Day 4, 2nd July 2013 - Part 2

              I was jelling up the new group and it was fun getting to know my new travel mates. Saw quite a few bikes from Pune. Their trip had been organized by a group here and there were about 45 bikers who were riding along. 

         Though the conditions were overcast it was not raining so it was quite pleasant riding in the cloud cover. The next pass is Fotu La , which is the highest point on the Srinagar-Leh highway. The roads were mesmerizing to say the least.

The road ahead looks beautiful.

Fotu La somewhere near top left.

Fotu LA pass is one of the windiest passes. Also, there was a slight drizzle at the top. Stopped there for some customary photos and moved ahead.

View on the other side

We were moving now at a steady pace and the roads descending from the pass were good. There was a large army convoy which was moving up so had to make way for them.
       Within an hour reached the Lamayaru moonlands. These areas are mainly Buddhist inhabitants while till Kargil it was mainly Muslim population. The moonlands are really one of the many wonders of nature. The color contrast and the topology make you feel you really have landed on moon.

Moonlands

Bunty and Monty :)

After crossing the moonlands the road descents down. It is quite patchy at a few places and we had to slown down our pace. We took the Hangroo Loops which takes you down by 500 feet. The view from top of the loops is quite scary.

Hangroo Loops

Out next stop was at Khalsi, we filled our water bottles which had got empty. Stopped there for a good 30mins to get relaxed. Moving further we reached the Basgo plains. The roads here would put any highway to shame.

Nearing Khalsi

At Khalsi

Who will not want to ride on this 

Arrow Straight roads

Nimmu- Nearing Leh

After crossing Nimmu, we reached the Indus-Zanskar confluence. And what a sight it was. You can clearly make our the color difference in the river. Down below people were rafting, though the currents are not that strong it looks quite scary from above.

Left is Indus and one from top is Zanskar river

Rafting

Just within a few minutes we reached the Magnetic hill. It is nothing but just an optical illusion where people need to park their car at a marked place and it feels as if you are dragged uphill towards the mountain.

Off-roading track

At Magnetic Hill

It was already 4PM by now and our plans of getting Inner Line Permits from the DC office was not possible now. (one of our group member had contacts with the DC himself). We moved on further and reached Gurudwara Pathar Sahib. The main shrine is below while I climbed about 50 stairs to reach the top where there was another shrine. This took a heavy toll on me and I was panting for breath. It was getting really very tough to breathe at this altitude. Finally we started from there in 15 mins and headed towards Leh.

The moments of truth had arrived. I finally got Leh'd :).. Reached at about 5:30 PM and we headed straight to the DC office to get permits. Thankfully the DC was still available and we were able to arrange permits for Pangong Tso and Khardung La. An icing on the cake, we were not even charged for this.

Got Leh'd

Near DC office, Leh

Stok Kangri Peak (6400m)

We filled our tanks in the evening itself as it gets quite crowded in the mornings. After a hard days ride with the wonderful group we had a great evening together. The DC even arranged rooms for us at the DAK Bungalow for a very nominal rate. We had a small party that night for successfully completing reaching Leh and dozed off with plans to do a day trip to Pangong Tso next day.

Petrol Filled at : Kargil