Ladies in Ladakh
 

Here's the reason I wasn't able to be at HUBB UK this year...
I've been back to Asia, to the Himalayan region of India to be precise and I'm leading an all-female group of riders through Ladakh. Beforehand though, I had the opportunity to do a thorough recce and familiarise myself with the route..read on

Let me introduce Enid, a Royal Enfield Bullet - 500cc, fuel injection, gears on the correct side (unlike the older models of Enfield) and she's a great bike.

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the streets in India are chaotic with most traffic being of the two-wheeled variety, usually with at least one or more pillion riders and also saris flapping around perilously close to the rear wheel

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My first ride out was to the garage to get some fuel, considering how anarchy seems to reign on the roads, I was most relieved by the orderly queue that forms to get petrol at the garage

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Here I am with the Enfield ready to set off - the guy I've got it from told me has never heard the comment
"ooh what a great colour, it matches my toenails!"

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I'm using soft luggage from Giant Loop once more, and as usual, I've got all my camping gear with me.
One of my favourite breakfasts - dosa

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The roads are not too bad at this stage, curious monkeys watch me ride past, and if I stop for long enough some of them even throw stuff at me.


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The foothills of the Himalayas where everything is green and the hills are still rounded

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The driving is a little bit crazy at times, I saw several accidents like this one
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Everyone was pretty good-natured about it and allowed me to squeeze through between the car and the truck.

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I'm finding it strange that I can reach the ground with flat feet!

Hitting the Road
 

A gratuitous shot of the Enfield, all geared up, I'm travelling light and this time including the extra warm Everest down-filled sleeping bag- it ain't small but it keeps me warmhttp://d26ya5yqg8yyvs.cloudfront.net/icon10.gif

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Football pitches are a rarity over here - I liked the way that this one has been taken over for a game of cricket.

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Cricket is THE sporting passion in India, every town and village I pass through there are children playing it, usually with a makeshift bat and ball.

I was allowed to gatecrash a wedding at the hotel, I arrived while the many and multiple photos were being taken, a queue of people had formed just to click of a few shots.

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Whoops! - A puncture

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I've started this journey in Dehradun, Uttarakand, India. A northern town nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas - hmm, maybe I'll go mad and try to create a map at some point.
I've got 11 days until my group arrives so I'm soloing the route we'll be covering to familiarise myself with it, then dashing back down to Delhi to meet the group as they arrive. I'm not sure what to expect, except that the food will be great - the last time I travelled in India, I actually put weight on as I was eating so much. I love travelling over here, the friendliness and curiosity of the people I come across, the noise, chaos and life in general - it's a fantastic place to explore.

the Enfiels is working well, I'm getting used to being so low to the ground, its revs can be very low as it chugs along, allowing me to be a bit lazy with the gear changes, usually when I'm also trying to take photos.

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Motorbikes are everywhere and they're usually Enfields.
I made it to Manali, a town at 2200m, which happens to have a great new hostel that has just opened It's called Ride Inn, and I managed to find it quite easily, just following the signs through town.


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My Enfield has a twin sister already resident here, and in the other direction, several bikes being worked on.

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My hosts - Sneh and Godwin who hail from Mumbai, incredibly friendly and nice people.

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All the furniture and fixtures in the bar café are made from motorbike bits, with a handy Ladakh guide painted on the wall.

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And on another wall, a collection of the roadside signs with their Accident Avoidance tongue in cheek sayings - these are all genuine road signs seen in Ladakh.

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the view from my bedroom window in the morning is amazing - snow-capped mountains stretching off into the distance

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The Himalayas at their best.

Hi there,

You can find female guides to Ladakh here - LWTC - Home - a really great idea, maybe that could be of some use to you.

Other than that, great bike and trip! I did the Leh - Srinagar highway via Zanksar in 2009 on a 1983 Bullet, and then went to McCleod Gange. The Nubra valley, north of Leh, was fantastic.

Good luck with the rest of your trip! :thumbup1:

PS yes the food in India is great, and what a brilliant place to travel. It´s easily the most compelling and interesting country I´ve ever visited. As an India-lover, the worst thing I´ve found about S.America so far is the terrible food, coffee and the lack of chai!!!

I think you will find that Garmin sell City Navigator India and has beaten you to it! then there are OSM, GE, GM etc.
doh I forgot- you don't use a satnav - maybe you should as you could actually provide a valuable service to others on the Hubb.

Details of the Ride Inn
+918894539495
32.28650 77.17398

Very pleasant trip report!!!!

Your Enfield is the (almost) twin sister of the one I hired in Kathmandu for a loop of central Nepal way back in 2012.

Congratulations, and best wishes for the next part of your adventure!

Great shots, makes you feel you're really there. Sigh... I'm thinking I need to begin painting my toe nails in brilliant turquoise too!

Agree with Ride the World, compared to India, where is REAL food and chai in S America?!!!

FYI, for those wanting to listen to some brilliant Tiffany stories, click on the All Over the Map link below and scroll down until you see Tiffany's picture. Then click again and prepare to be entertained!

Welcome Back to Trip Reporting
 

Hi Tiff,

Great to see your unique and entertaining reporting style again.

Regarding maps, do you use a smart phone? I use an App called Maps.Me that will give nice clear maps and recently added an altimeter - all without Internet connection. I have no need for a GPS with this App.

Look forward to the rest of your report.

