Sarchu to Leh – More Plains and Tanglang La

This post is in continuation with a previous one and a part of my Ladakh travelogue. We arrived at Sarchu from Delhi in 4 days and then traveled from Sarchu to Leh on Day 5, details of which are covered in this article. To read the previous parts of the travelogue, please click on the links below.

The journey so Far:

• Delhi to Manali via Bilaspur – Day 1 & 2
• Manali to Jispa via Rohtang Pass – Day 3
• Jispa to Sarchu – Day 4

The plan was to get up at 4 am and push off by 5 am to cover the 240-odd km between Sarchu and Leh. In a car, this might hardly be seen as a problematic stretch, but on a bike, with those road conditions, it is quite a tough task. Getting up at 4 am was not a problem, as none of us could sleep properly the entire night.

Wearily, we got out of bed and stumbled all over to kick off the day. It was only by 7 am that we all finally managed to shake off our laziness and proceed towards our destination for the day, Sarchu to Leh.

Day 5: Sarchu to Leh

It was a bit cloudy almost all the way till Pang, making the start a bit chilly. The boys vroomed ahead, while Jugni and WanderB trudged along. Sarchu plains have tarred roads, but they are not smooth, and if you zoom past 40 kmph, the bounciness of the track is apparent.

My bike was especially bad as it was groaning with each bounce. I kept the bike at the dead center of the tarred road to minimize those bumps and this strategy seemed to work a bit.

The lighting was perfect, and out came the GND filter, a new addition to my arsenal. Immediately after Sarchu, we took the long U-turn; which has always made me wonder why they don’t build a bridge to shave off those 10 extra km. And as always, this thought was immediately followed by another.

“The fact that there is a road at this place is more than enough, stop complaining, you jackass.”

Gata Loops

The shortcuts at Gata Loops were looking as delicious as ever. Taking them was a laughable option though, especially with that weight on the bike. I muttered under my breath that the next time I’ll surely get all of them.

The boys waited for us at the top of the Loops, and upon seeing us they rode ahead, while we waited in turn to catch a glimpse of Jugni trudging up. Upon seeing them, we too marched on towards Nakee La. The roads were pretty bad this time around.

The tar had peeled off at most places. It was only at about 9 am that we finally managed to reach the top of Nakee La. There again we waited, and waited, and waited for Jugni to catch up. It was a good half an hour before they did. Apparently, they took a break just before Nakee La.

Gunjan’s AMS was getting worse. By the look on her face, one could tell that she was really not feeling well. For more details on this, take a look at How to Handle Acute Mountain Sickness in Ladakh.

Nakee La & Lachulung La

We decided to pause for a while after descending Nakee La and before climbing Lachulung La. The dhaba there served delicious ginger-lemon-honey-tea which helped us, and especially Gunjan, to relax.

We also met a gang of Japanese-Korean-Chinese people who were doing a recce of the road to set up a travel business after they go back to their respective countries. We took the ‘longer’ route to climb Lachulung La as shortcuts were a strict no-no. The tarmac had peeled off at most places, making the climb of Lachulung La as miserable as the descent of Nakee La.

A cyclist couple was on their way towards Leh, about to climb the Gata loops. This contraption was useful and hilarious both at the same time.

Tsarap Chu heads towards Zanskar, while we climb those 21 bends and gain 400m abruptly.

The long roads descending Nakee La and then ascending Lachulung La can be seen. The distance as the crow flies might not be much, but it takes more than an hour to cover it

WanderB waits for Jugni at Nakee La. One of the three passes between Sarchu to Leh

WanderB sitting pretty atop Lachulung La

Road to Pang

​And then came the stretch both Aarti and I so love! The landscape between Lachulung La and Pang is as dramatic as it gets. The colors varying from white to brown to black to at times even yellow and pink.

Those high mountains let in just about the right amount of light creating a play that is simply poetic; especially at that time of the day. The tiny Lachulung river adds to the charm of the place. The desolateness of it all making it look almost post-apocalyptic.

Also Read: How to Plan a Trip to Leh Ladakh – A Complete Travel Guide

The road does not complement the awesomeness of the landscape at all. Not an ounce of tar ever seems to have been laid on this stretch. The moment one crosses a retired monster by the name of Kangla Jal, ‘that’ bridge can be seen along with ‘that’ gateway formed by the wind.

