Cycling East

Behind the pass, most people turn left to go to Leh in Ladakh on a paved road. We turned right to continue to Spiti - and the adventure began immediately. Some oncoming motorbikers warned us of the rising water levels. A few kilometers later we found ourselves within the icy waters of the first waterfall we had to cross, many more with knee-deep water followed and it somehow raised our fun factor to see how much more cars and even motorbikes were struggling than us.

Actually you can’t call the ‘connection’ between Rohtang Pass and Kunzum La Pass (4550m) a road. It’s the only way, only open from June to September, and it’s just a horrible path. The little villages are abandoned most time of the year. Due to the icy crossings, the high altitude and the debris, our effort to move on was enormous, we needed a week to cycle the 100km. Sometimes the road turns into a river, sometimes it felt like bobbing from one rock to another.

But we actually knew this before and we wanted this challenge, we knew that the area we’re going in is one of the most remote and disaster prone in the world, there is no network, not much food, no infrastructure at all. Shooting stones and landslides are daily fare. We were quite lucky when the ‘path’ became impassable after a massive landslide, just the day after we reached the last village before Kunzum La where many travelers got stuck then.

After these few days, the beauty of the landscape, the remoteness, the silence, the starry sky, the thrill had already paid out in full. And there was a lot more to come up...impressions will follow :)Meer informatie

And there it was, finally: Rain! What a weird feeling to cycle through the rain again, but we actually enjoyed it that the rainy season eventually had caught us - although some showers from overtaking trucks were a bit too much of the wet element.

We found a nice family running a guesthouse in a quiet, hilly area near Chail. When they proudly showed us the surroundings of their home, we could feel that they care a lot about the environment and their health.
They produce their own organic food in some small fields and in a greenhouse, like
peas, pumpkin, cucumber, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, pepper, onions, chilies, potatoes, beetroot, apple, apricot - two cows give fresh milk every day... And with these fresh ingredients they prepared some of the most delicious meals we had in India, thus we had to extend our stay there :)

There were two birthdays in the big family, so we also got to know other members - we’re so happy about this authentic familial experience towards the end of our journey, thanks a lot Param!

And then we absolutely wanted to pitch our tent one last time, and there was only one night left before our train to Delhi would leave from Kalka. Actually, we’ve developed quite a sense to make out possible camping areas on our maps during the last months - but this time we were wrong: Aiming at a hilly area near Solan, still marked as a forest on the maps, we were surprised how fast this village must have been exploded and eaten up the greens. It was so crowded, difficult to cross, so much construction going on, but we didn’t give up. Just before dawn we found a spot in the curve of a steep serpentine, apparently only used by pedestrians, and we were so glad! Even the view was quite nice from there though.

The roads became busier next day, the traffic gradually increased and soon, we found ourselves back in dusty, bustling India again: Bye bye Himachal Pradesh...

In the evening we reached the train station in Kalka which is equipped with a parcel office and, surprisingly, a dorm room. While the helpful guys in the office took care of our bikes we could even find some sleep till the departure of our train in the morning - we’re coming to like the Indian railway system more and more :)Meer informatie