Date : 21st July, 2015
Start : Koksar (1000 Hrs)
Start : Koksar (1000 Hrs)
End : Jispa (2100 Hrs)
Distance: 68 Kms
Terrain: Mix of bad and good roads with beautiful landscapes
It's 2200 Hrs here at Jispa. Today we ditched the plan to pitch our own tent and just checked in to Rolling Stone Tent Stay. We are lucky enough to reach Jispa in this freezing cold evening. Though we got up early in the morning, it was raining heavily at Koksar. We had to wait till 0700 Hrs even to get out of out tent for morning tea to the same Nepali Dhaba. No choice, we waited till the rain to stop. With all the mess we could able to start today by 1000 Hrs after finishing bike lubrication and breakfast.
Soon after starting, on the way we found a nice waterfall to beat Vijesh's freshness. Myself and Santhosh never wanted to miss the opportunity to tease Vijesh back, even if the water was cold. The refreshing bath at this stream give us a very good clean feel. Roads from Koksar to Sissu was just amazing with nice landscapes. The straight road through the green forest at Sissu made up feel a ride for the life time. We stopped at a tea shop at Sissu and we are pleased to get Churpi there. We also manged to understand the life over there during different time of the year and were quite shocked to know the way they survive during winters.
Ride from Sissu to Raling was nice, even if the roads were not that good; Mostly it was dry and dusty. But the scenic view paid of everything, each turn on the road made us experience a new valley with snow peak mountains. Even the small streams straight high from the mountains made us discuss our perceptions with each other. Suddenly at one point, we saw some one else cycling and we were very happy meeting Bram, a cyclist from Belgium. Bram was travelling from Rampur covering Spiti valley to Leh.
At Raling, we got invited for a marriage party, but we denied as we were too dirty to attend the marriage. We settled down our stomach with the packed parathas from Koksar and I must not forget to complement the delicious thick curd, we got from near by hotel at Raling. After the delicious curd myself and Vijesh packed the mutton momos for evening snacks. The people of Himachal are so sincere, what we offered as a tip for the Dhaba Aunt was denied by her with a smile. And now actually at Jispa we got this fried and having it. After some rest and two glass of tea, we started from Raling towards Tandi.
Roads from Raling to Tandi and even till Keylong was very bad with sand, gravel and dusts. We completely turned grey with dust. It was quite a dangerous experience for us to cross few land slides, where one side was the wild Bhaga River. The Bhaga River meets to Chandra River at Tandi and becomes Chandra Bhaga from there. We got the advantage being cyclists and could able to cross those land slides quickly. Big vehicles were the poor guys there to wait hours for the land slide to get cleared.
It' was 1600 Hrs, we reached Keylong. Keylong is the last town we can purchase what ever we want until Leh, we headed towards the town for some winter gear purchase. As we calculated only the altitude difference between Keylong and Jispa, we were quite casual for the last part of our journey. We spent a lot of time at Keylong with out knowing the actual elevations from Keylong to Jispa. As we got the cellular signals, calling our dear ones here costed us almost 2 and 1/2 hours.
We started from Keylong at around 1830 Hrs, thinking a downhill journey till Jispa. Kilometers passed, it was getting colder, dark night started dominating our determination and effort, but we were still climbing and challenging the mighty mountain; no sense of downhill. Suddenly I found air leakage and it was a puncture on my rear wheel; nothing can be worst than that at that situation. It was dark, temperature was dropping, no food, no suitable place to pitch the tent. And by that time we realized, Keylong is a valley and we have to cross a mountain to reach another valley which is Jispa.
Big reason to worry. The two option we had was to move ahead to Jispa asking for a lift OR ride back to Keylong. How could we make to a safe place? We started asking for a lift to all the possible vehicles. We tried more than 30 minutes and about to walk back to Keylong. Suddenly Tashi, saw us from his car and stopped to help us. Some how Tashi managed to stop one carrier SUV on it's way for a marriage. As already said, the Himachal Pradesh people are very generous to help you, out of their way.
We lifted all three cycles on to it and after that I can not describe the drive on those off roads with freezing cold climate. It was so dangerous that Santhosh and Vijesh got down and preferred to ride by cycle till Jispa. I was the only victim to take those impacts bumpy rides along with the cycle till Jispa. Thank god, Both mine and the bike parts were undamaged.
We have taken a three men tent to stay tonight. Lot of things to do tomorrow; bike is punctured, dirty, chains. We suggest not to ride after evening and also to steady your stretch in Himalayas carefully. Altitude difference is not the only thing, when you are traveling though mountain ranges. In this confusion between and altitude difference, we missed some of the beautiful scenic view from Keylong to Jispa.
It's 2200 Hrs here at Jispa. Today we ditched the plan to pitch our own tent and just checked in to Rolling Stone Tent Stay. We are lucky enough to reach Jispa in this freezing cold evening. Though we got up early in the morning, it was raining heavily at Koksar. We had to wait till 0700 Hrs even to get out of out tent for morning tea to the same Nepali Dhaba. No choice, we waited till the rain to stop. With all the mess we could able to start today by 1000 Hrs after finishing bike lubrication and breakfast.
