Blue is the warmest colour

Winters' had knocked on the door, Santa was on his way back to the icy cold poles, and his sledged herd of reindeer hurrying up to their arctic chores, such imaginations often led to inquisitive thoughts as a child,

However,

being a seasoned solo traveler for a decade and my love for the cold and the undying mystery of the mountains has always gripped me to keep walking into the wilderness.

Such is this relentless writing of an unimaginable magnitude i had ever seen deep in the valley of Spiti, with an unexpected turn of events.

"SPITI"the middle land, between Tibet and India, amidst the shadow of the mighty Himalayas, averaging altitudes at 4000 meters, the valley experiences extremes of -25 degree to +30 degrees centigrade. For more than 4 months of the year the Spiti valley remains obscured by harsh winters, and post the climatic phenomenon was the time we chose to set foot on the blessed land of "his holiness Dalai lama"

Though it was second week of April our chances of making it to the valley were as scarce as hen's teeth.

Day 1 Gurgaon - Shimla

We bundled up our necessities, saddled (Rynox) up the motorcycle (RE 500) mounted the cameras (Go-pro) laced our boots and

Vr Ooooooo Mmmmmmm......

So, we started at 11:00 pm (day 1) and reached Shimla around 08:20 am (day 2) lol

Day 2 Shimla - Chitkul

some crazy cold chills called for a hot cup of tea aur uske saath bread omelette mil jaye, toh do chaar cup chai toh banti hai, after we got done licking our fingers and after a little bit of enquiring around we made a move to the next desirable stop,

another love affair with the motorcycle on the curvy side bends and around the sweet corners of the road, taking our turns after every couple of adrenaline rushes. we were headed towards "CHITKUL"

So, we reached Chitkul at dusk and to our luck there were repairs going on in the community ditch and the channel ran across the length of the city thus, not allowing the motorcycle to pass, and here we get two absolutely brilliant things.

One (much loved), Potatoes; it is said potatoes grown at Chitkul are one of the best in the world and are very costly.

Two, according to a recent study, Chitkul has the cleanest air in India. Well, the second opinion of scholars certainly seemed precise.

Our stay in Chitkul turned out rather epic, noisy neighbours, continuous riding and no sleep for over a day had us buzzing with tiredness, nevertheless irritation lasted a couple of minutes until we were zoned out. Then, the 4 am bliss knocked on the door, a loud thud and an even stronger gush of wind woke us up momentarily and through the window that i lay opposite, showed me this majestic sight.

Day 3 Chitkul - Nako

So, we set out early thinking we had a lot of tarmac to cover and kaza being our goal for the day, we were hellbound to reach spiti as soon as we possibly could and just then towards our left was a tiny settlement and there went our acceleration mellowing to the breakfast table.

After, literally spending half the day under the cold blue and seldom wet sky,

We, made a move. It was the test of willingness and the iron butt mania had subconsciously kicked in we even had to halt at "SANGLA"as the Royal Enfield had issues with (excessive carbon combustion) spark plug needed to be cleant and filed and we were ready to go.

By the time we departed Sangla it was post lunch and now our biggest concern was that, we were behind schedule for the day, nevertheless, we kept riding through rain, dust, sun, sand, gravel, landslides, and no roads kept adding to our hopes of despair. The day passed and it was almost nightfall when we landed in a small village that goes by the name. "NAKO"

The Sun was past the horizon, and we found ourselves comfortable at the only restaurant that served meals that late at night, while we were at the task someone came and uttered, "bahar burf padh rahi hai" and the moment of truth 'when you realise the worth of every second spent on the cruel road conditions', kicked in.

taking in the sweet smell of fresh snowfall, which lasted only for a couple of minutes. (Thought), in my opinion this little climatic gesture was all we needed, we paid for the meals our original plan of unsaddling the bags seemed a reason as well for us to make a move into the WILD, COLD, UNKNOWN

At, around 09:45 pm, we were back on the road from "Nako" to "KAZA"

Though, the distance isn't much but we had our souls frozen because moments later and across a hill from Nako, all we had was "drizzle and darkness" as our companion, we even tried lighting up a fire but nothing seemed in our favour as the winds were too strong and the wood was too wet, we kept on.

Day 4 Nako - Tabo - Dhankar - Kaza

Middle of the night, soaked and frozen we reached "Tabo"

The homestay was a relief and a spark to our soul to keep going on the quest of desires.

Morning and hereon, we saw some really magnificent sights.

In our minds we had, good we stopped a few miles shy of "KAZA" to witness such "Bespoke Wilderness" with absolute nothingness surrounding us and yet so much life in US.

Battling the cold and slipping through the tarmac, avoiding deadly minimal landslides, we saw the first signs of life around midday on our elevation to "DHANKAR"

And, around Evening we reached "KAZA"

Schedules next? coming up