Sarchu is less a town than a seasonal camp, a flat, windswept plain at about four thousand metres on the border between Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh. There are no permanent villages here, only a scattering of tented camps and a few simple dhabas that open in the summer months for travellers on the Manali to Leh road. In the middle of the Himalaya it feels oddly open, ringed by pale mountains and crossed by a stream that comes down from the snow.
The place has long been a halfway point. Before the road was improved, drivers and travellers on this route usually broke the journey at Sarchu because the distances on either side were so long, and many still do. It sits between the Baralacha La and Lachulung La passes, so the ride in is a long climb through dry and treeless country, and the ride out involves the famous Gata Loops, a run of hairpins that climb steeply toward the next high pass.
Conditions are demanding. Altitude sickness is a real risk at this height, and sleeping at Sarchu is known to give people headaches and restless nights, so many riders prefer to push on to lower ground or stop earlier at Keylong. The weather can change within an hour, with wind, hail or snow arriving even in summer. Rivers cross the road in places, and meltwater makes the afternoon crossings deeper and more difficult than they are in the morning.
The nearest reliable supply to the south is at Keylong, and the next to the north is at Upshi or Leh, a very long way ahead, so riders carry extra fuel in cans or plan carefully around their range. Food and tea are available at the camps in season, basic but welcome. Do not count on cash machines or phone signal.
The road only opens in summer, normally from around June to September, and weather or landslides can close it without warning. Check before you set out. Sarchu is a place you pass through with respect rather than stay for comfort, but its emptiness has a strange beauty of its own.