Cycling the Manali - Leh Highway: Day 7 [Sarchu to Pang]

Date: 19th July 2025
Route: Upper Sarchu → Whiskey Nala → Pang
Start elevation: 4,201 meters or 13,783 feet ASL
End elevation: 4,660 meters or 15,280 feet ASL
Distance: 77 kms
Time taken:  ~11 hrs
Road: Tarred road till the start of the loops; rough, broken all the way till the descent of Lachung La and thereafater, smooth, well paved tarmac to Pang.
Connectivity: Jio Postpaid available in Pang; little to no network coverage enroute.

Somewhere between Sarchu and the base of Nakee La.

Waking up after a nice restful sleep and all the morning deeds done, it was time to get the day's first meal and also ordering some for lunch as well. There is no dhaba or settlement between Sarchu and Whiskey Nala and by all accounts that I read online, it takes cyclists more than 6 hours to reach Whiskey Nala (if everything goes well, that is), by the time it is well past Lunch hour. The Dhaba uncle had made us some Aalu Paratha which we had for our breakfast and also got some packed for our lunch; I spread some achar on the Paratha and rolled it before packing, so as to be able to eat it on the go, should the need arise. 

When we got going, it was still overcast and cold but thankfully, it did not rain. The road is mostly flat and the climbs till the base of Nakee La are docile. One crosses Twing Twing Bridge, Brandy Bridge before arring at the start of the Gata Loops. The roads are very well paved and I remember wanting to stop ever so often to soak it all in; it was simply too magnificent. The U shaped valley had widened and there were little to no vegetations in the slopes. The Tsarap River (of the Indus basin) flowed by us and kept us company; for the most part, it was on out left- like a trusty, faithful navigator guiding us in the right direction.

We also met a group of bikers (from Kolkata, IIRC), who flagged us down to have a little chat with both of us; they were equally surprised and happy to see us do that and waved us goodbye with words of encouragement and josh. We were also stopped by a group of eager travellers from Jaipur (in a Force Traveller) who were all ears to listen to the itinerary and inspiration behind the journey; I was enjoying talking to them, answering all their questions and also asking some myself as well! They insisted that we eat (Maggi and Pasta) with them and it was only after relentless refusal (we were already too full!) that they let us go but not before taking my contact number to check with us if we could make it to Ladakh safely on the scheduled date. As we left, he joined his hands in prayer, "Mai Ishwar se prarthana karta hoon ki aapka safar surakshit ho". My heart was full. I felt moved by the ways of us humans; there we were, being prayed for by complete strangers; who bid us well and gave us words of reassurance that we would be able to do it. It still remains one of the endearing memories of this lifetime.

Brandy Bridge on my left (built on the Brandy Nallah).

 

Not in my dream I could conjure up an image this beautiful.
And there I was, cycling there; got to trust the ways of this world.

We started the climb to Gata Loops at around 1015 hrs. While it was cloudy all this while, the sun had now come up and it was getting hot. The next three hours are a blur in terms of the efforts, but I will try bumping up my memory to remember everything I can. While the first couple of loops are easy, I felt it gets progressively difficult as one trudges on. We would stop at every hairpin bend, catch our breath, sip some water and sometimes have a bite of chocolate too. The road is narrow, dusty and rough, but nothing that would bother us; if trucks can ply on such roads, so can we. At the 19th Loop, we passed the temple dedicated to the ghost of Gata Loops, with bottles (full, half full and empty) strewn around. By 1244 hrs, I had tackled the last loop and click some pictures as I waited for Onkar to arrive. 

Looking down, it felt surreal to have come so far up. Far down, the cabbies and cars kicked up a storm of dust as they past slow moving trucks while jostling for space between themselves. The braver ones took the shorter, much steeper route up which would make me grit my teeth and clench the handlebars tighter. It was a dance of symphony to watch the adept truck drivers manouver their heavy, end loaded truck through the tight hairpins slotting into the right cog just before the truck ran out of breath. I was happy and relieved to be at the top (of the Gata Loops) but I remembered how the Danish Chap at Upper ZZ Bar had casually remarked about how deceptive Gata Loops could be; "while it looks like Nakee La would be in sight as soon as one ascends the Gata Loops, it is only after these loops that the real climb starts." He couldn't be more right, as we were to find out later.

The loops as I saw them.
By the end of the 21st loop, one has ascended almost 2000 m ASL in under 10 kms.

I must have spent 15 - 20 mins there before Onkar arrived and in the meanwhile I had half of the portion of my lunch, prepared more electrolyte solution and sipped some coca-cola, in a bid to ready myself for the remainder of the ride. While the next part started off easy, it wasn't long before we had realised that this was going to be tougher than we had imagined. For starters we could see the flurry of vehicles climbing heaven-wards onto a road that rather looked endless; the roads had become narrower which meant that we had to stop more than often to give way for the trucks to pass- even on the inclines. Starting off from inclines powered by legs already battered from the 2000 m ascent was torturous. But that's how it was going to be. It was tough. 

It was 1500 hrs already. Nakee La was in sight after having climbed for lord knows how long. This time it was brutal and I could feel the shortness of breath due to the thin air. I have had to get off and push my cycle multiple times and also regret taking shorter but steeper cuts to skip switchbacks; it doesn't help. Each kilometer had felt like ages but the ordeal is over, atleast for sometime now. 

Standing on the last turn before Nakee La comes into sight.
One can spot Onkar in the left most bend as a speck in the distance.

