YHAI National Himalayan Mountain Biking Leh
Day 4 - Ride from Lamayuru to Skrubuchan
Post a sound sleep; the dawn welcomed a feeling of anxiety and anxiousness. The actual cycling expedition was to commence today. We had breakfast and collected our packed lunch. Packed our rucksacks and loaded them on the bike carriers. The bike carriers here were a welcome relief since we really missed them in our last biking expedition at Jalori pass. Cycling with a rucksack on your back can be really tiring.
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| LMB16: All ready to be flagged off |
We all lined up outside the camp site and parallel to the Srinagar Leh highway. The customary headcount was taken and we were given some last minute instructions by Chetan & Mithun. Some words of motivation and the information regarding the route were shared. We were supposed to cycle downhill for the first 15 odd km till Khaltse and then take a u-turn towards the Batalik sector from the Khaltse check post. From Khaltse, reach Dhomkhar by lunch time and between lunch and evening reach the next campsite at Skrubuchan. And one piece of sound advice was to always keep cycling on the side of the cliff since we would mostly have the Indus River for company and by any chance if we have a fall on the river side then the only way we could come back is via Pakistan :)
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| With Chetan Joshi |
Some group photographs and we were flagged off by Chetan. Just as we left the campsite the first pit stop was Moonlands. By now the group members had started scattering. Some raced ahead while others were pacing along gingerly. We stopped by the Moonlands & started clicking photographs. Just as we started to move from the Moonlands; we saw a huge line of army trucks going past us. This had become a very common sight for us. The army trucks against the backdrop of the mountains appeared like toys. Such is the magnitude of the mountains here. All the while the Indus kept us company.
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| Moonland |
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| @ Moonland |
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| Army trucks |
The downhill was really enticing us to race off but at the same line we didn’t want to miss the chance to enjoy the amazing views all along the way. Just as we moved ahead from the Moonlands we were halted in our tracks by a landslide. Such landslides are very common in this area as the mountains are prone to erosion since there are hardly any trees to hold the soil together. The local authorities were busy trying to clean up the debris and clear the road. After waiting for about 15 minutes we made way through the partly opened road. Well we enjoyed the benefits of being on bicycles since it was easy to manoeuvre through the partly opened road.
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| Landslide; Work in progress |
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| Himalayan Magpie among the debris |
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| A rare patch of greenery |
Next stop was on the Indus River. The river was flowing just at the same level as the road and we couldn’t resist getting down into the river. The river side had a small temple like structure and a wooden bridge connecting the road to the temple. We left our bikes on the road ensuring to park them on extreme ends of the road on either side so that they do not come in the way of the moving vehicles. The water was really chilled and we hardly managed to dip our hands into it. But the location was apt for some photographs. Some photographs were an understatement as everyone went shutter crazy.
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| Road cut through the mountains |
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| Flat road towards Khaltse |
We finally managed to reach Khaltse. Since Meet & Hamza had gone ahead and I was next to reach we had to wait for sometime for the others to join us. We refilled our water bottles at the army check post at Khaltse. It’s really important to be well hydrated since you hardly sweat because the chilled weather but the sunny climate really exhausts you.
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| Khaltse towards Domkhar |
The road was extremely picturesque and at the same time was precariously close to the Indus River. There were many points wherein there were no railings on the road with a deep valley separating us and the Indus River. Now is when we remembered the last words by Chetan & Mithun to stay close to the cliff while cycling :)
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| Mountains all around towards Domkhar |
We finally reached Domkhar. The lunch point was really ideal. It was a small bridge over a stream. We opened our packed lunch which was ice cold by now. But when you are really hungry it hardly matters. We finished our lunch and got fresh in the stream flowing by. Now it was time to move on and try to catch up on time since it was already 3 PM and we had to reach Skrubuchan before sunset.
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| Domkhar lunch point |
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| Domkhar lunch point |
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| Prayer stones from Domkhar towards Skrubuchan |
We left from Domkhar and tried catching up on time. We finally made it close to Skrubuchan in the next one hour and now we again started ambling along in the last couple of kilometres. We finally made it to Skrubuchan. The camp was set away from the road and near the Skrubuchan high school. The cycling up towards the camp from the road was complete off roading and the apt end to an adventurous day one of cycling. We parked our bikes and we were just in time for soup. The other participants who had reached earlier were already done. Well this is our USP of reaching last and we didn’t mind it at all :)
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| Skrubuchan camp |
We got fresh and had soup along with a game of dumb charades. Everyone participated and the evening was really buzzing with fun, frolic & laughter. All along the way, Mithun was hinting at a surprise for us at the Skrubuchan camp and he finally gave us the details. Since ours was the last batch in this year’s Leh Mountain biking; YHAI had invited the students from the local Skrubuchan School for an evening of fun & dinner. Since we didn’t have power supply, everything was dependent on the generator at the camp with limited plug points. And with an entire day of photography all our camera batteries were drained out. This is where our experience came in help. We connected the spike guard and made 4 points out of one :)
The school kids started gathering and very soon we had more than 50 students at the camp. They entertained us with songs & dance. In return we joined in the fun and had a gala evening with them filled with music & dance. It was an amazing surprise by YHAI for arranging an impromptu discotheque in the middle of nowhere. The only regret I have is that we could not capture this on camera since our batteries were drained out and these memories now only reside in our minds.
We got so much involved into the enjoyment that we almost forgot about dinner. It was really getting late and at the same time it was getting really cold. And what better way to warm up our bodies then to have dinner. The dinner was also special tonight keeping in mind that we had guests :) The amazing feeling of being host in some part of the country wherein you are actually the guests !! This is the most amazing part of such trips. Many thanks to YHAI for this surprise.
Many more memoirs to share .... Sachin
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