An experience called the Royal Enfield Himalayan Odyssey 2013

DAY 4- AND WE RIDE ON

I was up early and as decided got ready to head to the lake on foot- and it turned out to be a grave mistake. The lake that looked so close seemed to move further away at every step of mine. I wasn’t wearing a watch and no one knew about my morning walk except my room-mate. I walked, walked and walked- spotting a few wild asses (four to be precise) on the way who were not ready to admit a fifth member in the group and kept themselves at safe distance.

The lake just didn’t seem to close in- but having walked this far, I decided to continue. Turned back to see how far the camp was….and I could not see it, realising I had come way too far on foot and wasted enough time in doing so. Not wanting to miss out on the lake at any cost, I started running towards and landing my foot in a burrow ending with a twisted ankle. I kept limping towards the lake till I could take no more. Once close, I cursed myself of having walked so much- the scenery wasn’t worth the effort at all- wish I had come by bike.

The worse was still to come… and it was the return. I had walked for more than an hour to reach Tso Kar and now it would take even more time limping back. I kept pushing myself, breathing hard- trying to run and reach the camp before everybody dispersed. Thankfully though still far, I could spot the camp now, but my legs and lungs had given up. I so wished that someone could come to pick me up, but nothing of that sort happened. My legs were just moving for the heck of it and the progress was real slow- and a few moments later, I saw a bike in the distance. Though it was a relieving sight, I knew a lecture was in the offing once I reached the camp. Aakash (god bless him) picked me up and we rode to the camp to find it all empty except Sachin, the Doctor (not in a very happy mood) and a backup vehicle waiting for me. Had a quick bite, packed my luggage and off I went.

Riding through More plains was a delight and so were the stunning visuals along the way. Suffered a flat tyre before Pang which was quickly fixed in quick time by the backup vehicle while I gazed at the pinnacles. The roads were getting worse, but the gorgeous scenery compensated for the discomfort.

Crossed Lachulung-la at 16616 feet before hitting the famous 21 hairpin bends called Gata Loops. The view from up there was out of this world- on one hand you have these perennial man-made tarmac loops and on the other hand, mountains in such unbelievable textures- they seemed more like three dimensional paintings.

With such beauty around me, it was hard to concentrate on riding on those non-barricaded narrow loops. Regular stops and stares became a frequent affair with the backup vehicle time and again honking on my tail to move on. The journey continued with a mix of few good roads to the worst but the enthralling scenery worked as a pain reliever.

Passing Sarchu, everyone regrouped at Bharatpur, which in contrast to my thoughts of being a village turned out to be a couple of dhabas. A quick bite and we were scaling up to the snowy Baralacha-la with a few riders loosing balance at water crossings- luckily I wasn’t amongst them. Once through with Baralacha-la, the landscape and mountains started to change, adorning a blanket of green. Riding parallel to the valleys and rivulets, descended down to Darcha and finally reaching our overnight halt at Keylong. Refuelling the hungry 20 litre tank of the Thunderbird 500 before dusk followed by dinner, it was time to hit the shack calling it curtains for day 4.

NEXT PAGE FOR DAY 5