Keylong – Kulu (160 km)

Trip Start Aug 02, 2009
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of India  , Himachal Pradesh,
Tuesday, August 18, 2009

It was good to get back on the bike today after 1½ days off with my crook knee, traveling and touring on a bike makes this experience much more intense, and you really see, hear and smell everything. I started off tenuously planning to just ride the easier sections today so that I don't do any further damage to my leg, but I managed every section and it loosened up and got stronger as the day wore on. Todays ride across the Rohtang Pass, through Manali to Kulu was probably the most difficult of the whole trip, It starts off on reasonably good road, which deteriorates quickly once you start the switchbacks up the mountain to a rough dirt road. It had been raining in the week since we crossed this pass on our way to Leh, which meant on the upward section there were some difficult water crossings and some mud sections, on the downward section it got even worse with mud in some sections up to a foot deep, and traffic jams and delays through these sections.
Keylong - Kulu
Keylong - Kulu

Even with these bad road conditions the ride was magic as we were ascending into the clouds that were sweeping across the top of the mountains. With big eagles soaring above and below, and the snow covered mountain tops peeking out above the clouds.


The rest of the downward journey once we got below the clouds was in a light drizzle, it dried almost a quick as it wet you. This continued until we go to Manali, when the rain started in earnest and the last 40 km to Kulu was completed in the rain



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