Day-26 | 29-June-2011 | Drass-Leh | 284.4 Kms | 5596.4 Kms

Day started when Amit Kumar (Jawan) asked,

“Chai lavu sir???” While I was coming out with my BSNL mobile hoping for a range.

Had tea & got little busy capturing morning look of surrounding hills.

“Raat achhi kati??” Sanjeev sir asked.

“Chadhar pehenke achi neend aye sir…”

While taking snaps, he showed me Tiger Hill & Tololing where the actual war took place.

“Tiger hill ka unchain these feet aur tha! Magar war main bombing ke wajah se woh chota hogaya…”

Tiger hill!

That's where terrors had come during Kargil war

After capturing all the hills around, got fresh & directly to Drass War Memorial. It was a true patriotic place where one can see the war photographs & history behind it. After going in detail about the memorial photos & readings, came back to guest house & Amit served super soft Aloo Paratha’s. Loaded my bike soon after breakfast & after bidding byes to Sanjeev sir & a photo with him for memory was back on irritating road towards Leh. Even though Sanjeev sir had confirmed that I can easily make it to Leh by EOD, I was little worried as it was already 10:00 AM.

Drass War memorial!

Did you read it?

That was nice!

War memorial with Tololing at back!

Sanjeev Sharma sir & me...

Soon on the road, saw 2 bullets standing in opposite direction & thought better to get some road updates & stopped my bike. After little conversation, I realized one was a lady among two.

“You from Bangalore???” Guy asked me.

“Yup! And you guys???”

“Same Bangalore…..”

That’s when I saw their number plates & it read KA-09 & KA-01….

After few words, they said they have been riding from Bangalore. Man o Man! I salute to the lady who has been riding her Classic 500 from Bangalore. After shaking hands & a snap, continued with very less photo breaks & reached Kargil managing the bad patches & dust. As I was not sure of the next fuel pump on the road, tanked up my machine & continued ahead without any breaks since it was already 12:15 PM. Shit! I am much behind the schedule I said to myself & started to ride little fast with care. On my way, got to see lot of bikers going towards Srinagar. Road till Mulbekh was nothing different from Drass-Kargil stretch.

Biker couple from Bangalore I met on the way!

Kargil township!

Howz that hill?

Another verity of hill!

Stopped at Mulbekh for a loo break & saw a tower very close by. First thing that came to my mind was to update the status back home. After that, it was today’s first pass waiting for me. Yes! Namik La was ahead of my road & the climb was super smooth with new roads till last 3 Kms of the top. After that, it was road with nothing other than loose gravels. On top, there were 4 bikes standing & one of them dint had front tyre. Gosh! I can’t even imagine that in my caseL. After getting the road updates from guys again, continued ahead but the road was playing kinda hide & seek. For some Kms, the road is newly laid super smooth tarmac but suddenly it turns out to be dusty old narrow roads for Kms ahead. Dealing all these, I was again on the climb towards Fotu La. Fotu La had bad roads & full of dust in it. And the worst part was army convoy coming from opposite direction. I had to stop at few narrow curves for it to cross over. Dealing with convoy & dust, I was on top of Fotu La; highest pass in Srinagar-Leh roadJ. The decline of Fotu La ended with me landing in Lamayuru. Took a short break for lunch & stuffed in Chowmin.

Smooth road to Namik La

Fotu La climb!

Yes! It was highest on this road!

Future bikers??

Lamayuru Monastery!

While the shopkeeper’s kids were busy sitting in my bike, had a little conversation with young guy who took me order.

“Abhi Leh kitna door hain???” I asked him to decide if I can make it or not.

“Noora hattu (Hundred ten)” he said…

After speaking more, I came to know he is studying Law in Mangalore & that’s how he knows Kannada a little. It was already 4:45 PM & I still had 110 Kms ahead to ride before dark. But what the hell! Initial 7-8 Kms from Lamayuru was terrible. Very loose gravels fully on the road, steep decline & deadly curves. Man, I was walking at few curves so that I don’t get skid. After that, road turned out to be smooth for some distance & suddenly got welcomed with dusty old tarmacs. This continued till Alchi & after that, it was very smooth ride till Leh! With few beautiful shots of the hills, Indus & Zanskar merging & Magnetic Hill was finally at Leh by 8:30 PM. After enquiring a little, got settled in Hotel Siachen for 500 bux/day.

Amazing creation of nature!

Leh near by...

Indus meets Zanskar!

Magnetic Hill...

‘At last, I have made it to Leh’ I said to myself & called up family & friends to inform it. Was so happy that I dint feel like having dinner & slept tight with the pleasure of being Leh’dJ.