“The distance doesn't matter, it is only the first step that is difficult"

Sure, from the beginning, I was warned that this trip was going to be different. For instance, the bikes that would be used would be different. People usually prefer 350 cc Royal Enfield on rides like this. Some die-hard thumper fans even ran a subtle propaganda trying to mould my intention.

I was warned and intimidated too, but I stubbornly stuck to my plans. Instead of taking a 350cc motorcycle for a rough trip, I wanted to take the common man’s bike and prove that even a commuter machine can do the route, which is touted as the Mecca of Motorcycling, and after all I know my bike “CBZ”

My CBZ a 2001 model rough looks but always ready for the killing edge.

A day was decided as 11th Aug’07 and the route was chalked out. Mumbai to Chandigarh via train and then Chandigarh to Manali, Manali to LEH, LEH to Kargil, Kargil to Srinagar,

Srinagar to Amritsar and finally back to Mumbai via Train.

Chandigarh to Manali seemed fairly easy with the map showing a straight line cutting through the plains till Chandigarh. But from Manali the terrain seemed to change drastically.

I bagged all possible items along with my YAK leather Jacket which helped me a lot through out the journey, some spares and protein bites.

I load my CBZ in the train (Paschim express) a day in advance so that it’s easy for me to collect it from the station, as the paper work done by station authorities takes a lot of time, so it’s advisable to book it a day before you start your tour.

I started my tour from Mumbai (Bandra Terminus: Paschim express) by 11:35am sharp for Chandigarh. On reaching Chandigarh I was fully charged for the roll but it was almost evening as well as it started raining. “RAINING” I realized that my rear mudguard was a cut one so if it rains, all Chandigarh beauty will be on my back, so first I located a nice accommodation and then a garage where I fixed an extra mudguard to solve the issue.

I started from Chandigarh to Manali. It was an awesome feeling, a bike fully loaded with a bag on the tank tied with bungee net, another on the back seat and a rider fully geared with helmet, Jacket, boots and gloves, in short fully covered.

As I reached Kiratpur Sahib a holy place for my “SIKH” community, the place where one starts climbing towards Manali. The road was spattered with mud and completely drenched. First few hours it was a smooth ride but as I hit foothills of mighty HIMALAYAS a mixed feeling of joy n scare was in my mind.

As I hit foothills of HIMALAYA, the skies opened up and the road became a nightmare with concealed potholes and irritating slush forcing me to crawl towards Manali.I encountered the rough side of road fully covered with mud and it was very difficult to ride on that mud.

August is the season of landslides in the hills due to monsoon. There were plenty of them leading to traffic jams as long as 25 km. It’s in situations like this that motorcycles seem to be a blessing in disguise. Speeding past helpless drivers stranded with their cars gave me immense satisfaction.

Crossing one of such landslide my chain gave up and guess what? I packed all possible spares but missed on a chain lock. It was a village called Jadhol in Bilaspur district. It was raining from past few days so most of the people were indoors praying that Lord INDRA should stop the rain. The mechanic too was at his place and hadn’t open his shop from past 3 days.

I was stuck n thinking that why I crossed that landslide I should have waited for the JCB’s to finish their job.

Never mind, I thought as I was figuring out on how to manage to spend whole night in the open standing by the river, which was flowing 60 ft below the place.  I parked my bike under a tree suddenly like  an angel help arrived and said “ Ap road ke us par khade raho, yeh jagah teek nahi hai” and me being a biker with attitude (who would usually asks for lot of reasons if asked to do some thing which is not justified by me) but I did not question him and moved my bike on other side of the road and as I moved and parked my bike under a shed of a closed shop the whole piece of land I had parked my bike slipped into the river. I was shocked and started looking for the guy who saved my life but he was nowhere and luckily a localite named MANOJ Bahi came in and offered me to stay at his place, where I could park my bike in his yard. I didn’t have a choice, but to say YES. Trust me guys the hospitality his family gave me, I was overwhelmed.

In the morning Manoj bhai arranged for a mechanic who fixed my bike.

I moved ahead and was taken aback by the breathtaking view of Kullu Valley. The view was a welcome break and felt like balm applied to a hurting head making me forget the landslides on the way till Manali.

While on the way to Manali, I made a halt at Asia’s second largest BUDDH monastery after which I finally I reached Manali.

In the morning the first thing I needed to do was to find a garage, coz I broke my footrest while I was crossing those muddy roads.

After searching for a long time, I finally I got one garage called Ranaji’s garage where he had spares and a workshop equipped with a Lathe, welding and drill machines. But the only thing missing was a mechanic and a machine operator.

Thanks to my prior experience which I had gained from my Dad’s workshop, where I had worked for 2 years and learned how to operate all these machines, I was able to fix my bike.

