Prologue
It all started that cold windy afternoon in 2014, we were crawling our way up Baralachala pass, it had just started snowing and the bad weather had brought with it bad roads and landslides. After crossing a particularly bad patch we started hearing a kat kat noise from the front left side suspension. I stopped right next to Suraj Tal and tried to remove the tire and check if I could spot the problem, a combination of freezing temperatures, high altitude and lack of gloves made sure I didn’t make too much progress.
Looking back from the place we stopped we would see the snow covered top of Baralachala, frustrated I promised the mountain that we would be back someday, not a challenge as no one in their right mind would challenge these mountains but more of a promise made that we would be back some other day.
A couple of random snaps from the trip 8 years back
The Linea was hurt and we would now have to drive it gingerly across Pagal nallah and a slushy Rohtang La, 8 years back these places had the ability to make you loose sleep over them. This is anyway a story for another day, this promise had been on the back of my mind for a long time. The next car we bought was a Safari Storme 4×4 a perfect vehicle in my mind to take on the Leh road trip but for some reason or the other we just never managed to make the time. But the itch had turned into a rash thanks to all the vlogs online. Between COVID restrictions, my weekend classes and the exams that followed I really needed a long vacation so I decided to scratch that itch!
Leh 2.0
All four parts of the blog, if you would like to skip to next section
It was quite the surreal experience driving through the mountains once again, we were on the Manali – Leh highway and we had just crossed Pang. The scenery was amazing and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. The sun was out and we had mostly clear skies, but my head was spinning and I was having a hard time focussing on the drive, the dull headache was now becoming quite the pain.
I just had to stop the car, it wasn’t a moment too soon – the moment I opened the door I brought out all the lunch we had just consumed a hour or so back. This was really not the way the drive was supposed to go, a million thoughts going through my head – was it a bad case of AMS, by blood oxygen did fall to 68 on some of the high altitude sections. We were in the middle of nowhere with no cellphone signal and decent medical facilities at least 4 hours away in either direction.
Last time it was the car and this time it was the driver – did Baralachala do it again!
One thing was certain we were going to have to change our trip plans as me continuing to drive was not an option, wife wasn’t feeling great but nowhere as bad as me so she would need to take over the driving. Mind you this was probably just the second time she was driving an automatic!
Before we go any further, lets go back 5 days to the start of the trip
The OG plan to Leh was as follows, 5 days of mostly driving from morning to evening.
Bangalore ->Nagpur -> Delhi->Manali ->Jispa->Leh
The car was fully packed and we were all set to leave on 21st May, the Compass’s boot is not the biggest but it still swallowed up most of luggage given that we had pack for peak Summer temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius as well as -5 degrees Celsius in the hills along with all the spares for the car and an extra fuel can.
Day 1: Bangalore to Nagpur
A 1000+ km drive usually requires an early start and given all the excitement of the trip I was up by 3 AM (somethings just don’t change), and me and wife hit the road by 4:30 AM, a peaceful time to cross Bangalore as you just breeze past Outer Ring Road which is usually a nightmare! Ironic as it may sound Outer Ring Road is NH44 and we were going to be on the same stretch of the road until we turned off for Chandigarh. This road was going to be our friend for the next 3 days.
Road Conditions:
Brilliant road surface throughout this stretch except for maybe 50 kms just before Nagpur. The good news ends there
- Karnataka &AP – That odd speed breaker is going to surprise you!
- Telangana – Stupid road design with no service road and all the side roads merging right onto the main road, this is probably why you have so many speed cameras to keep your speed below 80kmph and in places 40kmph!
- Maharashtra – A combination of uneven road surface and crazy traffic is the usual welcome one has in MH, it did not disappoint once again. For a state which generates so much revenue they can do a much better job at getting the roads right!
Past Hyderabad there are very few restaurants or places to stop, you will only have a lot of trucks for company from Hyderabad all the way till you hit Agra.
Restaurants:
Very few and far between, if you see a half decent place to stop do so as your not going to get a better place later on! Follow this rule and you will be fine. The surprising thing is you don’t have that many options even on the BLR – HYD stretch other than one or two good places.
