Heading to Manali/Jispa tomorrow

[sam2019]

Rishikesh is cooking. 42 C and no end in sight. I am out for Germany early next month but until then I will enjoy the clear Himalayan air in Jispa on the Manali Leh highway. Unfortunately the flights to Delhi have become ridiculously expensive, actually more than I paid for my already overpriced flight to Hamburg so driving all the way up there and then back via Delhi is not an option. But Jispa is nice enough. I am curious how the roads are that where totally destroyed in last years rainy season.

 

[sam2019]

good news and bad news. the good one: the roads are all repaired, 90% is more or less normal black top road with a very few rough patches.
Lots of new tunnels that make it even easier to get there. I took off 4:30am, reached 2pm. smooth sailing.
Bad news: you cant trust the weather. storms are on the horizon. its snowing in Jispa, I may just stick to Manali.
Surprisingly while the roads into Manali are just having normal traffiic it changes when you get to the part that goes towards the tunnel. it is crazy blocked and vashisht where I stay is overrun by tourists. the gas staions ony hand out 500 INR worth of fuel bc of shortages. and hotels are 100% up from last year.

 

[Dool]

Between a rock and a hard place.

 

[sam2019]

Between a rock and a hard place.

in more ways than one. 500m from hotel to main road: 25 minutes. Vashisht isnt what it once was.

 

[sam2019]

Nice tour around town

 

[sam2019]

Reached Jispa this morning, but I had forgotten how cold it gets once you leave the tunnel. It was still 7c when I reached. But amazing views and I could enjoy a slow ride, different from my usual race to reach Leh before sunset.
And they have real Italian cappuccino as well. At a price of course. 50% increase compared to last year...

 

[sam2019]

Spend an enjoyable day in Jispa but the night was something else. -2C from +24 in the sun during day. Down sleeping bag plus all cloth plus 1 blanket.
Took off a 6am with still -2 but fortunately dry roads. I had planned to break near Mandi, about 100km behind Manali but -once again- Gemini had fucked up the km calculation (that thing is increasingly useless for daily routine things) so I decided to bite my lips and make it all the way to Rishikesh. 13h on the road !!! And I also decided to get gel pads for my seat LOL.
Here we still have 38C even in the evening, but thunderstorms are on the horizon. I hope for the "best".
No knocking during my stay above 2k m, but when I returned to the lowlands it also returned. Ordered fuelx pro plus. Hoping it fatens the mix a bit. If I find the time before Germany I will also do the head mod.