Dream Ignites - Solo Road Trip to Leh

When Plans Meet the Road's Own Mind (28th August, 2025 - Day 1 )

This was my sixth solo trip — but unlike the earlier ones, this one fell apart halfway. And maybe that’s exactly why it deserves to be written as a blog. After years of dreaming, my solo road trip to Ladakh finally began on a rainy morning in Hyderabad. Packed with noodles, a kettle, oxygen cylinders, and excitement, I waved goodbye to family and hit the road…

Setting Out

The plan was clear in my head — Hyderabad to Betul in one long stretch.

I left before dawn, the city still half-asleep.

A light drizzle brushed the windshield as I joined NH-44; the road ahead looked endless and full of promise.

There’s something reassuring about the hum of tyres when you’re alone — it tells you you’re moving, even when thoughts stand still.


Morning Mines

By Kamareddy, the horizon turned silver and idli-coffee from a roadside stall felt like a warm handshake from the day.

“Leh?” the stall-keeper repeated, eyebrows raised.

I nodded, smiling.

He laughed softly — the kind of laugh that knows both admiration and doubt.

The road to Nirmal was kind — green fields, sleepy villages, scattered trucks.

By Adilabad, the sun had claimed the sky and the air smelled faintly of dust and diesel.

When the Road Turned Silent

After Pandharkawda the clouds thickened.

Rain became cloud burst suddenly, heavy and impatient.

For nearly an hour, traffic crawled; flash floods made low stretches uncertain.

At one point we were stranded for 3 hours — no shops, no chai stalls, just the rhythmic drumming of rain on the car roof.

That’s when the kettle came to the rescue — kettle noodles and kettle coffee, a quick ritual of survival that felt oddly luxurious in the middle of nowhere.

Steam fogged the windows, and for a while it was just me, the sound of rain, and the comfort of something warm.

Ironically, I was enjoying the weather, forgetting the delay, some times with rain jacket, sometime with a cap - go out, chat with the truck drivers who all had been roaming around in uncertainty.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

🚘 The Road Beckons — A Note Before the Journey

Image
A Small Note Me & My MG - Solo Trip Partner  I have always felt that with modern cars — unlike the older days when you’d often see someone on the roadside with the bonnet open, topping up the radiator, 🚘 💤 or running the engine every couple of days just to keep the battery alive — there’s really no reason why we shouldn’t attempt longer drives. That thought was always there, but it was during the Covid period that it truly took shape. For almost a year, we all were stuck within four walls — either seeing the same family faces or staring at walls, with the occasional video call as our  outing. It became so frustrating  that I just wanted to break out and run away. That’s how my first solo trip began. It was a simple five-day ride,  The frustration of so much at peak that I did not know where I am going.  Just drove towards my home town Kurnool, from there to Hampi and so on - details in a separate cover.  The freedom of Solo Drive was amazing and was u...
Read more

🌤️ Day 2 — Nagpur to Sagar

Image
 29th Aug, 2025 - When the Road Becomes Familiar Again - Morning After the Rain The night before had stretched long — heavy rain, a late dinner at Haldiram’s, and that quiet relief of finding a safe halt. By morning, Nagpur looked freshly washed. I started early, tea in hand, planning to reach Sagar by evening through Betul and the Satpura belt. The highway out of the city felt open and welcoming, that easy feeling you get on the second day of a trip when both you and the car have found your rhythm. The forest north of Nagpur was green and damp from the rain. I stopped once for chai at a small stall where a few truckers warmed their hands near a stove. “Sagar tak jayenge, saab?” one of them asked. “Dekhte hain,” I said. The conversation ended there, as most road chats do — short, friendly, and forgotten as the engines started again. Jam Sawali Mandir A few kilometres before Betul, a board for  Jam Sawali Hanuman Mandir  appeared, with an old archway on the left. Something...
Read more