After spending almost 2 to 3 hours at garage, I went to the market where I inquired about the road ahead towards LEH as Manali locals travel MANALI – LEH frequently.

The news was bad, the locales informed me that “Musam to theek hai lekin ek bridge raste pe tuta hai 3 se 4 foot pani hai sahib”  I said “ pani he hai na koi janwar to nahi” to which he replied “Sahib pahadon mein pani baraf pighalne se hota hai bas zero degree temperature hoga aur hawa main 1 ya 2 degree”.

Now, I was scared coz once you get wet, it may freeze your body parts and then it’s difficult to move ahead.

So I bought a waterproof pant and a pair of Gumboot, which was feather light but tough.  

After spending 2 days in Manali, I finally, started the journey to LEH.

As the tour began, my bike was groaning again as Rohtang Pass is tough. The hairpin bends along with steep inclines found me shifting gears like robots. The wind factor was high and at places, I had to plough through slippery roads, with water and sticky mud.

But eventually, a couple of hours later, I was on the other side of the pass. Honestly, I had imagined the landscape before, but this was way beyond my imagination coz this was the “real” thing.

There I was, with the glaciers on the Chandrabhaga range in the distance and the road disappearing into the clouds below. I couldn’t speak and could only hear the wind whispering, as if welcoming me into a mysterious world that lay hidden from prying eyes.

The real fun started from here. The roads had disappeared and rocks and loose gravel made riding a pain. The shocks of the bike, took a heavy beating as I cautiously tried to ride on the stones.

The landscape was also changing at this point of time. Vegetation was fast receding, as I cautiously covered the kilometers. The wind was now blowing as sharp as a knife. I could feel my lips drying up as fast as I could lick them.

For hours I continued riding, the jutting peaks and fast streams reminding me that the world wasn’t just made up of glitzy malls and crowded multiplexes. There wasn’t a soul around and it made me feel lonely and scared. At the same time, there was a certain thrill about it as well.

My next stop was Tandi, which has the last petrol station before LEH. After refueling I headed towards DARCHA which was my next stop for the night. Acute mountain sickness had started taking it’s toll on me. I had a splitting headache and my appetite had gone for a toss. The high passes ahead didn’t make me feel comfortable either.

At these heights the air is very thin, with low levels of oxygen, so low that even vehicles gasp for air. Combustion levels remain low, so even if you are driving on plain land it’s difficult for engine to give you support you ask for.

The extra grunt and aggressive engine, meant that you could pull the bike through anything that the road could throw at you. It was a pleasure and pain all at the same time. As I crossed Baralacha-La Pass which is almost 17,000 ft and is the longest pass in the world. It just didn’t seem to end.

But it was only later that I realized what a CBZ was capable of.

Finally, when I reach DARCHA the sun was about to set as my watch clicked 6:00pm and it was pitch black by 6:15pm. Luckily I got a concrete accommodation, which means life in a night with -6 degree temperature outside.

Next morning, when I was struggling to load my luggage on the bike coz it was cold and my fingers were freezing. Villagers stared at me and when I started my bike it roared in the first kick, the villagers were shocked, one fellow asked “ Sahib imported bike hai kya?” and I  said “ Nahin meri bike hai” a proud feeling of owning a CBZ which gave me a mileage of 35kmph on such rough terrain.

As I moved ahead, I entered a Grand Canyon-like landscape, with absolutely no signs of life. This made it too scary. I really struggled here, as the bike was just not able to take it anymore.

I reached Sarchu, which was one of the coldest places that I have come across. The air was razor sharp, so sharp that it hurt as I tried to inhale. Sarchu is a beautiful place, but very hostile. Flat roads meant that you could throttle your bike to your hearts content, but the sudden dips in the road makes it very fatal for vehicles. A broken axle can mean death, not by injury but by harsh and cold conditions specially at night.

After Pang, there was a platue with a 50 km odd stretch of plain landscape called as “MOREY PLAINS”. One can cross this landscape from wherever they feel like coz there are no roads, just flat landscape with loose mud and dust like talcum powder. As I was riding thru Morey plains I couldn’t see a single vehicle any where and trust me I was scared that if I get stuck in the dust plate, its would not be possible for a single man to pull the bike out of it and spending a night at this place is again risk for life as the flat landscape allows wind to flow in full force and it chills like hell. Morey plains are very famous for its wildlife, which has wolfs, foxes and some animal that looked somewhat like horse but was not a horse.

AS I crossed Morey plains, incline of the toughest road starts. This is the most difficult pass to climb in the entire route “Tanglang La” Pass at a height of 17,480 ft . It’s a nightmare. The climb is exhausting, the height scares you and the scenery renders you speechless.

The sun was about to set and I was hoping that I should cross the pass before dark.

