Bike Trip to Leh Ladakh - A Dream Fulfilled

[Nadeem]

A long-cherished dream of riding to Ladakh got fulfilled recently. I finally was able to go on a Leh Ladakh Bike Trip from Jammu and the ride lasted for a total of 7 days. In this article, I will share the details of my ride along with a few pictures.

Dates - 11th May to 20th May

Total distance - 2015 kilometers

Bike - KTM Duke 390

Route: Jammu - Srinagar -Kargil - Leh - Nubra Valley - Pangong Tso - Leh - Srinagar - Jammu

So, after planning for over a year, I finally got to do this trip. This trip was supposed to be an experience in itself and I believe this has mostly been fulfilled. Even though I was able to do only a fraction of what I had planned, it still was a new experience for me.

Last year I did many trips to Kashmir and visited many popular places and a few less visited places. Then in September, I did a solo trip to Sach Pass. This trip gave me immense confidence in terms of doing solo rides.

Come 2018 and I picked my Ladakh planning thread and started reading/researching more. I settled on quite a general itinerary, something which was more realistic for a solo rider on his first trip to this region.

I took the help of this list- things to carry. In terms of bike spares, I only took a spare clutch cable and a puncher repair kit with me. I got the bike serviced last month, changed the air filter, and brought chain lube.

A day before leaving, I bought medicines, toiletries, etc, and loaded up the bike for a trial run. Tanked up in the evening.

 

[Nadeem]

Day 1 - Jammu to Anantnag - 226 km​

I have traveled on this route over a dozen times in the last 6 months and after a first few rides, I skipped taking pictures. I left home at 6:20 am and reached Mattan, Anantnag at 12:55 pm. I took a couple of chai breaks in between. Since there is a lot of construction going on in many sections, the route is extremely dusty. Couple this with heavy truck traffic, it becomes difficult to ride/drive on it.

It started raining heavily around 2 pm and would continue throughout the night.

I decided to stay in Mattan for a day or two and let the wet spell pass.

Day 2 - Mattan​

The day spent lazily in Mattan, doing nothing. Though the weather remained calm throughout the day.

Day 3 - Anantnag to Kargil 278 km​

I woke up early and the first thing I did was look out the window for signs of rain. It was cloudy, but luckily not raining. I freshened up, loaded the bike, and left at 7:30 am. It was a quick run till Srinagar on the new road. The army presence was quite visible, the most I have seen in many months. Maybe since the PM was to visit a few days later, security forces were on their heels.

I took the Dal lake road which was fun to ride early morning.


Boulevard road





Char Chinar





A few km before Sonamarg, it started drizzling which will continue on/off till the climb of Zoji La.

Enroute Sonamarg











The number of tourists and ponies increased exponentially around Sonamarg. The main Sonamarg area smelled like horse shit and I didn't even slow down there. Now I know why hotels in Sonamarg cost so high, the number of tourists is amazing.

 

[Nadeem]

See how beautifully water is flowing through the natural snow tunnel





Goats doing what they do best





Duke was fun to ride on the smooth tarmac





What was earlier a drizzle, was now a full-on downpour. The climb to Zoji La has started. It wasn't easy riding here in these conditions. Slush was everywhere, but the foggy views compensated for everything.

All pictures here are from my mobile.





Snow walls







At ZojiLa in the rain

 

[Nadeem]

The rain continued till well below the pass. I stopped at a small tea stall at Maitan village and had tea and an omelet.


Village

 

[Nadeem]

Continuing further, I crossed Drass without stopping.

The scenery changes a few km before Kargil. The green color becomes prominent and the tall trees look amazing.















Beautiful mosque on the other side of the river





As I was riding, I saw an old bridge off the main road and decided to check it out.

There were a few abandoned bunkers on both sides of the bridge.


Harka Bahadur Bridge

Built-in Record Time by 12 Engineer Regiment.

May-Sep 1969





This bridge was named after Sub Harka Bahadur Rana MC of the 1st Battalion The 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force) who captured the bridge on 23 Nov 1948.

The bridge is dedicated to the memory of those gallant sons of the battalion who made the capture of the bridge possible by laying down their lives during operations in ZojiLa and Kargil in 1948.

 

[Nadeem]

I had contacted a distant relative in Kargil for my night stay. But the whole BSNL network was down and I couldn't contact him and also, there aren't public booths. I asked about 6 people for directions, but it looks like people in Kargil really don't want to help.

I checked a few places with parking and all were over Rs. 1000 a night, which was much more than I would have liked. I finally found a place for Rs. 800, Afzal Guesthouse. It had a parking space and the room was clean with hot water.

View from the hotel room





[For Umba La, there is a clear marked board in the road in Dras. Road/track is mentioned on the board.]

 

[Nadeem]

Day 4 - Kargil to Leh - 252kms​

I Left Kargil at 7:15 am. I had already tanked up the evening before so fuel as well was not something to worry about.


Kargil town














View of whole Kargil town





The weather was cold and the sun was playing hide-n-seek with the clouds.

I stopped at Mulbekh, where I had the tastiest cup of tea on the whole trip.

 

[Nadeem]

These black dots on the slope are sheep.

 

[Nadeem]

The whole route of Kargil to Leh is full tarmac, even at La's (Fotu La & Namik La).

Namik La










Fatu La











About 10kms before Lamayuru, I saw a track going up the mountain and there was a board mentioning Atise Monastery. I thought of taking the dirt route and then I saw a tarred road just beside it. It seems to have been freshly laid. Went up to the parking lot of the monastery, clicked pictures, and returned back. Got some pretty nice images.


That's the straight shortcut on the left side.

 

[Nadeem]

Atise Monastery












View from the parking lot of the monastery









Took the shortcut while coming down. This would have been fun with offroad tires









I had lunch at a hotel in Lamayuru (bloody costly for a simple meal of chapati & mix-veg). I skipped visiting the monastery. The landscape around Lamayuru is amazing. Wind and rain have truly carved masterpieces there. Lamayuru seems to have an abundance of hotels & guesthouses.



Lamayuru Monastery