It’s going to be an easy day!! Well that’s what we were told - 60 km of easy ride along with breathtaking views. Most importantly no big climbs. (Just the things our Tour Operator says which we have learned to ignore in hindsight :P )
After a hearty breakfast of bread and scrambled eggs. and wishing the trekking group good bye, we started off on our way. Since the distance was not much, we stopped frequently to take pictures, making most of the vast valleys and good roads. Some patches of the road and landscape reminded me of the More plains on the Manali Leh route.
The happiness was short lived though. Good roads soon became bad, bumpy roads or non existent ones and the flat and rolling route soon started weaving its way through hills. Nothing as steep as Nako but still uphill nevertheless. (Now you know why we learn to ignore the TO). We crossed the Spiti river at Gramphu and proceeded to Hansa where we stopped for breakfast. On the last leg towards Hansa SG managed to break his chain and had to pack his bike. At Hansa Cap took stock of the situation and for the time being asked him to carry on with Amal’s cycle as he wasn’t riding due to his shoulder injury.
The small shop served as a small cafe + the local grocery store. We ran into a few locals there who were more than happy to chitchat with us, and I had a great time capturing some portraits while we rested.
From here it was just 16 km to Losar our stop for the night. However these turned out to be extremely challenging. The headwinds made it even more difficult to push through. At one place we had to cross a stream through the boulders of a washed away bridge carrying our bike on our shoulders. The journey although slow was extremely gratifying and provided some of the best photo opportunities.
Losar arrived and we were welcomed by a slight drizzle. We were in a small homestay with our rooms on the first floor and a common dining area below. The kitchen had a rustic look and reminded me of a kitchen that I had visited on my way to Karwar.
We were served piping hot Rajma, french beans with hot rotis. I have always wondered why even the most basic meals taste so delicious in the mountains - may be its the air, the simplicity of the people living there and the magic of the water & soil that seeps into the food.
After a hot water bath and a quick nap, the evening was spent scouting the nearby mountains for sights of the elusive snow leopard. As if we could sight it from so far away!! Each mountain around the village had a different characteristic and made interesting subjects for photos.
Some of us walked through the village to build an appetite for dinner and met a few school boys who were intrigued by us. As the sun set, the cattle came back from the mountains providing some hustle bustle for a few moments in the sleepy little village
Dinner was spicy egg curry, potato sabji, a gravy of rajma and chana (beans and chickpeas) served with Kemo. Kemo is a local bread - made in the shape of a croissant but non sweet, made of wheat flour and steamed like a dumpling. We compared the tiny village with villages in Europe where tap water was potable ( not the usual case across India).
We also got a glimpse of the hard lives that the locals lead. While we were retiring to bed, our hostess, Kalzam, was still cooking food for some other travellers who had stopped by, after which she would have her own dinner, tidy up the kitchen and then wake up again in the morning to make breakfast for us.
The rooms were cozy with 4-5 beds in one of them and nice thick blankets to keep the cold at bay and all we needed was a good night sleep to climb to the highest point of our trip the next day!