A Walkers Adventure Tales

                 In 2018 I did a ride in  Dio Scooty with my friend from Bangalore to nepal -china border Bhutan covering 7000kms in 21 days and 8 states in India... so I wanted try out something bigger than this bike ride which I can talk about for at least an yearlong because I very strongly believe that traveling opens up lot many windows in our mind without our knowledge  at that time  came across Manali-leh highway in Facebook my very first thought was trying out cycling in this highway... As I researched about this Cycling came to know that many number of clubs were organising cycling and every year hundreds were doing this. So, my next thought was why shouldn't I take a walk in this 500+ Kms crossing 5 high altitude passes then I started working on this. My plan was to reach KHARDUNGLA in 10 day's and apply for a Guinness record.. but failed in that…

     “It’s your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.” 

                                                                      Rumi

On 13th July I started from Bangalore in a train and reached “Chandigarh” on 16th July 2019. From there I reached Manali in a bus which took almost 9 hours.

With an intention to walk 500 +  kilometers and with a backpack load of  13kgs (along with tent , sleeping bag, Power bank ,2 ltr Water bottle, books, etc essential thing's) not just on a flat road or a thread mill but on the roads that are never ending which comprises deepest valley in the world and also engulfs two world’s highest motorable pass. Meeting complete strangers on the way that included bike riders, local villagers, Indian army servants, road workers  who were extremely very kind to me in all the ways and on all the days

                                    Journey Begins  from  Manali to Khardungla

Day 1 After getting down from bus having breakfast there I immediately started walking in the Manali-leh highway without giving a time for acclimatization also.. this made more tired as my body couldn't adjust then I also I walked till marhi inspite of cold weather and small drizzling also (in josh) which is 35kms from Manali and camped there..

Day 2 crossed rohtang pass (13051 feet) and further went till Sissu village which was 51 Kms from marhi... After rohtang the route for 22kms was downhill and saved almost 7kms by taking shortcut (which was more dangerous then walking on road and tiring also) across the snake like roads on this day I had a slight fever and my shoe mouth also opened up with some injuries.. it was  good to play with the local people in sissu

Day 3 I walked till keylong (28 Kms) and stayed in hotel

Day 4 Reached Darcha (34 Kms) crossing the cold rivers

Day 5 I walked upto  zing zing bar , after reaching got to know that there is one more upper zing zing bar (6 Kms ahead) reached there and played cricket with the locals. As next day was challenging because I had to cross Baralalcha pass in cold weather

Day 6 I crossed Baralalcha pass (14km from upper zzbar) in that freezing cold and walked upto sarchu experiencing those desert like mountains

Day 7 I Reached Whiskey nala in that sunny kind of weather on this day I walked for almost 14 hrs for 43 Kms

Day8 I crossed lachungla pass and went till pang in those dusty roads took some rest packed my lunch as It was around 4:30 thought of reaching debring (19km from pang) in moore plain and started towards it but couldn't make went for 12-13kms and camped somewhere there beside road

Day 9 I thought of reaching Rhumtse. After crossing Tanglang la it was full downhill here I took a easy shortcut route which saved me almost 9km but couldn't make it till rhumtse I camped somewhere behind rhumtse on that day

Day 10  Knowing that I could get cellular network back if I reach Upshi (no signal after darcha) which was around 35kms from my point I rushed towards it in full energy and finally entered network coverage area after 5 1/2 day's..... Moved for more 9-10kms reached karu, halted there

Day 11 Started from karu, enroute visited Shey Monastery - One of the Monasteries in the region and reached leh city. Stayed their for that night

Last and final day woke up early and started to walk towards KHARDUNGLA  after walking for 11 hrs 37kms and experiencing sunny , cloudy, rainy,  snow fall and i finally made it 

Finally it was a wonderful journey crossing the hilly shaped curved roads,plain dry land, crossing mountain passes, walking in rain, Snowfall taste of Maggie at high altitude especially when starving, cheering signs from biker's

Not even in my dreams I imagined something like this would happen ever in my life. I always thank all the people whom I met on this journey because each one of them had some or the other things to give or tell a story of their own life which was a biggest learning for my life                                             

                                    Crossing the Highest Passes
   
                                     Rohtang    Pass -  13,051 feet 
                                     Barlalcha   Pass -  16,043 feet 
                                     Nakee La   Pass - 15,547 feet 
                                     Lachung La Pass  16,598 feet

              Tangla La Pass 17582 feet  World's 2 nd  Hghest Motorable Road
                Khardung La Pass 18,000 feet World's Highest Motorable Road

Hardships that I went through...

• : My shoes opened up like a crocodile mouth on the second day only
•   Walking in the sandals for almost 10 days in the region whose temperature was fluctuating between  -3 to 15 degree Celsius
•   Slight fever on the very second day which carried over to the next 4 days
•   Getting acclimatized for abrupt weather changes in the high altitude regions
•   Experienced ankle twist at least 8 times during the whole journey. During the night time the ankle pain used to shoot up and    at time was not able to sleep
•   Pushing myself from inside when I was completely exhausted
•   Getting myself up back on to the track every single time I used to fall was one of the most painful things
•   Experienced all the four seasoned changes in one single day (sunny, rain, snow and windy)
•   Fighting the roads that were carrying unimaginable amount of dust was one of the difficult task (3 days)
•   Every single day, finding the lunch was the most difficult thing as I wasn’t in a situation to spot any hotels on the way. Due to    which I didn’t eat anything during the lunch for almost 8 days
•   Due to the narrow roads in the high altitude regions finding a small place to sneak in between was not an easy thing
•   To avoid the long distance roads, at times I used to opt for shortcuts that were always risky and it was damn tiring when I          was forced to push beyond my  strength which I call them extremities

            I must proudly tell you that I have walked the great Himalayan trail not one or two but 512 Kilometers over a period of 12 days. This gave me an opportunity to walk through the best scenic beauty of Mother Nature, Mighty Himalayan mountain views that I am not able to imagine even in my dreams which also allowed me to walk through the world’s highest motorable road -

         Khardung-La pass that is located at an Altitude of (5359 meters ASL )