CYCLE TOUR MANALI TO LEH MOUNTAIN

All participants should report by 1700 hours in a pre-booked hotel in Manali.

Today we will test our mountain bikes and go for a short ride to look at some popular sights.We start by paying obeisance to Hadimba (Hidimba) Devi, the primary Goddess of Manali. Later we drive to the Roerich art Galleryin Naggarthat was once the home of the Russian Painter Nicolas Roerich and Devika Rani – first lady of Indian Cinema. The evening is free to explore the local surroundings.

A beautiful fir & pine forests encircles Manali and there are lovely walks in and around the town. There is also a colourful Tibetan bazaar famous for its shawls, caps, jewellery and handicrafts made by Tibetan refugees. We will also do a gear-check to ensure our preparedness for the rough trip ahead.

Today we start early for our first full day of biking. We start by crossing the river and the trail is more or less straight till the village of Palchan, home to one of the youngest Everest climber, Ms. Dicky Dolma. The terrain is very pretty as you pass through the Gulbarga and climb steadily towards the Rohtang pass. There are beautiful forests laden with Cedar and Fir trees, and beautiful creeks, mountain river and gorges along the way. The trail gets rough with unending hairpin bends as you cross Kothi and Rahla falls. Then you reach a clearing where there are numerous local eateries ‘dhabas’ as they are called. This is Marhi, where we stop for the night.

An early start to cross the Rohtang pass 3980m. This pass is closed six months in a year. The trail is ‘tighter’ as you reach the pass, where we take a short photo break. From here, we leave the ‘green belt’. Cycle down to Gramphu T-point, leave the trail heading to Spiti valley as we cycle on to Lahaul valley. At Koksar, we will have a tea break. For foreigners, there is a passport registration centre here. You will see rocky barren mountains as you follow the Chandra River to reach Sissu, a beautiful green village with tall Poplar and willow trees.

Passing through the village of Sissu and few others we reach Tandi Bridge, where the river Chandra and Bhaga meet to form the river Chandra Bhaga, called Chenab as it enters Pakistan at Kishtwar.

From Tandi, a short climb brings you to Keylong, headquarter of the district of Lahaul and Spiti. Keylong is a rich town where people earn a living by exporting peas and apricot to the other parts of the country during summers. From here, it is a lovely trail that descends to Jispa.

Another fairly,easy-going day for acclimatisation as we are now approaching the Great Himalayan Range. We cycle through beautiful green pastureland to take a break at Darcha (3235m), also a routine Passport registration for foreigners. From here, we continue climbing, until we reach Patseo (3650m). Patseo (pronounced as Phat-seo) used to be the place of an annual fair of the Changpa nomads. From here, a gradual climb leads us to ZingZingbar. There are lot of ‘tent –restaurants’ here.

This is one of the toughest days of our trip as we have a long ascent to the spectacular double pass of the Baralacha-La at 4800mtrs (‘La’ is a mountain pass in local language). There is a small lake just before BaraLacha La, known as the Suraj Tal (Sun Lake). This is the main crossing of the Great Himalayan Range and we get amazing views of the many snow-covered peaks including Barashigri, Chandrabhaga and Mulkila.

After Baralacha-La, descend to the settlement at Bharatpur city. The trail from Bharatpur Cityto Sarchu is through spectacular plain valleys.Sarchu is the border between the states of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu&Kashmir.

We start early for our longest and hardest day of cycling. The trail traversing for few Kms before reaching the bottom of the Gata Loops which is a series of 22 amazing hairpin bends. We take it slowly. There are lot of ‘kodak moments’ along the road as the valley behind is full of amazing wind eroded rock formations. From the top, another hour of gradual ascent takes you to Nakila pass 4800m. From here, it is a short descent to Whiskey Nala.

Another 02 hours of climb leads us to the LachalungLa pass, from here there is a series of downhill through some of the most amazing mountain scenery. The path rises a bit to reach Pang, a tea break point. The climb continues to reach the edge of the Morey Plains 4700m; a stunning plateau of bright green short grass in the middle of the mountains. We are now in the Rupshu area; the waterless high altitude desert of the Tibetan Plateau. This area is all above 4500m and is home to the hardy Changpas, Tibetan nomads who live in yak hair tents and graze huge flocks of sheep and yaks in this seemingly barren landscape.
You can visit the Tsokar lake if desired.

Today we start with a climb to the top of the Tanglang La 5328m. The climb itself is not too difficult however the altitude is the real challenge. A signpost at the top claims it to be the second highest motorable pass in the world! You can see the peaks of both the Himalaya as well as the Karakorum range. After a photo break, continue down the zig zag road to our first real villages since Lahaul.The houses and green fields of barley and potatoes greet us as we reach our camp at Lato.

An enjoyable day’s ride through very typical Ladakh scenery – prayer wheels and stupas abounding. We follow the Kyamnar River to the police checkpost atUpshi. Here we join the Indus Valley, which we follow all the way into Leh. There is a final sting in the tail as we leave the Indus and climb into Leh

After a lazy breakfast, we visit the monasteries of Hemis, Thiksey and Shey Palace. Rest of the day is at leisure.

After cycling through some of the highest motorable mountain passes in the world, the last challenge would be to reach the Khardung La (5602m), touted to be the highest motorable road pass in the world!We leave Leh early as the ascent takes 06 hours approx. The views are amazing. After a photo stop, we either cycle back, or hop a ride back (pre decided). Depending on the group, you may drive up and cycle down.

Early departure to the airport. You also have the option to join our other trips including a climb to Mt.StokKangri (6153m).