We stopped for Breakfast at a Rayalaseema Kitchen after a toll booth and it had clean washrooms and decent food – our last good dosas until we got back home! We picked up some lovely mangoes from the highway, which we relished the next day. Picking up mangoes from one vendor over the other really upsets the others. We were surrounded by 10 vendors trying to convince us to buy from them when all we needed was 2 or 3 mangoes.
Lunch was just after exiting Hyderabad’s ORR in a place called Banyan Tree, good food and really spicy Briyani 😀 The next morning we paid our dues for the spicy food but we did enjoy it!
Timings
We covered a total of 1068 kms and reached Nagpur around 8PM. Better designed roads and more sensible speed limits on this stretch can easily reduce the time further but having complained so much, this drive is lot more peaceful than the alternate of driving on NH8 and NH4.
Stats below split by the time to Hyderabad and Nagpur, JC returning sterling FE numbers with one stop for refuelling after Hyderabad for the day
The lovely ORR of Hyderabad – speed limit is 100 kmph and expect the TS police to be hiding in the bushes with a speed gun.
We stayed in Le Meridian in Nagpur as it was close to the bypass so an easy entry and exit out of the city, paid around 6k plus tax for the rooms. Overall I would rate it as overpriced since you can see the property is ageing but I guess hospitality is good and the only other alternate is Radisson further down the road.
The temperature needle went past 44 in the afternoon and Nagpur felt like an oven at 35 in the night, we knew the next day was just going to be worse.
Day 2 – Nagpur to Noida
Another day another 1000+ kms to cover, we were up by 5 AM and checked out of the hotel by 6:30 AM, we took the Nagpur bypass and hit Pench national park. The route was
Nagpur – Peach- Narsinghpur- Sagar- Jhansi – Gwalior – Agra – Greater Noida
There is no bypass from the time you enter Agra to the Yamuna expressway, do not rely on google maps as it took us right through the market which was a pain to say the least. Follow NH44 till you reach Mall Road and then take the right, there might be a better road but please do your research.
We went right through Gwalior town as my wife was born there and she wanted to see how it looked many years on! Google sent us through some narrow roads and the market in Gwalior, this wasn’t going to be our only mistake for the day! We made another mistake in Agra and spent quite a lot of time getting out of the mess, to add to our adventure for the day we managed to take the wrong exit from the Yamuna expressway and went into Noida rather than Greater Noida. The problem of having very many Radisson’s in Delhi 🙂 We reached the hotel at 9:30 PM after covering 1055 kms. Another refill of diesel was made in MP just after breakfast, I had just realised that JC could actually do 850kms between refills, the next day we would actually end up testing its limits!
Road Conditions:
It can divided into three sectors
- Nagpur – Gwalior : Good surface and less traffic, this was our fastest stretch you can easily set your cruise control between 100 and 110 kmph and look to average close to 90kmph. The traffic is light and the roads are well paved. Watch out for all the cows on this stretch since they are either grazing on the divider or lying close to it!
- Gwalior- Agra: 100 plus kms of non stop markets and chaotic traffic, this might end up taking close to 2 hours to cover depending on the time of the day.
- Agra – Noida: The brilliant Agra – Delhi expressway is only spoilt by people who show ID cards and don’t want to pay toll and end up arguing over a couple of hundred bucks!
Restaurants:
Follow the same rule I mentioned for the previous route, any half decent place you find please stop because you will not find very many restaurants with clean washrooms for women.
We stopped at Jalsa Garden Restaurant before Narsinghpur for breakfast, its on the other side of the road but has decent food and a clean enough washroom. JC parked under some kind of shade, given that it was a 45 degree plus day through out!
For Lunch we stopped in Gwalior bypass as we made really good time, you have quite a few options to choose from.
Our stay in Greater Noida was in Radisson, decent hotel and average service which seems to be a theme from Radisson. Would I recommend it, yes simply because it does the job for a night stay.
Day 3 – Noida to Manali
We woke up to a 20 degree drop in temperatures in Delhi, it was raining cats and dogs. We managed to get onto to the Eastern peripheral highway and this was our drive
To add to the adventure, we had not filled diesel and the tank was showing a range of 150kms to empty when we started from our hotel in the morning. The JC’s range indicator is quite accurate and not be messed with. We had no idea that there are no bunks on the peripheral highway, so between the rain and driving 80+kms we managed to exit the expressway and topped up at the first bunk we saw. We had actually almost done a shade over 900 kms from the time we refilled in MP, which was quite impressive and unexpected. Me in my shorts supposed to be beat the heat getting drenched in the spray from the rain and all the breeze, Delhi did give us everything!
