We came for the road.
This was not a solo ride. I travelled through Ladakh with a group of people from my church, coming together for a journey across one of India's most dramatic high-altitude landscapes.
The itinerary began and ended in Leh. The first day was kept for arrival and acclimatisation before the journey moved outward through the mountains.
The group in Ladakh. Original photograph from the journey.
Leh. Nubra. Pangong. Hanle. And the road between.
The planned route moved from Leh to Nubra Valley via Khardung La, onward toward Pangong, then from Pangong Tso to Hanle through the Changthang Valley. From Hanle came the Umling La excursion, followed by the return to Leh via Chumathang.
The landscape kept changing.
Dry valleys gave way to snow, turquoise water and long stretches of road with almost nothing around them. At Kaksang La, snow covered the pass. Elsewhere, the scale of the lakes and mountains made the motorcycles look small.
The riders and motorcycles on the journey.
A journey is also what happens when the engines stop.
There were meals, coffee stops, conversations and time to recover before the next stretch of road. Those smaller moments belong to the story just as much as the passes and landscapes do.
The quiet part of every day.
After dinner each night, our group spent personal time together in prayer and worship. It wasn't a tourist stop or something arranged for the photographs. It was simply part of our journey.
Those evenings are part of what made this more than a motorcycle itinerary. The roads were the adventure; the people, conversations and time we shared gave the journey its own meaning.
A shared journey, preserved as it actually happened.
This is the framework. The memories come next.
Before this story is published, the details that only the people who were there can tell — difficult stretches, unexpected moments, laughter, favourite stops and the memories that stayed after returning home — will be added to these field notes.
One day.
Or Day one?
You decide.