Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

Tour logue approved.

Excellent pics! Keep them coming. Can't wait to see the full set!

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

Wow , pics looks like a match made in heaven <3

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

@nadz11.ns ji


Nice Teaser... SOLO ride are always special

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

Eagerly awaited sir!

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

Thank you.

Thanks you.

Thanks you.
Yes, solo rides are different in a good way.

Posting now..

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11th May, 2018
A day before leaving.
Brought medicines, toiletries etc and loaded up the bike for a trial run. Tanked up in the evening.

Day 1..
12th May, 2018
Jammu to Anantnag 226kms

I have travelled on this route over a dozen times in the last 6 months and after a first few rides, I skipped taking pics. I left home at 6:20am and reached Mattan, Anantnag at 12:55pm. I took a couple of chai breaks in between. Since there is a lot of construction going on in many sections, the route is extremely dusty. Couple this with heavy truck traffic, it becomes difficult to ride/drive on it.

It started raining heavily around 2 pm and would continue throughout the night.
I decided to stay in Mattan for a day or two and let the wet spell pass.

Day 2..
13th May, 2018
The day spent lazily in Mattan, doing nothing. Though the weather remained calm throughout the day.

Day 3..
14th May, 2018
Anantnag to Kargil 278kms

Woke up early and the first thing I did was look out the window for signs of rain. It was cloudy, but luckily not raining. Freshened up, loaded the bike and left at 7:30 am. It was a quick run till Srinagar on the new road. Army presence was quite visible, the most I have seen in many months. Maybe since the PM was to visit a few days later, security forces were on their heels.

I took the Dal lake road which was fun to ride early morning.

Boulevard road..


Char Chinar..


Few kms before Sonmarg, it started drizzling which will continue on/off till the climb of ZojiLa.

Enroute Sonmarg..






The number of tourists and ponys increased exponentially around Sonmarg. The main Sonmarg area smelled like horse shit and I didn't even slowed down there. Now I know why hotels in Sonmarg cost so high, the number of tourists is amazing.





See how beautifully water is flowing through the natural snow tunnel


Goats doing what they do best..


Duke was fun to ride on the smooth tarmac..


What was earlier a drizzle, was now full on downpour. The climb to ZojiLa has started. It wasn't easy riding here in these conditions. Slush was everywhere, but the foggy views compensated for everything.
All pics here are from my mobile.



Snow walls




At ZojiLa in rain

















The rain continued till well below the pass. I stopped at a small tea stall at Maitan village and had tea and omlet.

Maitan Village














Continuing further, I crossed Drass without stopping.
The scenery changes a few kms before kargil. Green colour becomes prominent and the tall trees look amazing.









Beautiful mosque on the other side of the river


As I was riding, I saw an old bridge off the main road and decided to check it out.
There were a few abandoned bunkers on both sides of the bridge.

Harka Bahadur Bridge
Built-in Record Time by 12 Engineer Regiment.
May-Sep 1969


This bridge was named after Sub Harka Bahadur Rana MC of the 1st Battalion The 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force) who captured the bridge on 23 Nov 1948.
The bridge is dedicated to the memory of those gallant sons of the battalion who made the capture of the bridge possible by laying down their lives during operations in ZojiLa and Kargil in 1948.








I had contacted a distant relative in Kargil for my night stay. But the whole BSNL network was down and I couldn't contact him and also, there aren't public booths. I asked about 6 people for directions, but it looks like people in Kargil really don't want to help.

I checked a few places with parking and all were over Rs. 1000 a night, which was much more than I would have liked. I finally found a place for Rs. 800, Afzal Guest house. It had a parking space and the room was clean with hot water.

View from the hotel room

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

Beautiful.
Which mobile did you use to take the captures?

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

Thanks
Most of the pics were taken with Nikon D5200 and a few with Samsung S5

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

Brilliant! These photos, you really have brought them to life. Solo ride to Ladakh, without making a fuss about it. You are one humble person, dude! Keep riding!

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

[MENTION=60608]nadz11.ns[/MENTION]
Finally a fellow Jammu da rider.
Honestly on my every VIsit to J&K I rarely see Duke.

Your photos are worthy of a calendar. Beautiful!

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

Thank you for the appreciation

It isn't as big of a deal as people tend to make of it.

You too from Jammu?
Ya, Dukes aren't very common here yet. But people are buying them nowadays.

and thank you very much.

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Day 4..
15th May, 2018
Kargil to Leh 252kms

Left Kargil at 7:15am. I had tanked up the evening before.