At N-Top (1515 hrs)

I decided to wait for Onkar at the top; as I waited, a group of men alighted from a Traveller, most of them wearing Ray-Ban Aviators and tucked-in polo shirts; unmistakably officers from one of the armed forces. One of them, looking like the senior most of them, holding a glass of drink, walked towards me and struck a conversation. As I found out, they were officers from the ITBP force stationed in Leh, now headed to Manali and them to their home towns on leave. On learning that I was from Chhattisgarh, the officer remarked that he had served in Narayanpur during his stint in the LWE areas and had raised the Women's Hockey and other teams there (who, I was told, are still bringing laurels to the state!). We had a brief and pleasant chat during which the officer was elated to learn that we were doing this expedition and remarked how adventure can develop a sense of character and instill some discipline in one's life. Before leaving, he, very graciously, invited us to their camp in Leh city for a stay, "We don't have a very luxurious facility, but my boys are there, they will take good care of you. I regret I'm not going to be in Leh when you reach as I wanted to host you with me in my house". I thanked him for his kind hearted offer just as another officer took my bike for a spin. It had been what, 5-7 mins of getting to talk to them and there were people who had opened their abode for us. He asked me to write his number down and insisted to let him know incase we needed anything as the other men hailed for their officer for a photo at the N-Top. I sat down on a rock relaxing and waved them good bye as all of them got in their Force Traveller and proceeded to go on to long journeys to their homes.

Onkar was there and we started our descent; the road to Whiskey Nala is broken and full of scree/sharp stones. One has to be careful with progressive braking so as to not lock the wheels and endure a fall. I was told that the BRO is making a new road bypassing the Lachung La and the Gata Loop which is why minimal maintenance is performed on these roads with the greater proportion of manpower being dedicated to the new road construction. We reached Whiskey Nala at aroun 1615 hrs and had a couple of Maggi there at one of the dhabas. Whiskey Nala stands as a base for the BRO workers and has some settlements and MANY heavy earth moving machinery spewing dark smoke and a lot of din and chatter normally associated with a construction site. We tool the call to move to Pang as we found out that after scaling the Lachung La, it was downhill all the way untill Pang. That sounded like a nice plan; it would also mean that we stood the chance to cut one day off our itinerary and could utilise it at Leh. But there was a chance that that could end up in an unholy alliance between hard-luck and foolhardiness that could turn fatal; It would turn dark in 3 hours, we still had another climb to scale, then ride to our destination, find a suitable accomodation before calling it a day. On a cup of chai and two plates of Maggi, we decided to take that chance.

The climb to Lachung La follows the same gravy: tough, hard inclines, endless switchbacks and vehicles climbing for as fas as the eye could see. What made this dish different were the main ingredients which were: the roads being constructed, meaning there were a lot of trucks and a lot of dust; the "roads", which were wide, but full of scree. But there was a silver lining; the climb was endless but gradual; atleast I made myself think so.

The only photo I have from the climb to Lachung La; it was a race against time.
One could see the loops of switchbacks (in the right) which we had scaled to get here. It would still be an hour's time away before I reached the top!  

The climb to Lachung La was BRUTAL; I could see Onkar far below struggling for breath and breaking his rhythm ever so often. I decided to stay put and wait for him to catch up to preoceed ahead together. As I waited, a couple (from Mohali) passed my on their Activa which, to be very frank, moved only a little faster than our bikes even as the engine howled trying to take in more air, but to little avail; we exchanged quick glances and plesantries before they disappeared into the distance. Onkar arrived and we could ride together only for some time before having to split owing to the differences in our riding speeds. But I knew that he was closer to me than before and that was a good news.

At the Lachung La top!

I reached the top at 1830 hrs and could feel my head getting lighter by the breath; it was chilly and I could hear the eerie whisper of the freezing cold winds as I swiveled my head to spot no one around. Imagining the worse, I pushed off immediately to descend some altitute and the downhill only helped! The roads were mucky and the sun had now disappeared behind the cloud cover only to go down the horizon in a couple of hours' time. It was imperative that we cover some ground to reach our destination which was still 20 kms away.  

Before long, Onkar caught up and we were riding one behind other after a long time in this trip; After the descent, the roads had gotten better, with smooth black top replacing the rough muck and slush that I talked about earlier. The roads were still downhill, but a much gentler gradient, one that allows you to enjoy the vistas as well. The sun cast a golden light on the surroundings, that had all but any vegetation. The valley slopes seemed to adorn strange sculptures crafted painfully slowly over thousands of years by the master sculptor agents of wind and water. It all looked like cosmic magic; one that had me in its spell. 
With every turn, my eyes would well up. It was overwhelming. In a very good way.

Just before the last light!
The nature singing the song of fire and ice

It was dark before we could realise it. With an occasional truck passing us by illuminating the roads ahead with their headlights, we covered the remaining distance in dark (~2 kms) making it to Pang by 1945 hrs and had zeroed in on an accomodation for Rs. 1000 for a night for the two of us. It was a nice and comfortable room with attached western toilet and the best in the past seven days that we had stayed in. The care-taker was a kind lady who whipped up some quick dal, chawal, cabbage and bokchoy; boy did it taste heavenly.

The dinner

We also made friends with the bubbly little daughter of the care-taker called Donmay who knew little hindi and would only keep uttering "uncle" repeatedly. Only Jio Postpaid works there (which Onkar had) and we both made a quick call home and hit the bed, sleeping like a larvae in hibernation.

Tomorrow, we reach Debring (or so we think!).