rest @ Chitkul
    5th July – Chitkul to Kalpa
    6th July – Kalpa to Nako
    7th July – Nako to Tabo
    8th July – Tabo to Kaza
    9th July – Rest @ Kaza
    10th July – Kaza to Chandratal
    11th July – Chandratal to Manali
    12th July – Rest @ Manali
    13th July – Manali to Chandigarh
    14th July – Transport the bike to Bangalore. Chandigarh to Delhi (Bus)
    15th July – Delhi to Bangalore (Air)


    Ride Transport:
    After finalizing the start / end point as Chandigarh we realized that we didn’t have direct train from Bangalore to Chandigarh which we could use to Transport our rides. So we started searching for other options.

    Option 1: Transport by some other vendor like GATI or VRL...etc
    Option 2: Transfer by Train till Delhi and ride from Delhi

    It was finally decided to choose option 1. We decided to go with GATI considering that they had an office in Chandigarh. GATI promised us delivery within 1 week and Contineous tracking on the way.

    Finally our bikes were packed from Bangalore on 23rd June and it cost us about 3000Rs per Bike for the one way travel. Packing was done well in Bangalore though it was expensive (800Rs per bike). Bikes reached Chandigarh by Thursday (28th June) well ahead of Schedule.

    Packed CBR in Bangalore.


    Transport from Bangalore to Chandigarh was very good. Vehicle was in a very good condition when we received in Chandigarh i had only 1 small scratch on my CBR


    Day 1 - 30th June – Bangalore to Delhi (Air) & Delhi to Chandigarh (Bus)

    Route: Delhi to Chandigarh by A/C Volvo bus from ISBT (Delhi)
    Distance: 250Km (Approx)
    Travel Time: About 5 to 6 hours
    Stay: Hotel City Edge (Chandigarh)
    Price: 5000Rs for 3 double bed rooms.

    Plan was to take the 1st flight out of Bangalore to Delhi, reach Delhi by 9 to 10am and take the bus to Chandigarh. Delhi to Chandigarh is about 250Km’s and it takes about 5 hours or so by A/C Volvo bus.

    We took the 1st Indigo flight out of Bangalore @ 6:30am and reached Delhi by 9am. It took us another 1 hour to reach ISBT from Airport. Once we reached ISBT we realized that Volvo busses are not as frequent as what we thought it to be or what we were told so to be. We imagined it will be similar to Bangalore to Mysore but we had to wait a lot. Unluckily ISBT was being revamped when we went there and it was difficult to find the required platform and then to get the required information.

    ISBT to Chandigarh there are lot of busses (every 30min) but not many Volvo’s. We were particular that we wanted to Volvo’s since they reach faster compared to normal busses and offer better comfort. Actually the funda is
    • Normal Bus takes about 6 hours
    • Volvo takes 4.5 to 5 hours.

    Finally we got the Volvo bus at 12pm from ISBT and during this time we had our Breakfast at McDonald’s next o ISBT. We took this time to call up GATI office in Chandigarh to inform them our status. Luckily the office is open till 8pm in the evening and it was comforting to know.

    Bus started at 12 and with a lunch break in the middle it reached Chandigarh by 4pm or so. Since we didn’t book any hotels in advance it was now time to search for one. We were 7 of us which meant we needed to enquire in couple of hotels to make sure they have the rooms available. We needed A/C rooms and finally we got it at “City Edge” Hotel @ 5000Rs for 3 rooms for 1 night. Rooms looked decent so we took them and it was closer to the GATI office also.

    Looking at it now it would have made more sense to take a Taxi (Innova or Force Traveler) Considering we were 7 of us. It would have been little more expensive compared to what we would have to pay by Bus but we would have saved lot of time and could do it at our pace.

    Hotel where we stayed in Chandigarh

    We freshened up and headed to pick up the rides. After completing the formalities we had the bikes by 6:30pm. It was now time to relax and explore Chandigarh city.
    Chandigarh is a nice place when compared to other North Indian towns. Its Clean, neat and well organized. It is a planned city. I found Chandigarh to be expensive in terms of cost of living similar to Bangalore. We couldn’t find any A/C hotel within 1200Rs / night.

    Day 2 - 1st July – Chandigarh to Tattapani
    Route: Chandigarh - Shimla - Mashobra - Tattapani
    Distance: 180Km (Approx)
    Travel Time: About 6 hours
    Stay: Hotel Saffron Residency(Tattapani)
    Price: 4000Rs for 3 double bed rooms.

