Leh Ladakh Diaries

Dream Ride - Bombay-Spiti-Leh-Ladakh Introduction

1st June 2016 to 20th June 2016

Leh-Ladkah has always been dream ride of Bikers who are passionate about riding. Apart from bikers it’s also a dream destination for other travelers. Many choose to visit Leh- Ladakh but few choose and dare to visit Spiti Valley. This is where your passion for riding comes into picture. To add more thrill and adventure as Avid Travelers and Riders we choose to start our Bike ride from Mumbai itself.

Pre Riding Preparation for Mumbai-Spiti-Leh-Ladakh

Started our research work 3 months back, Read lot of blogs, watched all the Spiti Valley and Leh-Ladakh expedition videos on YouTube and most important spoke to seniors who have visited in the past. Trust me these are the one who will guide to properly.

Most Important Pre-check is your Bike. Get it serviced and checked thoroughly. Change of Oil, Oil filter and Air filter is a must.
With regards to Extra Spares – Clutch Wire, Acc Wire, Air filter, Brake shoes and Spark Plugs. If you are on Bike, Your Toolkit should have these items.
We would recommend keeping your bikes in stock condition as much as possible. You can have changes in Exhaust and seats that doesn’t matter. Avoid extra Lights as it will have extra fittings and chances are high that it will come-off due to high vibrations.
Tested Rynox Nomad Saddlebag and Rynox Optimus Tank bag, it’s worth investing in these items. Crossed many water- crossing and our luggage was safe inside the bags with no extra covers from outside.
Got Bolt Bike Charger installed on our bikes for charging our Gopro and Mobile phones. One more item worth adding on our bikes.
Proper Riding Gears is a must for Riders and pillions.
Take a BSNL Postpaid connection. Don’t go for other cellular networks.
Pair of thermals, Jacket and other woolen items like Gloves and Cap.
Carry a Personal Medical kit and have a medical check-up before the ride.
Gum boots are must for all.

We finalized our itinerary and locked our dates. As we were visiting the valleys for the first time we decided to outsource our hotel bookings and backup vehicle for Spiti & Leh region. We made our costing chart to fit everything in Budget. Here we go…

Cost incurred for Saddlebags, tank bag and spares etc – 10k
Cost incurred for Hotel, Food, backup and Mechanic – 40k
Petrol Cost for a 350cc Bike – 9k and for 500cc 13k
Cost of transporting bike from Delhi to Mumbai – 3500/-

DAY 1 – Bombay to Godhra - Gujarat

With blessing of Almighty God and Parents we started from Kandivali-Mumbai at 7.00 am. Soon our bullets were roaring on NH8, with high on Spirit we decided to hit Surat non-stop. We had our breakfast at Surat and started again after refueling. We were running on-time and with One Mantra

‘’Less breaks and Ride Safe’’

As Sun was on top of the head took regular water breaks so keep ourselves hydrated. Electral powder helped us to maintain body fluids and keep going. Riding on Gujrat highway was fun and we reached Godhra @ 5.30pm. We stayed in a decent hotel on triple bed sharing basis.

Stats:

Start Time: 7am

End Time: 5.30pm

Total kms covered: 453 kms

Take Off Time

1st Halt Surat

Calling Time

Mumbai to Godhra Kms

Awesome Dinner in Godhra

Karan

Jags

DAY 2 – Godhra to Ajmer – Rajasthan 

In the morning the most challenging job was to pack our bags and again get it on bulls. This task made me feel like Roadies. Jokes apart, we started @ 6.30am from Godhra and our next halt for breakfast was in Samalaji, which is 130 kms from Godhra. As the temperature was going up we targeted our next halt as Udaipur. Had sumptuous lunch in the ‘City of Lakes’ and had to bypass another beautiful city. Roads are pretty awesome. Good curves after we passed Udaipur. We reached Ajmer at 7.00pm. Browsed some hotels on Trip advisor app and checked into a hotel. Due to the heat we were totally exhausted and got late to visit the Holy Shrine. Decided to visit it next day in the morning and leave for Delhi our next Mega stop.

Stats:

Start Time: 6.30am

End Time: 7.00pm

Total kms covered: 504 kms

DAY 3 – Ajmer to New Delhi 

Now the excitement builds up as we are reaching Delhi. We started visualizing Ladkah while we were riding to Delhi. Today was really hot, Temperature was above 45 degrees.

Ajmer to Delhi is 400kms but you will be surprised how we covered those 400. Let me tell you the story.

Well I am from Mumbai so Traffic is very usual to me. Sometimes we take 3 hours to reach from one place to another within Mumbai so I thought I can be cool about it when I am in Delhi.

It took approx 6.5 hours to reach Delhi from Ajmer BUT from Delhi border to our destination Karol Baugh we took another two hours. So if we calculate 400 kms in 7 hours and 30 kms in 2.5 hours within Delhi.

Got our bikes checked in RE service Station and they were ready to roar again.

Stats:-

Start Time: 7am

End Time: 4.30pm

Total kms covered: 400 kms + 30 kms (2 hours)

Breakfast at Jaipur

Kadi-Kachori and tea

The moment when we realise "Dilli dor nahi he dosto"

DAY 4 – In Delhi (Rest day)

After 3 days of continuous riding, we decided that we will take a halt in Delhi and do some sightseeing. Early in the morning we made our way to Delhi station and enquired regarding Delhi -Mumbai bike transport. Heat and pollution levels were so high that we didn’t dare to take out bikes and decided to travel by Auto and Metro. In the evening visited India Gate, Red Fort and the Karol Bagh bike market. Had our dinner in Chandni Chowk and a day well spent in Delhi.

Mumbai - Delhi KMs

Delhi traffic Sucks

New Friends in Delhi

Dinner at Delhi

DAY 5 – Delhi to Narkanda via Shimla – Himachal Pradesh 

All set and all three were excited to enter Himachal Pradesh and getting closer to Ladakh. Started at 7.00 am from New Delhi and had a lovely breakfast in Pahalwan’s Dhaba. After Ambala, Mountains welcomed us and it was Blithesome. Crossed Shimla and while we were heading towards Narkanda rains also welcomed us and the terrain became more tuff after the sunset. Though we got drenched a bit we were enjoying. At the same time we rode with lot of difficulties like no lights on road, rains, fog, less visibility and we were shivering while riding due to temperature and rains. We got sigh of relief when we saw our Hotel from far.