Well, it has been a while but finally here is a piece about our trip around the Spiti and Kinnaur Valleys on our Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle...
The Rohtang Pass had long lost its snow on the road and there was just a thin covering on the north side of the pass. The weather for the end of October was looking stable but cold with an exception that on the first day we would get a bit of snow, so as long as we were ahead of the final weather front we should be fine and so off we went to the Spiti Valley.
As we headed through the Lahaul Valley we stopped at a Dhaba in Chattru for a quick cup of hot, sweet chai. We also found out that this was his final day which would mean we definitely needed to get over the Kunzum La Pass before the snow arrived.
We found the same thing at the last Dhaba in Batal just before the Pass.
So again after another hot and this time very sweet chai we set off for the pass.
The view in front of us was looking favourable and it was only when I looked over my shoulder did I see the dark ominous clouds gradually catching up with us!
By the time we crossed the Kunzum La we knew we were now safe and with the clouds being stopped by the 4590m high pass. What we had now was deep blue skies and a fierce sun that was trying to fry your face.
The valley floor lies at an altitude of 3800m and the first nights basic hotel in Losar was pretty hard going, the temperature plummeted below zero and I was suffering a bit from the lack of oxygen.
By the time we got to Kaza I was much better and the village was a little warmer. Our hotel was styled more like a hostal in South America and it really did bring back some memories of Cusco, Arequipa and La Paz.
We also headed up to a remote Buddhist Monastery near Comicc where they were having a festival.
All the local villages came to watch and take part in the ceremony to exorcise the demons from the area!
We had seen similar festivals on tv but to experience it first hand was something else. The villagers also fed us and we were made really welcome.
We climbed up onto the flat roof of the Monastery to get a great view of the proceedings.
At the end of the ceremony we headed back down to Kaza and prepared for our ride through the rest of the valley.
We caught a few glimpses of the river and of course the geology of the Spiti Valley is something else
The final gorge has no road and so after gaining over 1000 vertical metres by riding countless numbers of switch backs, we got amazing views of mountain tops covered with hanging glaciers.
We had met Jochum and Martina, a German couple who had driven their Mercedes van all the way from North Germany, through countries like Turkey, Iran and Pakistan just to get here. As there was hardly any traffic on the roads because it was very late in the season it was good to stay together and to share the experience - even if Jochum did have problems understanding my Tiroler dialekt!!
After heading back down to the river we got stuck at exit of the valley due to Border Roads Organisation trying to make the road wider by blasting into the cliff wall.
The Spiti Valley did not disappoint! We had tried to get here on Enfield's years ago but the snow arrived early and the Kunzum La Pass was closed for 10 days as they had over 2 metres of snow.
Next was the Kinnaur Valley and one of the most exposed and unstable roads on the planet….
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