    For today the plan was to start from Chandigarh and ride till Shimla. We don’t like crowded place so we were advised to either stay before Shimla or after Shimla. Since we had only 120 odd Kilometer to cover in the day we decided to stay after Shimla.

    Road from Chandigarh to Shimla is generally good. For 1/3rd of the journey there is a 4 lane highway then the road narrows down to 2 lanes but it is still good.

    We started at 8 from Chandigarh and the plan was to have Breakfast on the way. We stopped at “Mannu Da Punjabi Dhaba” for Breakfast mostly because of hunger than anything else.


    On the way to this place we stopped at a place which looked good but when checked we found it to be very expensive so decided to look for another place. I did manage to click some snaps of the Leh Trip which was starting from there organized by “Himalayan Moto Tours”



    My Ride all packed up


    We did stop at couple of places for pics and we still managed to reach Shimla by 12 or so. Plan was to stay in a place after Shimla, my friend had suggested to stay at “Mashobra” which about 7.5km from Shimla. We decided to check the place and headed towards it. We reached “Mashobra” by 2:30 or so. We did some look around to find a good place to stay but we didn’t find any, in the mean time my friend went through “Lonely Planet” magazine and found that there is a place called “Tattapani” close to Mashobra and Rafting is available at this place. Since we had time to spare we decided to head out for “Tattapani” which was about 35 to 40km from where we were.

    As we started from Mashobra road condition started deteriorating. We took about 2 hours and ended up reaching this place by 5:30pm or so. Just before the town we met the rafting people and took all the details from them. As we started riding from Mashobra weather changed dramatically, from the cool weather of Shimla it had turned into very hot weather we were sweating like pig! None of us were able to wear the jackets due to the heat. As soon as we reached Tattapani we searched for an A/C accommodation and checked in.

    We found one called “Hotel Saffron Regency”


    Bridge before the Tattapani town

    It was so hot in Tattapani that we didn’t venture out in the evening. We were happy to be in our A/C rooms.
    Last edited by raven20; 07-29-2012, 07:31 PM. Reason: Route,Time, Price, Stay & Distance Added
    Ravikiran

  • #2
    travelogue approved.
    (Been There Done That) x 3.25

    Comment


    • #3
      I am hoping you have the pic of the loooooong bridge enroute to reckong peo! One place I wish I had clicked!
      Super CommuTOURer� - Talk less, Ride more

      .: FB :.|.: TW :.|*IG*| Ex
      PowerDrift:.

      #Give thy opinion, write em, dont throw em
      #Everyone errs, accept it, defending/cribbing about it only makes it worse
      #Dont defend a manufacturer as if you work for them
      #Write. Think. If relevant hit submit. If not hit yourself
      #Be kind in your choice of words, you never know who would make you gulp em
      � Satyen Poojary

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by satyenpoojary View Post
        I am hoping you have the pic of the loooooong bridge enroute to reckong peo! One place I wish I had clicked!
        Satyen,

        I think i know the Bridge what you are talking about. Will upload that pic also

        Ravi
        Ravikiran

        Comment


        • #5
          Day 3 - 2nd July – Tattapani to Sarahan

          Route: Tattapani - Rampur - Sarahan
          Distance: 150Km (Approx)
          Travel Time: About 6 hours
          Stay: Temple Guest House(Sarahan)
          Price: 400Rs per room
          .
          Plan for the day was complete the Rafting by 10am and leave for Sarahan. Sarahan was about 110km from Tattapani but we were told that the road is not good so it will take about 4 hours or so.

          We called up the rafting guy’s previous evening and fixed the time for 8am in the morning. By the time we reached the Rafting place and started it was 9:30am. It was a 14 km stretch and rapids were not that good. Instructor what we had was also not very adventurous and we ended up boating rather than Rafting. We bargained and fixed the price at 4500Rs for 7 people and by the end of rafting session we felt it was total waste. Its better to do Rafting in Manali where the water has more rapids!