The region was so cold, that a thin layer of snow started to form on my helmet and my fingers began to freeze, in spite of wearing double layered hand gloves.

There can be nothing as eye riveting as the bare Himalayas staring in your face, daring you to conquer it. Honestly speaking, the ride too was taking its toll on me. But here I am today, typing out this article.

I reached LEH at night, it was a great feeling of satisfaction that I finally did it.

LEH was even more beautiful during the day. I went to LEH market and happened to meet some friends who were also riding to the place called bikers MECCA “Khardung-La”.

Khardung-La, the highest motorable road in the world at height of 18,380ft altitude. 

The mercury here dipped to as low as -4 degree. At Khardung-La and one can feel on top of the world.

As my journey in LEH was coming to an end, I was engulfed by a mixed feeling of adventure and danger. My encounters on the wild route were still on my mind, making me think whether I should go back on the same route via Manali or heed towards Kargil.

Going back on the same route was next to impossible as crossing by Khardung-La was a big task. So I planned to move ahead via Kargil.

I started early morning the next day, the road by Indus River was a good TAR road but as I traveled more I figured out that this route is worse than Manali with Nakai-La, Lamayuru but the best part of it was the view of the majestic Indus valley and Moon valley (The surface of land n mountain is like surface of moon hence called as Moon valley) that were on the path.

As I reached Kargil it was about 4pm and I had enough daylight to ride on, passing by the Military bunkers I saw signboards displaying "Caution you are under ENEMY observation”. Trust me, It scared the day lights out of me. On one side of the road there were Military camps n bunkers and on the other side these boards. It was an Airy feeling.

I asked one Jawan about the signboards he said “U are passing by the LOC which is the border between INDIA and Pakistan”. Oh! Boy, I felt after seeing such a huge mountain that  if they (Pakistanis) throw a pebble it will come down with a speed of not less than 300kmph and the impact will be of 1000 times the actual.

Moving ahead with mixed emotions I reached DARAS sector which is second coldest inhabitant place on the planet Earth, where the mercury had dipped to -60 degree Celsius.

One can see TIGER HILL very close and clear from this place (Remember KARGIL WAR Pakistani militants attacked from TIGER HILL). What I really wondered was how did they manage to take all rocket launchers on top of this cliff.

I finally reached foothills of Zoji-La pass which is closed after 9pm till 3am due to lack of OXYGEN and militant activities. Zoji-La pass is also very famous for landslides.

I took shelter in a military tent, first time in my life I was out in such cold n high place where I was able to see stars so close that I can catch them with a jump.(Just my feelings otherwise, the sky is high).

Early morning I got up by 6am and found that all the trucks parked there at night were gone and when I asked the Jawan why didn’t he wake me, he said “Ap itna door se aaya aur who bhi bike pe raat ko jana theek nahi tha aur ap itna gehra neend mein tha to ap ko jagaya hi nahin, chai peeoge kya?” usually I never drink Tea but I wanted to have something warm so I said Yes to it (No choice).

As I crossed Zoji-La pass I was on Sonmarg, by the way its NH1 (National Highway 1).

Sonmarg is beginning point for the road towards Srinagar. As I got nice tar road I drove with full throttle my plan was to reach Punjab by end of the day.

While moving towards Srinagar I saw Jawans at a distance of 50ft, all were fully loaded and as I was about to cross Nehru Tunnel the distance between the Jawans reduced to a  mere 10ft.

Nehru Tunnel Oh! What a GR8 experience it’s a 2 to 3km long tunnel and one cannot see light at other end and inside the tunnel its pitch black coz the lights were not working at some places.

I took my first halt after Nehru tunnel and that was around 12pm. This day I drove my CBZ for 16hrs and finally gave up at Pathankot 80km away from native place Amritsar.

Got up late in morning had nice bath, tasted nice Punjabi breakfast and then started riding again and after 2hrs riding I was finally at home.

In Amritsar, which is my home town I can say my journey finished partially.

I loaded my bike back on the train and  began my return journey to my family in Mumbai.

Just one last thing, no amount of words or photographs can make you understand or feel what I have seen and felt. On a bike, you are in touch with everything around you. Even a gust of wind shakes you up or a raindrop makes you want to run for shelter. But there is no respite.

It’s just the two of you, you and your machine, left alone to face what normal people don’t. To be able to face all these circumstances, and achieve your goal is difficult to explain.

We riders live in our own WORLD filled with adventure which will NEVER STOP…...

So I planned to make my own club known as “Xtreme Bikers Club“. I intend to have many more of such trips that take us a step close to nature, adventure and enrich the experience of facing Thrills of Biking while challenging both the “M’s” MIND and MACHINE.

Happy Trails,

Amritpal Singh

+91 9833508090