malcandmarjet in the himalayas

Leh - Khardung La

The last of the big passes for this holiday.

This was always going to be a tough day so we started early at 6am which meant missing a free breakfast which hurt. Threading our way through the back streets of Leh to avoid having to descend before climbing took a bit of map reading on the mobile but wasn't too difficult.

At least today would be without the bulk of our panniers and this had a significant impact on the rate of climbing. Normally we would climb 200m then stop and regroup but without the heavy panniers the first stop was at 900m. However which ever way it was looked at 38km relentlessly uphill with 1800 m height gain at altitude wasn't going to be a push-over.

Unfortunately with 15 kms to reach the top the tarmac ran out which combined with the altitude began to have its effect of draining us. There were other road users who inevitably gave us the thumbs up which always helps but even despite the best motivating efforts it took 6 hrs to get to the summit where I quickly wrapped up in the bitterly cold winds with surrounding snow. We don't usually allow ourselves to be separated by to big a distance in case of breakdowns [ only one pump ] but as this was an out and return day we had gone at our own pace, chancing that there would be no punctures.

After a long freezing wait Mrs P still hadn't arrived and I began to ask people arriving at the top in cars whether they had seen her, “Oh yes, Maria is fine, we gave her an apple, she'll be here soon” was the answer.

Breathtaking views from the top and great entertainment for a couple of local kids who got to play on our bikes for 20 minutes, shame they hadn't turned up whilst we were climbing.

The descent was chilly and took over 2 hrs back to Leh where we began the slow process of boxing our bikes. We had been pleasantly surprised to find somewhere in Leh that had a cardboard bike box but surprised also to be expected to pay 1000 rupees per box!