Me & Mayuresh were discussing about trip to the toughest circuit of the world since April.. 3rd June was the date when I shoot my first mail to Boss, Mayur, Pappu & PK writing proposed itinerary of the trip… Since then everyone was counting days left for the tour… We entered July & it felt great as the tour came as close as next month… 26th July was the start point as everybody brought their bikes at my place.
On 30th July we packed the bikes, & all 10 bikes started their journey well before us.. Then started last minute checklists, packings, mandal saman purchasing, managing rain gears, winter gears & shoes..
Days passed so fast & calendar showed 7th August 2009… Next day early morning we had to start our journey… Me, Mayuresh, Prasad, Mayur, Sonu gathered at my home & Vikram, Pappu, Tejas gathered at Vikram’s place. Shamik stayed at his office & came directly to airport…
Day1: We all gathered at airport & caught spicejet plane from Mumbai @ 5:50 am reached Gurgaon IFFCO colony @ 9:30. (Mayuresh’s father stay there as he has transferred to Delhi for job) Unpacked our bikes & prepared them for the ride (If you are transporting bikes with movers & packers, please remember u need at least 2-3 hours to start your journey from start of unpacking).
After unpacking we went to Madhav bhavan for flag off ceremony arranged by RSS. Came back to our base camp loaded luggage on bikes & started the journey @ 3:30 pm.
It took us more than an hour to cross boundries of Delhi. @ 6:30 pm we reached sonipat.(If you are starting from Gurgoan travel till Dhaula Kuan - then to Naraina then to azadpur & then to karnal by pass. This way you can avoid most of Delhi traffic). Once your reach Karnal by pass you have to follow NH1 till you reach Ambala.
Received wishes from DC there & started further journey @ 7:30 pm. We travelled 160 kms more to cross Murthal, Kurukshetra, Panipat & Karnal in a way & reached Ambala @ 11:30 pm. Stayed @ Hotel Mirchi.
Total travel on day 1 was 200Kms. Road was very good. If you are travelling in group you can travel this road any time, even at night.
Day2: Started from hotel @ 9:00 am. Went straight to Ambala Cant. To buy extra ropes, take out money from ATM, had our breakfast @ Pooransingh Dhaba. (This is must visit outlet besides Cant. Bus stand).
Started from cant @ 10:30 am. One has to travel towards amrutsar & ask for diversion for Ropad. Road till Ropad is very good. One can easily ride at 80 kmph.
From Ropad we took road to Bilaspur. We have to cross Bilaspur & then head to Mandi.
We reached Mandi @ 6:30 pm. Then we stopped there for food as we never had anything after Ambala (This thing should be strictly avoided on should take halt @ Bilaspur for food). After eating we headed to manali. Again road here is very good, so no problem for night journey.
Mandi – manali distance is 110 kms. & one can easily cover it in 2:30 hours. We met a small accident on road. Reached manali @ 1:00 am.
Distance travelled was 370 kms on this day.
One can travel Delhi – manali in single day but try this only if the group is small upto 4-5 bikes & you have to leave Delhi @ 6:00 am
Day3: Accident we met last night called for some repair work. (In Manali, if you go downwards from market you get few mechanics. there is also spare parts shop opposite Raju mechanic)
Again due to bike break down (Remember, more the bikes more are chances of breakdown) Our plan failed once again & we could reach Keylong that day. (Ideally we should have reached Leh by now, we were not even half way). Stayed @ Keylong.
Keylong provides many options for accommodation. (Remember Tandi is a village 7 kms before keylong, there is a petrol pump in this village. This is a last petrol pump before Karu & you have no petrol pump in 365 kms, so please fill the petrol & if you have bikes with low mileage then carry some extra petrol. If somehow you fail to get petrol here, you can get it in Sarchu or Pang but I am not sure about its quality + its Rs. 100/litre)
Distance travelled 130 Kms.
