My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM

Tripoto
25th Sep 2016

It's a true biker's dream to reach this place atleast once in his lifetime. It's a moment to be cherished for a lifetime. Biking is not just to sit on a bike and ride, it's much more than that which cannot be explained in words. It is a feeling which only a true biker can understand. Leh-Ladakh road trip on my thunderbird was along awaited trip. One thing that added fuel to the fire was the scene from 3 idiots which shows the most beautiful pangong lake and it was fixed that I am going to this place on my machine. But things which looks easy is not that easy as it looks. There was a lot of ground work to be done. When the idea of reaching pangong lake struck, I didn't have a Royal Enfield with me, so I made a list, as to what all I should have to accomplish the task. So I prepared this,

1) Royal Enfield Thunderbird (my machine)

2) DSLR ( to capture the moments)

3) Money

4) Time

Before going for a machine, I got hold of a dslr as it was easier when compared to buying a machine. So out of 4, one thing was achieved. Within a few months my dream machine was mine. Nearly a year has passed , I had to wait for another 2 years for gathering money and time. So 2016 was the year. Whenever I make a plan for a trip I try to include my friends. But what happens every time is that they back out at the very last moment. But I was determined that even if I am solo, I am riding this time. My plan was to ride all the way from mumbai(my hometown) to Ladakh and back to Mumbai. Many people made fun of it, some laughed at me and few advised me to take my machine by train till Chandigarh and ride from there. But I was adamant to go by road all the way. So this is how the solo trip from Mumbai-Ladakh-Mumbai was born. Till here the blog explain how the trip was made, from here I will be sharing my experience of 27 days on my machine covering 7000km. Believe me from here the blog becomes bigger and bigger, so sit back and read till the last.

So now the 3 year long wait has come to an end. I was happy and nervous at the same time as the time neared i started making some purchases like riding jacket, gloves, knee and elbow guard, shoes, etc and some changes in my machine like wider handle bar, seats with back rest, ladakh pannier with storage boxes. A week prior to the ride i took my machine to the mechanic and did a full check up and servicing and fitted the carrier to it as i wanted to ride with it atleast for a week to get used to it, as it was wider than other carriers. All set and my machine was ladakh ready. Due to workload i had kept the packing for the nth hour.

A day prior to the ride, while leaving the office all of my colleagues congratulated me for this epic trip. I had to rush as the packing was still pending, i could do only half of the packing till night and left it for the next day morning, was little worried that can i do it solo. Got up early and packed everything properly. Took all the luggage down towards my machine, my mom was bit worried because i was riding solo, 2 of my friends came to see me off. Loaded the luggage on my machine and put on the safety gears, by 9:30 am i was on my machine to ride to the most beautiful place and the journey of a lifetime, the most enchanting ride for a biker, i couldn’t believe it that after 3 years of wait it is going to happen.

Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Day 1

Day 1 August 7,2016:- Mumbai-Ahmedabad -536KM.

My parents came down to see me off. The ride began by 9:30 am and i was so happy that finally after 3 years of wait, watching hundreds of ladakh road trip videos, reading hundreds of blogs, going through thousands of photos on google, i was on a trip to witness all these things by myself. Earlier this year i had done a solo trip, Mumbai-Rann of Kutch-Mumbai , so this route from mumbai to Ahmedabad was a familiar to me. Seeing me riding with all the gears and luggage mounted on my machine and sports cam on my helmet, also i had a name plate at the back of my machine which read “Mumbai – Ladakh – Mumbai. If you found me lost then drop me till ladakh”. Many people used to slow down their car and give a thumbs up, one person lowered the window glass and offered me dairy milk saying kuch meetha ho jaye. Felt good at people’s gestures on road as i got so many thumbs up. After reaching 100KM from home stopped at the same place where i stopped during my Rann of kutch trip. Clicked some photo and continued to ride, i was enjoying the moment . As expected during the whole ride i faced rain many times. By afternoon i stopped by a small dhaba and had my lunch. I was still far from Ahmedabad and wanted to reach there before it gets dark. Finally after covering 536KM reached Ahmedabad by 8:30pm, checked into a decent hotel and informed home that i have reached safely, freshened up had dinner and crashed into bed.

Day 2

Day 2 August 8,2016:- Ahmedabad – Udaipur –

Got up early and started the ride with an expectation that there will be no rain today. But the moment i got down from the hotel it started drizzling, i continued to ride and before entering the rajasthan border i stopped by a hotel to have breakfast. Just few kilometers on the road it started raining so heavily that the visibility dropped to 5 to 10 feet, In midst of that my machine just stalled at a place where there was no humans visible. It had no signs of heart beat in it, found one under construction building, pushed my machine till there, i had only one option, that is to check the fuse, opened the fuse box and found the fuse has melted, luckily i had one extra so i replaced it with the new one and thank GOD my machine started, continued to ride. Within a few kilometer even this fuse melted so i had to direct the wire, while doing so i met a person Mr.Harteij who was a cancer survivor and was on a solo trip across India and he was going to udaipur too. So we decided to ride together till udaipur, the route was so scenic, after covering around another 100KM we met another rider Mr.Harshit who was riding from Gujarat to some place in Rajasthan. So we decided to stop for lunch at a good hotel at the entrance of rajasthan. We parked our machines and sat down for lunch. Then harshit said he had met with an accident earlier in which his leg bones were broken so people suggested to do work from home, but his determination let him to enroll for a hiking course and today he is a professional hiker. After lunch we clicked some photo and he left. I and harteij continued towards udaipur and reached by 4:30pm, he had some room booked in a villa so we decided to share the room. Freshened up and got my machine checked for the fuse problem and got some additional fuse and moved towards udaipur lake palace. So for the next hour we explored the lake palace, got few photos clicked and roamed around those area. Finally we had a good dinner at a hotel nearby and returned to our room,chatted for a while and went for sleep.