The enormity of the scale is hard to digest. Even the road all the way to Pang from there is just classic. The anthill-type formations on mountain tops soon become visible. The Grand Canyon-ish feel of the place simply cannot be ignored. We finally made it to Pang by 11 am, taking just under 4 hours to cover the horrible 86 km stretch.

An Awkward Request

An interesting thing happened at Pang. A family of about 10 members was traveling in rented SUVs from Manali and heading towards Leh. I think they were Gujjus. The elderly and the young alike were impressed by our group riding all the way from Delhi towards Leh on bikes.

A unique request followed: They wanted us to give joy-rides to some members of their family on our bikes. Now we typically do not deny requests from strangers, but this was just absurd. A long haul to Leh still remained and with energy levels already sapping, it was hardly a time to offer joy rides. Not to mention that the request itself was pretty bizarre. We politely declined, citing paucity of time, and moved on.

Also Read: Which is the Best Bike for Leh Ladakh Trip

Dramatic scenery is an understatement between Lachulung La and Pang. It boasts of one of the most inhospitable terrains of the region. I don’t think that anyone has ever contemplated even opening a dhaba on this stretch

‘That’ bridge is visible down below, immediately after Kangla Jal. The bridge and the gateway to Changthang

Pang

The wind tunnel effect plays around with the topography and creates some amazing wind-swept structures. The structures are formed by wind erosion over centuries. Finally, Pang comes, a sight for sore behinds. The punishing terrain, whether one is coming from Sarchu or More plains, makes Pang a mandatory stop.

Every time the More plains open before me, I cannot help but be spellbound by their vastness as well as their geographical location. A vast, smooth, never-ending plain at that altitude is just mesmerizing. We’ve driven on Moreh several times now, but the aura around it is phenomenal and always awes us.

More Plains

The boys were waiting for us at the beginning of the plains. A group shot was the need of the hour. Out came the tripod and the wireless remote and after taking shots from every angle and perspective, we pushed on.

The village at the southern end of the plains was calling me towards it. But given our time constraint, we decided not to go off-track for now. Ever since the first trip, we’ve always wanted to go to the edge of More till that village; but have not been able to make the time on day rides to do that. But with Manali – Leh highway, there will always be a next time.

We continued our journey on the recently tarred double-laned roads on More Plains. It was quite a feeling to zip at 80 – 100 kmph at such a high altitude. The bike was responding well, and even though the sun was beating down upon us, the good road made everything bearable.

This dream run, however, was short-lived as only half of the stretch had been tarred. What lay ahead was a nightmare for bikers and a delight for 4x4ers. A dust bowl that was quite sandy at stretches made the heavily loaded bike fishtail like crazy. To avoid falling down at each one of those 100 m patches required superhuman effort, sucking our energy like leeches suck blood.

Ah ‘that’ sight at the edge of the plains towards the river below.

Group Shot

​Debring

It took us a good one and a half hours to cross the plains to reach Debring. We went to find our ‘friend’ Urgain with whom we had been catching up for two years in a row now. Sadly, he was not there and his brother told us that he had taken up a job at the banks of Tso Kar at the ‘luxury’ tents there.

We requested him to keep our jerry cans with him so that we could refuel on our way back to Manali, which he agreed to gladly. This way we had a good 30 L of petrol deposited which we could use on our return leg of Hanle – Tso Moriri – Tandi, a stretch that had no refueling points.

A lone Kiang was spotted by Sagar meandering a few hundred meters away from the dhaba. It was kind of weird, given the fact that these creatures generally tend to flock in a group, and are also very shy. Maybe he was the outcast, maybe he was just doing some side business on his own.

Whatever the reason, we were happy at having sighted our first Kiang of the trip. I was excited and walked towards it and it took me a good 30 minutes to be able to shoot it with a 300 mm lens, but it was worth it.

Tanglang La

There is always a flip side though, I was now tired as hell with Tanglang La still left to climb. We decided not to break for lunch (which later turned out to be a bad decision) and continued towards the dreaded Tanglang La.

Lovely tarmac on the plains. One can really rip beyond 100 kmph on this surface, at least for now, before it starts sinking at places, which it will, eventually.

Changpas were grazing their flock on the vast plains, numerous Rebos (their tents) could be seen at the other end of the plains

The lone Kiyang near Debring

A ‘rich’ Changpa with his herd of horses

​The Final Climb

We finally pushed off at 2:30 after taking a good one-hour break at Debring which was spent mostly lying down and recuperating. In hindsight, it might have made sense to just push off as quickly as possible, but it seemed almost inhuman to do so. Most of the road between Sarchu to Leh remained to be bad but the climb towards Tanglang La was painful to describe it mildly.

