Day 19 - Leh 75 kms - 3600 metres ! " Mission Accomplished"!

After nearly 3 weeks on the go we entered the desert capital of Ladakh Leh still punishing ourselves with a 5 km climb towards the city centre followed by another series of small climbs as we worked the back streets to our Hotel ! This was it, over 900 kms through some of toughest cycling conditions in the world - a sense of accomplishment and undoubtedly a sense of relief that it was all over !

We left our comfortable guesthouse at Upshi that morning  saying goodbye to 6 of of our support staff (amazingly we had 10 !) before continuing where we left off yesterday with a stunning 20+ km descent through a magic riverr canyon to a police checkpoint on the outskirts of the Leh District
From here two things struck us 1) the incredibly dry and desert like scenery & 2)  the amazing number of army bases that we passed

With the sun blazing we lunched near the Thikse Monastery (an almost mirror copy of the Potala in Tibet)  some 20 kms from Leh !

Our final leg into Leh was probably the most unpleasant on tour with narrow traffic filled roiads bringing us into close proximity with constantly honking cars and trucks as we battled our way through populated areas on the outskirts of Leh

There was one final surprise when rounding one corner we got the Royal wave from the US Canadian cycling group we'd not seen for a couple of days !

After days of cycling at extreme altitude it was a relief to finally enter Leh and make our way to our welcoming  hotel full of promise for a hot shower and a good night's sleep.

For both Pete' & I our cycling trip was overr being well and truly cycled out by the tough conditions but Graham was prepared  for one more battle - a courageous 5 hour cycle up the famed Khardung La at close to 5400 metres and one of the highest roads in the world!

With some serious R&R ahead it was bliss  to finally be able to relax, take a beer or two and enjoy the environs of Leh - mission successfully accomplished !