June 18th, 2022
Woke up early to prepare for the ride over Khardungla and into the Nubra valley. It was not a very auspicious start to the day though.
Overcast, cold and had been raining much of the night and even snowing at the higher elevations. As were were all loading up our bikes it started again to lightly rain.
To add to the fun, all the bikes were nearly empty of fuel, a few would not even start up in the lot. Many of the riders took off with the lead rider to head to fuel station, and a few were stuck in the lot waiting to get fuel from the cans carried on the truck. I unfortunately was caught behind a group of these and could not get around them to head on myself, so just had to wait there in the rain.
The last of us finally got going as the rain started to come down harder now. Made it to the fuel stop and had tanks filled, then we headed out through town to the start of the Khardungla pass road.
Traffic was insane as usual, and the wet roads and now steady rain were not helping matters. Visor on my helmet was fogging up so badly I had to ride with it cracked open a bit, and even open it fully a few times, which made things so enjoyable with a wet face, but the foggy visor made navigating the cars, potholes and flooded sections impossible without opening it.
We eventually reached the main road up the pass. Here my life long challenge of always being 2 seconds too soon or too late for something hit me again. Oncoming cars meant that all the group were able to get on the road except me, I had to wait a minute for an endless line of cars so I could pull out onto the road.
When I reached the checkpoint the support truck was still there (and the sweep rider was still behind me) and they waved me on through as they had already cleared all the bikes and riders.
I was basically riding on my own now at this point as the sweep rider had stopped with the support truck for some reason. This was a very unpleasant ride at this point. Wet roads, blowing winds, and heavy traffic that was in some crazy rush to get somewhere.
The higher we went, the worse things became. Rain became snow, wet roads were now slushy roads and the winds and cold did not improve either. Eventually came to a line of cars backed up for at least a mile. I had seen a few of the guys sitting on the side of the road a bit earlier, but had passed them by to keep riding.
I reached the security checkpoint after filtering through and around the mess of cars and trucks on some very crappy road surfaces. I then noticed no one was there? After a few minutes the rest of the group showed up and we were pointed over to a spot on the side of the road. Somehow I had missed the bulk of the group and passed everyone to arrive first at the checkpoint (and of course had no paperwork or anything, and the guards had already been pointing and yelling from a platform higher up to bring my papers up).
After a few back and forth conversations, it was revealed that no motorbikes were being allowed up the pass currently (and some busses and cars were even being held up) due to the weather.
We decided to wait for 30 minutes, but as no change came, the group turned around and headed back down a short ways to get out of the mess of cars where we stopped to regroup and discuss options.
 |
| Waiting at South Pullu checkpoint |
Most of us were at this point tired, cold and kind of annoyed. (Except the 3 Austrians who did not even come with us, they were still back at the hotel). It looked like the chances of making the Nubra valley were not good as we needed to be over the pass by a certain time to make the trip. Many of us were ready at this point to just go back to Leh now. But a few wanted to go back up and wait to see if they could at least get the chance to make the top of the pass. So they and the lead rider went back up to wait it out. (3 hours later they did get the chance to ride up to the pass).
 |
| Stopped to discuss options |
I returned to the hotel with the rest and got a new room (this time by myself again) and changed out of my riding gear and sat down to relax.
Spent some time then on the internet before laying down to take a nap for about 90 minutes. I went back down after I woke to see if anyone else was around and were interested in walking over to the market place. (It was no longer raining in town at least). Mark was sitting in the lobby and thought that would be something to do, so we headed over.
Our first stop was the chemist again so he could pick up something and I needed more decongestant as I had used my last one that morning and my sinus were really stuffed up and were draining into my throat causing an irritation and cough.
We then wandered around and "window" shopped and then stopped for a late lunch at a restaurant (Chef's Kitchen) that was mostly Chinese food up on the 3rd floor of the building with a great outdoor seating terrace with nice views.
Lunch after failed pass attempt (0:27)
 |
| Lunch today. |
After a very good lunch we wandered a bit more and I found a shop selling large bags. I had been hoping to find a larger duffel bag in the hope of getting more of my equipment into it for checking it on the plane for the trip home so I could avoid wearing my riding boots on the plane again and perhaps not have the bag under the seat either. I found a good sized duffel for $10. (It says North Face, but pretty sure it is a Chinese knock off, like most things for sale here).
We then stopped at a grocer and picked up a few snack foods. Then it was back to the hotel where I again did a bit of internet browsing and took another nap.
A bit later I was again in the lobby on the internet and Andy and Mark came down. We were all ready for food, so walked over to another place near the market place we had been told about (Il Forno) to have dinner. Took a few minutes to figure out how to get up to the place (and we actually ended up finding a back way up some rickety stairs, not the main way) on the 3rd floor of the building.
We were seated in the outdoor seating area and our orders taken. Soon after a live music act started to play. They were actually pretty good, playing mostly western style songs. Dinner was very good, but being outside was probably not best choice as it started to cool off rapidly and the noise from the street below us was quite annoying (some traffic cop walking up and down the street just randomly blowing a whistle for no apparent reason we could determine).
 |
| Dinner views from Il Forno |
After dinner we walked over to a nearby ATM so Mark could get some funds to repay me some money I had spotted him earlier in the day. After that we took the slow walk back to the hotel in the cold night air.
We sat in the lobby for a bit, then headed up to our respective rooms. Did some usual night time tasks and then headed to bed.
Good night.
 |
| Ride Route (45km/28 miles) roundtrip |
No comments:
Post a Comment