As I later found out, one of the shock absorbers of our bike had fallen apart, thus making the climb even more painful than it actually was. I believe the shock absorber was screwed up badly in one of those sand pits at More. The climb was mostly on rubble – smooth but scattered with small pebbles.

Also Read: How to Prepare your Bike for Leh Ladakh

The bike was creaking like an old rusted door hinged on poor support but I did not have the energy or the intention to stop and check. I just wanted the day to end now. With the sun beating down, the intense heat was getting unbearable under that heavy wretched riding jacket.

It took us at least an hour to reach the top. Once there we again stopped to straighten our backs. They’d said that the descent of Tanglang La was comfortable. Since we were already at the top, we’d expected the good roads to begin immediately. Such naivety I tell you.

Rumtse

After 5 odd km of bearing with bad, pothole-ridden roads, we finally found lovely tarred roads which continued all the way till Rumtse. The bike was still creaking though the moment I took it beyond 50 kmph, so I stayed slow. We managed to amble into Rumtse by 4:30 pm and broke for a much-delayed lunch.

By now, exhaustion was at its peak and I had half a mind to just stop and stay the night at Rumtse. But better sense prevailed, and with our last ounce of strength, we got back on the bike.

The road from Rumtse all the way to Leh used to be in excellent shape earlier but not anymore. The force of nature could be seen at each bend where either the entire road or a part of it just went with the current. The mountains are far more rugged on the Rumtse – Upshi stretch. The valley is relatively narrow and the mountains are a strange purplish black.

We were too exhausted to enjoy any of that though. The camera had been packed away, and we all waited to hit the Upshi – Leh highway, the last mile as they say.

The last 50 odd km was a breeze. Despite the creaking sounds, I ripped at 80 kmph just to reach as quickly as possible. We zipped by familiar landmarks like the Karu petrol pump, Thiksey, Shey, Stakna, and Choglamsar.

Leh City

We did not have the time or the energy to enjoy those sights though. Our longish 5 days ride from Delhi was about to culminate. The last day’s ride from Sarchu to Leh turned out to be the longest but we felt a mixture of achievement and exhaustion. Family members had declared us mad to have undertaken this journey, with some believing that biking would not be our cup of tea.

The very idea of leaving the Safari parked back home to endure the notorious Manali-Leh highway on a Bullet seemed unfathomable to them. We had our doubts too, but both of us knew that our love for the road would transcend vehicle types and riding would be as much, if not more, fun than traveling in a car.

Tanglang La, the second-highest motorable road in the world – Well I count it to be fourth in line after Mana pass, Marsimik, Khardung La.

Hotel Hunting in Leh

​Exhausted, dirty, and hungry, we all gathered at the roundabout at Leh at 8 pm; a good 14 hrs after we had begun our day at Sarchu. The entire ride from Sarchu to Leh took us way longer than it should have. With high fives going all around, the next problem was to look for accommodation for the night.

For boys, it was a relatively simple matter, but with girls around, this was not going to be an easy task. The first call went, obviously, to Padma Guest House and Hotel, our favorite hotel in town. Sadly, it was booked solid for eternity to come. Bicky, the owner at the Padma, guided us to another hotel nearby but it was not nice.

Our shoulders were drooping now and each step was as difficult as climbing Stok Kangri itself. Oh yes, when in Leh, speak of metaphors using Leh’s accessories. Finally, the boys took it upon themselves to find a decent lodge for the night. Thus, Barath Guest House on Fort Road was discovered. At 1000 bucks a night and clean rooms, it was a life savior.

• Journey Ahead: Leh City Sightseeing, Repairing Bikes & Shopping

I still can’t remember how we managed to get the stuff off the bikes, take a shower and have dinner because all that I remember was a deep sleep. A long day of travel from Sarchu to Leh finally came to an end. That night, we slept like babies, getting ready for more adventures in the coming days. Please click on the link above to continue reading the next part of this travelogue.

Sarchu to Leh – Conclusion

I hope the travelogue, pictures, and information on traveling from Sarchu to Leh were of help. If you have any questions or need any other details, please feel free to ask in the comments section below or at our Community Forum, and I will be glad to answer.