I befriended a nice gentleman from Ludhiana on his Jawa and a dude from Hyderabad on his rented Royal Enfield Scram 411. We three decided to ride together from Kaza to Manali.
BHPian Skunal96 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Hello Bhpians!
I took delivery of my Himalayan 450 in June of 2024, and had a vague plan of riding it back to my hometown Ranchi, from Hyderabad. The initial plan was to utilise the leaves during Dussehra and complete the ride in about 3 days. Somehow I decided on a detour to add some sightseeing to the ride. That detour happened to be a visit to the Spiti Valley.
PS: I had never ridden more than 350 km in a day and never been higher than 10,000 feet above sea level, other than on an aircraft.
Here’s how it went!
Day 1 (28th Sep, 2024): Hyderabad to Sagar
I departed at 1 am from Hyderabad and had a goal of reaching Sagar. I had however kept my plan flexible enough to take a night halt wherever I felt like. Covered distances quickly as the roads had sparse traffic at night, witnessed a beautiful sunrise and I found myself around Nagpur by 9 am. The roads were decent and the Himalayan was gracefully munching miles, and the excellent suspension was a boon on the potholed NH44 in MP. I reached Sagar at 4pm, covering 870 km on day one. Stayed for the night at Midway Treat, Sagar- right on the highway. Here I met a few other gentlemen traveling back from Ladakh and got some valuable insights on what to expect as I move northwards.
About 100km out of Hyderabad
A beautiful sunrise just as dawn broke on day one
Stats for day one
Day 2: Sagar to New Delhi
The goal for today was to cover roughly 620 km and reach Delhi before dark. Started around 7 am from Sagar and was immediately glad I didn’t cover this stretch in the dark. The road was pathetic with potholes eager to bend rims coming at me on all lanes. The road continued to be bad for roughly 100 km, after which it smoothed out. This part was not very interesting with overtaking trucks being the only fun activity. Had to face some irritating traffic in Agra while connecting to the Inner Ring Road, after which it was smooth sailing on the Yamuna expressway all the way. Reached Delhi around 7 pm. Stayed day 2 and day 3 at The Hosteller, New Delhi.
First time riding on the Yamuna Expressway
Stats: Hyderabad – Delhi
Day 3: Delhi
Day 3 was spent resting, cleaning and lubing the bike, and sorting some pending tasks from the workplace.
Day 4: Delhi to Narkanda
Left the hostel around 5:30 in the morning. Rode to India Gate for a quick picture before leaving the city. Traffic was light, and I was easily able to get out on the NH44 again. Stopped for some parathas with a generous serving of butter at Murthal. Paid a quick visit to my alma mater and carried on, on the smooth and wide highways. Plenty of juice and fruit stalls on the way had me refreshed, and I was soon at the foothills of the Himalayas. Traffic around Shimla had me in sweats again. It was here I got information that there had been a landslide in Nigulsari, and the road was blocked. I was almost thinking of a backup plan to ride to Manali via Jibhi if the road remained blocked. However, I carried on and reached The Hosteller, Narkanda by 5pm. The temperature finally felt Himalayan here.
At India Gate
Entering Himachal
Day 5: Narkanda to Chitkul
Today was the day I had to cross the landslide zone at Nigulsari. Enquired at the property and got information that the landslide had been cleared and the road was open. Went for a quick ride to Hatu Peak before setting off for Chitkul. The scenery quickly changed as I rode on into Kinnaur. Reached Nigulsari where there was a long line of vehicles waiting to cross the landslide zone as vehicles from one direction were allowed to cross at a time. I was glad to be on a two-wheeler as I rode past all the waiting vehicles to the block point where again I had to wait for roughly 2 hours before being allowed to go past.
Roads were brilliant till Karcham where one needs to take a right for Sangla and Chitkul. Roads turned narrow and uneven post this, but were manageable overall. Had a hearty lunch at Sangla and finally reached Chitkul at 5 pm, welcomed by the golden hour.
Long line of trucks at Nigulsari
Mandatory click at this board
Day 6: Chitkul to Nako
The plan for today was to ride leisurely and explore Chitkul, Kalpa, and stay for the night at Nako. Got up early around 6 to find some frost on the bike, and rode down to the ITBP check post. Although the border is around 75km from here, civilians are not allowed past this point. Clicked a few pictures, had breakfast on the way and after some offroading on the river banks, it was time to say goodbye to this quaint little border village.
Rode on to Kalpa to the suicide point, but turned back seeing the crowd there. Clicked a few pictures and was back on the highway to Nako. Reached Nako around 3PM, had lunch and decided to rest for the day.
Somewhere on the road to Chitkul
At the ITBP check post
The tank graphics seemed to match the mountains in the background- Kalpa
View from the homestay at Nako
Day 7: Nako to Kaza
Started with a visit to Nako monastery, and proceeded on towards Gue monastery. Gue lies very close to the Chinese border and my phone started showing Chinese time here. After checking on Google Maps later, I found the border was roughly 3KM away. Gue monastery lies at a scenic location and I spent about an hour and a half taking in the views here. The monastery also has a 500-year-old mummy of a monk. Next was the Tabo monastery, which is around a thousand years old and contains ancient scrolls and sculptures inside, which are not allowed to be photographed.
