Bikepacking in India – The Spiti Valley

We often had to deal with thunderstorms in Kyrgyzstan but India had been calm so far. This changed when we left the Leh-Manali Highway shortly after Koksar and headed towards the Spiti Valley. What also changed was the surface of the road. From relatively good tarmac back to rough gravel which made us… read more

The rain during the night wasn't strong and the next morning we woke up to blue skies again. Perfect conditions to ride over our last high mountain pass in India, the mighty Kunzum La (4590 m). We totally loved the climb up to the pass, with smooth gravel and hardly any traffic. Still, we were exhausted… read more

The next day had some surprises in store for us:

After the super rough descent from the day before we followed a recommendation from locals and left the main road to see if the road on the other side of the river was really paved and a better option. It turned out that it was not only a lot smoother… read more

In Kyrgyzstan we had stayed in quite a few homestays, because in the villages they were often the only option apart from the tent. Not so in the North of India, where you find countless guesthouses, hotels and dhabas. When we were told to take the detour to Lahlung and stay at a homestay, we could not… read more

After a quiet and peaceful night's rest we left Lahlung and headed back to the mainroad via Dankhar, where there is a monastery that is built on a 300-metre high spur overlooking the valley. Next stop would be Tabo.

In Tabo we met a middle-aged man who looked like a local but spoke perfect Swiss German… read more

Before we left the Spiti Valley, one last big challenge was waiting for us. Because of landslides the road down in the valley is no longer passable, so we were forced to climb another 1000m and ride via Nakho. This road didn't seem very safe to us either, everywhere there were stones on the road and… read more

Bike touring isn't always 'living the dream', although it might seem like it when looking at pictures and posts of people doing so. The day we left Spiti Valley we had a big argument about where to spend the night. This resulted in a stage that was way longer than planned, arriving after dark and not… read more

After this exhausting stage to Rekong Peo we chose to spend the following two days nearby in Kalpa and rest before continuing towards Shimla.

Kalpa is a beautiful village with breathtaking mountain scenery. We spent the time walking around and filling our bellies with the best Chowmein of the whole trip.

The ride from Kalpa to Rampur was impressive. The gorge was incredibly steep in places and the road simply blasted into the rock. We were grateful, we could go our own pace and did not have to cover this stretch in a bus.

Rampur was the biggest place since we left Leh. We spontaneously looked around… read more

"Let's take the bus, I don't feel like riding in a lot of traffic, fog and having to do an endless climb today. We started too late for that!" "Ok, if we can stop a bus that takes us and the bikes, why not?" That was our conversation at lunch, 100 km before Shimla in a small village on the main road… read more