MANALI TO KILLAR
Cycle Tour, October
2015
It was already late in October
for any cycle trip beyond Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh. My friend Bhanu was poking me since last year
for another cycle tour. I was very tightly packed with project schedule. Somehow,
I managed to get this weekend to weekend nine days vacation for a thrilling
ride. This time we had a new group member, Rajesh who was daring to take his chance
for his very first attempt. Our planned route was through Rohtang pass and Sach
Pass. Rohtang remains open officially till 15 November and Sach remains open
till 15th of October. That means government will be clearing the
road if any snowfall occurs.
We loaded our bikes on Volvo Bus
from Delhi to Manali on Saturday night. Bhanu has a bad habit of rescheduling
plans. He fixed our lunch with his facebook friends at Patlikull about 30km
before Manali. We had a great lunch in the middle of apple orchid. And we
decided to start off from there only. During cycle tours we always choose a
less traffic road option no matter if it’s a longer one. So we took the route
via Nagar (old capital of Kullu). The road was steeper than what we expected.
Our shoulders start touching our knees. First day is always thrilling &
your adrenalin pumps extra hormone, especially when people admire you on the
way. We reached late at night. It doesn’t matter if Old Manali is at the
extreme end of the main. we like to stay there only to synergies our spirit
with its vibrant environment.
Next day we started very late at around 1pm as we invested time on buying necessary gears like Velcro, cap, sunscreen, first aid kit, etc. With four Paranthas, each of us packed their belly tight for long battery backup. Rajesh was learning shifting gears on the second day as previous day because of dark, he didn’t have time to practice. We had lunch at village called Kothi near Palchan 12 Km after Manali. And after that it was continuous pedaling up to Marhi which was 50Km from Manali. Cycling in the dark was risky but after shutting down our lamps, we discovered that rhythm of pedals on the smooth steep curvy road in moonlight was actually distressing our bodies. There were two grey moonlighted canvases, the road & the sky, on which, lot of trees were painted black with their shadows.
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| Willows vista at Sissu |
Marhi was the last stop before
Rohtang Pass. Next 17Km were most challenging we were at high altitude. Because
of low pressure, air was thin and breathing was difficult. We started at 10:30am
and it took 2.5hrs to reach the top. We crossed more than 17 hair pin bends.
Chilled air was cutting my face on every alternate segment. With every road
bend, altitude on my watch was increasing by 50m and the view was getting
wider. Reaching top was more satisfying than any design troubleshooting. We
celebrated for some time and moved on to the other side of the Rohtang. For 5Km
road was smooth. Soon it transformed into a rocky-shocky ride. 440Velectric waves were ejecting out of the
handle which shook my skeleton with every jerk. Uphill rides are difficult but
safe whereas Downhill rides are enjoyable but riskier. And at higher altitude
downhills are very chilling because you don’t pedal and body temperature
decreases. You have to stop very frequently for temperature makeup. Downhill
ended at Khoksar and it started raining when we reached there. Bhanu was with
me but Rajesh left before the rain. We stopped for the lunch but rain didn’t. Only
Bhanu had alternate BSNL connection which was in network so we couldn’t contact
Rajesh. We decided to stay at Khoksar only and thought, we will catch Rajesh on
the way next morning.
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| Khoksar - one point Perspective |
We had a weather forecast for
snow and rain till next day morning. We were chilling at PWD guesthouse it
ended at 12noon. From there onward we had a long route along the river Chenab. It
was a smoothie straight ride from Khoksar and we enjoyed the picturesque beauty
of the landscape at Sissu. I can never forget the vista of autumn matured pale
yellow willows & poplar trees on the road. We asked so many people on the
way, who were coming from the opposite direction but there was no sign of
Rajesh. At Tandi we stopped for the lunch. There people told us about Rajesh,
that he was a bit confused about which way to go. But he stick to the planned
route and headed toward Udaipur. Bhanu wanted to chill at Keylong (capital of
Lahoul) which was 7 Km from Tandi but on the Leh Highway. I was getting worried
about Rajesh as I was feeling responsibility. So I decided to scout toward
Udaipur, alone. It was Late at 4pm and sun would be down in next 2 Hrs. It was
a lonely ride but the road was almost straight and I reached Thirot at 7pm.
There was a probability of Rajesh staying at PWD Guesthouse at Thirot. Soon I
found him eating dinner alone. We both smiled and things were OK again. I left
message for Bhanu that we will be proceeding further on the Planned Route.
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| Confluence near Tandi |
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| Pangi Valley |
Quality of road degraded as we moved
toward Udaipur. There were two very famous pilgrimages on the way Trilokinatha
Temple & Mirikula Devi Temple. Udaipur had a full-fledged market where we
had local milk. It also had a beautiful river bank. We got surprised seeing the
condition of Road which was washed away with small rivulets flowing over them. And
some people warned us for rock fall areas on the way. We planned for Purthi for
the day but we could pull our bikes for next 25Km only from Thirot. We stayed
at PWD guesthouse at Tindi. Best thing about these PWD Guesthouses is that, they
are cheap (Rs.300-400 tariff) and they have good quality of bedding, spacious
landscape around and mesmerizing views from the window. Tindi Guesthouse was on
the hill across the river. We had some
trouble with the drunken caretaker when he denied for our stay without police
permission. But all got settled when we had local wine on the dinner.
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| Bad roads after Udaipur |
Road condition remained same but
there was a beautiful jungle on the way when we entered Pangi Valley. Color
contrast of five layers Black road, Cyan Chenab, Green forest, Snow white and
blue sky on the top were forming a surreal compositions. I had already decided
during the start of this journey to stay at PWD guesthouse at Purthi. As I read
on someone’s Blog about the ghost of a British forest officer which roam around
the guesthouse. It was located in the middle of the wildlife century. This
classic property with a big drawing hall and cozy bedroom was about 150yrs old.
While we were basking in the beauty of dense forest, Bhanu was roaming alone in
the high Miyar Valley. With the same landscape we
reached Killar. This town was bigger than Udaipur. That was the unlucky day for
us when we got to know that Sach Pass got blocked during last snowfall. So we
had two options left further. We could have continued our journey via Kishtwar
which was 120Km away. But that was a longer route through Jammu. Going back to
Manali was the better option for time saving. So we took a shared jeep, tied
our bikes on the roof. We also picked Bhanu on the way and reached Manali back
on one the single day.
