sam2019
Well travelled
- Location
- Rishikesh / India
I have done this a couple of times now, earlier with my trusted Bullet 500 and since 2016 with a Himalayan. It is different each year and I like to think each time that next year BRO (the border roads organization building those roads) will be fixing this particularly life threatening part of the road - but no such luck. New "points of interest" come up every time, even between going and coming, with only 30 days in between. Every time of year has its challenges. If one goes early, that is May/June, there is still ice on the road and huge narrow walls of ice. In July, the easiest time, the ice is gone from the surface but the walls still stand, the melting water from higher up now create some interesting crossings but all in all it is the easiest time. This video was shot in July. By the end of August the rainy season has converted some of the medium deep and long water crossings into small rivers where roads have been. In some places up to the knees in water one rides 100m long stretches over cobble stones that are invisible and if you fall you dip in zero degrees water. If you ride even later from September onward sudden weather changes can leave you stranded in Sarchu with 1m high snow fall overnight, but I have done that trip in early November with only one slip on black ice, so its a matter of luck. But if you go that late there are no tents for overnight stay in Sarchu anymore and you must do the stretch from Leh all the way to Jispa in one go, which is hard if you want to avoid driving in the dark. Jispa to Sarchu is only 85km out of the 500 odd km from Manali to Leh - but if you have survived that part the rest is almost a piece of cake.
This video is not cut in any great way, it has only one perspective, that of my helmet cam and the only editing was to take out 3 of the 4 hours it took to get from Jispa to Sarchu. It has no great entertaining value and is mainly on my channel to show prospects for a ride with me (or solo on one of our bikes) what to expect. We do not use a support car and the group is very small so each rider has to fend for himself to a much higher degree if things go south than with those large groups that use a "pick me up" truck to follow them.
I consider this a bucket list ride, and for those who only want to do it once, there is an airport in Leh with daily flights to Delhi.
Oh, and excuse my French, in some situations that just comes naturally.
This video is not cut in any great way, it has only one perspective, that of my helmet cam and the only editing was to take out 3 of the 4 hours it took to get from Jispa to Sarchu. It has no great entertaining value and is mainly on my channel to show prospects for a ride with me (or solo on one of our bikes) what to expect. We do not use a support car and the group is very small so each rider has to fend for himself to a much higher degree if things go south than with those large groups that use a "pick me up" truck to follow them.
I consider this a bucket list ride, and for those who only want to do it once, there is an airport in Leh with daily flights to Delhi.
Oh, and excuse my French, in some situations that just comes naturally.