Kargil town








View of whole Kargil town


The weather was cold and the sun was playing hide-n-seek with the clouds.
I stopped at Mulbekh, where I had the tastiest cup of tea of the whole trip.





These black dots on the slope are sheeps
















The whole route of Kargil to Leh is full tarmac, even at the La's (Fotu La & Namik La).

Namik La






Fatu La






About 10kms before Lamayuru, I saw a track going up the mountain and there was a board mentioning Atise Monastery. I thought of taking the dirt route and then I saw a tarred road just beside it. It seems to have been freshly laid. Went up till the parking lot of the monastery, clicked pictures and returned back. Got some pretty nice images.

That's the straight shortcut on the left side..






Atise Monastery






View from the parking lot of the monastery




Took the shortcut while coming down. This would have been fun with offroad tyres..




I had lunch at a hotel in Lamayuru (bloody costly for a simple meal of chapati & mix-veg). I skipped visiting the monastery. The landscape around Lamayuru is amazing. Wind and rain have truly carved masterpieces there. Lamayuru seems to have an abundance of hotels & guesthouses.

Lamayuru Monastery




MoonLand at Lamayuru
Pics don't do justice to the patterns of this area.








Stopped at a tea shop and this beautiful was hanging there.




Such straight road






In came Magnetic hill, a few families were enjoying ATV rides there. Didn't stop here.
I somehow missed Sangam (confluence of Indus and Zanskar Rivers).
Paid my respects at Gurudwara Patthar Sahib and Hall of Fame. No pictures at both these places.

Reached Leh at around 4:30 pm. I had booked a room at a govt. guest house here.
Rested for an hour or so and went to Shanti Stupa. Beautiful place and offers an equally beautiful view of the town.














Went to the Main market and stopped at IL-Forno rooftop restaurant. Ordered chicken fried rice. Pathetic to say the least. 190 for this and 60 for a cold drink (even though the print rate was only 35). 250 wasted here. Never visit this place.

Came back to my room, took a hot bath and retired for the day.

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

Day 5..
16th May, 2018
Leh - Diskit - Changmar - Hunder - Diskit 228kms

I started from Leh at 7:50 am. It was very cold outside even though the sun was up. Took the road for Khardung La and started climbing. Took a few clicks in between and reached North Pullu.

View of Leh


I being a resident of JK state don't require any permit/permission and I was allowed to go after checking my ID. Had tea there and started riding. Wind chill was really bad. The road was good for now and it deteriorates a few kilometres before the pass.











And then came the famous Pass.


There were a couple of taxis there and people were taking turns clicking as many pics they wanted. Nobody was in any rush. I took a few pics and started riding down. The bad patch on this side is quite long and takes time to get down. At South Pullu, I had an omelette and tea. There weren't many vehicles on the route or maybe I was early. Till I reached Diskit, I only stopped for pics and nothing much to share.





































Nubra River












I skipped going towards Panamik for today and went straight to Diskit. Reached Diskit at 2 pm. Here I had booked a government guest house and I was the only person in the whole building. It was here I got a call from home that I have to return back at the earliest. Now one of my main reasons to visit Ladakh was to see the lakes of Pangong and Tso Moriri and I couldn't leave without seeing at least one of them. So I decided to visit Pangong the next day and return back to Leh by evening and then make a run for Srinagar. Rest of Ladakh will have to wait for the next visit. For today, I decided to ride on the Diskit-Turtuk road.

View from my room..


Freshened up and left the guesthouse at 2:30 pm and started riding towards Thouis air base. It is an amazing place, but photography prohibited. Thought of going a bit further and rode like this for over 50kms till Changmar village. The route is really awesome. Different landscape in this part.





















A few kilometres before Changmar, there is a diversion for Warish (is same Warshi which we have to go via Panamik). This bridge was on the same route.






Changmar Village..




Took a u-turn here and rode back..



This is how BRO works for us. Carving out roads throughout the year.





Visited Hunder sand dunes. A dust storm was on and I didn't stay for long.
Went to Distik gompa. The statue is really big and overlooks the whole of Diskit and Hunder.
Returned to my room at 6:30 pm. Ordered aalo paratha and tea and called it a day.

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

Beautiful!

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

mesmerizing brother.. awesome pics.. and the Duke sure looks beautiful on the Mountains. I hope to do Leh some time in future. When I plan to do a K2K, I will ride to Leh and this post is giving me the goosebumps to make it happen. I wish i could do it when I still here in Delhi NCR before I move back to Chennai.

Re: Tales of a Solo Traveller [Ladakh '18]

Wow, amazing pictures