The Leh Enigma: Day 4, 2nd July 2013

Kargil to Leh
Distance Covered: 220 Kms
Route taken: Kargil-Mulbekh-Khaltse-Nimmu-Leh

Today it was the ride towards my dream. "Leh was calling".

It was a good night sleep after a hard and long ride yesterday. I woke up early with all the excitement as we will be driving to our dream destination. But all the excitement was short-lived as both Nikhil and Deepak told me that they wanted to take it slow and explore Zanskar region as well. I was taken by surprise as all my plans were dependent on this group.
But, all said and done there was another excitement where I will be driving alone and would be able to spend time wherever I wanted to. I did not get into any arguments with them and started packing my stuff.

Got ready by 6 AM and started tying the bags. This really was going to be a pain if I am going to ride alone. It was quite cold outside so waited for 30 mins more. So finally was all set to leave by 7 AM. Bid goodbye to Nikhil and Deepak and started off for Leh. Crossed the bridge which joins Kargil town back to the Leh Highway. You get a good view of the Kargil town after riding up a few switchbacks. Tanked up at the Kargil filling station. The attendant was curious what bike is this and then a barrage of questions.. where am I coming from, did I ride all the way from Pune, how do you get money for this trip .. :).. Answered all of them before proceeding further.. :)

Kargil Town

It was a different feeling riding alone, both excited and tensed as I would be all alone. And in case of any breakdowns , "God Help Me". Rode a few kms and reached the other side of the hill. It was such a serene place.

The road till Mulbek is under construction with lots of bad patches. It was quite scary at some places where there had been fresh landslides which were being cleared by BRO. It especially gets tough where the new roads are being laid, there are gravels which are used for metalling caused the bike to skid even at slow speeds. Had to be very cautious while driving on these. The valleys and gorges can be quite intimidating at times.

After riding a good one hour the valley opens up and I realized Mulbekh was nearby. I was taking butt break at one of the places when a group of 8 from Himachal stopped by my side. We got introduced and I told them I was doing solo from Kargil. They invited me to join the group and I was more than happy to oblige. My itinerary was almost similar to what they had so I was all set to go with them.

Mulbekh

The HP Group- 2 Desert Storms, 1 Thunderbird and one CBZ

We stopped near the Maitreya Buddha statue at Mulbekh. Had yummy paranthas and I easily jelled up with my new team. We started again at about 9 AM with our next stop being Namik La.

Maitreya Buddha

The Steeds

The ride to Namik La was quite dusty. Though the roads were good it was getting a little tough with the gravels on the road. Also, it was getting quite cloudy which means it would be cold at Namik La pass.

Saw a cyclist who was riding from Leh to Srinagar after doing Manali-Leh. Gave him a high-five and moved ahead.

We reached Namik La pass in no time and man, it was quite windy there. My hands were already numby so just took a few pics at the pass and started to descend down.

I had already started enjoying the company for the group and it was a great time whenever we used to take any pit-stop. After descending from Namik La we encountered our first hurdle. BRO was repairing a bridge and we were informed that it would take atleast an hour for it to open. We opted for crossing the river on our bikes rather waste time there.