Re: Leh 2018

Thread approved and apologies for the delay.
Let's get this party started!

Re: Leh 2018

nice shots, bring more plzz z

Re: Leh 2018


Thanks For the approval

Re: Leh 2018

SO the Planning started but there was one major problem in completing this trip .
I do not have any bike & taking friend’s bike was out of question as NOC & all other documents are required. So I decided to purchase a new bike ( Dominar , I use to own a P 220 ). Completed the all formalities related to purchase & asked my friend to take the delivery.
Waited for more days & asked my friend to complete the run-in period . Bike purchased on 18/08/2018 & depart from Manali was planned on 27/08/2018 but final date delayed to 29/08/2019 as all my friends started from Delhi on 27^th ( Raksha bandhan & restriction of crossing the Rohtang pass on Tuesdays were two main reasons for the delay ). Now we have only 12 days left to complete the entire journey.
On the way to MANDI

Our initial planning was to complete LEH , TURTUK ( Nubra valley ) then directly to the Pangong tso then directly to Hanle . After this, we were going to return back from the Shrinagar side ( I will provide detailed route plan later in the thread .
SO I travelled from Maharashtra to Himachal ( By train ) & reached home .All preparation completed & I started on 28^th august from my home town (Hamirpur , Himachal Pradesh ) around 9 in the morning . Went directly to the RTO office to collect the RC & headed to the Manali. I also had to visit the service centre to do the 1^st free service of the bike as it was nearing to 500 Km.

Stopped at Bajaj service station (Just before Mandi) & started my ride. Communicated with the friends. They were already in the Manali & they decided to book the hotel at Marhi after crossing Manali. Reached at around 10 PM in the night at the hotel , We all discussed about the tomorrow's plan & decided end the long tiring day .

Ready to roll

Re: Leh 2018

The last picture in the first post has set the tone!
Bring it on!

Re: Leh 2018

Bike preparation at marhi outside the hotel. Bikes were 1 Dominar 2 Thunderbird 350 ,RE classic 350 ( three ) . Total 5 bikes

Next morning i have to take the printout the permit to pass the gulaba Check post & my friends needs to refuel the bike so be came back to the Manali & started our journey towards LEh at around 11 .

Gulaba checkpost



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Crossed gulaba Check post without any hassle . Noticed one thing that some of the visitors were showing only the soft copy of the permit in their mobiles & guard were letting them pass.

Took 15 min break at check post & started towards rohtang pass . I didn't stop many times as i have done rohtang pass many times ( Three to be precise ) . Stopped just below the pass to say last goodbye to family as who knows when will be back in the signal again .

Rohtang TOP . Waited here for some time until my friends reached.

Re: Leh 2018

Next planned stop was at koksar . Road on the other side of rohtang Pass was in pathetic condition but it was a really small stretch. Stopped at the check post and headed towards Tandi.

Topped up the tanks & cans at petrol pump . we stopped there for half an hour . roads after koksar are in really good condition. Scenery do not change a lot till tandi but after that barren land start appearing .









On the way to keylong , there are small water crossings which can be tackled with ease but one of them is takes your first test . it was the first of many to come .Our target for that day was Sarchu but we were behind schedule.had lunch at Keylong & headed towords Sarchu but it was not possible to reach in the day light & as we again stopped at baralacha La , conditionwas like this ( See Pic)




Experienced first cold winds & low oxygen there No body was willing to stop there so we continued our journey . Now we have to ride in the dark but there was one more surprise waiting for us. I dont know the name of the place guys but it comes 5-6 km before sarchu There was a long line of the trucks & after passing these we come to one side of the bride whose metal plates , upon which vehicle pass were not on the bridge. Traffic on both sides was halted & truck drivers were trying to put back the plates on the bridge.
There was nothing which we can do so we decided to join the truck drivers. As we had stopped in front of the trucks so we were the first to pass the bridge . There was happiness of passing & fear of collapsing the bridge. Road after baralacha la is not in good condition .

We reached sarchu at around 9 . Booked two tents & rested after taking dinner.

I woke up around 2 in the morning & ventured out of the the tent. I didn't experienced a lot of cold ( I dont know why ) . Moon was shining so there were very less stars visible. looking at the situation , Decided to give up the night photography & went to the bed.



Woke up next morning & nature greeted us with really good views .

Golden colored mountains



After sarchu

Re: Leh 2018

Nice captures there!

Re: Leh 2018

Beautiful Pics..

Keep them coming.

Re: Leh 2018

Views in the morning were out the world & every one in the group was feeling refreshed . We started towards LEH after taking breakfast.










Photo uploading function on the thread is acting strangely & pics are auto adjusting . Guys please suggest some another way so that quality photos can be uploaded. They are all reduced to 100 KB size.

Re: Leh 2018

On the same day , we stopped at sarchu army area & 3 group members decided to call home . Me & one of my friend sat with an army person in a small room located near the gate . he discussed about his life here & about the rescues they have to do throughout the year . He asked us if we have any movies in our phones as it is a usual practice for them to ask tourists about the movies & my friend shared one with him.

On the way to gata loops



Loops



Road conditions were mixed. Work of the new road was going on i tested cornering abilities of the Dominar on the gata loops . Clicked some pictures on during the incline & headed towards the leh. We were covering distance at a good pace due to good road conditioned but as we gain more altitude ,bullets were getting really difficult ride as bikes equipped with carb face power loss issues & they were fully loaded too.

Nakeela



After crossing Nakee la, We got out first breakdown as a rear tire puncture of the Thunderbird. It happened at the climb of Lachung La . The problem was , we had alll the spares but no body was carrying the wrench which can be used to un mount the rear wheel. We tried many things but all was in vain . After waiting for some we stopped a support vehicle & driver of that support vehicle gave two wrenches to us & asked us to keep them as he suspected that it was going to take a lot of time & he has to catch up with his team. So we changed the tube of the tire at around 16000 feet & move forward.

Every one in the group was exhausted due to exposure to low O2 for such a long time.

Lachungla

Re: Leh 2018

keep the thread flowing mate ... waiting for the next part ...

Re: Leh 2018

Road condition was not good as we reach lachung La & it was like dirt rack till pang. It was around 3 o clock when we reached Pang. Shop owners told us that bad roads end here & now road condition is as good as new , which was a relief because we have to cover a lot distance that day & we do not want to repeat yesterday's mistakes . I will later discuss about the mistakes, Let enjoy some views,

Just after Pang & starting of More Plains









Speed at which we were covering the distance now was really satisfying but this road was not that much easy & safe as it looks. Anybody who has ridden on this road knows that unevenness of this stretch gives spine breaking jerks but still we were really happy after travelling on this after what we faced till Pang.

Re: Leh 2018

Staying for very long time on high altitude had taken toll on one of my friend & didn't stopped after more planes & directly went to wards leh crossing tang la .

The climb to the tanglan La was tough for both man & machines . Dominar was performing really well on these climbs as i was using 5 & 6th whenever road was good.
we took one more halt on the pass & i felt tanglang la to be the fiercest of the all passes. O2 levels were such low that even roaming around was not easy



Tanglang-La







Didn't clicked any pics after tanglang-la as it was getting dark & we all headed directly to leh . We were exited knowing the fact that we were in the leh .

this was the third day of the journey & we all decided to sightseeing around the Leh city