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| Tent Site at Koksar |
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| Tent Site at Koksar |
 |
| View from tent at Koksar |
 |
| View of Rothang from tent |
Soon after starting, on the way we found a nice waterfall to beat Vijesh's freshness. Myself and Santhosh never wanted to miss the opportunity to tease Vijesh back, even if the water was cold. The refreshing bath at this stream give us a very good clean feel. Roads from Koksar to Sissu was just amazing with nice landscapes. The straight road through the green forest at Sissu made up feel a ride for the life time. We stopped at a tea shop at Sissu and we are pleased to get Churpi there. We also manged to understand the life over there during different time of the year and were quite shocked to know the way they survive during winters.
 |
| Some green trees |
 |
| Awesome Place |
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| Beautiful Valley |
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| Beautiful Valley |
 |
| Manali to Koksar, North Tunnel |
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| Fresh journey starts , after a refreshing bath |
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| On the way to Sissu |
 |
| At Sissu |
Ride from Sissu to Raling was nice, even if the roads were not that good; Mostly it was dry and dusty. But the scenic view paid of everything, each turn on the road made us experience a new valley with snow peak mountains. Even the small streams straight high from the mountains made us discuss our perceptions with each other. Suddenly at one point, we saw some one else cycling and we were very happy meeting Bram, a cyclist from Belgium. Bram was travelling from Rampur covering Spiti valley to Leh.
 |
| Fixing Vijesh's seat post |
 |
| Posing |
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| Some nice roads |
 |
| Nice Valley |
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| Curious kid running along with me |
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| This is the way we manage with out the stand |
 |
| Bram from Belgium |
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| Faulty seat post problem |
 |
| River crossing on the way |
At Raling, we got invited for a marriage party, but we denied as we were too dirty to attend the marriage. We settled down our stomach with the packed parathas from Koksar and I must not forget to complement the delicious thick curd, we got from near by hotel at Raling. After the delicious curd myself and Vijesh packed the mutton momos for evening snacks. The people of Himachal are so sincere, what we offered as a tip for the Dhaba Aunt was denied by her with a smile. And now actually at Jispa we got this fried and having it. After some rest and two glass of tea, we started from Raling towards Tandi.
 |
| After Lunch Santhosh |
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| The delicious curd point |
 |
| The Adventure Trips, Next destination??? |
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| Beautiful Valley at Raling |
 |
| Posing time |
 |
| Awesome Mountains |
 |
| Some information from army camp |
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| The land slide area |
 |
| Awesome Valley |
Roads from Raling to Tandi and even till Keylong was very bad with sand, gravel and dusts. We completely turned grey with dust. It was quite a dangerous experience for us to cross few land slides, where one side was the wild Bhaga River. The Bhaga River meets to Chandra River at Tandi and becomes Chandra Bhaga from there. We got the advantage being cyclists and could able to cross those land slides quickly. Big vehicles were the poor guys there to wait hours for the land slide to get cleared.
 |
| Bhaga River |
 |
| At Tandi |
 |
| The meeting point of River Chandra and Bhaga |
 |
| Mile Stone |
 |
| Mile Stone |
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| Bad Roads |
 |
| Land Slide Area |
 |
| Land Slide Area |
 |
| Welcome to Keylong |
It' was 1600 Hrs, we reached Keylong. Keylong is the last town we can purchase what ever we want until Leh, we headed towards the town for some winter gear purchase. As we calculated only the altitude difference between Keylong and Jispa, we were quite casual for the last part of our journey. We spent a lot of time at Keylong with out knowing the actual elevations from Keylong to Jispa. As we got the cellular signals, calling our dear ones here costed us almost 2 and 1/2 hours.
We started from Keylong at around 1830 Hrs, thinking a downhill journey till Jispa. Kilometers passed, it was getting colder, dark night started dominating our determination and effort, but we were still climbing and challenging the mighty mountain; no sense of downhill. Suddenly I found air leakage and it was a puncture on my rear wheel; nothing can be worst than that at that situation. It was dark, temperature was dropping, no food, no suitable place to pitch the tent. And by that time we realized, Keylong is a valley and we have to cross a mountain to reach another valley which is Jispa.
Big reason to worry. The two option we had was to move ahead to Jispa asking for a lift OR ride back to Keylong. How could we make to a safe place? We started asking for a lift to all the possible vehicles. We tried more than 30 minutes and about to walk back to Keylong. Suddenly Tashi, saw us from his car and stopped to help us. Some how Tashi managed to stop one carrier SUV on it's way for a marriage. As already said, the Himachal Pradesh people are very generous to help you, out of their way.
We lifted all three cycles on to it and after that I can not describe the drive on those off roads with freezing cold climate. It was so dangerous that Santhosh and Vijesh got down and preferred to ride by cycle till Jispa. I was the only victim to take those impacts bumpy rides along with the cycle till Jispa. Thank god, Both mine and the bike parts were undamaged.
We have taken a three men tent to stay tonight. Lot of things to do tomorrow; bike is punctured, dirty, chains. We suggest not to ride after evening and also to steady your stretch in Himalayas carefully. Altitude difference is not the only thing, when you are traveling though mountain ranges. In this confusion between and altitude difference, we missed some of the beautiful scenic view from Keylong to Jispa.
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