Ladakh Ride Day 18 – Pathankot to Delhi

We woke up a little late, around 7 AM, and freshened up quickly to be on-road as soon as possible. After a long time, we were about to ride in the proper six-lane highway from Pathankot to Delhi. We paid the hotel bill, lubed the chain, the cold started the motorcycle and mounted all the bags.

Exiting from Pathankot, at around 8:30 AM was not a problem and quickly we were on the highway. It was the time to munch kilometers again, the road was butter smooth and very soon we crossed approx 55 kilometers. We stopped at a McDonald’s to have breakfast. After a long, we had the burgers. It started to get warm outside as time passes, so we quickly had a meal and started towards Jalandhar.

Around 11:30 AM, we started to feel fatigued because of heat, a few days in the Kashmir-Leh region made the heat impossible to bear with. Anyhow, we have to ride and reach Delhi. We were stopping in every 40-50 Kilometers and was looking for a shed to take rest, drink water.

At times, it was so pathetic that we thought of staying back and start late at night. But anyhow, we had a phobia to ride at night, so we continue our journey forward. Struggle to bear with heat!

Around 2 PM, we saw a KFC before Rajpura and again we stopped to have something, frankly, we stopped because of AC. Anyway, we had some meals there, spent some more time. By then, we were looking for pleasant weather rather than staying somewhere because we had to ride to our native in the coming 3-4 days which was about 1800 KM.

Fast forwarding the stops we had, around 4:30, we made a big mistake to miss the Panipat elevated expressway, maybe it started after a toll booth and as usual we crossed it from the left side and bang, we missed. There must be an entry, we thought. But to our surprise no, we had to continue for 10 Kilometer in congested city traffics.

At 05:45 PM we stopped at a tea stall, had tea, and captured the beautiful sun about to set for the day. Still, 85 Kilometer left for the day. It was getting dark so we rushed a bit. I started to ride carefully, because of intermittent traffic due to road construction. Pathankot to Delhi seemed to be very long after Srinagar-Leh stretch.

Finally, we entered Delhi around 7 PM, it was time to look for Hotels. I had to purchase a pair of fog lamps and windshields for my motorcycle so I thought to stay near Karol Bagh. We visited 4-5 hotels in Karol Bagh area and all were overpriced, considering the amenities they offer, asking price was not even justified too. Somehow we managed to get a good hotel “Hotel Le Sancy”. I will not say, it is the best but works well for us. Rs. 1200 for a day with AC, clean washroom, and a comfy bed.

We unloaded the bags and parked the motorcycle in front of the hotel, they assured the safety of the motorcycle as they had 24 hours receptionist and CCTV. We freshened up, ordered food from the menu. Biriyani was not available in the Hotel itself so the guy bought it from outside and we paid accordingly. It tastes average, we watched movies for some time. We were about to stay there for two days so went to sleep without any worry to wake up early the next day.