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Shimla: Spiti Circuit – Day Two

Spiti Circuit is a wonderful drive and do read the Part One from Delhi to Shimla here: Spiti Circuit Day One

All excited about the trip and the drive next day, we woke up to a wonderful view at Shimla during our stay at The Bodhi Tree BnB.

We got ready, had breakfast (paranthas) and were ready by around 0900 hrs to start our Day Two.

XUV500 had some problem in starting but the hotel staff were more than helpful to help us and we started shortly.

The traffic was starting to pick up and we took the below route:

Starting at Shimla (close to Raddison Blu), our Day Two was on the below route: Shimla – Narkanda – Rampur Bushahr – Sungra – Chooling – Powari – Reckong Peo – Kalpa (our destination)

The total distance as per Google maps is around 223 kms and don’t actually go by the duration shared by Google as the roads could be bad which will increase the travel time by a good time.

We had been through good patches and bad patches of roads and some freshly laid black tops on our way and has been a mesmerizing experience as we started deeper into the mountains which is not too frequented by many travelers.

The video will actually show the road we travelled and also have glimpses of a few stretches between Shimla – Kalpa – Tabo.

A few pics from the trip:

As you go in this route, you will find bone chilling roads which offer you an adventure and pump up your adrenaline for which you have embarked in this circuit.

You cross the Shimla Dist, and enter Rampur, Kinnaur area which has wonderful breathtaking views.

As you go forward in the road, the roads get narrower and you tend to find bad patches that you need to be careful to navigate by being patient, giving way to vehicles coming in opposite direction and sharing a friendly smile which will earn you friends and people who go all out to help.

Overall experience on Day Two from Shimla to Kalpa was good with no major challenge. Drive was good and took around 9 hours with all breaks.

Points to take into consideration:

a. Start early to avoid Shimla Traffic

b. Be wary of the Himachali Alto drivers who drive very rash and with little to no compassion about fellow vehicles (you will find exceptions though)

c. You will find periodic fueling stations until Tapri after Rampur and post which the next fueling station is only at Kaza

d. Carry enough cash (withdraw from Shimla) as beyond Shimla it is mostly cash transactions and ATM’s can run out of cash in villages and might seem difficult (we experienced the same and were lucky as a fueling station agreed to charge our debit card and give us cash sufficient to reach until Kaza)

e. Mobile signals are good until Reckong Peo / Kalpa with the signal disappearing at a few places but is good. Download offload maps and save them on Google Maps

f. Google Maps tend to get confused, we noticed this during all of our trip due to the turns and curves and the never predicting road conditions in the hills. Give it a while and do not get confused with its rerouting tactics and take a longer route

Thanks for reading through the Day TWO of the #SpitiCircuit

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