The next day morning, after losing the hope to meet Peter again, I decided to proceed towards Leh as per the backup plan. It was a classic cycling route for cyclists who want to venture out Himalayan cycling for the first time. Mostly they start from Manali and take the Manali-Leh highway cycling on regular basis. I was not so excited to do the highway route, but this was the time for me to do solo cycling without any team preparation as such. Mentally and physically i was good to go with the plan , so i had good soup for breakfast and started cycling. First pitstop was at Jispa for short snacks and tea. The route was always filled with vehicles, trucks and motorcycles unlike the pristine Pangi valley. At one point, it felt completely contrasting how the remote valleys and this route was. No wonder this was called a highway as most of the time you see different types of vehicles.
The roads at Jispa were not muddy unlike the Pangi valley, it was a tar road with pebbles lying everywhere. I headed to Darcha where the checkpost and lot of dhaba are. I was eating noodles and quickly climbed up. I asked the officials and they said yes your friend went past few hours ago. I climbed up and noticed the board that went towards Zanskar and other towards Leh. I also noticed BRO trucks on the roads laying down roads. Since I wasn’t sure about Shinku La, i stuck the back up plan and continued cycling towards Leh. The plan to Leh was also because I could reunite for my return flight from there, but then I didn’t book my return flight so I had the complete freedom to go as much as i can and explore remote valleys or passes. Spiti was on my mind for quite some time and also I remembered the Udaipur friend telling me about how much off-road experience one can have from the Spiti valley.
I moved from Darcha and saw some other cyclists who were with a group moving ahead. I stopped near Deepak Tal and had tea where I met some cyclists. I also met another group of cyclists from Gujarat and a group of cyclists from Canada with an adventure group. It seemed like the Leh route was a training ground for people who wanted challenging cycling terrain. They waved at me as I moved past them and soon I crossed Patsio army camp. Sometimes the road were gravel based. While I was a climbing a steep slope slowly, the adventure guide from Himalayan Challenges leading the Canadian group saw me going alone and kindly invited me to join them. They were heading towards Leh and were camping after the pass crossing. I had my tent and sleeping mat with me, so I said i will join in their campsite. They were really kind and helpful. I met a nice Nepali chef who instantly became friend with me and we were discussing about music and violin. We spoke different things about culture, music, travel and he showed his photos of his climbing and mountaineering expeditions to me. We had chai and talking till it became dark. They had given me a sleeping liner as it was getting cold. The next day I returned the liner and started early, while they were moving ahead in their safety vehicle. I bid goodbye to them as I was going at my own pace and was deciding to go ahead of Sarchu , proceed with this highway route or return and explore some other valley. I never had phone tower to communicate with my friend earlier, but at one point when i received the network, I quickly called my friend Sankar and asked for advise about Spiti valley. He said maybe if you have time you can go till Chatdu and turn back. And there are buses early morning crossing that route to return to Manali. Quickly i turned back, and decided I will head to spiti valley. It was a big relief as I will be away from these truck-prone roads and enjoy the calmness of the remote valley. Again I climbed and went downhill on the pass and flew to Jispa.
While returning, my aim was not to stop until I reach Keylong and maybe camp near Tandi.
It was quite dark when I was near Tandi and i had some momos for dinner. One old man saw me looking for place to camp and offered his place to sleep. He took me upstairs which was filled with dry grass where i put my mat and slept off. He was very hospitable and the next day my plan was to enter Spiti.
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