Day 9: Ropar to Manali (2nd Sept 2014)

Woke up at 6 am after a sound sleep and left for Manali by 7:30 am. The same old sardarji helped me to mount the luggage on Chitti (that’s what Linda calls my Royal Enfield classic 350 inspired from the movie of one of our favorite actors - RAJNIKANT !!! ) so I paid him some money for the help rendered. 

The weather hinted at possible rain during the day

As soon as the ascend towards Manali started, the cold wind from the hills made its presence felt. The kind I grew up with.

The First sight of the hills

By 9 am it started raining. I took a shelter at one tea stall and changed into my rain cover. I had a cup of hot tea to warm my body for what I thought was going to be cold & wet ride.

Rain is to the hills what sun is to the sunflowers. The hills rejoiced on the arrival of the rain. The green cover of the hills grew starker as the hills started to soak in the rain.

View from the tea stall

As I was riding, I saw a group of school children playing football in the rain. It reminded me of my schooling days when we used to play football in the rain during lunchtime and get so drenched that even our underwear would be wet. Playing football in the rain is a joy which cannot be explained, it can only be experienced 

The first 50 odd kms was in a bad condition so my average speed was restricted to about 40 km/hr. By 1:30 pm the rainwater had made most of the road sludgy. I could sense that something was wrong with Chitti as he was struggling to cover the slippery sludgy road. I thought that the engine power was being compromised due to the carbon deposit on the sparkplugs. I had made up my mind to check on the spark plugs if the condition worsened. I was sluggishly crossing the one of such stretch when one SUV overtook me and the driver shouted: "Aapka tyre puncture hai" ( your tyre is punctured). That explained why Chitti was gasping for power. Once I managed to get over that sludge, I parked Chitti on the side of the road and checked on the tyre. By now the rear tyre was completely flat. All this happened in the market area, so I thought of dragging Chitti for few meters in search of a mechanic. With the load of the luggage and a flat rear tyre, it proved to be a herculean task to move Chitti by even an inch. I left Chitti at the same spot and walked in search of a mechanic. It was my lucky day. The day being Tuesday all mechanical workshop was closed. I was left with only one option - the "want to do a solo ride? Now change the tyre solo too" option. Out came all the tyre changing tool and I started to work on the flat tyre. One guy stopped by to help me take the wheel out of the wheelbase. All the practice of changing the tyre before the trip came real handy (read the Boot camp chapter). It was a small nail which had punctured my tyre. I changed the tube and was struggling to fit the tyre back in the wheelbase. Seeing me struggle for a long time, two bus drivers came to help me. It was more of a sympathetic help. It took me 2 hours to fix the flat tyre on my own. 

I was ready to start the journey again by 3:15 pm.  Manali was still 130 kms away by that time, so I decided to halt at Mandi when I reached there.

Once I reached Mandi, the road condition improved tempting me to carry on with the trip and stop at Manali. I had also started seeing other riders now. Reaching Manali would have put me in a good position for the following days ride as I had to start early towards Rohtang pass to avoid being caught in road blockage caused by the trucks. So, I continued with my riding.

As I neared Manali, the challenges started unfolding. The huge rocky mountains stooping over me started to make me nervous. I had never felt so small ever in my life. The rumbling sound of the ferocious river after the fresh rains was fueling the unexplained nervousness in me.

Riding cautiously in the rain, I reached Manali at 7:30 pm. At the entry of Manali, the authorities were charging Rs 100 (for two-wheelers) for the development of tourism. It was a well thought grand design for developing the tourism infrastructure. I don't know any other place in India where there is such a practice.

I checked in the first hotel that I saw as I didn't want to get wet any longer.

I hit the bed all excited like a kid going to Disneyland the next day. Rohtang pass was only a few hours away from Chitti and me.

At the end of the 9th day, I had covered 284 kms.

(Do read the other days chronicle listed in the same page)

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