Photo of Udaipur, Rajasthan 313001, India by Jagan Nadar
Day 3

Day 3 August 9,2016:- Udaipur-Jaipur

Time to ride solo again as harteij was going to stay one more day in udaipur as he was visiting all the cancer hospitals on the way. This was one of the most scenic route i travelled and the roads were awesome. So for the first time i used my sports cam to record video for few minutes. After having breakfast i was enjoying the ride while doing so i found some traffic ahead. So i kept my machine on the right. At an intersection a police man stopped me and said if i continue to ride by this route you will find traffic for several kilometers and directed me to take a detour to a road which goes through some village, it was an additional 20km ride and the road was in very bad condition with no help around you. It took me an hour to cover this distance after which i was back on good road and by evening i reached jaipur. It is truly a pink city according to it’s name and the richness of the city was clearly visible, after unloading all the luggage i went towards hawa mahal after which i tried to go to jaipur fort, but it was closed by then. So i decided to go to a mechanic as i had some knocking issue with my machine. So got the carburetor cleaned and replaced the spark plugs as well. Luckily this problem didn’t stall the machine on that village road. Returned to the hotel. It was so good to sleep after a day long ride.

Photo of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India by Jagan Nadar
Day 4

Day 4 August 10,2016:- Jaipur-Abhaneri-Agra.

Started the ride with an excitement that i was going to see taj mahal today. In between before uttar pradesh and rajasthan border there is a place called abhaneri which has a stepwell,it was built in 9th or 10th century by king chand and has a total of 3500 steps taking the depth of the well to 100 feet down from the ground surface. It is also known as chand bawri. While returning from this place suddenly a peacock cross my way it was so close that anyhow managed to control my machine in order to avoid hitting it. Came to the main highway. After a few hours of ride entered uttar pradesh. Till now the roads were too good but as soon as i entered U.P the roads turned from good to worst. The ride was not as smooth as it was before. Had to stop at several places to ask for the route to Taj mahal. As i was traveling solo so i couldn’t keep the luggage on my machine and keep it in the parking lot. So found a hotel unloaded the luggage and finally moved towards Taj mahal . It has two types of tickets, one is for 40rs and other is a vip pass which is above 400rs. For 40rs ticket you will have to wait on queue to enter and 400rs ticket you can enter directly. Taj mahal is an absolute beauty it was maintained well even the gardens around it was also maintained well. One cannot enter inside taj mahal with shoes, either you have to remove it or get a shoe cover over it. The details of construction was awesome. After spending an hour,moved towards agra fort. By the time i reached it was closed. So clicked some photos from outside. Same happened with fatehpur shikri. Which was on the way before taj mahal. Just saw it from outside and made a move or else i would have missed seeing taj mahal.

Photo of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India by Jagan Nadar
Day 5

Day 5 August 11, 2016:- Agra-Delhi

Wanted to take the yamuna express highway as it will be smooth and easy ride till delhi. But followed the signboard which directed towards delhi and ended up taking the other highway which passes through faridabad , the roads were very bad and there was so many constructions going on the road. As i had already started riding around 50km on this road so chose to continue on this road. To make things worse it started raining. After some hundred kilometers of struggle reached faridabad where on the way so many flyover were being constructed. So i had to travel beneath them. But the road below it was water logged and the surface of the roads were covered with loose stones so it was difficult to cross and to add to it traffic had piled up. Anyhow reached delhi but i had my hotel booked in mahipalpur which was still 25km far. But the subway through which i had to pass was under 3 feet water. Because of rain so i stood there for sometime, then i enquired for some alternate route and found one, by evening i reached the hotel and was dead tired of today ride and decided to spend the remaining time in hotel itself.

Day 6

Day 6 August 12, 2016:- Delhi

According to the plan it was an idle day in delhi. So decided to visit few places around the city. I had visit India gate earlier so decided to skip it and headed towards Jama Masjid. For that i took a metro from aerocity to new delhi, from there i took an auto. Jama masjid is really a big mosque and quite old and it is also one of the biggest mosque in india. It started raining heavily so i had to wait till the rain stops. Meanwhile i had a nice lunch and by an hour or so i left for red fort which was bang opposite to jama masjid but it was closed for visitors till August 15 for some security measures. It was already evening so returned to hotel thinking to see the remaining places tomorrow.

Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Day 7

Day 7 August 13, 2016:- Delhi

Today the first place to visit was qutub minar. So took the metro as that was the cheapest and best option to travel in delhi. So again from aerocity took a metro to new delhi and from there to qutub minar. It is around 2 to 3 km from station. So took an auto , after getting the entry tickets to qutub minar, kept my bag at the baggage counter as bags are not allowed inside. Qutub minar is a nice marvel of construction which has so many Arabic words inscribed on it. Constructions around it has been destroyed, but the minar is quite fine and good, it’s really a tall structure. Clicked few photos around it and moved towards safdarjung tomb. Which is not far from qutub minar, just few stations ahead. When i reached safdarjungs tomb there weren’t much tourist there. This tomb had a fountain on its front and garden around it, these places can be quite interesting for architecture students. Didn’t spend much time and moved towards humayuns tomb so got a bus this time. Humayuns tomb is just opposite to Hazrat Nizammuddin dargah. This one was a huge one with acres of garden around it and it was maintained well. The pattern of construction gives you the idea of mughals construction. Exploring delhi was done now back to hotel.

Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Day 8

Day 8 August 14, 2016:- Delhi-Shimla.

Today the rain welcomed me in the beginning itself, roads were good. Plan was to ride till shimla via chandigarh. I rode almost 200km in rain and by afternoon reached chandigarh and for lunch had some good aloo paratha , paneer burji and rice. A person in that hotel asked me are you traveling alone all the way from mumbai. We don’t travel for 5km alone how can you do it. Now shimla was just 90km from here. But it took me around 4 hours to cover it while delhi to chandigarh which was 200km i did in 4 hours. Road was bad with construction going on and to make the things worse, traffic was piled up due to weekend . On the way a boy inside a car stood inside the car and saluted me. Anyhow managed to reach shimla. But it is not a tourist place it’s just a village on the mountains. What one can see is only the mall road and nothing much.