          It was close to 11:30 am when we reached the rooms. We wanted to leave ASAP and started from Tattapani by 12. We knew the roads were bad and we were not disappointed. Just after 10km we were stopped for road widening work


          Small water falls in near the landslide


          Road on the way to Sarahan



          In the middle of all this just after leaving Tattapani one of the Classic 500 had its “Fuse” blown off. It took some time to find out the issue and then after talking to Royal Enfield guys in Bangalore we were told that there are some spare Fuses in each bike. So we replaced the blown fuse by a new one and within next 5km this fuse was also blown. Now we started to get worried, we were not sure if it is the issue with the fuse or the circuit is getting short somewhere. Nearest bullet Mechanic was available only at “Rampur” which was about 70-80km away. We took the risk and inserted a new fuse. Luckly that was the last of fuse issue it looks like that particular fuse was bad!


          It was close to 4pm when we reached Rampur and Sarahan was still 20 odd kilometers away. We took a short Tea break at Rampur and reached Sarahan at around 6pm. We wanted to stay at “Hotel Srikhand” but unfortunately we didn’t get any rooms there we ended up getting 2 rooms in temple guest house and decided to manage with it. Though we got only 2 rooms but the rooms were big and spacious, 4 people could easily manage in it.

          Temple guest house at Sarahan



          Sarahan Bhimkali Temple


          View from the temple


          Temple Museum



          To be Continued........
          Last edited by raven20; 07-29-2012, 07:47 PM. Reason: Route,Time, Price, Stay & Distance Added
          Ravikiran

          Comment


          • #6
            Nice Log and pics. Keep them coming
            Its not always about speed.

            Avenger 220 DTSI

            -----------------------------------------------------

            Blabberings

            Call of the Ocean

            Comment


            • #7
              Great log & pics...
              Ride Hard !!! Ride Safe!!! Enjoy every moment on your machine !!! Cheers....

              Comment


              • #8
                great pics and eagerly waiting for more..
                2012-KARIZMA R (2016 - on)
                1997- RXZ 4-speed (2013 - on)
                2010- SS125 (2010 - on)
                http://www.facebook.com/surendran.biker

                Comment


                • #9
                  beautiful log with some nice clicks.Keep pouring more

                  Cheers
                  Biru
                  MyTravelTales-India
                  Australia||Thailand||Nepal||Singapore||Finland||Estonia||Norway||Latvia||Lithuania||Poland

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Congrats

                    Congrats to your bunch for doing such a beautiful trip.If you can include the stay options with rates and important places like places of interest & location of fuel stations etc,it will be very helpful for future travellers.

                    Comment


                    • #11



                      Route: Sarahan - Sangla - Chitkul
                      Distance: 110Km (Approx)
                      Travel Time: About 5 hours
                      Stay: Panchavati Guest House (Chitkul)
                      Price: 800Rs per room

                      Plan for the day was to visit the Sarahan Bhimakali temple in the morning. Finish breakfast at Sarahan and leave for Chitkul.
                      It was about 9am by the time we started from Chitkul. Since Sarahan is a hill top we needed to climb down and reach highway.

                      Road from Sarhan till Wangtu is Superb. This is where we experienced the best road of our trip. Road going through the mountain is amazing. I let pics do the talking...

                      Superb Road...












                      Road condition detiorates after crossing Wangtu and it will not improve till Sangla

                      Main culprit responsible for the road condition - Hydel Power stations


                      We had planned to have Lunch at "Pappu Dhaba in Tapri" had read good reviews about this place. After reaching Tapri we realized that Pappu Dhaba is closed on Tuesday! there are lot of dhaba's in Tapri and we found another one called "Vijay Dhaba" and food was great.

                      After couple of Kilometers from Tapri we need to take a right at the bridge to reach Sangla.











                      View on the way to Chitkul








                      We got our First Nala crossing just before Chitkul




                      Chitkul Village from the Far


                      View from Chitkul






                      Chitkul Temple


                      Day 5 - Rest @ Chitkul
                      Day 6 - To be Continued.........
                      Ravikiran

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Day 5 - 4th July - Rest @ Chitkul

                        Since we were on road for 3 days contineous we decided to take 1 day rest @ Chitkul

                        Day 6 - 5th July - Chitkul to Kalpa


                        Route: Chitkul - Sangla - Powari - Rekong Peo - Kalpa
                        Distance: 70Km (Approx)
                        Travel Time: About 4 hours
                        Stay: The Kinner Kailash, Kalpa
                        Price: 1000Rs per room
                        Fuel: Sangla

                        After a day of rest at Chitkul we were fully charged up for the ride.

