Arrive Delhi at your convenience and check in to the pre-booked hotel in Karol Bagh area, which is one of the largest motorbike and accessory markets in India. We usually have our expedition briefing around 1400HRS, at our spacious garage which is just a few minute’s walk from the hotel. An early briefing helps the participants to do their last-minute purchases or custom fittings for the motorbike. A detailed briefing will be given by your road captain and the hospitality manager. During and after the briefing you will get to socialize and know your co-members in the expedition. Soon after the briefing, the motorbikes will be given for test riding, road captain and the expedition mechanic will be there to assist you and help you with adjustments in the motorbikes to align with your way of riding. For those who do not have many purchases to make can relax in the hotel and prepare your body and mind for the great expedition ahead.

Today we flag off from Delhi, after a quick briefing, early enough to avoid the city traffic in the morning. The first day is always the most exciting and eventful one, you will just start to learn to ride in the convoy. Will start getting used to signals and commands of the road captain. You will learn to ride in different formations as per the need of the situation and also understand how your motorbike is responding to your commands. Today’s ride is completely through Delhi Chandigarh Highway, you will ride past some vast fields and simple villages in the plains of Haryana. We will have our brunch at Murthal after crossing the Delhi city and have a late lunch on reaching Chandigarh. Once we reach Chandigarh, we check in to our pre-booked hotel and relax. 

Today you will leave the plains behind and gradually start to climb the mountains. We will be starting the day by checking out from the hotel with an early breakfast. The initial ride is through the plains of Punjab and reaches the town of Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh which is a Himalayan foothill. This route gets heavy traffic most of the time and makes the ride a little tiring. Just being on the second day of the ride and first sights of beautiful mountains keep the tempo going. Today’s lunch does not have a specific spot, we choose a Dhaba on the way as per the situation and the majority group’s interest. The road captain and the managers will help you in deciding the best one. We slowly reach Manali, fondly termed as the “Gateway to Ladakh”, by late evening, crossing the Himalayan towns like Mandi and Kullu. The people in this part of the world live on agriculture, government jobs, and tourism. Himachal Pradesh is also known as the “Apple State of India ”, so beware to see lots and lots of apple orchards along the way. Once reaching Manali our mechanic will do the routine check-up of the bike and do all the necessary repairs and fixes. It would be really helpful if you could give your feedback on the motorbike performance and issues faced so that the mechanic can do all the required alterations. As from the next day, the actual riding is going to start and you want your machines to be in its best shape. 

Today we start our ride towards Jispa through the much-awaited Manali-Leh Highway. By now you must have got accustomed to the expedition routines and you know the drill. The extra luggage will be loaded in the backup vehicle and you are supposed to gear up properly as advised in the earlier briefing. Finish the hotel check out formalities and you are all set for ‘Wroooming’ the motorbikes through the winding high altitude roads ahead. Leaving early is very pivotal today as the first high altitude pass Rohtang Pass at 3978m comes en route. This is a pretty famous and highly touristy pass due to its easy accessibility from Manali which makes the road towards it more jam-packed with day visit tourist vehicles. To avoid the chaos and traffic it is advised to leave early. We spend a few minutes in Rohtang Pass enjoying the views and clicking some cool photos then continue towards Jispa We have lunch at Khoksar, a few kilometers after crossing Rohtang Pass. There are lots of small Dhaba selling some great foods. The varieties may be limited to mutton Rice, Dal Rice, Chow Mein, Instant Noodles, etc from which you can select as per your taste and appetite. One thing is for sure the taste of the food you have from these places is going to be tingling in your taste bud’s life long. We continue the ride towards Jispa crossing the prominent villages and small mountain towns like Sissu and Keylong. Reach Jispa by early evening and check in to the pre-booked hotel. Fresh up and it’s time for reflecting on the beautiful and adventurous moments of the day. Enjoy the buffet dinner along with some warm and refreshing soup. 

