Dream Ride to a Dream Land

Hello there , welcome to my photo blog of my recent ride to Spiti "The Middle Land". 

After my Leh Ride back in 2013 , I always wanted to be back in the mountains by doing a ride to this mystical dream land of Spiti.

With GST implementation work I was contemplating on dropping the idea of riding to Spiti for this year , and now that I had already done Rajasthan  early in the year , I had an excuse that one major ride for the year is done , though , I would have for sure done Spiti some day but I doubt I would have been able to do with same set of people , all my besties and with whom , together we had dreamt about the ride.  

I was lucky that I still managed to sneak in a week's leave to ride in Spiti and the memories will stay for long.

So Lets Ride !

First View of the Sutlej River

One of the many bridge's we stopped for a photograph , this bridge connects two villages separated by the roaring Sutlej river flowing below. 

View of the village on the other side from Hotel Sutlej View . We were staying for the night in Hotel Sutlej View at Rampur Bushahr

Beautiful Curvy roads from Rampur to Kalpa , we were greeted with rain on the ride to the beautiful Kalpa.
Seen in the Image is Karthik and his wife Sweta on his RE Himalayan and Sreehari on his RE Electra

View of a Spectacular Valley on the way to Kalpa from Rampur.

Photographers Favorite Spot , one of the drilled mountain to construct a road by the BRO "Border Roads Organisation"
Seen in the image is Sreehari and Nandini. 

A group picture of us in another one of those bridges across the Sutlej River. The colored cloth are the prayer flags tied all over the bridge railings.

Seen in the image is Myself , Karthik and Sweta , Sreehari , Harish and Nandini.

Harish resting after a back breaking ride for the last few kilometers from Rampur to Kalpa.
The breathtaking view can heal any pain.

Kalpa , has to be one of the most beautiful village up in the mountains.

A beautiful Hindu temple in Kalpa.

A snow capped , cloud covered Kinnaur Kailash as seen from my hotel room at Kalpa.

A group picture overseeing the picturesque valley on the famous broken treacherous roads leading from Kalpa to Tabo.

Seen in this picture from L to R , Sreehari on his RE Electra , Harish on this hired RE Classic 350 , Myself on my Bajaj AS200 and Karthik on his RE Himalayan.

Note : I have removed helmet only for the sake of the image as I had setup tripod , never ever ride without a helmet.

The board confirms my statement.

The winding , remote , unmanned roads leading to Nako Village , few kilometers before Tabo.

The Expression on Nandini's face says it all , it was a very very hard days ride and coming days are sure gonna be tougher.

The expression on Sreehari's face is no different either.

At-last we see some Tarmac after a long days riding and we definitely are thankful.

Harish , Sreehari and Nandini posing in front of a  prayer stone.

Hearty Congratulations to Harish and Nandini on their first year wedding anniversary and what a place to celebrate it , totally remote , totally bereft of people where one can be in their elements .

More congratulations for them to choose a totally offbeat way of celebrating the 1st year anniversary by riding out in the toughest terrain in India. 

The New Tabo Monastery.

Adjacent to the New Monastery is the Tabo Chos-Khor Monastery. It was founded in 996 CE by Rinchen Zangpo . Tabo is noted for being the oldest continuously operating Buddhist enclave in the Himalayas

Read More : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabo_Monastery

The Tabo bridge built across a stream on the way to Kaza.

Breather!

We relaxing overlooking the Lahaul Spiti river , the ride from Tabo to Kaza was a relaxed one.

Seen L- R : Myself , Sreehari , Karthik , Nandini , Harish , Sweta.

Ride from Tabo to Kaza had the best tarmac of the ride.

Its believed that "Mountains call and you dare say no" , here we are seen prostrating to the great Himalayas .

The RE Himalayan at the Himalayas , the bike did the best why is it built for.

Time for some action. Just for the love for Photographs.

Myself on my AS200

PC: Harish

Kibber Village , Kaza

Known as the Second Highest Village in the world.

The village has around 80 houses, unique, given that they are made of stone instead of mud or adobe brick used extensively elsewhere in the Spiti valley. Kibber has a civil dispensary, a high school, a post office, a telegraph office and a community TV set in the village.

A Shepard overseeing the snow-clad mountain on the way to Hikkim , It is one of the highest year-round inhabited locations in India, with residences from 4330 to 4400 meters 

Exhausted and down , on the way to Hikkim , Highest Village in Spiti.

Seen Nandini lying on the road due to breathlessness , Sreehari Relaxing , Harish giving a massage to Migraine suffering Sweta and Karthik offering Water . It was a tough ask on the body and we had to return without reaching Hikkim. 

Moon and the Mountains

A beautiful Shadow play on the way to Losar from Kaza , the shadow on the mountains is due to sunrise and also seen is the setting moon. The stunning straight road was probably the last patch of tarmac we saw for the next 70 odd kms.

The famous Kye Gompa

Stunning Shadow play , picturesque morning on the way to Losar from Kaza. 

Mule grazing on the vast grasslands on the way to Losar , the shiny skin , the little stream , the blue sky the white cloud , little snow on the mountains , fable like scene.

Silence!

Sweta enjoying the serenity of the calm waters of Chandratal Lake.

Prayer Flags!

The beautiful blue water of the Chandratal 

Chandrataal Lake

It is situated at an altitude of about 4,300 metres (14,100 ft) , and is a place to die for during winter when surrounding mountains are snow capped. It also offers magnificent view at night (after sunset). While temperature drops below Zero degree celsius during pre-winter, the sky is filled count-less stars & offers Spectacular Milky way view

Seen is Nandini , Harish and Sreehari in a discussion.

Men at Kunzum Top (15,060 ft , is a high mountain pass on the eastern Kunzum Range of the Himalayas)

Myself and Harish are off the bikes showing the board , Karthik Sweta and Sreehari and Nandini sitting on bikes.

The red arch in the background is the entrance for Kunzum Mata temple.

Horse's grazing !

Wild Horse's grazing and a beautiful waterfall in the background on the way to Gramphoo.

We ecstatic after completing a grueling 1000 kms ride , last 70kms from Losar to Gramphoo is stuff made only for true biking and adventure enthusiasts .

My T Shirt captures the emotion perfectly , "Ride Hard or Stay Home"


Hope you liked it , The Coastal Ride is on cards and will be back with my Photo-blog.

Many thanks , Santu