Chapter 1: Ladakh Ride | My Offbeat Route from Kolkata to Manali

I woke up and like every day scrolled through my phone's notifications before getting up from my bed. I couldn't move from the bed for the next 30 mins and all the happiness seemed to fade away as soon as I read the news about the India-Pakistan faceoff at the borders. The Indian response to the Pahalgam terror attack was something that was way more important than our Ladakh trip but the thought of postponing the trip sank my heart! 

I had been dreaming of the cold desert, the barren mountains and the untamed paths for years and now when I was so close to living it in reality, this happened. From the day Ladakh was planned I was happy to the core and waking up every single day with an enthusiasm I never knew I had before. An unseen happiness had surrounded my inner self. It felt like having an affair! The excitement in me had no boundaries. But now everything seemed to have gone for a toss. I called up my travel buddies Rahul and Sayantan to discuss a plan B but nothing other than postponing the plan came out of out heads considering the situation. The ride needed a lot of preparation mentally and physically. Days passed by and I was preparing for the cancellation mentally. I convinced myself that I would need to rely upon the dreams for a few more days, maybe months or a year. It was difficult but I kept my cool and prepared for the dreams to shatter until one fine day I woke up with much lesser enthusiasm as before and read the news of the ceasefire. The spark in my eyes were back and I could feel enthusiasm pouring in. I called my friends again and after discussing for about an hour our Ladakh plan was finally on! 

Now comes the next challenge. With the speculation of war to continue I had given up all the hopes and stopped preparing for the ride. Now, my wife wanted me to transport my motorcycle instead of riding from Kolkata due to the heatwaves and I was left with not many options. When wife says no it means no. With only 10 days left to start the journey I started looking for train tickets and the riding accessories. However, Bikester Global came to the rescue and got all the necessary accessories and gears delivered to me on time. Now the real challenge was getting a confirmed ticket for the railways. All the common options like Delhi, Chandigarh were booked. So, I decided to look for an alternate route that was closer to Manali. As rightly said, if there is a will there is a way. My eyes fell on a place in the map called as Nangal. It was the right place to start the journey because it was only 6 hours away from Manali! I immediately looked for train tickets and I booked a ticket with RAC 24 on KOAA NLDM EXP. I was hopeful that it would get confirmed and indeed it got confirmed 2 days before the date of journey on 29th May. The train runs from Kolkata station and departs in the morning around 7:30am. So, I had to visit the railways parcel office one day prior to the journey, got my bike booked as luggage, packed it and handed it over to the parcel office. The parcel costed me INR 4700, INR 700 for packing and another 700 for unloading at Nangal station.

My motorcycle packed at KOAA station

Now with everything falling into place I was now ready to start the journey of a lifetime. I boarded the train next day and reached Nangal station on 30th May. This day was mostly spent on collecting the bike from the parcel office and resting at night.

At Nangal Station

My ride started on the 1st of June after getting my bike serviced at Royal Enfield Nangal Motors. The hospitality at Nangal Motors was incomparable to any of the RE service centre that I have been to and the servicing done was the best till date. I would love to visit them again. The team finished the servicing by 3PM and it was time for me to finally start the ride of a lifetime. My destination for the day was Manali.

With the Royal Enfield team at Nangal Motors

The fresh air, scenic views and my companion

Day 1, 31st May 2025: Nangal to Manali

While I was waiting at the service centre I started researching about the routes when I heard a voice from the corner of the room saying, "Manali jaana hain toh Naina Devi Road leke jaao, achha rasta hain, pahari rasta." My eyes went to a tall stout person who also came to service his RE Classic 350. Upon speaking to him for some time I got to know that he was an Army man from Nangal. He was on leave and would be joining the services in 2 days. I noted the route that he suggested and it looked amazing on google maps and even sexier in reality. 

Breaking down the route below:

Nangal> Bhakra> Naina Devi Road> Kainchi Modh> Manali via Kiratpur-Nerchowk Highway

The first tunnel I encountered from Kainchi Modh

Sutlej by my side

Sourav a fellow rider from Bengaluru took this picture of mine. He was riding to Kasol so we rode together till Bhuntar

The route is scenic with Sutlej river flowing by your side. The highway is smooth as butter and made the journey really comfortable and I really didn't feel the need for pitstop. After crossing 14 tunnels I reached Kullu around 8:30PM and that's when it started to drizzle. I stopped to take out my raincoats but before I could be ready it stopped. I packed back the rain jackets and resumed my ride only to reach Manali around 9:20 PM. The night would have been quite simple and boring if I hadn't spoken to Partha Da, owner of the Ladakh Moto Garage in Kolkata. I had just spoken on call earlier and it was Manali where I met him for the first time. Since I was riding solo he waited for me and took timely updates to ensure I was safe and also helped me find a comfortable stay owned by Chunni Lal ji. Chunni lal ji also owns one of the oldest bike rental services in Manali. After getting freshened up I met Partha da outside and our hunt for dinner began as it was already very late. Most of the food stalls were closing so we had bread and omlette to fight the hunger for the time being and decided to ride down to the Mall road for a sumptuous dinner but fate had something else written for us. Even the shops at Mall road were closed and we had biscuits and chips as last resort for the night. After returning to the hotel I crashed on my bed. I knew that the next day would start early with Rahul, Sayantan and their motorcycles arriving so I slept off as early as I could at 1AM.

Waking up to this view from our stay at Manali

Day 2, 1st June 2025: Rest at Manali It was barely a sleep for 5 hours when Rahul called me around 5:30 am and I woke up to show them the way to our room. They had hardly settled in when we got a call from the packers and movers stating that they have arrived at the provided location. We all rushed out of our room excited to receive the vehicles. Sleep disappeared from our eyes, tiredness was gone seeing the vehicles. Now we were getting ready to start our day at Manali.

After having some good breakfast we started for Vashisth Kund to take a dip in the natural hot water spring believed to have therapeutic properties. The dip at Vashishth Kund really felt magical and relaxing. We spent 2 hours there as we had no rush. This day at Manali was meant for rest so we were in no hurry. We returned to hotel after lunch rested for a while and again went out to the Pine forest to soak in the nature. After dinner at Chopsticks restaurant we finally came back to hotel and concluded the day. The next day was supposed to be a big day as our ride to Ladakh would commence officially.

At the Vashishth Temple

Stay tuned for the chapter 2 of my Ladakh ride to know the routes I had taken and learn more about our ride in Ladakh!