PN

Luddites R Us
 

Sorry Bertrand, I'll have to leave all the electronic gizmo stuff to my fellow travellers. One of the reasons I don't have the gadgets and GPS is because I spend so much of my time away from any sources of electricity. I love life out in the wilds, having to be reliant on electrical stuff just does not suit me.
and err, I like to think I already provide a valuable service to others on the HUBB :mchappy:

Strange but...
 

errrrm really? :confused1:
I could have sworn most motorcycles have 12 volts running around them! :innocent:

IMHO, whilst a picture does indeed speak a thousand words- however, geo-coordinates are more useful in finding specific locations especially in places where one cannot speak the language.

As an example- to use this thread alone- putting up the coordinates of the hostel, the puncture repair place and so on, would provide specific info taken on the ground locally which is priceless to others visit that area.

Bertand Im heading to Manali next month an I have a montana all mapped up But In her description she mentioned that she found the ride inn easily by following the signs in town. Thatll do for me wont be bothered entering the Co ords.
and Im pretty sure if I get a flat tyre out there that I cant fix I wont travelling all the way to where ever Tiffany got hers fixed :D
Thanks for doing your report Tiffany looking forward to it
What a great service you provide

Still a bit technical for me...
 

you obviously haven't seen Thelma's electrical system for some years :confused1: I haven't had a plug-in wotsit bit for years. I only use the bike's battery for riding and my heated jacket which is wired directly to a harness on the battery. But never mind, I won't split hairs with you about this Bertrand, hopefully someone will write a Ride Tale that you enjoy and approve of a bit more than mine :biggrin: and in the meantime you'll have to make do with the info that I am able to share.

Cheers
 

Thanks for the vote of confidence ShaneBaby - you'll have a great time, and I'm pretty sure you'll find everything that you want to without having to rely on electrical help.
From the woman who still uses the sun and Never Eat Shredded Wheat as a daily mnemonic to aid navigation :mchappy:.

First Mountain Ascent
 

I left Manali and Ride Inn, fingers crossed for fair weather, one of the bike riders I had spoken to (Eric originally from America but now resident in Manali with his wife and son) had told me about his journey a few days previously when chaotic traffic and bad snow conditions had made Baralacha La impassable and trapping vehicles up there - even motorbike were stuck, for 14 hourshttp://d26ya5yqg8yyvs.cloudfront.net/eek7.gif, whilst vehicles from the size of a car and upwards were trapped there for 36 hours.
After relating this to me, he said I shouldn't have to worry as an Army convoy had been sent up there to clear the road. However, as I gathered from the anticipatory looks on the faces around me, I was going to be the first bike they knew to try the route - Ms Coates- International Guinea Pig, that's me.

The next morning dawned fair and sunny

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I even met a few other bikes on the road

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Things can get a bit tight up there, as cars jostle for space on the narrow roads. At this time of year there are a lot of "snow tourists", people from the hot plains of India, heading to the mountains for a glimpse of snow.
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You can see the gridlock that is caused.

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I squeezed through between the vehicles, everyone is very good-natured and waves through the bikes.

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I made it - similar to Tibet, each mountain pass is marked with hundreds of colourful prayer flags, flapping in the wind.

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The top of the pass had a lot of snow
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Not many people in sight except these shepherds/goatherds with their flock, making their way through the snow

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Rahtong
 

As we all know, what goes up must come down and the downward bits are often a little bit more tricky.
Yes, there was a bit more snow than I had expected - after all just a couple of days previously, I'd been sweltering in temperatures in the 40's (110 F and upward).

Still, I didn't have much to worry about as I was warmly dressed (like many cold-blooded people I have a morbid fear of getting cold) and so I was wearing plenty of layers and on top had my Rukka jacket and Gerbing trousers, with my Gerbing heated gloves in reserve as well.
And, the white snow - well, it make s a pretty backdrop for the bike

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Another flock of sheep/goats appeared,

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Everyone seemed to be going the same direction

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some water crossings to get through

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the clear skies and sunny weather meant I made good progress going down and I was soon below the snow line once more and back to warm dusty conditions following a river gorge

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I was enjoying this part of the ride
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until I realised that I must have taken a wrong turn, the track became increasingly narrow and there was no way a lorry would get along here - even an Indian one with their wild driving techniques. I had to turn around and go back, at which point there was an extremely loud explosion

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looking back across the valley, I could see they were dynamiting the route I'd just ridden

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Minimal health and safety precautions - if you look closely enough, you can see the vehicles are stopped not too far from the explosion itself - it took some time for the bang to die away and the dust to clear.

However I had a different problem, I'd got a puncture, luckily I was able to limp into the village of Keylong where I soon found someone to repair it

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while I took a well earned lunch break,
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making the most of my plate of pakora, knowing that the worst of today's riding was still ahead of me

Getting Wet and Cold
 

With veg pakoras in my stomach to sustain me and a new inner tube on the rear tyre, I was ready to face the road ahead- the ascent to Baralacha La, for those who have been paying attention, this is the high pass that there had been a lot of problems with just days ago.
I was in luck that today was sunny and clear.

The Police checkpoint was safely passed though they expressed some concern that a "lady" was heading up, not only riding a motorbike (a rare sight in India) but also completely alone. I let the policeman have a ride on my Enfield.

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And then I started to see and experience why this is the most troublesome pass

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The deepest river crossing was also one where there was no-one else around

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I waded through a few times, in search of a relatively shallow crossing with fewest rocks under foot. In the process I got very wet and as it's glacial melt water, somewhat cold from the knees down. But I made it through with the Enfield and some great revvinghttp://d26ya5yqg8yyvs.cloudfront.net/icon10.gif

Further on, some vehicles were not so fortunate

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I was getting higher and back above the snowline, even when there was tarmac, it was still covered in water

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And my favourite sight - an iceberg in the road

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I'd love to see a warning sign for this type of road hazard.