Today’s ride is one of the smallest rides of the trip distance-wise but the adrenaline level is going to be at the top. We start our ride immediately after a refreshing breakfast. We slowly ride through winding roads which are pretty much in good condition and cross Darcha. The road leading towards left from Darcha will take you to the Zanskar Valley crossing Shinku La pass, but we will stick to the Manali – Leh Highway towards Deepak Tal. After Deepak Tal, we start our climb towards the treacherous Baralacha Pass at 4890m, negotiating Zing Zing Bar and crossing the beautiful Emerald lake Suraj Tal on your right. You will find snow in Baralacha Pass most of the time, and if you are lucky enough you may also encounter fresh snow up here. Just below Baralacha, we hit Bharatpur where we stop for the well-deserved lunch. Have your lunch from the roadside dhaba who sells mutton rice, bread omelette, instant noodles, chowmein etc just like Khoksar. The major difference you will see here is pretty much all the dhabas are inside a tent and the food will taste much better after the fulfilment of crossing Baralacha. We continue our ride to Sarchu, the terrain would have completely changed by now, Tsarap River can be seen on the left-hand side carving and raging through the mountains. The air is very thin with an average altitude above 4000m, what you see around can be termed as high altitude regions, these places are not favourable for human inhabitation. Acute Mountain Sickness starts peeping in most of the people even after having a pit stop in Jispa before reaching here. Our expert crew will be there to support and guide you through this difficult region. Once we reach the campsite the tents will be allotted which are comfortable luxury twin sharing tents with attached washroom facility. The winds can be very strong and can be heard howling the whole night. Warm and delicious dinner will be served in the dining tent, many of us may not be feeling like having food due to the headache and the AMS symptoms, but this is exactly what we have to fight against. Keep yourself well hydrated with warm fluids and eat the minimum food required to help the body fight the AMS and tiredness. We go to sleep early tonight and try to get the maximum sleep before we head towards Leh the next day morning. 

After a difficult forced sleep in Sarchu, we wake up early to check out from the campsite after breakfast for yet another thrilling ride to Leh. Today we get to cross some great high altitude passes and other interesting road features before reaching Leh. The road conditions will be pretty much good with well-tarred roads throughout. Just after leaving Sarchu we start our climb towards Nakeela Pass at 4739m, crossing the zigzag Gata loop which is a series of 21 hairpin bends within a span of just 7KMS. We descended from Nakeela and soon again started to climb to reach the next high pass Lachung La at 5065m. Soon we reached Pang at 4600m, after descending from Lachung La, which is basically an Army Transit Camp claimed to be the highest in the world. There are many dhabas around, where we will be having our lunch the major options are thukpa, soup, instant noodles, dal rice etc. We aim to finish lunch as soon as possible and continue the ride. Then comes the plateau of Morey plains at 4700m which stretches about 45KMS long. Don’t get deceived by the breathtaking beauty and its long straight stretches, as it is also an accident-prone area due to its uneven road surface. Road Captain will brief you on how to navigate the section safely, closer to the end of the plains we will start climbing the Tanglang La at 5328m which is also the highest in Manali Leh highway. Crossing Tanglang La we continue straight towards Leh, on the way we cross many small remote towns like Upshi, Karu. From Upshi we will have the Indus river accompanying us along on the left side. We reach Leh by evening, check in to the hotel and relax. 

Today we rejuvenate yourself and reflect on the adventures of the last few days. The day can be utilised to roam around the Leh city and do some sightseeing of the attractions. The shopaholics can do the much awaited shopping at leisure. Evening we meet again for dinner and plan our upcoming days.

After a full day’s rest, we start our ride again to Nubra Valley through the highest motorable road Khardung La Pass at 5359m. We need permits to continue towards the Nubra Valley and then to Pangong Tso as per our schedule. The crew facilitates the permits the day prior itself for the smooth start of our ride. The road towards Khardungla is well paved and tarred till South Pullu and checkpoint before the pass, from here to North Pullu which is about 15KMS from Khardung La is unpaved and mostly muddy, loose rocks and melting snow. Once in Khardung La we will have some quick photo sessions and continue our ride. Due to very thin air and high altitude, it is not safe and advisable to stay for a longer time on top of the pass. We ride down to reach North Pullu to have our lunch. We finish our formalities in the checkpoint and select a dhaba with good seating arrangements and nice food for scrumptious lunch. Here there are many restaurants and hotels to select from and we get pretty much every kind of Indian and Tibetan food to order from. After lunch, we continue our ride towards Nubra Valley. It is a beautiful valley which is also where the River Shyok, a tributary of River Indus, meets River Shyok. The valley formed actually separates the great Himalayan ranges from Karakoram ranges in Ladakh. After crossing the village Khalsar, the road forks towards Siachen on the right which leads to the villages like Sumur and Panamik along the Nubra River. We will continue towards the left leading us to the headquarters of Nubra Valley Diskit and then to Hunder. A quick stop to visit the 32m high Maitreya Buddha statue in Diskit monastery and continue towards Hunder. Between Deskit and Hunder lies the famous the white sand dunes of Nubra Valley where the amazing double-humped Bactrian camels graze. Enjoy some quality time in the dunes along with a few good photo sessions and camel rides. We reach Hunder and check in to the luxury camp pre-booked. Staying in Nubra will be much more comfortable than in Sarchu due to the lower altitude and better greenery. 

