Cycling To Spiti, Day 10, Losar to Chandratal

Day 10, Losar to Chandratal, Via Kunzum Pass

Distance Ridden: 43 Kms

Camping? Camping. 

I met Ravinder, Monu, Avinash, and Sowmya, awadhya at the homestay last night; Ravinder and Monu are traveling across Himachal in a Maruti Suzuki Eeco with all the necessary camping stuff and a bit of a luxury like chairs and tables. They met others in Kaza, and since then all these have been moving together; I intended to reach Chandratal today; Everyone else is planning too. I left after everyone else had left, though hungry as there was no breakfast at the homestay.

The kids who were messing with my bike in the morning have stolen a bungee cord and tyre valve caps from cycle, they also tried to puncture my bike but I think didn't know how to as the valve isn't the standard schrader valve. I stopped for a heavy breakfast as I wouldn't have anything available till Chandratal; I figured 4 paranthas would be an ideal breakfast, when I ordered 4 paranthas the lady at the restaurant asked "Where's everyone else?" and I laughed and replied "I am everyone else".

Kunzum Top! 

After a heavy meal, I rode as slow as I could and didn't get any faster, the high altitude of above 4000 meters was a deterrent; The roads aren't great either, It took me 5 hours to reach Kunzum Pass, and another bumpy 3 hours to reach Chandratal.I had to cross a couple of streams to reach Chandratal, compared to bikes and vehicles I moved via them smoothly, still got my shoes wet while pushing a stuck Enfield out of a stream. 

I started looking for Eeco and Ravinder, as they had an extra camp, after not finding them for around 30 minutes, I was planning to hire a tent, as soon as I went near a tent I saw the Eeco hiding behind a few personal tents.The group had gotten even bigger, they had met justin, an Australian biker who has been riding for around 6 years now.

Avinash(He's an editor at Bangalore based Suddhi TV) set up a scene and took interviews of me and justin.Today was my first night in a tent, and it kept getting better, we lit a bonfire, cooked our food, and talked late till night. 

Though me and Ravinder forgot to add another mat in the tent and kept moving all night in the freezing weather.