I would have loved to stay back at Nako. As in who wouldn’t have. Such a beautiful village, at the top of the mountain, lovely houses, but then in a journey like this, stay at one place and you may end up missing on more mesmerising sights. So back on the saddle we were - ready to ride.
The view of Nako from just ahead of Maling Pass
The start of the ride was a short climb to the pass (Maling Pass above Nako). A short climb which got too strenuous for some of us at a couple of points, made us get down from the saddle and walk the bike uphill. Stopping at the pass to catch some breath and also to get our head around at the sheer drop on the left hand side, we started the much awaited descent of the day. A 16km downhill patch. Brakes check, makeshift go-pro check, ready steady and roll. A few scary turns, a couple of photo ops and in about no time we had hit the the flat road at the bottom by the banks of the Spiti river. The leftover route was now all along these banks.
View from the Maling Pass
Start of the downhill from Maling and looking back at Nako
A few Hyperlapse videos of the 16 km downhill from Maling. Enjoy the experience!
Start of the downhill and trailing Joss while we go downhill. Watch out for the scary turns, deep valleys and bad roads
Phase 2 of the downhill - you need breaks in between for your wrists and fingers to get a break from the constant braking .
The last bit of downhills - watch out for the Hairpin bends
The end of the 16 km downhill from where we had stopped for a few photos. Riding down these turns at a speed of 40-45 Km on a cycle was fun!! The road ran parallel to the Spiti river seen towards the left corner after that.
We were supposed to stop at Samdu. ( or Sumdo as it is Called on Google Maps) for a quick breakfast. The ride to Sumdo was supposed to be easy, but turned out to be a hot and tiring affair. With a lot of work going on the roads, we had to endure bumpy and dusty patches interspersed with good tarmac. Several signs of “Do not Stop” encouraged us to keep moving. Gurals made their presence felt, pushing random pebbles down the mountains as they moved. Seeing them jump from one rock to another - was akin to experiencing the precision of an acrobatic performance.
The Geu Monastery
At Samdu - we had a hearty breakfast of bananas, samosas (the best) and Jalebis (again some of the best we have had) at one of the army canteens there. We planned to visit the 650 year old Mummy at Geu Monastery. One option was to cycle till the fork in the road and then take the the vehicle to Get, the other being leave the cycles at the canteen and take the sumo to Geu and back. For those waiting behind with the cycles, the canteen seemed a better place to wait and so off we went stuffed in the sumo. As we neared Geu - (close to the Chinese border), our Garmins latched on to the Chinese satellites and shifted the timezone 2.5 hours ahead. For a moment we thought we had lost track of time, till we realised what was happening.
Back again at Samdu, bottles filled with water, snacks packed, we got on the saddle again to the supposedly short ride towards Tabo. Some 40 odd km it seems. And of course rolling all along the banks of the Spiti river. As the afternoon Sun bore down on us, the group separated with many of us riding in pairs with a lot of distance in between each other. We kept on looking for markers, that could tell us the leftover distance - but each marker gave a different distance and confused us even more. The last 8 km towards Tabo never seemed to end.
The climb towards Lari - the road looked deceptively flat and the greens ahead looked like a welcome change - but it wasn’t so easy.
On one such tiring climb (more of a small slope than a hill) through Lari, I saw a bunch of children by the road side - asking if I had some chocolates on me, or If I could take. a photo of them. Chocolates I didn’t have, but biscuits I did and they were happy to munch on them. While I prepared the camera to click some shots, they kept looking at the eldest one in the group, probably asking for her permission to get clicked. She took her own sweet time, putting on her pair of shoes before joining the trio and approving the photographs I had taken. A few moments later, after wishing them good bye - I continued on the way towards Tabo.
The Leader of the group. - all the kids waited till she was done wearing her shoes
The kids of Lari . Attitude galore!
Finally Tabo was in sight and there was no better respite than to get off the saddle after the long ride. The chief minister of the state was in the town, and one of our very own stopped by to say a hi to him ( while the rest of us mere mortals were searching as to where he had gotten lost)
We had a quick lunch and took a stroll in the market to shop for some curios. The evening was spent interacting with the locals, and hearing stories of Cap and Josh and their friends. The best part about Tabo was the empty helipad surrounded by mountains. .We spent the evening lying down on the helipad, watching clouds float by and then again some part of the night trying to capture star trails.
Some fun at the Helipad
We had a steaming hot dinner of Mutton thandook and momos before hitting the bed.