The 17/09 I left the village of Tabo and its exceptional monastery to go to Nako. The road crosses orchards of apple trees with branches charged with fruits. It is well asphalted up to Sumdo where it joined Hindustan Tibet Highway which is much degraded, narrow and skirts the rock face in low vault. It was a beautiful sunny day. I found a bivouac on the helipad of Nako only flat surface in this mountainous landscape. I filled in the water tanks.

 
Apple tree 
Tabo, Spiti valley 
the 17/09/2007 

In this September 18 the Hindustan Tibet Highway from Nako to Kalpa was much degraded and the rock vaults too low for my truck. It was a hard day for the cell of the truck. I strongly misadvise this road for the 3.5 meters high vehicles and more. I drove eight hours to do 107 kilometres. At the entry of Recong-Peo I got information about the possibility of going up by truck and of finding a carpark for the night in Kalpa. The answer was affirmative for the two questions. Alas if the uphill was without problem in a sumptuous pine forest. It was not the same for the carpark which did not exist. Using the inhabitants of Kalpa I bivouacked near the bus stand on the road in front of a graver. Great was my disappointment after this calamitous day.

 
Landscape at 07:00 am
Nako 
the 18/09/2007 

Traditional houses 
Kalpa 
the 18/09/2007 

The following day the road from Kalpa to Rampur was still difficult for the cell of my truck. Passages in vault caused damage again. I went down many times from the cabin to find the most suitable passage. Moreover there are many building works of hydro-electric power stations in this valley. Consequently I gave up my project of going to Sangla and Saharan fearing of difficulties on the move. Shortly after Rampur I stopped on a shabby platform between the road and the Sutlej river where I remained two nights. I had to bandage wounds of the cell.

 
Road, cut in mountain  
en route 
the 19/09/2007 

Rocky vault 
en route 
the 19/09/2007 

I drove in two days, on September 21 and 22, from Rampur to Shimla. The road was with two-lane roadway and its surface alternated from the best to the worst, as always in India. Landscapes changed gradually to become a pine forest in the uphill towards Narkanda, winter sports resort, at more than 2700 meters GPS. The downhill towards Shimla did not cause any more difficulty. Built on slopes of a hill I could not enter the city, there is a tunnel at Dahli. Tourist Information located on the by-pass informed me that carparks in the city could not receive my truck. I continued to drive and bivouacked at the first platform on the road.

 
Sunset at the bivouac 
Shimla 
the 22/09/2007 

The following day I left the bivouac at 1860 meters of GPS altitude to go to Chandigarh at 357 meters of GPS altitude. In Kalka I entered Haryana and I found again India, hot, dusty and noisy, dirty and putrid. At the entry of Chandigarh I informed myself near the police to find a carpark. They stopped a couple in the motor bike to lead me to the paying parking close to Sukhna Lake.

The following week I went to New Delhi then to Gurgaon at Man-Force trucks.