It was 7 AM when we left the tent at Batal and got on our way towards Gramphu and Manali. We were hoping that we would be able to cross the Ice Slush today, as most of the water would have either drained or would have solidified. After crossing the same set of water crossings for the third time, we stopped at the Ice crossing and walked through it. Everything seemed better, the ice water had solidified, and though it was still a challenge, we were confident we would get the bikes across.
Working as a team of 3 members each, one group pushed the bike up to the top across the ice, and then the other group took over and got it across the slushy slipper ice that was starting to melt again. One by one, we got each bike across. After the 3rd bike, a huge herd of sheep and goats went past, flattening the ice but also melting it further. The last two bikes were the most challenging, as the ice had now melted, the slush was knee deep, and we too were tired. See the video of me getting my bike across below.
We had been told by every person we asked that the road ahead of this ice crossing was like butter. Smooth, flat, and clean roads. Well I wouldn't say they were lying, the roads would have indeed been smooth, flat and clean, had they existed. Instead what we got was water crossing after water crossing, with some more ice in between and also a couple of river crossings. The second stretch of ice was really challenging. It was a thick slab of ice, slowly melting away. The tyres kept slipping and sliding, and using the brakes would cause the bike to start sliding uncontrollably. We rode through so many water crossings that at one point, we started to count the distance to Gramphu in water crossings instead of kms. Batal to Gramphu is just 45kms. The first 27 kms to Chataru, took us 5 hours, and the remaining distance took us another 3 hours. Having left Batal at 7 in the morning, we reached Gramphu only at 3pm. There must have been close to 40 water crossings in that stretch of 45 kms. That's almost one water crossing every km. And none of them were small, each one more challenging than the other. At some places the water was gushing at such high speeds, it was difficult to stand without getting swept away. Take a look at the videos below to get a glimpse of some of the water crossings we went through.
The boot covers that I had bought from RE turned out to be completely useless. They tore within minutes of wearing them, and i ended up throwing them. Crossing ice cold water without gum boots meant that my shoes were completely wet. My legs were freezing, and it was not going to get better any time soon. We crossed Gramphu and headed up towards Rohtang Top. Knowing that there would be only 1 more water crossing, the famous Rani Nala.
Rohtang top was surprisingly deserted. There wasn't a soul there. It was extremely cold. We stopped at a Tea shop to have a quick warm up chai, all the while thinking that the batch of riders doing Leh from our club would have already crossed Rohtang the day before, and that we had missed the chance of meeting them en-route. There was a poster hanging on the window of the Chai shop sporting some Harleys which said that there was a Ride to Himalayas event that had happened a couple of days ago. When we asked the Chai wala about the poster and the Harleys, his reply was "Battis Lakh ka gaadi ko Rani Nala ne Chod Dala". Hearing his statement we all broke into laughter. Indeed, for Indian roads, Indian vehicles are the best.
We headed towards the infamous Rani Nala, and as we approached there seemed to be a traffic pileup. Parking the bike, I walked ahead to see the reason for the block. What I saw, sent a shiver down my spine. All that went through my head was, had we been at this place exactly 20 mins earlier, we could have possibly got crushed and killed. There was a huge landslide. A column of the rock face had collapsed on the road below crushing a car in the process.
In that freezing cold, we took a quick and smart decision to return to either Gramphu, or go ahead on the road towards Leh, and find a place to stay at Koksar. As we crossed Rohtang top, we were pleasantly surprised to see 10 familiar faces. It was the Leh Batch riders. After a quick discussion, the whole gang grouped together and head towards Koksar with great urgency hoping to get accommodation there. Luckiily we found a nice place and the whole gang settled down to share stories and have some fun.
The next day, the two groups split up and we were on our way. The Leh guys left first, and we left an hour later. They were a day behind schedule and were planning to skip the stay at Manali, which was our destination. We rode through Rohtang yet again, and this time cleared it. Hats off to the BRO workers. Seeing that landslide I was really doubtful that it would get cleared in a day. They had worked the whole night and cleared it by 2am. Imagine working in that extreme cold all night. My serious respect to all of them.
The climb down from Rohtang all the way to Manali is one super ride. I enjoyed it last year as well. Its an absolute pleasure seeing the deep valleys, and the beautiful roads. One of the roads not to be missed by any traveler.
