Biking the Himalayas: Srinagar to Leh

Two new cyclists, 500 kilometers, 7000 meters of total climbing, chilling temperatures and the thin air.  That summarizes our cycling trip from Srinagar to Leh. I also uploaded our photos to http://picasaweb.google.com/s.prasad/Srinagar_Leh

Cycling and the Itinerary

At the Transit Camp

Transit Camp at Srinagar

On the 30th of May, we started to Srinagar and after almost three days and two nights of travel by rail and road we reached Srinagar in the evening of 1st June.  Through a few old friends we managed getting an accommodation at an Army Transit Camp and thanks to the many new friends we made there the two days we spent there were just awesome.

Srinagar was going through a Hartal at the time of our stay and the only places we could visit were the Dal Lake and the Nishant Gardens.  The 2nd of June was mostly visiting these places and assembling our bikes in the evening.

Cycling to Sonamarg

Hazrat Bal Mosque

We started cycling on the 3rd of June and reached Sonamarg, a popular tourist destination that was about 98 KMs away from the Transit Camp in Srinagar.  This drive took us around the Dal Lake and we soon left Srinagar to ride through the country side.  The ride was pleasant with a steady gain in altitude all through the way.  We halted in Sonamarg for the night.

Climbing up Zoji La

4th of June was for travel from Sonamarg till Drass (62KM).  We started very late (at about 12:30PM) and we had the steep Zoji La in front of us.  We rode till we were pretty close but gave up when we were about 4KM away from the top.  A truck driver offered to help us reach the top and we gladly accepted it ;)  The rest of the ride was mostly a easy downhill ride where we could touch speeds upto 63.9 KMPH.  At Drass we had an opportunity to see the army in their position (with the Bofors Howitzers stationed there).  Its a tough life to be in army and my respect for them has gone up.

Kargil war memorial

The ride next day was an easy one till Kargil (62KM).  Kargil is a decent town and you get everything that a town would need.  It is a good place to refill your stock of food and medical needs.  We decided to take a break on the 6th of June. It was just a clean-the-bikes and walk-around day.  While at Kargil we visited the J&K Tourism Bungalow to find out about the accommodation options beyond Kargil.  We mostly ate Rogan Josh and rice and sometimes other stuff at Kargil.

Tourist Bungalow, Hinaskot

Namika La from a distance

After having some Kashmiri Naans for breakfast we started at 7:00AM planning to ride till Mulbekh on the seventh day.  We reached Mulbekh by lunch and we decided to go ahead for another 40KM till Bodhkarbu where we planned to stay at the Tourist Bungalow.  This part of the ride takes us over the Namika La, which was a slightly lower altitude pass.  However when about 8KMs away from the pass the climate suddenly changed and our hands started freezing.  Its was time to look back for another truck :)  This time it was army truck that helped us reach the top of Namika La.  We again rode downhill and reached Bodharbu.  We had to ride for another 10KM till Hasinkot for the Tourist Bungalow.  We rode for about 77 KMs (excluding the truck ride)

Lamayuru Monastery

Fotu La Top

The eighth day we started at about 8:00 in the morning having only a few biscuits for breakfast.  We had Fotu La, the highest pass on the Srinagar Leh highway.  Determined to ride till the top we reached it by 10:30.  We then rode till the Lamayuru Monastery, had our lunch and visited the monastery.  Once at Lamayuru the Indus river would join us along the road and we keep going upstream Indus till Leh. We took a small Maggi break at Khalste and rode till Saspol which was about 80KM away from our previous night halt at Hasinkot. At Saspol we stayed at a family run guest house named “Alchi View”.  If you stay at this or any other place around don’t forget to taste the Apricot jam, Palak as well as the tomatoes here.

A Ladakhi Kitchen

Paintings at Alchi

On the ninth day we visited the 1000 year old Alchi Monastery and Temples which were about 7KM from the guest house.  We returned by 10:30 and started for Leh.  After travelling uphill for about 5KM we came back to guest house due to a pain in my knee.  This day turned out to be a rest day.

At Likir Monastery

Early on the 10th June we started for Leh.  After 8.5KM of uphill we took a 5KM deviation from the main road to visit the Likir monastery.  The ride from Likir monastery till the main road was an easy downhill and later the road was relatively flat till Nimmu (our Lunch halt).  After climbing up till the Magnetic Hill and facing some heavy wind which made even standing difficult we reached the Pattar Sahib Gurudwara.  The road beyond the Gurudwara was a neatly paved downhill for more than 10KM.  This stretch gave us an oppurtunity to touch a maximum speed of 77.7KMPH and soon we entered the busy Leh city!