Day4: Yet again we started late & by the time we left Tandi petrol pump it was already 11:30. There was no major breakdown on this day. Still we could go till Sarchu.
We travelled only 115 Kms this day & had to stop @ Sarchu. (The key to success is start your travel before 7:30 am every day else your plan is gone).
On the way, we crossed Baralacha La which is at altitude of 16000+ ft. & beautiful Deepak Tal.
On the way, we crossed Baralacha La which is at altitude of 16000+ ft. & beautiful Deepak Tal.
Sarchu is at very high altitude + we crossed Baralacha La, which is high altitude pass. Some guys faced problem of AMS due to lower level of oxygen. (We were taking diamox 250 every morning since we left Manali still few guys faced the problem. Please carry ample stock of diamox tablets & electrol/ enerzol with you).
We stayed in tent @ Sarchu (150 per person including dinner & Breakfast). Note: ppl may suffer through AMS in Sarchu, so please don’t forget to take diamox.
Day5: This was the day of action. We badly wanted to break our bad riding record of last two days & hence all 14 were on bikes @ 8:00 am. Today we had to reach leh @ any cost. (Sarchu to Leh is 270 Kms).
We struggled for some time with bikes, due to very low temperature they took some time to start but still we could start the journey on time.
When we travelled 12 kms from Sarchu, we crossed himachal Pradesh & entered J& K.
Road from Sarchu to Pang is in really good condition & we reached Pang @ 12:30 pm. Had our lunch @ Pang & started for further journey @ 2:00 pm. All went well till we entered more plains.. More plains are 40 Kms of flat deserted plain land @ the height of over 14000 ft. The views from more plains are fantastic…
We crossed Tanglang La at 6:15 & reached Upashi @ 8:00 pm. Leh was still 50Kms but we decided to reach leh today itself. We started for leh at 8:45 & reached there by 10:30pm thanks to very good road.. Reached hotel @ 11:00 pm had a bath & went for dinner. When we completed the dinner, most awaited good news came. Mayuresh, Pravin, Raj & Tejas all had reached Leh. That news wiped of all fatigue & we all were in celebration mood. A guy called Ankur who had met us earlier at Manali, was also travelling from More plains. He & his friends were well aware of mechanical work, they fixed Tejas’s bike & finally whole team travelled till Leh… & finally all warriors were in Leh on day 5. Total distance travelled was 270 kms.
Day6 : This was a rest day & everybody utilized it to the fullest extent. We went out of hotel only for lunch, dinner & servicing bike… We managed permits through an agent. (For visiting K top, Nubra valley, Pangong Tso & Tso moriri one has to get in line permit from district collector office. We never went to the office but managed it through agent for Rs. 140 per person for 4 days permit).
We tried some tibetian food MOMO, THUPA & Chaumein(This is chineese). That’s first & last time I had Thupa.. Mutton momo was good.
In the evening we got all bikes checked from mechanic called Mohan Sharma. He is on service road on Leh manali road(But I would suggest one should go to other guy named Jumma, he is better option & his shop is on Airport road). We then filled our machines (Very interesting thing happened: all bikes on petrol pump at this time were from Maharashtra.. two other groups 1 from Pune & one from thane had come to similar ride.)
Mayur, Vikram, Tejas & Sonu went to bring Kabab & manage for dinner but there was no trace of these guys for next 2 hours… Finally me & Pappu stayed in hotel & asked others to advance to any good restaurant. Finally we could track 4 absconding people.. Initially we were angry on them, but they searched the best food outlet which kept satisfying us for entire stay at Leh. (Name of the hotel is Pizzeria & its near Tibetian refugee market). We had heavy dinner & returned to our hotel.
Day7 : Today we started early for K Top & Nubra valley, Courtesy Pappu, who did his job of waking up everybody early with great consistency.
On the way, we had to stop at south Pullu & submit the permits we got from DC office.