From here on it was smooth sailing. We reached Manali. The day was spent servicing the bikes and enjoying some well deserved relaxation.
The next day we left Manali, and reached Chandigarh, with an hour break in between spent replacing the brake shoe on one of the bikes.
After staying the night at Chandigarh, Gogo and me said our goodbyes to the gang, and got on our bikes. They were to fly back, while we had planned to ride back.
We took off from Chandigarh and headed towards Jaipur, 500kms away. As the day went by, the extreme heat started. Equipped with Electral, we rode on. We reached Jaipur, and were tortured by the insanely chaotic traffic. Rajasthan drivers have no road sense. There is total chaos on the roads, and one has to pay 200% attention to ensure one reaches the destination safely. Truck drivers come on the wrong lane completely ignoring any vehicles and pushing them off the road.
After enjoying the chaotic Jaipur traffic, and some shopping, the next day we set our sights on visiting the Bullet Baba temple at Om Banna, and after that we head to Mt. Abu. Everyday, we also decided that between 2pm to 4pm, we would stop the bike and rest. This is because of the hot wind that blows at the time. This wind is also known as Loo. The extreme heat is generally manageable, but when the wind blowing on your face is also hot, it become unbearable. That day we had ridden close to 700kms and reached Mt. Abu by night.
Mt. Abu was a pleasant getaway from the extreme heat and so we decided to stay an extra day and chill out. During this time, we also visited the Brahmakumari Ashram, which has its headquarters at Mt. Abu.
After an extra day of rest, we left from Mt. Abu very early in the morning. 4am to be precise. Our target for the day was Surat, which was 500 kms away. We rode and rode, and when we reached Surat, we decided to ride another 300kms to Mumbai. After 800kms of riding, we checked into a hotel in Mumbai and slept the night.
From Mumbai to Goa, the roads were an absolute delight. It was raining, and we were drenched. But the view and the scenery was dreamy. Greens, Greens and greens. Ghat roads and a continuous drizzle. It was heaven. We enjoyed so much that we rode for 6 hours without a break.
After 2 days of enjoyment at Goa, we finally rode back to Bangalore. 650kms was covered in 10 hours. After 17 days, I got back home to an overjoyed family. I had ridden across Spiti and across India. I had done it!!!
Enjoy a few photos on the way from Manali to Bangalore below :
And here you go, the route map of our entire journey!! Though Google shows the distance as 4000km, our Odometers showed it as 4700kms. So as a side note, don't depend on Google maps for distances.
After such a ride, all I can say is that it was nothing but sheer teamwork, zero ego, superb attitude and mature riders that made it happen. Without such a team, a ride of this magnitude would not have been possible. The Spiti gang had the best set of riders one would want to ride with. My love and appreciation to each of them, Shri, SRK, Rags, Jerin and extra love to my fellow Rascal GoGO!!!!
Working as a team of 3 members each, one group pushed the bike up to the top across the ice, and then the other group took over and got it across the slushy slipper ice that was starting to melt again. One by one, we got each bike across. After the 3rd bike, a huge herd of sheep and goats went past, flattening the ice but also melting it further. The last two bikes were the most challenging, as the ice had now melted, the slush was knee deep, and we too were tired. See the video of me getting my bike across below.
We had been told by every person we asked that the road ahead of this ice crossing was like butter. Smooth, flat, and clean roads. Well I wouldn't say they were lying, the roads would have indeed been smooth, flat and clean, had they existed. Instead what we got was water crossing after water crossing, with some more ice in between and also a couple of river crossings. The second stretch of ice was really challenging. It was a thick slab of ice, slowly melting away. The tyres kept slipping and sliding, and using the brakes would cause the bike to start sliding uncontrollably. We rode through so many water crossings that at one point, we started to count the distance to Gramphu in water crossings instead of kms. Batal to Gramphu is just 45kms. The first 27 kms to Chataru, took us 5 hours, and the remaining distance took us another 3 hours. Having left Batal at 7 in the morning, we reached Gramphu only at 3pm. There must have been close to 40 water crossings in that stretch of 45 kms. That's almost one water crossing every km. And none of them were small, each one more challenging than the other. At some places the water was gushing at such high speeds, it was difficult to stand without getting swept away. Take a look at the videos below to get a glimpse of some of the water crossings we went through.
