An experience called the Royal Enfield Himalayan Odyssey 2013

DAY 3- THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Everyone was up on time with luggage all packed to be dumped into the truck and two backup vehicles ready to hit the road. But not before the trio of Sachin Chavan, Aakash Ahuja and Adarsh Saxena like Army Generals briefed the biker battalion on the route, regroupings, tips on riding in the mountains and battling loose terrain- rather everything to ensure that the Odyssey went as planned.

It was time to fire up the bikes heading towards our camp at Tso Kar- a salty lake at 14,860 feet above sea level. On the map, the distance might just be a shade over 150 kms- but the adventure concealed in the savage beauty is something a map would never show, and what followed was memorable.

Well paved blacktops passing between mountains on the outskirts of Leh to wobbly loose surfaces towards Rumtse, punctuated with click stops to capture the compelling landscape was making the ride no less than a thrilling venture. The roller-coaster roads (both existing and non-existing) passing through snowy patches took me 17582 feet up to Tanglang-La, the second highest motorable pass in the world.

Though the view from this pass wasn’t as dramatic as the one from Khardung-La, but it had its own share of backdrops to treat passing travellers. Thereon it was a descend that continued into the plains at our regrouping spot for a group click.

Diverting a few kilometers off the main road would take us to our camp at Lake Tso Kar. But there was neither a road nor markings. The backup vehicles aware of the route started first followed by the riders who were let one by one ensuring enough gaps in between. The beautifully setup tents were no less than a shock. I wasn’t expecting such luxury at a high altitude desert and being under an impression that the tents would be a crawl-in 2 man setup to spend the night shivering with the mercury dropping into minus.

Luggage was off-loaded, tents were allotted with tea and biscuits ready to refresh our tired bodies. “God, this is lavish!” I said to myself. While the other riders took off to the lake, I decided to compensate for the earlier night’s loss of sleep and kept the lake visit for next morning. By the time I got up dinner was ready and it was so cold that I had to keep the riding jacket on over layers of clothes and thermals- and I went to bed wearing it buried under two layers of blankets marking the end of day 3.

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