We rode without any hassles to K top. Its not very far from Leh, may be 40 Kms. We reached there quickly.. On the way we stopped @ India gate(I don’t know how one can enter india via this gate) & clicked many pictures.. The Indian flag managed by Boss had really great impact & we enjoyed the pics holding the tricolor.
After extensive photo shoot, we started our descend for Nubra valley.. We took halt at North pullu, had maggi took diamox tablets from military hospital there (Thanks to superman who reminded us that we don’t have tablets & we can get them from Army first Aid center).
We then headed to diskit which is around 60 Kms from north Pullu, crossed village Khardung on the way. While crossing Khardung we mate some other bike groups & had a combined photo session on the road. Roads in Nubra valley were in really good condition & ride was fun.
We stayed at Habib’s great house. Its beautiful place for relaxing, if you enjoy hospitality & simplicity. We had a tea & then had a long game of 3 patti… Everybody was relaxed & this was perhaps the first time when we did something other than packing-unpacking & riding.. We enjoyed 3 patti followed by simple but tasty dinner.
Had a sound sleep that night.. Total distance travelled was 130 Kms.
Day8 : Independence day… 15th August & we were those we lucky people who were celebrating it so close to Siachen. We had a delicious Khambirs in breakfast (Its kashmiri roti which is very fluffy. You have to divide it into two parts & fill it with honey / butter / jam). After heavy breakfast we headed straight to sand dunes..
For 2-3 hours we enjoyed the dunes.. had extensive photo shoots, enjoyed camel ride, sung national anthem, enjoyed small riverbank… perhaps the best morning.. rather best day on tour.. really enjoyed the independence day…
Came back to guest house, had lunch & then headed straight to Leh. Stopped at K top for a while, enjoyed the snow & then went back to Leh..
Dattabhau & Sunil mama joined us at leh.
Me & Pappu then went to check for car to Pangong Tso also managed permits for Dattabhau & Sunil mama. Hired a car for one day pangong Tso trip. Then went for dinner @ Pizerria of course.
Total distance travelled: 130 Kms.
Day9 : We started early morning @ 6:30 am (surprised?? Even I was..) but we did it… Today 5 bikes were travelling to Pangong Tso & 8 warriors opted for scorpio.
Met kiran at one military camp but he opted for breakfast at the camp while I moved further. I reached Pagal nala parked my bike & started walking towards Pangong lake. I met one biker & he gave me ride till the lake.. I had a long stroll & then started search.. After a while I saw warriors seating in a tent enjoying food. I joined them had some maggy & dal rice.
Food was followed by extensive photo session at the lake. While photo session was on its way Mayuresh, Pilu, Pravin & Kiran reached there.. Few more pics followed by lunch for those who had reached late & we headed to Pagal nala.
Water current had increased drastically… but fortunately we stopped a military truck which allowed us to aboard. They carried us till the other bank & we reached till the bikes safely. We started the return journey well within time & climate was good.. We were enjoying the ride.
Suddenly the entire situation changed, wind became chilling, clouds gathered in sky & it started raining… bikes were not running smoothly, temperature dropped, it started raining heavily… we advanced further… but after some time rain became so heavy that Kiran, mayuresh & Pravin opted to wait at military camp. Me & mayur kept riding along the scorpio… As we reached near Chang La, the rains freezed & snowfall was started.. frankly I enjoyed initial 2 mins… but then it turned hostile… the snowfall became so heavy that it started affecting visibility… Me and mayur drove parallel & Boss, pappu, Tejas forced driver to match with our speed… This entire setup worked well & we reached Chang La, riding @ -8 degrees.. had a tea there changed socks.. Mayur stripped Tejas’s pants as his jeans was not wearable after heavy rains & snowfall.. We both immediately started descend & came to leh without stopping anywhere..
Other guys stayed at Chang la till Mayuresh, Pravin & Kiran reached there. They contacted military camp & traced the three guys & finally when they reached… all came together to Leh.. As Kiran was not feeling well our Rescue squad head Vikram More rode his bike till Leh.