Moving on towards Kaza, I took a detour towards Dhankhar monastery, which lies about 9km uphill from the main highway. The road was paved and decent throughout. The peace one experiences at such places is difficult to put into words.
All the monastery visits of the day were done, and I arrived in the evening at Kaza, where I had planned an extra day for sightseeing and getting the motorcycle serviced.
View from the parking at Nako monastery
Somewhere between Tabo and Kaza
Mummy at Gue monastery
I’m Monastery
With the Dhankhar monastery in the background
Day 8: Accident
The odometer had reached 5000 km by now, and it was time for the 2nd service of the Himalayan. Booked a 9am service slot at Grease Moto Club Kaza, an RE-authorised service center. After arriving at the service center, I found out they opened at 10am, so I went out to explore the nearby villages of Langza, and Komic. Clicked a few pictures at Langza, where I was keen to find some marine fossils and moved on to Komic, the world’s highest motorable village. It was around noon when I finally got the motorcycle to get the service done. It was essentially a one-man garage and their workshop was under construction, so the service was done in the most scenic garage ever, under the open sky at Kaza. Service was done by evening and that was all for the day.
At Komic, the world’s highest motorable village
Ammonite fossil at Langza
Kaza brown getting serviced at Kaza
Day 9: Kaza to Manali
Today was the day I was most excited for, and was dreading at the same time. I had asked multiple riders about the road from Kaza to Manali, and their responses could be summed up as “adventurous”. I had befriended a nice gentleman from Ludhiana, on his Jawa, and a dude from Hyderabad on his rented Scram 411. We three decided to ride together for this stretch of the journey. We started around 9am from Zostel, Kaza and went to the Key monastery first, Chicham bridge was next and finally, we arrived in Losar.
We entered our information at the check post and proceeded on towards the Kunzum pass. We stopped for brunch at the famous “Chacha-Chachi” dhaba at Batal, and I was surprised to see the number of people at such a remote food joint. The roads were “bad”. We were either riding over gravel, potholes, rocks, or sand. The dust blown by other vehicles had changed the color of my bike, my riding gear, and even damaged the pinlock lens of my helmet.
here were numerous water crossings but there wasn’t much water in them to cause trouble. This continued till we arrived at Koksar, post which the road is paved all the way. Went on a slight detour to see the autumn colors and the waterfall at Sissu. Finally clicked some photographs with my riding buddies at the Atal Tunnel, and rested for the night in Manali.
Somehere after Batal
Sissu waterfall in the distance
At the Atal Tunnel
Day 10: Manali to Gurugram
The scenic part of the trip was essentially over now. Only thing left was the ride home, Ranchi. Started from Manali around 7am, roads were blocked due to farmer protests after Chandigarh. Being on a bike, I was able to sneak past the tractor blocking the road and continue my journey. Reached Gurugram around 6pm, after 11 hours on the saddle. Roads were good throughout and I faced traffic only after entering Delhi.
Day 11 & 12: Gurugram
Took a couple of days to rest and sort the backlog of work, before moving on to Ranchi.
Day 13: Gurugram to Sherghati (Bihar)
Started at 5am from Gurugram, took the road to Sohna, then Palwal and on to Yamuna Expressway at Jewar. The roads from Palwal to the expressway were full of huge potholes and they definitely shook me awake. Had breakfast in the expressway rest area and moved on to Agra-Lucknow expressway by 8:45am, exiting the same by 11:45. Crossing Lucknow took some time as I got lost and entered Purvanchal expressway by 1pm. I was getting hungry by now but there are no good food joints on the Purvanchal expressway, so all I got was a couple of samosas.
Got down from the expressway at Ghazipur around 4:30pm and had my lunch. Roads were decent till Ghazipur after which they turned into the generic chaotic rural roads. I reached the GT road/NH19 at Durgauti by 7pm. My aux lights stopped working as soon as I went on NH19, and it definitely hit my spirits. Headlights on the Himalayan are not the best and I was definitely feeling it.
I managed to get to Sherghati around 9:45pm, after which I decided to stop since home was still 194 Km away and I was not confident with the OEM headlight to ride anymore through the night. Took a room at Sher-e-Bihar hotel, decent hotel for a night halt, and went off to bed.
Stats for the day
Day 14: Sherghati to Ranchi:
Left the hotel by 10am after a good night of sleep. Was excited about going home and it was already navmi! Maintained a good pace and reached Barhi by 11:10, an hour and a half later I was finally home at 12:30. The trip had finally come to an end!
The milestone meant I was close to home
Stats for the trip: Hyderabad-Spiti-Ranchi
Thanks for reading, everyone!
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