With three days in hand at Leh, we spent the 11th of June travelling to Khardung La on a motorbike and we visited the Panggong Lake on the 12th of June in a shared cab. We took our cycles out and rode till the Tiksay Monastery and the Shey Palace on the 13th of June.

Places we visited

• Dal Lake and Nishant gardens at Srinagar
• Kargil war memorial at Drass
• Lamayuru Monastery
• Alchi Monastery
• Likhir Monastery
• Hall of Fame museum (about 9KM before Leh)
• Khardung La on a motor bike
• Shanti Stupa at Leh
• Panggong Lake on a shared cab
• Tiksey Monastery and Shey Palace

Accommodation and Food

• Srinagar: Lots of hotels, guest houses and house boats.  We stayed at an Army Transit Camp
• Sonamarg: Variety of hotels for different budgets. We stayed in a hotel just behind the Army Alpha Camp.  Sonamarg is about 90KM from Srinagar.
• Drass: Lots of guest houses.  Drass is about 65 KM from Sonamarg.
• Kargil: Lots of guest houses and hotels.  We stayed at “Tibetan Foods2″ paying Rs.300 for a double bedded room per day (shared washrooms).  Kargil is about 60KM from Drass
• Mulbekh: Guest houses.  It is about 40KM from Kargil.
• Hasnikot: J&K Tourism Bungalow.  About 45KM from Mulbekh. Costs about Rs.300 for two people including dinner.
• Lamayuru: Guest houses.  It is about 30KM from Hasnikot
• Khaltse: Guest houses
• Alchi, Saspol: Guest houses - Saspol only has one guest house. Alchi has more.  We stayed at “Alchi View” guest house in Saspol which cost us about Rs.400 for two people including dinner and breakfast.
• Nimmu: Restaurants
• Leh: Hotels and guest houses.  We stayed at Mehek Guest House on the Changspa Road which cost us Rs.400 per day.  We could probably have bargained and brought this down to Rs.250 to Rs.300 per day.  At Leh don’t forget to have Momos and Thupka.  Leh is also a place that has a lot of foreign tourists so you fine many cuisines and a great variety in food.
• Army Camps: Most army camps can be approached for hot drinking water.  Many of them have something called a “wet canteen” when you can get Maggi, tea and may be other stuff like samosas.

Stuff we carried

• Bikes: Firefox Target and Cannondale F9
• Custom stitched panniers to suit our bikes
• Spare tubes, break pads, cables
• Flat mending kit and a Giyo air pump
• Lots of oral rehydration stuff (Electral)
• Chocolates (Nutribar, Snickers, 5 Star), biscuits (Goodday mostly) and some dry fruits
• Three pairs of clothing for cycling, three pairs of Jeans and some t-shirts
• Jackets and rain clothing
• Ropes, packing tape and water proof sheets
• Spare socks, tissues, sunscreen, soaps, not-enough cash
• BSNL postpaid SIM card (with BSNL postpaid you are always connected on this road)
• Loads of water when we were on bike (averaging 3 liters each and refilling where ever possible)

Stuff we should have carried too

• Wollen gloves (the cycling gloves are not enough for the climate)
• Balaclava

A few notes

The Himalayan weather, specially in the early and late parts of the season seems to be very unpredictable.  There were hot sunny afternoons, rainy and snowing days, chilling winds and traffic stopped due to bad weather (towards Khardung La).

About the riders

Praveen: Purchased his first bike about a year ago and started riding to work.  About six months back when I spoke to him about the Srinagar-Leh trip, he was all excited and joined the Chennai bikers in their weekend rides.  Three weeks before the ride he purchased his first mountain bike, Cannondale F9 which he used on this trip.

Prasad (that’s me): Purchased his first and the only bike about six months back.  Interestingly the plan to ride between Srinagar and Leh was much older and he purchased the bike “specially” for that.  Joined the Hyderabad Bicycling Club about five months back and started attending the weekend rides as a preparation for the “big” one.

Interesting Photos

Hazrat Bal Mosque

Blurred Rose

At Transit Camp, Srinagar

Lots of faces

The Sword

Small Stream

At Transit Camp, Srinagar

At Khardung La

Shanti Stupa

Himalayan Marmot

Panggong Lake

Panggong Lake

Painting at Shey