Day 9-Bikeday 6
We followed the Spiti river on our way up the mountains. The first part was wonderful moutain terrain. This video shows some of the ride. (Click on the arrows to show it in full format.)
The road was great to begin with but deteriorated as we got closer to the Kunzum pass at altitude 4600 meters . The mountain passes are often decorated with prayer flags. Here there were many.
The lunch of the day was «Real Turmat» or Real Field Meal. Below is a picture of Rolf who opted for an additional snack of crisp bread.
Food: We were requested to bring with us some bags of Real Field Meals to vary our food. Some days we were provided with lunch packs from the hotel while others were Real Field Meals. The chief mechanic Darmender would fire up his gas heater and boil water, which was then poured into the Field Meal bag, and abracadabra we had a great lunch. On our previous Himalaya trip Rolf and I had a poor experience with Indian food. A Dehli belly light. We dared not let wind astride a motorbike! Crisp bread and tube cheese helped us then and was therefore in Rolf’s bike bag. This trip we were blessed with firm bellies.
On our way to our night destination, the roads deteriorated again and we did our first river crossings. These went well but Gunnar had a close encounter with a mountain rock, which bent his bike’s brake pedal into the bike’s foot peg. That efficiently locked his rear brake. You do not get far with a locked brake. Darmender was there in seconds. Found some stones as a substitute to a hammer and beat the brake pedal back in place.
Our night destination was a tent camp.
After arriving at the camp we got on our bikes and drove 3-4km to Chandra Tal which translates to Moon Lake.
A strange lake in this dry and desolate mountain desert. This a sacred lake and again there were many prayer flags here. There were also many other tourists at the lake. They had driven up the bad road but in cars.
That evening Gunnar was in bad shape. Shivering and all the symptoms of a bad cold. He skipped dinner and hit the bed. A paracetamol and a good night sleep did wonders. The next morning he was feeling much better but not 100%. The next day was tough and so much tougher when one is not 100%.
Day 10 – Bikeday 7
Yesterdays road was bad. Todays was terrible and some sections almost impassable and 63km of it! On the bright side was the beautiful nature.
We crossed several water obstacles, rivers and streams that ran right across the road. Or to rephrase the river was the road! In addition to have to make our way through flocks of Kashmir sheep and goats. Here a couple of videos illustrating the challenges we faced.
We had a few overturned bikes whereof Gunnar was one. No damages or injuries. The final strech was a welcomed paved road. We fared well while on our bikes. We must admit that when we arrived at our hotel to relax we were exhausted.
Right next to the hotel there was a cockoo bird nesting.
Day 11 – Bikeday 8
A slow start of the day to relax after yesterdays strenuous day. Departure was set for 09;00 which proved to be an unwise decision. Explanation to follow. Great paved roads to start with as we were on the main north bound Himalayan highway. Impressive nature to be seen.
The above picture shows one of hundreds of trucks we met or passed. A few words about the trucks. They were all heavily loaded and under powered. Meaning:
- We had to pass them to get to our destination within reasonable time.
- The under powered engines could not burn off the diesel. The result was dark black exhaust emitting clouds we could hardly see through.
Passing the trucks was no easy feat. Not easy to see meeting traffic through the black exhaust as we held our breath as long as possible. We got our huge share of NOX, soot and other fumes. Not all trucks reached their destination as the below picture shows.
The driver of this one was fortunate as his truck stayed on the road. Had it gone over the side it would have been a Himalayan roller coaster. The truck was loaded with jet fuel. Flammable but not as dangerous as gasoline. We saw another less fortunate truck, which had ended up far down the mountain side completely smashed.
That was the end of the good road! Low and behold a river where there should have been road. Melting glacial water had found a new way beyond the bridge. The current was fast and difficult to pass.
The fast current can be seen in the above picture and the bikes needed help in crossing. The river had created a high bank on the other side which was impossible to ride over. The bikes got lifted and pulled. That is heavy work in the thin air at 4700 meter altitude. Many of our group contributed tremendously. Especially the mechanics who ran to and from getting the bikes over. See the below videos showing how strenuous it was.
Two of the guys got a «bath». Jens seen on one video and Øyvind who swam a few meters in the current. Another motorcyclist who was travelling in the opposite direction managed to overturn and got stuck under the truck which also was stuck.
We mentioned that the late departure was an unwise decision. The reason is that as the day warmed up the glacial melting increased. Had we arrived 2 hours earlier we could probably have driven through the lower river with out any sweat.
We got all the bikes over. Gunnar got one of the leaders to drive his. Rolf tried another crossing which appeared easiest only to end up in a rock pile on the other side. Difficult to get out of but then again Darmender did his magic. Thanks.
The strangest of all that this is the north bound highway in Himalaya. The only way to avoid the crossing was a detour of 600 km. In our part of the world an excavator would have been there to dig out the original riverbed. Not so in India.
Later there were several other water crossing but no where near the same scale. Gunnar broke a foot peg on one crossing on a close rock encounter. He took over one of the mechanics bike while his got repaired. The repair took only minutes! We finally arrived at Goldrop Camp, Sarchu, and altitude 4400 meters.
There was plenty birdlife here. This Hoopoe bird is one.
There were also many marmots to be seen. The live in small burrows they dig out in the ground or rock piles.
