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2003-06-26 - Road to Leh (Day 6) - Rumtse - Leh (Day 72)

Awake early, I go and pack the bike just after 5am and for the first time I am packed before Paul and Jo so I head across the road to get a few pictures of the local stupas (religious monument) in the morning sun. We head down the road, which has now become 2-lane good pavement and is just a beautiful morning ride through some amazing country. The mountains close in and we are riding through mountains, which the striation lines clearly show their violent past and speak to the pressure and force which created them. As we ride and take breakfast in Upshi, on we can soon see the Stakna monastery dominating the valley from its hilltop perch. We are now riding though tree covered valley with little villages one after another, as we follow the Indus River toward Leh. I stop near the monastery of Tikse for a photo, which proves to be a problem as when I try to catch up with Paul and Jo and cannot find them on the road. We managed to stay pretty much together for the trip, but I lose them on the last 25km. I ride into Leh on my own and just pick a hotel because the driving force at that point is to get under a shower and wash these five days of road grime and diesel fumes off me!

This ride was like a Chinese sweet and sour dish - in terms of riding, it was by far the hardest and most challenging riding I have ever done over the worst road, but on the other hand the views were incredible and we got so much more out of the ride then the tourists in their glass boxes did. We got to see every bit of the trip and the scenery and the openness to the environment of a motorcycle brought the reality and beauty of where we were - one of the most desolate, remote, barren and beautiful places on Earth

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