Photo of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh 171001, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh 171001, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh 171001, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh 171001, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh 171001, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh 171001, India by Jagan Nadar
Day 9

Day 9 August15, 2016:- Shimla-Manali

Thought of changing the engine oil as i had almost done more than 2000km by now. So found one mechanic and replaced the engine oil and tighten the brakes and started moving towards manali. Few kilometer before kullu the roads were bad. Had to ride very slow, thats when i met anirudh and ankita. Both are cousins on the classic 500 towards leh. I moved ahead for the first time i saw a board in which it was mentioned leh some 500km. I became so happy that i started riding a bit faster as the roads were wet during one of the turn my machine skidded it was the first fall of the ride. I went rolling onto the left and my machine went to right. The pannier on it hit a vehicle. Nothing happened to me and everything was fine as i the riding gears. But i had to pay some money to the car owner for the dent. So i decided to ride carefully as the mountain area had started. For the first time i was witnessing such huge mountains. Kullu is a real scenic place. You will find river gushing on either of your side. Met two guys who were a part of a organised tour group . They said that i am lucky to travel solo as i can stop wherever i want which they cannot do. You will have to cross a tunnel which is around 2 to 3 km to reach manali. The moment you reach manali you will come across a checkpost where you will have to pay 100rs as green tax to enter manali. One boy offered me to take to a descent hotel for which he works . So i checked out the hotel and found it to be good with river flowing on it’s opposite side. So i checked in. While having a word with some guys present there they said we need to get the permit to cross rohtang pass. It’s good that they informed me or else after reaching there i would have to come back 50km to manali to get the permit.

Photo of Manali, Himachal Pradesh 175131, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Manali, Himachal Pradesh 175131, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Manali, Himachal Pradesh 175131, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Manali, Himachal Pradesh 175131, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Manali, Himachal Pradesh 175131, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Manali, Himachal Pradesh 175131, India by Jagan Nadar
Day 10

Day 10 August16, 2016:- Manali

Today my first task is to get the permit and service my machine as the roads and terrains would be tougher and there will be hardly any mechanic on the route ahead. So went first to the tourism office and got my permit and headed towards the royal enfield service center in manali. On the way i met anirudh and ankita again. We both decided to ride together tomorrow. I took my machine to the service center and got the brakes fixed, clutch and accelerator wires changed. The front fork oil seal started leaking. Which he said he didn’t have the oil seal, but theni requested them without it will be difficult to ride on the rough patches towards leh. So he went again to see it and got it. Those guys were really very helpful. They readied my machine for the battle. While returning from the service center one of the tourist on the way wanted to get photographed with me. Of course i said yes. It was evening by the time. So i called anirudh as he had some issue with his bike and we got it fixed. Went to the market and purchased jerry cans, filled it with petrol, took some chocolate bars and dates. Also took camphor as all these will be necessary while riding. Camphor can be used where there is less oxygen in air. All set and we were ready for the ultimate ride. But by night i got sms from anirudh stating the problem is still there in his machine. So we had earlier decided to leave early in the morning but now we decided to fix this problem and then move ahead.

Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Day 11

Day 11 August17, 2017:- Manali-Keylong

We had earlier planned to leave by 6am. But due to the machines problem we had to leave by 12:30pm. Everything was fine till we reached the checkpost where we have to show the permit which was acquired at manali to cross the rohtang pass after this the terrains start and the mountain ride started . Suddenly the whole area was covered with thick fog making visibility as low as 5 to 10 feet and to make things more worse it started to rain. The road which leads to rohtang pass is a narrow road with cliff on one side. So even if a truck approaches from opposite side you will have to wait at a corner and allow it to pass, one small mistake and everything gets over within few seconds. No doubt rohtang pass is called as a bikers nightmare. After hours of struggle managed to cross rohtang pass. Stopped by a small hotel had some hot tea and egg maggi. That feeling, so awesome. Yesterday afternoon at manali i met one person prateik from karnataka he called me yesterday night and watned me about the road after rohtang for about 30km will be the real nightmare. So started from rohtang and that road was really so bad. In fact there was no roads at all , the way was full of slush and rocks. The slush was so thick that i had to ride my machine in first gear for several kilometers or else it wouldn’t move. It was around 15cm thick. It took 4 to 5 hours just to cross that 30km stretch. While riding through that road i saw a tar road at a distance, i thought the trial is over, soon i will be back on a good road. But that happiness was short lived as that tar road was for only 100 to 200 meters. Before crossing the road filled with slush my machines front brake failed. So i had to rely only on the rear brake. The ordeal finished after several hours. Reached near a small dhaba, parked my machine and had some hot maggi and tea. As most of the places will have only this. It was 7pm by then and already started to become dark. My thumb rule was never to ride in the dark . But i was way behind the target which was earlier fixed as zingzing bar or if possible pang as it would be easy to reach leh next day. So now decided to reach at least till keylong. It was dark and roads were uneven, but luckily no rain. In middle of no where we found 3 guys on their avenger whom i first met at the checkpost before rohtang pass. One of bikes shock absorbers had come out and other bike chain link had broken. Luckily they already had found a shack where a mechanic was staying but he had no equipment that time, so he offered a room for those guys for free and brought a tractor to load the bike so that by morning he could fix it. We loaded the bikes into the tractor and reached to the tandi petrol pump which was the last one after which the next was after 365km by 10pm. Filled up and started to ride by 11pm we reached keylong. It took a while to get a hotel. But finally got one.

