Delhi - Spiti circuit - Delhi in Ford Endeavour in June 2022 by Ravi Rai

Travelogue for Spiti Valley

Travel Duration : 12 to 21 Jun 2022

Kms - 1953 Km

Route taken : Delhi – Chail– Rampur – Chitkul– Karcham – Nako – Dhankar – Mud – Kaza – Chandra tal – Manali – Rupnagar – Delhi

Day 1 – Delhi – Chandimandir

ODO – 285 km

Stay – Own arrangements

Food enroute – Hotel Amrik Sukhdev, Murthal for breakfast

Route details:-

Started on the usual Chandigarh route. The route is four laned with medium traffic in day time. Speed traps at various places. Speed of 90 recommended to be maintained. Started at 1130 and reached at 1630. One new addition to the route was that we took a right turn after Kurukshetra. The place is known as Shahbad. This route took us to Sah – Shahzadpur – Mauli – Ramgarh – Panchkula. This way we totally avoided the traffic of Ambala as well as Zirakpur which is a major bottleneck. This highway is complete four laned and active all times without any toll gate.

Day 2 – Chandimandir– Rampur

ODO – 235 km

Stay – Friends and folks

Food enroute – Breakfast at Chandimandir and lunch near Chail in a roadside dhaba, Dinner at Hotel Bushaher Regency at Rampur Bushaher.

Route and Food enroute – We started from Chandimandir at 0900. Road till Kandhaghat were excellent two way roads. After Kandaghat we took turn towards Chail so as to avoid Shimla traffic as also enjoy the picturesque beauty of hills and valley drive which is rare on Shimla road due to widened and developed roads. We followed the same till Kufri where we joined the same highway which we left at Kandaghat. Enroute there was option of Narkanda and Hatu peak which we have already visited earlier and hence we continued to Rampur.  The hill drive finally vanishes at a place called luan which is astride river satluj. We refuelled at the same place for next 800 odd km.  Rampur has got multiple options to stay including multiple hotels and home stays, however I would still prefer advance bookings during tourist season.

Day 3 – Rampur – Chitkul - Karcham

Places to Visit – Sangla, Rakcham, Chitkul

Route and Visit – Unlike Leh and other circuits, this route will mostly be loved by people who like silence and virgin places. Also be ready for a mostly off road drives for the complete stretch. Started from Rampur at 0800. Roads till Karcham are excellent newly laid roads, however once we cross Karcham Dam, the off road starts to Chitkul. The beautiful valley of Baspa River starts on the right side. The roads are wide enough for one vehicle only with intercrossing spaces in between. We enjoyed the drive as also local village of Himachal Pradesh. Once at Rakcham, we started seeing too many tourists roaming around.

We continued till Chitkul. There is no specific place of visit to Chitkul and neither there is any sign board for places to visit, however we continued till the end of village. We took a right within the village and reached the banks of Baspa River. We had a small picnic on the banks of Baspa, enjoying the heavy flow and sound of the river. There are nice tea stalls nearby for evening tea. We had a nice time and started return journey to Kalpa. Night stay at Hotel Kalpa Deshang.

Day 4 – Kalpa – Suicide Point – Reckong peo - Pooh

ODO – 72 km

Places to visit – Kalpa Suicide Point, Kinnaur Valley View point, Kailash Kinnaur view, Pooh

Stay – Friends & Folks

Route and food enroute – The view of Kinnaur Kailash from Kalpa is magnanimous and spiritual. We stayed there till complete sunrise. Then we further moved to Suicide point and Kinnaur valley view point which was actually terrific. From there, we started our journey to Pooh. While driving to pooh, a shooting stone hit my car and front headlight and bonnet was damaged. We soon moved out of the stonefall area and later came to know that there was a small road block due to landslide. It was a disheartening view of favorite car getting out of looks. We thought to either go back or to keep continuing. We chose latter and continued our journey. Weather of pooh was very windy. We reached pooh by 1600 and then I bandaged the headlight with tapes. Ni stay at Pooh.

Day 5 – Pooh – Nako – Sumdoh – Tabo - Dhankar

ODO – 167 Km

Route & Food enroute – Without the hangover of yesterday drive & damage, we started afresh. The route to Nako is very picturesque. We stopped over at River Confluence of Sutlej and Spiti. From there only, the route looks like mountains are falling over. I would like to appreciate the work done by BRO till Losar. The roads are excellent except few patches. We had lunch at Sumdoh dhaba near check post. We have been following the River Spiti and its valley, however the looks and scene changes with every place. There are multiple monasteries enroute. From Sumdoh, one has to take a different diversion to visit The Mummy at Gue. Then return to Sumdoh junction to follow the same route to  Tabo and further to Dhankar. Dhankar village is at a height of 3900 mtrs which is much more than Tabo 3280mtrs and Kaza 3800mtr. The approach made me remember the Gata loops on Leh Manali Highway. There is an old monastery and a new monastery at Dhankar. We enjoyed a network less stay with night gazing in the sky and trekking to Hidden Dhankar Lake.  Night Stay at Hotel Dhankar Heights. (More like a home stay with restaurant)

