Purne to Leh

India, Ladakh Tourism, Mountains, Road Trip By footlooseinme Nov 11, 2024 No Comments

‘Footlooseinme’ will take you through a new route from Purne to Leh. This is the new route from Manali to Leh via Zanskar. This journey was full of adventure and unexpected moments, making it special and memorable. On our trip from Purne to Leh we chose (rather our driver Zakir chose) to drive through the new route that shortens the travel distance from 514 Km to 362 Km. We happily welcomed his decision and agreed to start early for our journey from Purne to Leh.

Zakir was highly excited about the new route and was hopeful to reach Leh by early evening. (Read about Zakir and from my previous post.) The domino effect equally touched us and we too were highly excited to reach our destination early and made plans to roam around the Leh market and do some shopping.

As the saying goes “Man proposes God Disposes”, we made our plans while the almighty had something else in his mind. Who knew that this journey itself would be a story to fit for a destination? Such was the episode that I thought of making a separate blog post on this. The day was bright and beautiful with a clear sparkling sky. We repented for leaving Purne as the night could have offered a dark clear sky fulfilling my wish for astrophotography. Sticking to our plan we left early and were on the same route towards Padum.

A murky waterfalls on our way — A murky waterfall on our way

The road this time appeared much smoother and we were coming down pretty fast. Everything was running smoothly when the driver of a local vehicle going towards Purne stopped and advised us to return as there was a huge rock slide ahead which blocked the road completely. He added clearing the debris may take 7-9 hours so it’s better to return. The news came like a thunderbolt and struck us hard. We continued with a lot of anticipation and finally, we were in front of the rock slide.

The rockslide on our way from Purne to Leh

We could not go back so we decided to wait. We lost all hope of reaching our destination early and decided to accept our fate and remain stranded for 8-9 hours as there were rumours among other people around. The BRO team arrived soon with their land movers. They started their work and with great efficiency, they cleared the path within 2 hours. We were extremely happy and thankful. After conveying our gratefulness and regards to the BRO officials we moved ahead towards Padum.

This route bypasses the old route via Kargil from Purne to Leh (or Padum to Leh) and thus saves many kilometres of drive. Zakir was unaware of this route he came to know about this from some random people he met on the road on our trip. He further confirmed the route from people in Padum while we stopped for a tea break. Hearing to them he was still confident that we would not take much time to reach our destination.

Padum city at a distance — Padum City at a distance

We left our old friend Padum and moved towards Leh. For many kilometres, the road was silky smooth and we glided on it happily. Then the twist to our journey from Purney to Leh began. The road suddenly changed to an unpaved gravel road. As we moved through it the width also reduced and finally it was a narrow rocky road meandering with the murky Zanskar river along the gorge of the barren mountains.

Near Padum — Graffiti on the mountain wall near Padum

At some junctions, the road was a little broader while mostly it was narrow. We soon realised this new road was under construction and was not ready to welcome vehicles. We kept travelling through this road for many many kilometres, at some junctions there were road workers with their tools and earth movers while the rest of the path was completely empty. There were no signs of life anywhere – the dusty road, the murky water, the barren hills and the scorching heat were our only companions. Soon we fell into the loop of monotony. Zakir again was visibly irritated but did not utter a word as choosing this route was his decision.

Strange rock formation on the way from Purne to Leh

Then suddenly at one narrow turn, a local vehicle came into sight, it was a tight turn and giving side was difficult. As Zakir managed to give him side we asked how long this route would be in this condition and the reply came for the next 5-6 hours. All our hopes evaporated in a moment and we continued in this rugged terrain mile after mile with just a handful of vehicles crossing and all with the same answer – “keep driving for 4-5 hours on this road.”

Coming to terms with our fate I decided to count the number of times we crossed the Zanskar River on our way as the road runs parallel to the river – once on the right and once on the left. But the monotony played tricks on me and I lost count and decided to just stare at the brown and dusky landscape. We finally reached Nerak. It was such a welcome relief to see people and a small eatery there. We stopped for a tea break where we met an ITBP official having lunch. He advised us to try and cross the remaining patch of the difficult road before it got dark as there were a lot of high-altitude areas ahead.

He also added that the road conditions will be better but the terrain will be steep as we were supposed to cross many mountain ranges. Prepared for the next we began the second leg of our journey from Purne to Leh. Yes, the road conditions were better it was a thin patch of single-layered asphalt road. We left the Zanskar River behind and took another turn. Then the ascend continued and then the descent and again the ascend. This became an unending cycle.

We travelled through breathtaking mountainous landscapes. Once we felt that we were on top of the world while next, the intimidating mountains ahead belittled us. For the first phase, we were excited but later it became routine. Yet in this part of our journey from Purne to Leh, we did find human settlements here and there. Passing through Kong La, Singe La, and Photoksar we reached Sirsir La Pass (16,370 ft). By now Zakir was completely exhausted and lost his patience. We understood he was not used to off-road driving. This time it was his choice so he had no one to blame and kept cribbing about it.

Overcoming all the obstacles of bad roads and challenging terrains we finally reached Wanla and since then the paved road did not leave us for a moment. 🙂 We made it to Wanla before dusk. As we continued on our way to Leh the darkness engulfed the mountains. We meandered through the roads watching the star-lit sky. Yes, I would call it a star-lit sky as thousands of stars were sparkling in the sky with a clear view of the Milky Way.

I was happy, I was sad, I was hopeful, I was hopeless, I was in a medley of emotions as the thing that I was craving for was right there in the sky but not at the desired location nor at the right time. With a whirlwind of emotions, we reached Leh late evening to rest and recharge to continue our next journey the next day. Excuse my delay in publishing the sequential post. I have been procrastinating things and this is what causing the delay. Keep watching this space, I may take time but I will surely complete my Ladakh trip through my series of blog posts. 🙂