Mumbai – Amritsar – Jammu – Leh – Khardungle – Pangong Lake – Manali – Delhi – Agra – Varanasi – Kolkata – Bhubaneswar – Vishakapatnam – Chennai – Kanyakumari – Madurai – Bangalore – Kolhapur – Mumbai
Started my Casual Ladak Trip with plan for 11 days from Mumbai to Ladak to Kanyakumari and Back to Mumbai also to create a record parall to it. Planned to travel 1000kms a day daily to complete the record with lot of pics as memories.
22nd July evening started from Mumbai (Maharashtra) heading towards Ahmadabad thinking to cover 500kms. Halted in Baroda first day.
23rd July Headed towards Sri Ganganagar / Rajasthan. (Gujarath and Rajasthan) On the way covered Ahmedabad, Mount Abu Road, Jodhpur, bikaneir, Still had time to cover few more distance so stretched till Suratgarh.
24th July targeted Jammu via Punjab. (Punjab and Jammu Kashmir) Started towards Sri Ganganagar, Travelled through Pakisthan Border and reached Amritsar. Few more hundred Kilometers ride helped me to reach Jammu via Patankot.
25th July targeted Srinagar. Met my fellow riders from Chennai and Mysore who will travel with me till Delhi for next 9 days. With pleasant weather and scenic view we travelled for quite a long time, slowly and steadily and reached Srinagar late evening. Stayed at Boat House in Dal Lake.
26th July targeted to reach Kargil, Major challenge for us was to cross Zojila pass and Sonamarg. There was 3 days road block at Sonamarg. We pushed our bikes with help of locals and Crossed the land slide. Finally we reached Kargil on Vijay Divas Kargil War Memorial – July 26th. Half the trip motto was accomplished.
27th July we planned to reach leh. Roads were beautiful and scenic also it was a lazy ride to Leh via Lamayaru, Magnetic Hill etc. We reached leh on time and took rest at Our regular hotel.
28th July – Main Target is Highest Motorable Road – Khardungle – 18580 ft above MSL. We have travelled and covered the place before afternoon. Evening we took rest had local food and shopping.
29th July – Pangong lake targeted, Started bit late due to Vehicle maintenance issues, Via Karu, Changlala Pass we reached Spangmik by 7.30 pm and searched for tent to stay for around 2 hours. Finally got a beautiful tent to stay next to lake. Did lot of Photography and rested well. In night temperature fell down to 6-7 degrees and with 3-4 jackets, bedsheets also, we couldn’t able to sleep properly.
30th July – Targeted to reach Pang and main barriers were Changlangla, Tanglangla, Barlachala passes. With few bad roads and few good roads, we made it to Pang crossing Upshi, Debring etc. We stayed in local tent for the night. (Crossed Himachal Pradesh)
31st July – Targeted Manali with greatest barrier, dangerous Rohtang Pass, Via Lachungls, Jispa, Keylong, we reached Rohtang pass little late. It was full mist and couldn’t able to ride. On the way there were many water streams to cross due to hot sun, many places snow was melting and creating water flow on river. Met around 6-7 friends on road while crossing river. Joined with them till Manali and reached late night at Manali. Few vehicle issues were solved on the way and helped many friends who needed help.
1st august – Targeted to reach Chandighad via Kulu, Mandi, Bilaspur, with few vehicle repairs, Scenic views photography, ravelled for the day with new friends. (Crossed Chandigarh and Haryana)
2nd august – Targeted Delhi and started via Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat and reached Delhi by afternoon. Bike service got done by evening and headed to Agra for night stay. Now our express Ride started from next day. Visited Tajmahal for photography. (Crossed Delhi)
3rd August – Targeted Varanasi. Sacred place with Famous Vishwanatha (Shiva) Temple. Travel route was good but lot of traffic and people crossing road in UP. No one even police cant stop them. We travelled slowly but steadily till Lucknow via Kanpur then to Allahabad. Allahabad to Kashi routs were blocked for pedestrian pilgrims and route was made two way on NH. Little rain started, after starting with rain from Mumbai I got rain at Kashi. Stayed near Railway station hotel and Visited Vishwanatha Temple early morning. (Crossed Uttar Pradesh)
4th August – Targetted Bhubaneswar and Headed towards Kolkata via Aurangabad, Bagodar, Dhanbad, Crossed Bihar, Jharkand to reach Kolkata. Nearing Kolkata roads were becoming really bad and big potholes on National Highway made us to wind up our days plan at Kolkata, Stretched 1 hr night ride and reached Bagnan bypassing Kolkata.
5th august – Planned to reach Vizag a 800kms destination via Balasore, Cuttak, Bhubaneswar, Chilka Lake, Bharampuir, Srikakulam. Reached late evening and Little rain welcomed us at Vizag. Crossed Odisha and Andhrapradesh.
6th August – Targeted Chennai, Started via Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, Guntur, Ongol, Nellore, Gudur, Shriharikota, Pulikat Lake etc. Greater difficult was at Vijayawada to Guntur 100’s of bikes with Some party stickers on number plate started riding rashly in National highways and no one were there to ask them. Finaly reached Chennai and met old colleagues and frinds at Chennai rested at Chennai. Crossed Andhrapradesh and Tamilnadu.
7th August – Targeted our main second Destination Kanyakumari. Roads are beautiful in Tamilnadu, atleast National Highways. It was easy drive to Kanyakumari via Tirchy, Madurai, Thirnelveli.Easy drive to see Sunset and missed sunset by 10 mins, however able to see shine and Sunrise at End point of India.
8th August – Started to cover Coastal road and headed towards Kerala, Trivendram. After covering 90kms in two way Bus and Lorry traffic, we found that the route is impossible to cover in two full days. So changed Target ride to Reach Mumbai Nonstop 1600kms however Have to dorp my friend at Bangalore so Drove slowly till Bangalore. With heavy heart I send off my fellow rider at Mysore bypass and Stretched night ride till Davangere. Touched Kerala and Crossed Karnataka.
9th August – With very beautiful road except Hubli Dharwad (NH with 2 way traffic and Lorrys drive touching each other at 100 speed was scary in morning) route through Belgaum, Kolhapur, Pune reached back to Mumbai 30 mins post 18 days.
Highlights: Covered 18 States in 18 days – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkand, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka
