Travel Tales: Day 1 & 2 from Ladakh 2013

thenomadictales (56)in #india • 6 years ago

16 days and approx 3500 kms on some of the most treacherous terrains and here i was all set to cover it on an almost 20 yrs old Enfield and people I met only for few hours.

Don't miss the Introductory Post

Day 1 data from my phone's GPS

Route start 2013-05-25 03:43:11
Route end 2013-05-25 23:37:19
Route length: 552.36 km
Top speed 85 km/h
Avg. speed 46 km/h

Day 1 wasn’t much eventful except that mercury was touching 47 degrees giving hard time to our good spirits of reaching Leh on time.

As planned everyone was at the meeting point on time and after taking good wishes from friends and family we started from Mukarba Chowk by 4:30am. Already knew about weather being a major constraint for the day and planned to cover as many miles as we can in the 1st half itself.

With breeze still cold we took 1st stop at Panipat and 2nd at Ambala and were much on track till about 1 pm post which the heat waves ensured we keep stopping for water every half hour. It wasn’t too dark when we reached Jammu bypass and decided to try till Udhampur not knowing much about the next 30kms stretch. Road from bypass to Mansar was completely broken with potholes big enough to shake your spine and luggage at the back, relief came at dhaba where we decided to do night halt at Mansar and not stretching ahead. Mansar Lake area didn't have too many stay options that time and the only decent stay - J&K tourism guest house was sold out and after taking help from a local cop we got room in an under construction Mansar lake resort.

Sugarcane juice to keep ourselves hydrated

Day 2 – Mansar lake – Qazikund

Route start 2013-05-26 08:32:20
Route end 2013-05-26 23:52:42
Route length: 190.05 km
Top speed 65 km/h
Avg. speed 13 km/h

Rule the Himalayas/ Conquer the Himalayas.. But do we really do that?
Nope it’s not that way; we don’t conquer the mountains they just let us through. After reading so many blogs and experiences from fellow riders we learnt that our route today is not a tough one and we can easily reach Sonmarg by EOD but not all days are same when it comes to driving on Himalayas. Day started with regular morning chores, minor bike checkups and moving to Mansar Lake for some clicks post that we planned to move ahead and stopping later for breakfast. With Amit Nayan leading it’s always a late breakfast (generally 2pm) since the plan is to cover maximum while feeling fresh and then we know our breaks generally go beyond a few minutes.

All set for the ride ahead. Bikes at Mansar

@xtrememotoadv doing what he loves most

We stopped at Udhampur cut at a mechanic for minor repair jobs who further boosted us that roads are perfectly fit and easily doable. Bikes done and moved ahead for a breakfast/ lunch break at Patnitop. Moti Mahal was a perfect spot for breakfast as they had secure parking for bikes and luggage. Before moving we realized the change in weather and prepared ourselves with rain gears. 2 pm and it’s already dark enough to rely on headlights.

Wrapped and all set to leave

Truck traffic and rain ensured we stay slow and stop often

We came across a long jam leading to Jawahar tunnel only to find out that its shut. Relief found in a small room made by police force with fire lit where we tried to dry ourselves a little. As a rider with touring in blood we have seen many rainfalls but nothing as compared to what we are seeing. Officer in-charge informed that tunnel will be open in an hour and advised to stay in this shelter itself as the road across tunnel is in bad shape and he won’t advice us to move ahead and a fresh downpour of rain and sleet further broke down our morale of going ahead. We spent more time in shelter with mind still asking to move ahead and body giving up.

Locals helped with hotel references which are not too far off from the point we are at and we decided to move since we wanted a better place to sleep and dry ourselves.

Jawahar tunnel has something special that always charmed me and wanted to see it from close-by, this was our time to give closer look which otherwise is not possible since stopping is not allowed there. Traffic started to move and with our bikes we were the first ones to lead. Half inside the dark tunnel and Warboy skipped a beat :( and came to halt. It took some 60 seconds to make it roar again but this was scariest of all with the only light was that of the headlight of truck following and several of them honking inside the tunnel waiting for us to move.

Tunnel crossed and yes the officer was right – its all together is a different world. Roads totally damaged and almost zero visibility made it really scary to be on road and we desperately started looking for accommodation. Qazigund had quite a few hotel options however they were so bad that we all planned to move ahead which was later changed since 1 of the hotel owner offered us a big heater, something we badly needed to dry our stuff + riding jackets. It was shittiest of all the places we stayed during our entire trip, with nothing veg on menu and a fat Pathan (head cook) with enough surma to make him look gay.

Our stay at Qazigund