Once all reached, we headed to Pizerria to finish some more chicken & then went to bed..
Total distance travelled: 320 kms.
Day 10: This day was for roaming around in Leh… but most of us were in hotel.. in the evening we did some shopping, then booked a car to dump our luggage till Srinagar had our dinner & went to bed… My bike undergone a plastic surgery & we removed filter from Sonu’s bike & did small work on Shamik’s clutch lever
Day11 : We started early.. We had decided that we will travel till Srinagar in single day… as this will give us entire day in beautiful Srinagar… We started at 6:30 am. Enroute we visited lamayuru which is one of the oldest monestry.
Drass is 2nd coldest human habitat in the world. We stopped at Drass war memorial. Location of memorial itself is very beautiful.. it is situated between tololing, Tiger hill, Phyno thorn & one more peak which were real points of action.
We really feel proud about those who laid down their lives for India. Wherever you are from, whatever are your interests, if you are travelling on this route you should visit the memorial.
It was 6:00 pm when we started from memorial & Tejas’s bike gave up… we started it & it went till Drass. We had food at Drass, Roganjosh, Kheema & paneer mutter.. It was getting colder & colder. It also started raining & the bike was not starting. We decided to call end of day at Drass. Searched for accommodation parked our bikes & stayed there.
Total distance travelled 270 kms.
Day12 : Me & Pappu had given up our wake up call job… The car driver had took that from us.. We were ready by 7:30 am. We then stopped a truck, he agreed to load bikes & carry them till Srinagar. We loaded 3 bikes in the truck (Sonu, tejas, Shamik). We started in rains.. kept travelling.. & reached sonamarg @ 11:30 am. (I felt once again on the way, while crossing Zoji La). Had some breakfast @ Sonamarg (They put anything between breads & call it sandwitch).
We tried to find mechanic but failed.. So we decided to carry bikes till village called Kangan in truck. Bikers rode ahead & tracked the mechanic in kangan village which is 30kms before Srinagar.
He fixed tejas’s bike quickly, but after carrying in truck Sonu’s bike was not getting started.. & to everybody’s surprise Shamik’s bike got puncture inside the truck(?) it took around 90 minutes to fix everything & then we headed to Srinagar.
Finally we reached Srinagar at 6:00 pm. Went stratight to hotel.. had a party entire evening & then headed to restaurant called Mughal Darbar.. The food was really tasty we tried starter called Kanti, mutton chaap, & two spicy chicken gravies.. after dinner had a walk of two kms.. on roads of Srinagar…
Reached hotel @ 11:30 pm. Total distance travelled 200 kms.
Day13: had a breakfast at restaurant called Purohit.. It serves many Marathi cuisines so all warriors attacked on Kande pohe, batata wada, upama, shira.. (The restaurant is on main road near dal gate).
After heavy breakfast, we headed for Jammu. The roads are in excellent conditions.. We crossed Jawahar tunnel, then khooni nala & reached at patni top which is a famous hill station. There we had evening snacks & continued the journey to reach a village from which there was a diversion for Pathankot. We took the shortcut to pathankot. The roads are not in very good condition & at around 8:30 pm. Tejas’s bike was punctured. Thank god we had a mechanic at 10 kms, he fixed the bike & we continued further. 5 kms before pathankot, we called off our day at 11:30 pm & stayed at hotel Vishal. Enjoyed dinner of chicken there.
Total distance travelled 400 kms.
Day14: This was the last day of the journey. We started at 9 am. Then stopped at Dhaba near pathankot. Had heavy breakfast of parathas, daal, lassi & then headed to delhi.. When we crossed jalandhar it started raining & continued for a while.
