End of a long ride

The velometer reaching 5 digits made it a long ride. The ride is over but there is a lot to be shared. I spent over 6 weeks in J&K and away from internet and telephone at times, which I hardly ever missed. The blog shall remain active in coming future and postings might be a bit regular again.
Entering J&K from Udhampur side, saw me drenching in the rain almost everyday till Zojila. So far there had been some tough rides but Zojila was a different level. It wasn't tiring but the weather made the going difficult. It was a heavy snow fall and I had to stop short of what I had planned; a rare event as of then. The next morning I headed towards Kargil but one slip and there was a scare of any wet road.

 Later on the road till Leh the passes steadily rose ensuring a better acclimatization. On the way I was fortunate to have luxuries of a kerosene heater at times which usually makes one suffocate after a while. Riding becomes difficult after such times.

Srinagar-Leh route has fascinating and varying landscape. One of such extremes is at Lamayuru which is called the moonland. The pictures tell the remaining story (at the end)

Road after Khardung La

In order to get to Nubra and Shyok valleys, there was the first huge obstacle: Khardung la and though there were suggestions to cross it in the first attempt, I took a day off for a rehersal/acclimatization/check ride. There was a headache on the following day as well and Iwas slow enough to take around 3 hours for the last 12 kms of the climb. It usually is a great relief to reach the top after working your heart out. But stories change over 5000m. Descending was time consuming as well. Reason evident from the pic above. The ride till Khalsar showed a terrain which made the experience far more thrilling than that of Lamayuru. (coming up in later posts)

Moonland, Lamayuru