We check out from the camps after breakfast and start our ride towards the much-awaited Pangong Tso Lake. Today’s ride is unique because of two major things, one, we will not cross any high altitude passes today and two, it is one of the least travelled routes in the whole trip. The outer world came to know about this route from Nubra to Pangong Tso via Agham and Shyok village only about a decade ago. It became very popular since the last couple of years when the road conditions became better. Earlier the option to reach Pangong Tso from Nubra was coming back all the way to Leh and then taking the route crossing Chang La Pass to the lake or another treacherous and unpredictable route of crossing Wari La pass and Changla. Most of our ride will be along the beautiful Shyok river and crossing the major villages like Agham, Shyok, Durbuk and Tangste. There will be few deep water crossings, rocky patches and some slushy wobbly patches. We have our lunch at Durbuk, good options and a variety of vegetarian food is available here like Chowmein, Thupka, Instant noodles, Daal Rice etc. After Durbuk we ride straight towards Tangste and then to Spangmik, riding along the lake in the last stretch. We check-in into the luxury camps pre-booked and spend our late evening stroll along the serene lake. The expansion, beauty and the calmness of the lake can take anybody to a natural trance provoking the inner happiness and satisfaction. 

Enjoy the beauty of the lake with rising Sun and later reach camp for breakfast. We pack and leave towards Leh after breakfast. On the way, we will visit the spot where the famous 3 Idiots movie climax scene was shot. Spend some time there for a few photos and say a quick Goodbye to the mesmerising Pangong Tso Lake. The road towards Leh is pretty good except for a few muddy patches. Soon after leaving Pangong Tso lake, we will cross the villages like Lukung, Tangste and Durbuk. We started our climb towards Chang La pass at 5360m after crossing Durbuk. We have our lunch at village Sakti which is about an hour and half from Chang La. The major delicacies available would be dal rice, rajma rice, paratha, chowmein etc. Once the lunch is done we restart our ride and continue towards Leh, Karu is the next village and from here we join the Manali Leh Highway. Before reaching Leh we will come across the major monasteries of Leh like Thiksey and Shey. There are many spots on the highway where you can take some great pictures of Thiksey just like the one in a postcard! Being the last night at Leh on the whole trip, we ensure that it is going to be a special one. A gala dinner is what we plan on tonight. 

The ride from Leh to Kargil is pretty fast and exciting with mostly good roads. We bid adieu to Leh and follow the mighty Indus towards Kargil through Leh – Srinagar Highway. There is a stark difference in the surroundings and scenery as you continue your ride are breathtaking. The ride goes through a spectacular moonscape and reaches Lamayaru. Before reaching Lamayuru you will come across a village called Khalsi after which the road will fork in two directions. Both the roads will take you straight to Kargil, the road on right will follow Indus river till border village Batalik and then to Kargil, which is comparatively longer. We take the road on the left crossing Indus river and leave it behind to reach Lamayuru. We either have our lunch at Khalsi or Lamayuru depending upon the time we reach those destinations. Just after Lamayuru we start a gradual climb towards the Fotu La Pass at 4108m, after Fatu La you climb down a bit and again climb up for yet another pass which is Namika La Pass at 3700m. These twin passes are in Zanskar ranges and takes us into the Mulbekh valley. The terrain and the scenery drastically changes after negotiating Namika La with lush green surrounding and snow clad mountains. You will see many small villages along the route till you reach Kargil. Once in Kargil we check into our pre-booked hotel and relax. 

The beauty of this route cannot be described here in words. This is something which has to be experienced directly. Our ride towards Kashmir Valley starts from Kargil and a few kilometers before reaching Drass we stop to visit the war memorial. After the visit we continue to ride towards Srinagar via Drass, Zojila Pass and Sonamarg. Drass is also known to be the second coldest inhabited place in the world. The life here is really harsh. After Drass we climb to cross the famed Zojila Pass at 3528m, the jaw dropping views from Zojila pass will make you completely happy and excited. The road conditions near the pass is quite bad and gets better soon after it. Shortly after crossing Zojila Pass we swish across Sonamarg and reach Srinagar. We check into a house boat and enjoy the evening at peace. 

Today’s ride will take us from the beautiful mountain valleys of Srinagar to the plains of Pathankot in Punjab. The road conditions are pretty much very good, which lets us negotiate more distance at less time. We cross the towns like Anantnag and Udhampur before reaching Pathankot. There are very few accommodation options in Pathankot compared to the other destinations we have covered. We check in to our pre booked comfortable hotel and spend a good night sleep for an early start next day.

This day is very special in many ways. Today we end our trip in Delhi, it’s pretty emotional that such an epic expedition is about to come to an end. But we are not going back empty handed, we are finishing the expedition with lots of beautiful memories, experiences and above all a new family to cherish. It is said that the friendships and relationships made during tough expeditions last life long. Adding to all the thoughts and emotions, today is also going to be the longest ride in the entire trip. We navigate around 485KMS through some of the well laid highways of north India. We ensure to start early morning so that we reach Delhi before nightfall. Once in Delhi we return the motorbikes and finish the paperworks. Then we check into the hotel for a well deserved freshen up. Soon after the certificates and souvenirs will be distributed along with some happy photo shoots of the entire team.