As we crossed Karnal the rain died down and we started our hunt for breakfast halt, I had also noticed the steering was off centre since the time the JC went into a pothole while trying to avoid a White Scorpio who decided he could drive down the wrong side of the highway! We stopped for breakfast and the clean JC was no longer so! There are so many options on for restaurants on this stretch that no real planning is needed, clean washrooms and good food throughout!
We zeroed in on a wheel alignment centre in Zirakpur, this would be a minor detour from our route to Manali, we reached Zirakpur by 11 AM and were on our way with the issue sorted to my satisfaction by 12 PM, we stopped after Kiratpur Sahib at Barista for lunch.
A quick lunch later we were making our way through the painful Swarghat, the route through Bilaspur, Sundarnagar and onto Mandi is two laned and you make slow progress thanks to all the cement trucks on the route. Post Mandi you have two options, you can cross the bridge and head to Manali via Kamand and IIT Mandi or head straight down via Aut.
The broader road via Aut is usually blocked due to road work and after waiting for 30 mins we decided to come back and take the other route which was a mistake! The alternate route via IIT Mandi is narrow and takes a lot more time, we took close to 3 hours to reach the main highway again with most of our driving as the sun was setting and rain. The road is narrow and steep, so its not for those who have little experience driving in the mountains. Waiting at Aut even for more than a hour would still be a better option since you would cover the same distance a lot faster.
We finally reached our hotel at 10 PM in Manali after a long and tiring day on the road. We left Noida at around 6:30 AM in the morning and reached Manali at 10 PM almost a 15 hour drive for 600 odd kms, with a one hour halt in Zirakpur.
We stayed in Hotel Snowflake residency, nothing spectacular again but had decent parking space by Manali’s congested standards.
Manali – Gemur
The plan for the day was to go round in Manali and then head to Solang valley, given the crowd in Manali and the rains, we decided to head straight to Solang to beat the rush later in the day. Mind you, we hadn’t filled up fuel again after our last stop, in all our wisdom we decide that we could fill up in Solang.
A few snaps from the drive to Solang and the cable car ride up! The rains meant it was a slushy mess at Solang but it was still worth it!
We decided to head straight to Gemur from here but realised that Solang did not have any bunks so we made our way all the way back to Manali to fuel up and then headed back Via Solang through the Atal Tunnel.
The marvellous Atal tunnel is like a gateway into a different world, as we exited into Lahaul valley there had just been snowfall and the area was looking mesmerising, we throughly enjoyed our drive as passed Sissu and then topped up the tank at Tandi before turning off and reaching Gemur. It was freezing up in Gemur and we enjoyed the weather and some Rajma chawal. It finally felt like we were on a holiday!
Gemur Khar was the place we stayed in, slightly expensive since only the most expensive room was available, but an absolutely beautiful place to watch the clouds caress the mountains as they go by!
There is some history to this place –Gemoor Khar , established in 1920, was the estate of Thakur Mangal Chand (1886 -1969) Rais and Ex Wazir of Lahaul . The Khar, meaning manor house, was a grand 5 storey mansion with more than 40 rooms and large stables . This was practically the last outpost on this inhospitable but important trade route connecting India to the Silk Route via Ladakh and Karakorum Pass.
During the summer months the place hummed with activity, with trader, officials, European explorers and scholars stopping over to relax and enjoy the hospitality of the Thakur and to prepare themselves for the arduous journey ahead.
Unfortunately the Khar was damaged due to earthquake and seepage from the hill side and had to be pulled down in 1986. The estate in its present form as a summer retreat (family generally stays in Manali) was built in 2003 to carry on with its tradition of hospitality and warmth for the visiting travellers
Next, we would making our way from Gemur to Leh, finally getting to meet Baralachala again!
Please click here to read part 2 of our journey – A white carpet!
Musings of a wanderer 
Wonderful to read about your journeys. We often contemplate packing up and hitting the road…..we were on the verge in SA. We did our first trip in a VW caddie max. But R got offered a jobbin Luleå ! We thought it wiser to earn and save before hitting the road……one day….🤔🤔 maybe even try the trans siberean….if the wars allow !!
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