                        Chitkul to Kalpa is just about 70Km's but considering the Nala what we needed to cross & condition of the road we estimated it will take atleast 5 hours to cover and we wanted to reach Kalapa as soon as possible to view the sunset.

                        So we started early (7am) from Chitkul and plan to have breakfast at Sangla. Ride from Chitkul to Sangla early morning was very good with lot of superb views on the way







                        Sangla has a Petrol station and the plan was to fill fuel in here since we had not filled fuel after leaving tattapani.
                        At Sangla one of the bikes - Thunderbird started having some engine misfire issues. We decided to have a look at the Sangla Petrol Station.

                        Petrol Station @ Sangla


                        Mechanical Engineers in action


                        We tried all the basic stuff what we knew like Carburetor cleaning, Air filter cleaning, Spark Plug check, ECU Check..etc but it didnt help.. Next Bullet Mechanic was available at Rekong Peo and we decided to have a look there.

                        We reached Rekong Peo by afternoon itself and bike was given to bullet mechanic to check and in the mean time we finished our lunch.

                        Problem was identified to the loose wiring inside the casing and was fixed by the mechanic. This cost us 100Rs & couple of hours of our time. It was around 4pm by the time we left Rekong Peo.

                        Kalpa is around 10Km from Rekong Peo and it didnt take us long to reach there.

                        We found a good hotel (The Kinner Kailash) dropped our luggage, freshned up and headed out to explore Kalpa

                        Kalpa situated at the height of 2758 m above the sea level. Kalpa is a beautiful and main village of Kinnaur. We found some amazing views at Kalpa and my camera had a good workout















                        Kalpa Village






                        Our Stay in Kalpa


                        Day 7 - To be Continued......
                        Ravikiran

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Day 7



                          Route: Kalpa - Rekong Peo - Poo - Nako
                          Distance: 110Km (Approx)
                          Travel Time: About 5 hours
                          Stay: Reo Purgil (Nako)
                          Price: 700Rs per room
                          Fuel: Rekong Peo

                          Plan for the day was to reach Nako. We heard from the locals that road to Nako is not in a good condition and it will take atleast 4 to 5 hours to reach Nako from Kalpa.

                          PS - After Rekong Peo there is no fuel station till Kaza so it is advised to get a tank full at Rekong Peo.

                          There are 2 petrol pumps in Powari and both of them are useless. One is reserved from BRO people and 2nd one is closed 6 months ago.

                          Similarly there are 2 petrol pumps in Rekong Peo. 1 is reserved for Government officials and 2nd one is for public use.

                          Road conditions detiorates as soon as we reach NH 5.
                          Some pics of the road






                          Poo - Lunch Break


                          After Crossing Poo




                          Kazig Loops




                          Human Powered Vehicle not horse power


                          Nako Village


                          On the way to Nako Village


                          Day 8 - To be Continued......
                          Ravikiran

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Great you guys .... waiting eagerly for more pics and detailed tour log. Also kindly keep me updated about where all could you find Petrol Pumps or even if you getting fuel in Black Market. Thanks

                            Save the Earth - We are the one who are running out of time, as Earth will take it own time to heal but that time may not be enough for us.


                            http://www.ridesafewith.me
                            I dont just ride my bikes, I live with them.
                            Yamaha RX100 (1987 model)
                            Yamaha YZF R15 (2010 model)
                            Hero Impulse (2012 model)
                            Mahindra Thar (2015 model)
                            GIRed 2012

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Shivanshu View Post
                              Great you guys .... waiting eagerly for more pics and detailed tour log. Also kindly keep me updated about where all could you find Petrol Pumps or even if you getting fuel in Black Market. Thanks
                              @Shivanshu - Upto Rekong Peo fuel pump is available in all big cities but from Rekong Peo till Manali Fuel pump is available only in Kaza.
                              Kaza has just one fuel pump, the petrol dispenser machine what they have is pretty old and it does not work from 3pm onwards. Reason what they gave was that fuel pipe gets filled with Gas due to heat and the pump does not pull fuel due to this.

                              Fuel pump at Kaza is open from 5:30am till 7:30pm.

                              Locals informed that we do get fuel in the Black market on the way in case if we need but we didnt have the need.

                              From Manali again fuel pump is available in major cities.
                              Ravikiran

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X