Cycling the Manali - Leh Highway: Day 8 [Pang to Rumtse]

Date: 20th July 2025

Route: Pang → Debring → Rumtse

Start elevation: 4,660 meters or 15,280 feet ASL

End elevation: 4,200 meters or 13,800 feet ASL

Distance: 97 kms

Time taken:  ~9 hrs

Road: Tarred road till Tanglang La; Broken in the descent Tanglang La and thereafater, smooth, well paved tarmac to Rumtse.

Connectivity: Jio Postpaid available in Debring and Rumtse

We woke up later than usual since it was going to be relatively easier today, given the flatter terrain today. We were supposed to ride till Debring through the magnificent Moray Plains. After getting ready and having our breakfast in the sunny day (little did we know we were going to get a lot of it), it was time to swing our legs over and get on. Incidently, the onward road to Lachunga La was blocked due to some road construction, but the traffic opened up as we were about to depart. 

The total expenses for the stay

There is a steep climb of 4 kms which brings one to the Moray Plains. The gradient is punishing on certain loops and the fact the it isn't too long becomes the saving grace. The sun shone hard and bright neccesitating hydration brakes ever so often. I had to squint my eyes so as to make myself comfortable for looking at the roads ahead. I had missed the memo that explained how important it is to carry sunglasses in such altitudes and I was paying dearly for it now. 

Somewhere during the climb to Moray Plains

The views were majestic; I could spend my time just ogling at the valley slopes around. They were pockmarked by the shadow cast by the puffs of clouds that leisurly sailed in the sky. It was beautiful. For one moment you are merrily climbing your way up and then you pass the 5th turn and the valley suddenly opens up in this humongous plain, flat for as long as the eyes could see. One moment I could look down and see the trucks trudgsing up the slopes and the next thing I see is a vast expanse of nothingness! It felt nothing short of magic.  What we had ahead of us was a 45 kms of ride till Debring in relatively much flatter terrains and it wasn't even 12 yet.

The Moray Plains

I decided to wait for Onkar and he was there sooner than I had realised. The ride till Debring is easy for the most part with rolling inclines and declines that aren't that big of a deal. One can spot cut little Marmots peeking from their burrows; we could spot them all the way till Ladakh the next day as well. The Danish lad had warned us about the dogs of the local herdsmen (or the army camps) who can come after cyclists and I was more than wary of that fact; thankfully, we did not face any such problem throughout and was very happy about that! Enroute, we spotted nurmeous hers of Kiangs (a wild ass native to the Tibet and Mongolia, found in the Ladakh region as well); some ran as they saw us and the others stood still in judgement. I had read about them on the internet as a kid and it was a revelation to see them in person; with my own eyes.

You can spot the patches of grass in the distance that the Kiangs (and other herbivors) feed on

It was past noon by now and the ride, per se, wasn't difficult; like I told flat for the most part and the inclines weren't that steep either. What was bothering me was the Sun. I had developed a slight headache by now instead of proper hydration and electrolytes; looking back, now that I have a pair sunglasses and know the world of difference that it makes, I would attribute it to the Sun and all the light reflecting around. Anyways, I paid little heed to it and we continued. I took frequent breaks in areas where the clouds above cast a gentle shadow but that did not last for long as the clouds soon drifted away, ending my brief respite from the sun. I had traded my helmet for my jungle hat, which helped but not for long.

By 1430 hrs, we had almost reached Debring (the Tso Kar - Debring intersection) and decided to have our lunch meal there; it was a decision made in good rationale as the decision for the stay was to be taken after reaching a place called "Tso Kar Food Bowl" still some distance ahead and we could cover some distance before calling it a day. I had a nice delectable thali of Rajma-Chawala and Gobhi ki Sabzi which was, maybe, the best I had (sorry Ma ☺); I wonder if it was the fatigue, the throbbing headache or was it actually that tasty? During lunch there we got talking with a veteran truck driver carrying load to Leh who graciously gave his contact number for us to contact him to get back to Manali in case we wanted; "aapko kisi bhi laut-te hue truck mein set karwa denge, aap phone kar ke ek baar check kar lena mujhse", he said. Thanking him for his kindness, we ate to our hearts content and had a good chat with the jolly owner before leaving the place to the next stop that was going to be the stop for the night (or so we thought).

The meal at Debring
I can feel the taste lingering on my taste buds as I type this!

 It was an uneventful ride till actual Debring settlements where we were hailed by the locals to stay the night in their tents. Refusing, we pedalled on since we knew where we wanted to make our next stop. Since it wasn't even 1530 hrs, and we were on time, if not early, we decided to spend some time by this water body just near Debring on out right hand side. We carefully rode our cycles on the ruts carved out by the SUVs (since the sand seemed to be firm there and did not yield) and reached the Kinara. There was not single soul around; just us and our bikes. The sound of the water soothed my headache and lent a contemplative air to the who environment. At a distance, the heat and the wind kicked up a small tornado (called a dust devil) which died down as quickly as it had formed. I found myself thanking the cosmos for this opportunity; here I was getting to do something in place that no one in my lineage could even think of coming to! Shukr 

The lake/waterbody

We were off on our sojourn after a brief pause towards "Tso Kar Food Bowl"; as we got closer to the pin on G Maps, we could now spot the slanting ascent to Tanglang La in the distance. An hour later, having arrived, only to realise that there is nothing and no one. It didn't take long before we realised that the "Tso Kar Food Bowl was the place that we had our Lunch in and we were now an hour cycling away with me having a throbbing headache. It was now that we took a unanimous decision to hitch a ride till the next town since both of us were too spent to pedal back to Debring. We hitched a ride on two seperate trucks for Rs. 500 each which dropped us to Rumtse. While the truck ride was very interesting with a very insightful conversation with the driver (a part of it NSFW), not being able to scale the Tanglang La remains one of my biggest regrets. In hindsight, there's nothing much we could've done then, given my headache and the distance we had covered from Debring; maybe it was the "universe's plan" like Ma put it. Was it? Or we humans like to blame it on destiny when things don't go our way? Anyways, things didn't go our way that day and that was a fact that I have slowly come to acceptance with. 

It was quite fun to be riding on the single cab truck and the roads descending from Lachung La were rough and treacherous (for lack of a better word). I wondered if my bike carrier could bear the brunt of the roads given that the bolt for my carrier had given way from one side (from the rough-roading we had to undergo the evening we reached Pang) and was held in place (by a single pair of nut and bolt) from only one side. We were soon in Rumtse which was a beautiful drive (mostly after the roads got better having ascended the Lachung La). There were clear streams that ran across the roads and it was getting greener by the metre. It was no longer sunny and I was happy at the prospect of a good nights sleep and putting this pulsating headache to rest. We reached just as the sun was about to go down and we got down to enquiring for homestays and decided on one. I got freshened up and had a talk home; I was still morose at having chosen the easier path- the path of lesser resistance. No amount of mollycoddling was going to change that. The headache still stung (only as bad) and all I wanted was to have my dinner and quickly hit the sack. We were served out dinner at around 2100 hrs which I quickly had and it all is a blur after.

A simple (very delectable nonetheless) thali of some Dal-Chawal, Bok choy and Roti

 Tomorrow was the day we were to finally reach our destination for this expedition, Leh.