Day 6 – Dhankar – Pin Valley - Mud Village - Kaza

ODO – 110 Km

Food enroute – Brunch at Mud Village– Dinner at Kaza

Route – We started in the morning after sunrise. Follwed a different route to Lingti village where we left in the evening to Dhankar. From Lingti, we crossed over River Spiti and started the track towards Mud Village. There are no roads to wards that route and one can see how villages can sustain without roads, mobiles. They are happy in their own lives and we in cities are rushing for unknow goals. We reached Mud village and enjoyed Pin Valley. People told us that foreigner generally plan trek to Manikaran Sahab via the Parvati Pass. The Parvati pass is not motorable. After brunch, we started back giving lift to the owner of hotel. He wanted to go to Lingti just to access the mobile and call to Kaza for supplies to Hotel. From there we headed to Kaza witnessing few nice view points and photo sessions enroute. Night stay at Hotel Deyzor, Kaza. Nice place to stay.

Day 7 – Kaza - Losar

ODO – 62 Km

Food enroute – Breakfast at Hotel Deyzor, Lunch at Devils Kitchen, Dinner at Nomads Cottage Losar.

Places to Visit – Rangrik valley view, Kiy Monastery. (Did not do Kibber)

Route – Road is as smooth as it has been since last few days courtesy BRO. However, need to know that this was the last stretch of road before we reached Spiti cut near Manali. We started after breakfast, visited few places of visit  like Kiy Monsatry. This was the best monsatry visit in the complete trip. We moved ahead on the highway to reach Losar. Losar is just a small village and choosing Losar for the night stay was to remain as close to Kunzum pass so that the journey ahead reduces a bit. We stayed at Nomad`s Cottage which was one of the best home stays we got. We were given warm welcome, great food alongwith warmth of bukhari (Room Heater) in the chill weather. The temperature had gone so down in the night that our vehicle had to take the ignition five times just to start and later few minutes to warm up. We were given warm water both at night and while departure.

Day 8 – Losar– Chandrataal– Batal - Manali

ODO - 160 km

Food enroute – Breakfast at Losar, Lunch at Chandratal and Dinner at Manali

Places to Visit – Kunzum Mata temple, Kumzum pass, Chandra tal

Route – Started from Losar in the morning after breakfast. We followed roads and the roads ended approx. 15 km from Losar. Mind you google will show 4 hrs for this route, however, we took approx. 13 hrs. We were stopped twice by cars coming from the other side to ask as to when will they get the roads. Where I had to smile and tell them to continue for the day and roads will not be available.  We visited Kunzum mata temple and the tradition is to go around the temple in the car. We did the same. Actually the pass and the tempe are nearby. We could find some snow also at the pass. From there, we headed to Chandra tal in totally offroad. I loved the drive being off road as one does not get that in cities. While going to Chandratal, we also witnessed good naalah crossings where smalled cars were getting stuck. Once we reached the tal, we parked the vehicle and had to walk for approx one Km. The chilly winds on that 1 km stretch were terrific and so called “NANI YAAD AA GAYI”. Enroute we also gave lifts to two persons who got down from bus at Chandratal turning and planned to walk down for 13 km. After visit of magnificent and beautiful Chandratal, we planned to move ahead towards Manali. It was 1230 pm. We had lunch at the dhaba at Check post and moved ahead. After we again reached Chandratal turn, we started towards Batal. We found three bikers stranded because the engine of one of the bikes stalled. We picked them up to move to Manali. They were very happy. The roads and mix of hills and riverside and beautiful. We crossed Batal, Chacha Chachi ka dhaba, Chota dhara, Chattru and finally reached Gramphu in the evening where we got a sigh of relief after seeing black top road once again. We stopped for a tea at Koksar and headed to our resort at Manali. On the way, we witnessed Atal Tunnel which is a boon to all the travellers as now, we can go to sissu for picnic from Manali. We reached Manali and stayed for a next complete day just relaxing.

Day 10 – Manali – Delhi

ODO – 560 Km

Route – Route from Manali to Kullu and Bhuntar is good. However after Aut tunnel, we saw road widening under progress and a jam of 30 min which got cleared. However, traffic was slow till we reached Mandi. After Mandi, we headed to Sundar Nagar and Kiratpur sahab. From Kiratpur sahab, the roads were as smooth to reach Delhi. We could only see some traffic in Delhi while entry which has always been a case. We enjyed this trip thoughly and it was a rememberable one.

Odometer : 1830 kms. 

(Courtesy: Indian Roadie Ravi Rai)