We headed towards the infamous Rani Nala, and as we approached there seemed to be a traffic pileup. Parking the bike, I walked ahead to see the reason for the block. What I saw, sent a shiver down my spine. All that went through my head was, had we been at this place exactly 20 mins earlier, we could have possibly got crushed and killed. There was a huge landslide. A column of the rock face had collapsed on the road below crushing a car in the process.
The next day, the two groups split up and we were on our way. The Leh guys left first, and we left an hour later. They were a day behind schedule and were planning to skip the stay at Manali, which was our destination. We rode through Rohtang yet again, and this time cleared it. Hats off to the BRO workers. Seeing that landslide I was really doubtful that it would get cleared in a day. They had worked the whole night and cleared it by 2am. Imagine working in that extreme cold all night. My serious respect to all of them.
 |
| The crushed car after it was pulled out |
From here on it was smooth sailing. We reached Manali. The day was spent servicing the bikes and enjoying some well deserved relaxation.
The next day we left Manali, and reached Chandigarh, with an hour break in between spent replacing the brake shoe on one of the bikes.
After staying the night at Chandigarh, Gogo and me said our goodbyes to the gang, and got on our bikes. They were to fly back, while we had planned to ride back.
We took off from Chandigarh and headed towards Jaipur, 500kms away. As the day went by, the extreme heat started. Equipped with Electral, we rode on. We reached Jaipur, and were tortured by the insanely chaotic traffic. Rajasthan drivers have no road sense. There is total chaos on the roads, and one has to pay 200% attention to ensure one reaches the destination safely. Truck drivers come on the wrong lane completely ignoring any vehicles and pushing them off the road.
After enjoying the chaotic Jaipur traffic, and some shopping, the next day we set our sights on visiting the Bullet Baba temple at Om Banna, and after that we head to Mt. Abu. Everyday, we also decided that between 2pm to 4pm, we would stop the bike and rest. This is because of the hot wind that blows at the time. This wind is also known as Loo. The extreme heat is generally manageable, but when the wind blowing on your face is also hot, it become unbearable. That day we had ridden close to 700kms and reached Mt. Abu by night.
Mt. Abu was a pleasant getaway from the extreme heat and so we decided to stay an extra day and chill out. During this time, we also visited the Brahmakumari Ashram, which has its headquarters at Mt. Abu.
After an extra day of rest, we left from Mt. Abu very early in the morning. 4am to be precise. Our target for the day was Surat, which was 500 kms away. We rode and rode, and when we reached Surat, we decided to ride another 300kms to Mumbai. After 800kms of riding, we checked into a hotel in Mumbai and slept the night.
From Mumbai to Goa, the roads were an absolute delight. It was raining, and we were drenched. But the view and the scenery was dreamy. Greens, Greens and greens. Ghat roads and a continuous drizzle. It was heaven. We enjoyed so much that we rode for 6 hours without a break.
After 2 days of enjoyment at Goa, we finally rode back to Bangalore. 650kms was covered in 10 hours. After 17 days, I got back home to an overjoyed family. I had ridden across Spiti and across India. I had done it!!!
Enjoy a few photos on the way from Manali to Bangalore below :
 |  |
| Jaipur!!! The Pink City!! | Rest time at a Dhaba |
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| Selfiee!! | That chicken curry was damn tasty!!! |
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| Mt. Abu Lake | Selfiee Again!! :D |
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| Mumbai - Goa | |
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| Mumbai - Goa | English Breakfast at Tito's, Goa |
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| Selfie at Goa Beach!! :) |
After such a ride, all I can say is that it was nothing but sheer teamwork, zero ego, superb attitude and mature riders that made it happen. Without such a team, a ride of this magnitude would not have been possible. The Spiti gang had the best set of riders one would want to ride with. My love and appreciation to each of them, Shri, SRK, Rags, Jerin and extra love to my fellow Rascal GoGO!!!!
 |
| Part 4 |
Nice one dude !!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sandy
DeleteHell of trip Gautam... We are too planning to make a visit during 25th sept - 4th oct.
ReplyDelete