June 1, 2016
Week 62: to Keylong - 3145m: fertile Lahaul, leaving the Chandra River
We start off with a long gradual climb higher and higher above the Chandra River. Large sections of the road are under construction, but the dusty packed gravel is a lot better to cycle on than the roads we have had the previous days.
We have nice views over the mountains and glaciers while down in the valley, the farmers are planting their fields. After the aridness of Spiti, the green of the willows and grass in Lahaul valley makes a nice contrast.
At Thandi, we reach the lowest elevation for a while, just below 3000 meters, and leave the Chandra River to head upstream along the Bhaga River towards Keylong. The road has been partly re-paved, but most of it is under construction, dusty and steeper than we like. We reach Keylong at around eleven, take the lower road into town and easily find the Tashi Deleg Hotel.
We are expecting our friend Dan Chan here. He has flown from Seattle to Delhi, somehow making his way up to Manali and planned to cycle here to join us to Leh. To our surprise there is no Dan….
We settle into a nice room for 1200Rp and order a pot of coffee and chicken sizzlers for lunch. Later in the afternoon we finally connect to the internet again to update our blog and sent some re-assuring messages to our friends and family, and maybe hear from Dan. All during this trip we have been “connected” so easily through our tablet and mobile data plans, but since entering Kinnaur that has stopped. For security reasons the pre-paid plans do not work in North Western India, and with the lack of electricity in Spiti there has not been internet for a while. We were hoping for a message from Dan, but nothing yet. In some ways, the disconnect from social media has been like before the internet, becoming more absorbed into travelling and in the present, but can't deny the ease of planning and connecting is nice.
Our plan is to take at least two rest days here to prepare for the next stage, catch up on our journal and wait for Dan.
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Today's ride: 30 km (19 miles)
Total: 17,820 km (11,066 miles)
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