We crossed 200 kms & then took halt for lunch at a dhaba. For all days we were travelling together & even if anybody is ahead he use to stop for others after a while, but this time Shamik was so focused on reaching delhi that he didn’t even realize that me & Pravin trying to stop him… he kept riding till he reached Delhi. After lunch we started for delhi. We crossed Kurukshetra & got the news that Mayuresh & Pilu met accident. We waited for them at 3000 kms mark. Once they reached we started once again & at 9:00 pm reached Sonipat. We had asked Tejas to wait here for us but we couldn’t trace him… We all were worried & had no clue… We tried but their cells were not reachable for more than 1 hour we tried to find some solution. Actually we wanted to stop 30 kms before delhi celebrate the completion & then enter delhi in the morning… but now when two guys were missing all celebration plans were cancelled & we headed to Delhi.
We lost hours in search & hence reached Delhi very late. Pravin came to our rescue & quickly managed accommodation & food for us. We headed to gurgaon with Pravin, meanwhile Shamik & tejas called us to inform that they were in Delhi safely. We were really angry about this entire episode but then we reached gurgaon had food… some drinks, anger settled down & we enjoyed review of all 14 thrill packed days.. Me, Mayur, Pappu, Pravin, Boss & Sonu stayed at Pravin’s place Mayuresh & Prasad went to Dattabhau’s place.. We all who had stayed with Pravin enjoyed till 3 am & then called off the day.
Day15: We went straight to Dattabhau(Mayuresh’s father) residence as that was our assembly point. Or Then we took our bikes to mover & packer(Rotlu Shekhavat). He packed the bikes, meanwhile we moved to sector 14 & had lunch(Veg for a change). Then came back to IFFCO colony packed our bags cut cake arranged by Pravin & Tejas.. Recorded goodbye lines of all warriors.. & started the return journey…
On the way we visited house of Mr. Sharma & spend some time there… This some time was so long that most of us lost the confidence that we can catch the flight… but ganpati bappa was waiting for us here in Mumbai so he managed vehicle for us & we reached airport in time… plane started @ 9:15pm & we were back in Amachi Mumbai at 11:15pm Clicked some last snaps on airport & then headed for our homes……
Before completing this travelogue I should thank few people who helped us a lot during this journey…
In first place Mayuresh’s Father (Dattabhau), who stay at Gurgoan due to his job, provided us basecamp at gurgoan. He received the bikes we had sent (without keys) at Gurgoan & took care of them for 4 days. Also provided us assembly point on our return journey & arranged beautiful flag off for us.
Sharmaji, who stay in IFFCO colony gurgoan, provided us his house for all preparations before leaving for ride
Indian Army, which helps everybody enroute & especially people like us who are not carrying any back up vehicle.. They helped us not only with providing secured roads but with tea, snacks, giving us lift, guiding us for roads, providing first aid and in many more ways….
And last but not least our families back home who showed faith in us. They took enough pain trying our not-reachable phones or contacting each other to get information about us. Wished us for every part of the journey.
With that I conclude this scribble (Its too long to be called scribble though), but the concluding is just for this trip… The warriors & their machines are ready once again to conquer new highs… Till then let us all enjoy the memories of conquering toughest circuit of the world without any backup or any mechanic or any professional tour manager… BRAVO MARATHA WARRIORS
This was an awesome trip, i can say a trip of my life. whenever i look at all those snaps, i feel to be the happiest person on earth. The total distance of 3188 Km travelled by 14 of us with 11 bikes. beleive me it was not an easy task but we can proudly say "Yes we quanquered" the contribution given by everyone of us was extra ordinarily unbeleivable. because what needed to complete the whole journey was The cooperation and confidence to overcome those challenges which we were not expecting. We dint even have a mechanic Or a doctor with us. I met people frpm Different states viz maharashtra,Chandigarh,haryana etc coming to travel tru this road with a backup mechanic and doctor with them, even with one OR two backup Cars But.. we did it without anything or should i say with all our courage :)
ReplyDeleteJai Maratha warriors
hats Of to all 14 warriors.. n get ready for next action boys - Dec`09 Konkan trip