Photo of Keylong, Himachal Pradesh 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Keylong, Himachal Pradesh 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Keylong, Himachal Pradesh 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Keylong, Himachal Pradesh 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Keylong, Himachal Pradesh 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Day 12

Day 12 August18, 2016:- keylong – Sarchu

First thing i had to do is to fix my machines front brake, luckily keylong had a mechanic , so took my machine and got it fixed so by 1:30pm i was on my machine as it was late to get up due to last night late night ride. On the way met four Ktm riders from karnataka. They had some problem with one of their bike so i stopped by them and found some leakage problem in the coolant line. Luckily i had M-seal so i offered to them. And continued the ride as usual it started raining, the temperature was so cold the water had made the gloves wet due to this the fingers were freezing it was like someone was poking needle on your fingers. I had brought a pair of plastic gloves from manali so i wore that plastic glove on top the riding gloves. Everyone was freezing out of cold , found a small dhaba on road. The guy who runs it was so good that he offered a stove for all and said first you all come to normal temperature. Then you all order something. Till here the roads were very bad. While on the dhaba we met a person who was coming from sarchu advised that the roads were bad and there is a water crossing. So dont go ahead .we had some good hot rajma chawal, maggi and tea. Then decided to move ahead as we were far behind our schedule. After a few kilometers the roads were good. I reached a point where there were no road visible just a heap of sand in front of me and water flowing, i saw a truck crossing me from the opposite direction. So i waited for another vehicle to pass and found a road on the extreme left. By now everyone fingers were freezing, i convinced everyone that we reach at least till sarchu. We reached sarchu and bargained for a tent with a capacity of 14 to be given to us at a nominal rate and did it for 300 per person. We asked for some wood for bonfire. The caretaker didn’t budge then finally he gave it. So we had a bonfire and those guys started playing some old hindi songs, we introduced ourselves and chatted for a while, had our dinner and went to sleep after the tiresome day.

Photo of Leh Manali Hwy, Jammu and Kashmir 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh Manali Hwy, Jammu and Kashmir 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh Manali Hwy, Jammu and Kashmir 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh Manali Hwy, Jammu and Kashmir 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh Manali Hwy, Jammu and Kashmir 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh Manali Hwy, Jammu and Kashmir 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh Manali Hwy, Jammu and Kashmir 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh Manali Hwy, Jammu and Kashmir 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh Manali Hwy, Jammu and Kashmir 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh Manali Hwy, Jammu and Kashmir 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh Manali Hwy, Jammu and Kashmir 175132, India by Jagan Nadar
Day 13

Day 13 August19, 2016 sarchu-Rumtse

Got up early in the morning and found two guys from the Ktm group were taking oxygen. I used to take diamox every morning and evening and never placed this problem. After having breakfast we all left around 10:30 am . Beautiful scenes were all around me. It was difficult to ride as there was a confusing whether to see this scenes or to concentrate on the ride. The landscape were mesmerizing those beauty has no words to describe. For these many days the photos which i was seeing on google were now visible in front of me. After some time we came across gata loops. Which is a 21 hairpin bend. After gata loops anirudhs machine broke down,the Ktm guys tried a lot to help. Then transferred some luggage to my machine and made ankita to sit on my machine. Somehow we managed to cover some kilometers after which his machine had some problem so we waited for some truck around 90 minutes found one and loaded the machine into it . Everyone except anirudh left for leh. As he was to get down at pang and get his machine fixed as the truck was going till pang. By the time we could reach tanglang la world’s third highest motorable road the ktm giys had moved ahead and it was took dark with no soul around the scenic route started looking scary now and my machine was not able to cross 40kmph mark due to low oxygen at higher altitude. Just clicked the board which mentioned the tanglang la altitude. Temperaturewas freezing,after few hours of dark ride as it was still 80km for leh and it was 9pm by now found the ktm guys had stopped somewhere near rumtse and decided to stay there and ride in the morning.

Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Rumtse 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Day 14

Day 14 August20,2016:- Rumtse-Leh

Finally left for leh. It was just 80km far. Awesome scenes and landscapes that feeling when entering leh after a long fight . Stopped at the entrance for a small break. After entering leh our search for hotel started, meanwhile we stopped at a hotel and had our lunch. Here after a long time we got wifi but there was no network, you won’t get network from manali till jammu. So we had to inform our home in advance. Got a call over wifi from anirudh,we met him finally. He was staying with those avenger guys and i took a room in the same hotel. Ktm guys checked into some costly hotel. As soon as when we entered leh two of their ktms coolant started oozing out for a while so they stopped their bike and proceeded towards the hotel.

Photo of Leh 194101 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh 194101 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh 194101 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh 194101 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh 194101 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh 194101 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh 194101 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh 194101 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Leh 194101 by Jagan Nadar
Day 15

Day 15 August21,2016:- Leh

Yesterday night i tried to wash some clothes while doing so my back got locked. I was not able to move or even sleep. So the whole day i spent on bed. By the evening i went to a nearby hospital with the avenger guys and had our dinner together.

Day 16

Day 16 August22,2016:- Leh-Nubra valley

This was the most ultimate day as i was going to nubra via khardungla,the worlds highest motorable road . It’s just 48km from leh. Within 2 hours i reached khardungla. I was not able to believe that I had already reached the world’s highest motorable road. After clicking some photos moved ahead towards nubra valley as staying there for more than 20-25 minutes is harmful. One guy clicked few snaps of mine. Started moving towards nubra valley. We need a self declaration form at some places so before leaving leh i had got one filled and submitted after khardungla and asked how much do we need more and got some 3 more forms from a nearby hotel. The roads after this were just too awesome after khardungla to nubra valley. I really enjoyed the ride so muchon smooth roads with curves. By evening we entered the white desert nubra.while i checked into a home stay they went to a nearby tent.

Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Hunder, Jammu and Kashmir 194401 by Jagan Nadar
Day 17

Day 17 August23, 2016:- Nubra valley – Pangong Tso

According to initial plan, i was about to travel to leh and leh then the next day from leh to Pangong also till now to whomever i asked about the direct route from nubra to Pangong tso, i got only a negative feedback. But i had lost 2 days while traveling from manali to leh. So thought of choosing this route and believe me this route was the most adventurous route in the whole trip. So started from hunder (nubra) and went to the white desert as we reached nubra yesterday evening, so couldn’t go to the desert. So i reached the desert and the plan was to do a double hump camel ride. But they said it will take an hour to start, but I had no time as few said there is a water crossing before pangong tso and water level rises in the afternoon due to the melting ice. So clicked few pictures and came to dikshit to refuel my machine as only dikshit has a small petrol pump which has only the petrol dispensing machine with no roof above it or board. The roads were totally deserted as you will hardly find any soul not even any bikes as this road is least accessed by anyone, even there is no village on the way. So the risk is higher. The landscapes are so beautiful that it makes difficult to concentrate on the road . Initial roads were good as they were currently being laid. After which there was no roads or hardly any road. This was the day where i rode several kilometres on chiselled rock pieces, and several kilometres on loose sand, then on pebbles. The fear while riding on the chiselled rock pieces was that the tyre shouldn’t get punctured as those pieces were so sharp and it was as if they were dumped on the whole road. Loose sand is another fear as one can easily skid easily so you have to hold your handle tight, lower your speed. While crossing one of the water crossing my machine got stuck and it couldn’t move, luckily 3 bikers helped to move my machine. After facing such bad roads (no roads) reached a place where there was no road at all. I was totally blank at that point. But there were few tyre marks, followed it but after certain distance those tyre marks were disturbed by the flowing water. It was like solving a puzzle. I had to face such puzzle for at least 2 to 3 times till pangong tso. After solving this puzzle and riding sometime on those deserted roads, came to a junction where one road goes towards leh another towards pangong tso. There are few dhabas on that junction. So stopped there for lunch, while having lunch met 2 guys from jaipur, one of them said that it is just a lake, you won’t be amazed to see it. But i was confident that he is wrong. He also said there are 3 to 4 water crossing and the water is deep. I thought pangong tso was 40km from here so there won’t be any water crossing of which people told me earlier. Deep water sounded a bit scary as i didn’t want my machine to stall anywhere. Finally i reached the water crossing, so i waited there for some vehicle to pass so that i can get an idea of the depth of water, saw one xylo coming as soon as it crossed i followed it as the water was not so deep and luckily the surface below the water was smooth and didn’t have much big pebbles. After few minutes, came to a place from where the first view of pangong lake was visible. 4km from there i reached the world’s most beautiful lake. It is so beautiful that one will fall in love with it . Spend at least one day there. Choose to ride to spangmik and stay there in a tent which is 10km from there. I really had a tough time to concentrate on road while the lake was on your left hand side. Those 10km ride was just awesome, reached spangmik, it took a while to get accommodation. Found one double bed tent with attached toilet just few meters away from pangong tso. It was a package with dinner and breakfast. After dinner got an awesome kheer.

Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Spangmik 194201 by Jagan Nadar
Day 18

Day18 August24, 2016:- Pangong Tso- Leh

Got up early in the morning to witness the awesome beauty of pangong lake, just imagine having a hot cup of tea in the cold morning by pangong lake. Had a stroll around the lake for sometime clicked the most awesome photos, had my breakfast with 3 kerala guys whom i met there . Made my way towards leh. For the first time i saw a yak after a few kilometre something crossed my way. Stopped my machine to check what was it. Found that was a beawer a cute animal found in that region. The roads were again in bad shape which leads to chang la , worlds second highest motorable road. At a point towards chang la my machine was not able to move ahead even in 1st gear on smooth road. Due to lack of oxygen, tried a lot but it didn’t move so got down from my machine keeping it on first gear, accelerated it and it moved, after hardly 10 feet i started breathing heavily due to less oxygen but managed to sit on my machine and rode ahead finally reached chang la to see a snow caped mountain. Few minutes later it started to snow. I left that place as it would be difficult to ride if it snows. Rode continuously and reached leh by afternoon and rested for the rest of the day. By evening i came to know that the road towards srinagar has now been opened . I was so happy to hear this as i always wanted to exit through srinagar and didn’t want to travel again through the same route through manali. Confirmed it with some other people and made my plan to travel to kargil the next day.

Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Day 19

Day19:-Leh to sonamarg

Was really very happy to hear the news that the roads of srinagar were open. I wanted to create a loop of the route by entering through Manali and exiting from srinagar and in no way I wanted to return by the same roads to Manali. The actual plan was to visit tso moriri and tso kar but I was already short of days because it took additional days to reach Leh . Skipping tso moriri and tso kar was a toughest decision but had to take it. Travelling through Srinagar was a risky thing as for the last 50 days Srinagar was under curfew and around 100 people were killed because of their conflict with army. I left with a thinking that I will meet some other bikers on the route so that I can travel with them till we cross Srinagar. Finally I was leaving Leh . But there are few places to see enroute. Initially planned to reach Kargil and next day cover Srinagar but changed my stopover from Kargil to drass the worlds second coldest inhabited place as it will be easy to cross Srinagar the next day. Few kilometres from Leh reached magnetic hill where the stationary vehicles moves uphill defying gravity. So I turned the engine off to try it. It really worked so I tried again just to confirm and it worked again. Small fear was there in my mind as I was still alone. Next I stopped by sangham which is the confluence of zanskar river and Indus River after which it flows through Pakistan before reaching the Arabian Sea. After sometime came across a group of riders who were traveling all the way from Kerala to Leh and back. Initially when I saw them they were having their breakfast I didn't stop there and moved ahead thinking we will meet ahead. On the way I crossed fotu la pass and reached a place called moonland, the place was good and scenic the surface of that place resembles a moon surface. On the way I met on of the biker from the Kerala group and had a word with him and asked where are they headed today for which he said by night they are planning to cross Srinagar,so at first I was planning to reach drass by evening and halt. Now decided to travel with them. I went ahead of them and reached Kargil and started looking for the Kargil war memorial. Upon asking found that it is located in drass and not Kargil. Had my lunch and reached drass in few hours. Spent some time in the war memorial looking at the sacrifice made by our soldiers during the Kargil war. I waited there for the Kerala guys to reach as I wanted to travel with them till we cross Srinagar. After a wait of around 45 minutes they reached. Finally we all left and planned to cross Srinagar at night, thinking that it would be safe to cross at that time. Though the situations were not good in Srinagar. By the time we left drass it was already near 7 pm and it was getting dark and we had to cross zojila pass. And by the time we reached there it was pitch dark with hardly any soul around. As we proceeded the road were rough and it started raining. We were driving on no roads and due to rain it was covered with slush and under darkness for several kilometres by 11pm we reached sonamarg. The army stopped us at the checkpoint and said they will allow us only by 5am. So we had our dinner for which we got only dal and rice , after requesting he made some omelettes. Then found some accommodation nearby the checkpoint and decided to ride early in the morning.

Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Photo of Sonamarg by Jagan Nadar
Day 20

Day 20:- Sonamarg to Pathankot

For the first time in the whole ride I got up by 5am as the caretaker of the room where we were staying came knocking the door to inform that the checkpoint has been opened. By 5:45am we were on our machines. The fear was still there in my heart that anything could happen because around 100 people were killed in the last 50 days there so the people were angry with our army. After few hours of ride we saw army around every 100 to 200 meters. I had already filled up my tank yesterday itself but they wanted fuel so we found a person selling petrol in black so they all filled 2 litres on each of their machines. We continued further ,wherever I saw more than 2 to 3 people I would think that they would attack us. Reached a checkpoint where I saw few people had sticks in their hands they stopped us , and took 100rs per machine. Luckily they took only money from us. Found an petrol pump and filled our tanks then stopped at a half open tea stall had some tea and rusk, that was our breakfast after riding for 4 hours. One of the rider was having a word with the tea stall owner for which he said the fight was for freedom from India, for which I couldn't say a word to them as the situation was not right. And we chose to move ahead. We could witness army presence everywhere. We were moving on a highway and wrongly entered a way which we shouldn't. One person there told the road ahead is broken and asked us to take a right and go through a village but I was reluctant as we could be beaten by the villagers. While we were having a word with that person two person came on bike and took all the keys we had and started abusing us and the army. I thought the fear has come true and something is going to happen. That person tried to deflate our tires and throw the key in the nearby fields, after a lot of requests he didn't do. By the time a mob of around 20-25 people gathered around us and the fear inside me grew stronger. But a old person among the mob told the guy who took our keys to let us go and advised that guys not to harm anyone, and that old guy turned towards me and asked " why do you come here from India" this question struck me so badly that it was reoccurring in my mind the whole day and even for the rest of the guys. But I couldn't tell that person anything because we have to leave that place for our safety. So I told that old man that it's our mistake that we came here and we would never come back here. Thank GOD we left that place in proper shape. One of the army guy on the way told us that he tried to stop us but we didn't notice. He guided us to the correct road. After few hours we crossed the 2.5km long Jawahar tunnel which is the only passage between Jammu and Kashmir. Felt a little relieved after crossing the tunnel. The next big hurdle was to cross Jammu. Even these road were around high mountains. And we would have crossed at least a thousand of trucks on the way. Due to the truck movement the dust particles were suspended in the air which resembled a thick fog which had low visibility. Temperature has turned very hot, curveous road , trucks,dust, etc all these made the ride difficult. We stopped at place for water and looked at each other's face and laughed as it was totally coved with mud. Moved ahead and stopped for lunch had chicken rice there. On enquiring we came to know that the similar kind of roads are there for another 100km. I kept riding and they were far behind me. I reached patnitop and waited for them for sometime but couldn't find them, so I cleared patnitop and rode another 50km and reached a four lane straight highway which leads to Jammu. There I waited for them around a hour but couldn't find them so I thought ours ways have parted and started to ride towards Jammu. Had a good ride as the road was good. After few hours I spotted them again and we continued to Pathankot. It became dark before we could cross the Punjab border. I refuelled my machine. One of the Kerala boys bag had fallen somewhere which he didn't notice. So they went back to search it but couldn't find them. We proceeded ahead found a hotel and rested for the day as it was 10pm and today was the most hectic day of ride. Had a nice sleep.

Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Day 21

Day 21:- Pathankot to Amritsar

I got up by 8am but those guys we too tired so to start our today's ride it became 1:30pm as everyone had to get ready and have their brunch. Their and my destination for today was Amritsar so we travelled together. It was hardly around 120 km from here. And we reached Amritsar by 3:30pm so we decided to reach Wagah border as it might close,within 30 minutes we reached Wagah border. Saw a board that read Lahore 22km and India Pakistan border 1km. We parked our machines and kept our bags in locker as no bags are allowed further.we walked for 1km and after several security checks reached the entrance of Wagah border. Then we came to know that we had to obtain a pass online before afternoon which no one said to us and unfortunately it being a Saturday there was a lot of crowd, also there were so many people like us who didn't knew about the pass. I could only see the Pakistan gate with Mr.Jinnah's photo on it. We requested the army guys to leave us inside but they didn't. There was a large screen placed at the entrance they asked us to see the closing ceremony on it, and I was like if had to see it on screen I would see it at home and what's the need to come here.once the ceremony got overweight left for jalianwala Baug after reaching there we found it closed as we reached there too late. Finally we could see the golden temple. We parked our machines and went inside the temple and placed our bags and shoes in respective counters. And went into the temple, at the entrance the person there asked me to remove my riding jackets and knee guard and go freely inside the temple. So I placed it on the counter and went inside. We spent sometime around the temple. Those guys had food in langar. It was getting late as I planned to ride another 100km so that my next days target of Bikaner would be easy to reach. But it was already very late and those guys were heading towards Dharamshala the next day so they decided to stay in the temple for the night and ride early in the morning. So I bid goodbyes to everyone and came out had some good lassi, as it is obvious because we were in Punjab . Went and collected my machine and checked into a hotel as I wanted to rest and start my next days ride.

Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Day 22

Day 22:- Amritsar to Bikaner.

Today's ride was only about ride. As the was no place to explore, just to reach the destination. It would have been easy if I would have covered at least 100km yesterday. But anyhow I had to reach Bikaner by evening. Had to face rain many times throughout the ride. Roads were fine to drive. At times had to face heat while riding in Punjab. The route I road from Amritsar was through Ferozepur and fazilka,which was very close to the Pakistan border, so there was army movement all over. After few hours while I was around 70kmph, a stone with a size of golf ball flung from a truck which was ahead of me. Distance was so less there was no time to react. I just placed my hand before my face. And heard a loud noise but felt no pain. Checked and found that the stone had hit the visor and it had broken into two. Thank GOD it didn't hit me. Still a lot of distance had to be covered. It was getting dark and it started raining. After sometime the roads were not clearly visible due to rain and darkness and the headlights of the oncoming vehicle, so had to follow a car or bus. In most the states like Punjab,Rajasthan and Gujarat cows roam to sit on the road. So we have to be careful. While following a truck it suddenly took a curve on a straight road and without taking I also took the same curve and then noticed few cows were sitting on the road and to avoid that he took the curve or else I would have hit them. Due to no lights I was about to hit the divider a couple of time. As I was following other vehicle all the mud along with dirt filled water was on my face. Today I rode around 541km which was the highest till now. Was dead tired riding the whole day, facing dirt,mud and rain reached Bikaner finally around 8:30pm. Checked into very good hotel, freshened up and was very hungry so treated myself with tomato cheese pizza, fried rice and strawberry milkshake and had a sound sleep.

Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Day 23

Day 23:- Bikaner to Jaisalmer

Got up around 7 am. And got ready had my breakfast. Checked out of the hotel and tanked up my machine and continued towards Jaisalmer . Had to reach to Jaisalmer by afternoon. And the roads were good which made the ride smooth. Yesterday's climate was cool but as I was getting closer to Jaisalmer it started turning hot and humid. Few kilometres before Jaisalmer I stopped for a short break and called harshit the same person whom I had met on 2nd day of the ride as he had a contact of a good hotel there. Got the details from him and upon reaching Jaisalmer in few hours found that hotel and checked in , he gave me a good room which was constructed according to the golden city look. The same hotel has a resort in Sam sand dunes desert. It's always better to book the rides from the hotel itself. There is camel safari, dune bashing from Mahindra thar, Rajasthani folk music and dance. The desert is 40km from hotel and I had to reach hotel before its night. So I chose only the camel safari. And it took some 40 minutes to reach the Sam sand dune, few kilometres from there ,is a place called khuldhara which is a abandoned village but had no time to visit it. Reached the desert and started the camel safari. At the beginning I felt bad for the camel that it had to carry my weight but made up my mind that it can do it easily. It was an awesome ride as I was riding on back of the camel for the first time. Clicked so many photos and some videos while sitting at back of the camel. My aim of coming to Jaisalmer was fulfilled. Was back on my machine as those 40km it is hard to find any soul so wanted to reach Jaisalmer before it gets too dark. Reached by 8:30pm and I had already ordered a chicken curry at the time of check in for dinner as they cook non only on prior order. The dish was too good so I had to order some extra rice. The day was done.

Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Day 24

Day 24:- Jaisalmer to Jodhpur.

Before leaving for the day had a small chat with the hotel owner, he was a nice and friendly person. Within few kilometres from Jaisalmer the rear tyre of my machine started to wobble,initially I thought it was because of the uneven road . But within no time it became totally flat and it was hard to control it. One of the fear was a puncture and that had happened. But GOD provided help in no time. Very next moment met two guys there and enquired about the puncture shop,they said it is 7km ahead. The temperature was around 33 degrees and it was under direct sunlight and it was humid. I couldn't even imagine that I could push my machine in that temperature for that long. So I asked them for tempo for which they said one of their friend has a Mahindra pickup and he would charge 300rs. I readily agreed and in no time he reached, initially the driver said this machine couldn't be loaded into the pickup truck but the two persons who called him tried and loaded it successfully,but it cannot be kept at the back of the tempo without any support so those two guys came all along with us for that 7km. We reached the puncture shop but the person said he doesn't know how to open a Royal Enfield's wheel and asked to take it to the nearby mechanic. Took it to the nearby mechanic, he removed the wheel and he haven't opened a wheel and removed the tube, but he tried his level best and with what all he had and by an hour it was fixed, luckily I had an extra tube, and there was no tube of that size in that whole area. I offered him 100rs but he flatly denied and took only 20rs and ordered tea for all using that 20rs. I stopped him and handed over 100rs and asked him to bring some cool drink for everyone. After getting a 2 litres bottle of cool drink which was for 90rs he returned the remaining 10rs, which I didn't expect. So took a photo with them and continued my ride. Some 80 left to reach jodhpur my machines chain started slipping. I understood that the teeth in the sprocket had broken. Rode with it till jodhpur and stopped by a hotel to have some snacks,and the plan was to check into some hotel and reach mehrangarh fort then visit Royal Enfield service centre to get the sprocket issue fixed. But it started to rain so heavily that even after waiting for an hour it didn't stop so I left towards the hotel, but it was so difficult to reach as I couldn't use gps and almost all the roads were filled water. By the time I reached the hotel the fort would have been closed, so I rode towards the service centre which was about to close in few minutes, so I requested them to fix it today itself as I wanted to reach Ahmedabad tomorrow,but they asked me to come next day morning meanwhile I asked him to just inspect my machine, he said we need to change the chain sprocket set and found some oil leakage, upon checking found there is no oil in the engine, thank GOD it didn't seize anywhere or else I would have been in mess. Had no other choice had to come back to hotel as I will have to get my machine fixed tomorrow. It was a slight disappointment that I couldn't see the fort and get my machine fixed. Nevertheless there is tomorrow.

Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Day 25

Day 25:- Jodhpur

The actual plan was to visit the mehrangarh fort early in the morning and go to Royal Enfield service centre and my machine fixed and start the ride as early as possible, because according to the plan I had to reach Ahmedabad today. The fort opens by 9am, so planned to reach as soon as it opens. Accordingly reached the fort and got the entry tickets. It took nearly an hour to explore the fort, the view were good especially the view of blue coloured houses from the top. Then in no time reached the service centre and asked them to change the chain sprocket,disc pads and change the engine oil. And asked the service centre guy as how much it will take, for which he replied it will take around 45 minutes. So I went and sat in the waiting room. After an hour came down to see what had happened and found the work is still on. Hours and hours passed and it became 1 pm then 2 pm then 3 pm, there was some issue with the disc brake, which consumed most of the time, I was upset that it won't be able to make it to Ahmedabad today. By the time the work got over it was already 6 pm, so I planned to ride till late night and reach Ahmedabad by night 3am. Few kilometres from the service centre the machine stopped twice and the pickup fell down drastically, it was not the machine I had before, so went back to the service centre again, but most of them left. And didn't want to ride with this condition of my machine as it would stall any time and what if it happens in the midnight on the highway, there won't be any help available. Also I was fed up by spending the whole day in the service centre. So booked a room in the same hotel where I stayed yesterday. Throughout the day I relied only on orange juice so ordered some good dinner and slept after the mentally tiresome day.

Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Day 26

Day 26:- Jodhpur to Ahmedabad

The only last place to be visited in this trip was the bullet baba temple which lies in Pali.

So before leaving Jodhpur went to service centre to fix the issue and within no time got it fixed and my machine was running as it used to before. I was happy now. Few kilometres from the it stopped again, I thought the same problem had occurred again, but checked and found fuel had got over, luckily I had some fuel in the can I was carrying. After adding it went to the nearby petrol station and filled the tank. And started the ride and after covering around 50 km I checked where exactly is the bullet baba temple and found that I had crossed it and came 10 km ahead. So I took a U turn. And reached the place. Clicked some photos. The story of that place is that a important person in that area Mr. Bhanna had died in an accident at that place while on his bullet, after which the bullet was taken to the police station, but it was found on the same accident spot the next day, next time even after chaining it was found at the same spot, so they kept it in a glass box and made as a temple at the accident spot. After this the ride was officially over as there was no other place to explore, only to ride back home. And by evening by 8pm reached Ahmedabad and on the way crossed a signboard which read Tropic of Cancer passes from here. Took a room in the same hotel where I stayed on my first day of the ride. Couldn't believe that the ride is nearing the end and how 26 days passed, but I was happy that I will be reaching home after 26 days.

Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Photo of My dream, a journey of a lifetime, solo road trip from Mumbai - Ladakh -Mumbai spanning 7000KM by Jagan Nadar
Day 27

Day 27:- Ahmedabad to Mumbai.

This was the day. Just imagine the feel after 26 days of being alone and thousands of kilometres of ride , waiting eagerly for mom made food and my bed calling me, I will be reaching home today. That feeling couldn't be expressed in words. So I was super excited to tell all the stories back home. By 7:30 am I was on my machine and started the final leg of the ride. This turned out to be the boring part of the ride as I looked into the speedometer several times in a minute and it was as if the speedometer has started moving too slowly but that was not the truth, the eagerness to reach home as soon as possible was making me to think so. I hardly took any break. The Ahmedabad to Mumbai is one smooth 6 lane road. So you will surely have a great ride. There wasn't rain which added more comfort to the ride. Just got down from my machine twice in the initial 250km after which I got down only after reaching Mumbai. As expected there was slight traffic near Bharuch due to bridge construction, apart from that it was clear. Eagerness as well as restlessness was increasing by every diminishing kilometres. Had to have lunch at that time I saw a board as manor 207km which comes well inside Maharashtra,which I was confident to cross in 3 to 4 hours. So thought to have lunch there. I left Ahmedabad by 7:30am and planned to reach Mumbai by 6:30 pm as latest. Felt good that the GJ number plates vanished and now I could see the MH number plates, by the time I reached manor then Vasai was 43km from there so I changed my lunch destination to Vasai, but then from Vasai , thane is also closer. And after thane our Mumbai territory starts. By doing this I reached Mumbai. The moment I stepped in it was a mix feeling that I couldn't believe that I completed my dream ride finally that to solo, yes GOD was with me all the time, still I am not able to pen down the feeling on reaching my home sweet home. Parked my machine took a winning selfie with it and thanked him that bro we did it man. Unloaded all the luggage and went upstairs, entered my house where my mom was eagerly waiting to see me as she was not happy that I was riding alone. By 4:30 pm I was at home and that too 2 hours before the earliest reaching time. Covered 536km in 9 hours. Had a nice long bath and my bed was waiting for me. So jumped on to it. This story comes to an end here after riding a massive 7000km and crossing nearly 9 states, it was an awesome solo ride with countless memories. A memory to be cherished for the lifetime.

The next day while leaving for my office I was wearing my raincoat then I smiled remembering that these many days every morning I used to wear riding jacket now I am wearing raincoat and back to normal life. The moment I entered the office everyone stood up and started clapping for my achievement and congratulated me. But obviously it was a ride which a billion hearts dream, million hearts plans to achieve it, finally only a few thousands actually achieve it and out of which only some hundred hearts do it solo that too from their home and back to their home on their machine . And I am one amongst those hundred.

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