1. Day 6 - 16th June 2011. ( Drass - Srinagar 148 Kms). The Morning in Drass was a pleasant one. As usual, I woke up early ( by around 0515 hrs) and had a nice refreshing walk around the camp. The camp was located in a beautiful valley just before the Zozi La pass. The snow claded mountains could be seen all around with sun just starting to kiss the tops. We had to leave the camp before 0700hrs as a convoy of around 50-80 Army vehicles was to start at 0700 hrs. Gettin stuck behind the convoy would be a troublesome thing since the roads rarely allowed overtaking. Waking up Abhinav again was a task but we managed to leave by 0645hrs. The road from the camp was okay in the beginning with occasional pot holes. The green meadows and the vast grassfileds along the road made it a wonderfull ride. But this was until we started to climb towards Zozi La. The condition of the road deteriorated drastically and we struggled a lot to keep going. We had to keep taking halts every now and then to relax a bit and check the luggage. There I noticed that my rear tyre was stil loosing pressure. Probably, noone fixed the puncture properly afterall. I filled the tyre up again with the foot pump and continued. As we climbed slowly the road started to get scarier. We had heard of Zozi La bieng one of the most dangerous roads in the world and we witnessed it just like that. The road had turned into a narrow mix of dust and soil with space only for one vehicle pass at a time.There were no blockades on the side to prevent the vehicles from sliding off into the 1000 ft gauge. The road looked as if it was going crack open and fall apart at any moment. What made matter worst were these huge trucks going the same way. I managed to be ahead of the trucks but poor Abhinav got stuck in between them and had a nice dirt bath. However, the hardship of Zozi La was followed by the reward of the beautiful Sonamarg valley. Such is the creativity of mother nature we witnessed all through our trip! Sonamarg is a picturesque valley along the Jhelum river with lush green meadows surrounded by snowcaped mountains. We rested for about an hour at Sonamarg, had our brunch and got my bike checked again to a local mechanic. He did find a puncture open and fixed it. Hoping that now the bike wont have any punctures left, we set out for Srinagar.
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| The Zozi La's Dirt Bath. |
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| The Haws (High Altitude warfare School) Training Site. |
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| An Open Air Class in Progress in Sonamarg. |
3. Day 7 - 17th June 2011 (Srinagar - Pathankot 445Kms). We started from Srinagar by 0700hrs and had a long distance of around 450 kms to cover. But the difference in the road condition compared to all previous days was evident the very moment we started. The traffic was below average and we cruised at about 70-80 kmph. We stopped at a temple ruin just outside Srinagar and clicked few pics and videos. To my delight, my worries of the ride bieng a boring one in comparison to our previous days were over just as we exited Srinagar. The lush green trees slanting over the road made a natural corridor for us to ride through. It was again a wonderfuly different experience. Other than that the whole route was full of lush green landsdcape and twists and turns. I was enjoying the turns specially! Soon we entered the Jawahar tunnel in Banihal. The engineering marvel is 2.4 Kms long and has two separate tunnels for oncoming and ongoing traffic. It was yet another first time experience for us to ride through. The tunnel exited into Ramban, where we took a halt and had our brunch. We started again after our brunch and by around 1400 hrs we were in Udhampur.
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| The Wonderful Transit Camp in Srinagar. |
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| The Serene Natural Corridor. |
4. After taking a small halt at Udhampur we inquired about the Jammu bypass. It was a road which by passes Jammu and leads straight to Pathankot. We had heard that it goes through small villages and traffic is very less. We got initial directions to hit the bypass road and we were on our way. The road was surprisingly isolated and hardly had any traffic on it. We cruised through the entire 110 Kms in one go and by around 1630 hrs, we entered Pathankot. Pathankot has a special place in my heart as I had spent three years here in my childhood days. My father was posted here in the years 2009,2010 and 2011 and I did my 9th , 10th and 11th standard schooling in KV- 3, Mamun cantt in Pathankot. We checked into a hotel and without wasting much time, I set out for Mamun Cantt to refresh those memories. I rode through familier roads which kept flooding me with old times. I entered the Mamun cantt and reached KV-3. The nostalgia had overtaken me completly and I could not help but to enter the school. The watchkeeper denied entry at first but after I told my reasons and my profession, he allowed a quick walk around the campus. For the next half an hour, I was completly out of my zone and had enetered the lovely days of school. The classes, the walls, corridors, labs, assembly ground, the football ground everything was mostly the same!! My heart melted as I saw my name in the 'Roll of Honour' board outside the Principal's office. Well, the emotions had to be curbed as the wacthkeeper was walking beside me. I soon bid farewell to the school and went back to the hotel. Day 8 was going to be the last day and we both had different destinations. Abhinav had to reach back to Delhi and I had to reach my home in Rudrapur in Uttarakhand. Delhi was within an easy ride away as the national highway leads directly to it. Me on the other hand had to cover a distance of around 670 Kms on the map going through Ambala, Haridwar and Najibabad. So we we decided to part our ways in the morning.
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| The Ranjit Sagar Reservoir. |
Reminescence of The Past.
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| The School has Performed Much Better after Our Batch.!! |
5. Day 8- 18 June 2011- The End of the Dream - ( Pathankot - Rudrapur 670 Kms). I had to wake up even earlier than usual to be on my way the last day. As I got ready, the last 7 seven days were flashing in my mind continiously. But the last day had a peculiar challenge for me. Covering such a large distance in one day was not going to be esy in any road. I geared up before 0530 hrs and woke up Abhinav to bid farewel. It was a Senti moment for both of us as the day marked the end of our dream run. Abhinav was still in half sleep and I too didnt want us to get into those emotional moments. So, I quickly said thanks to him, shook his hand and left the hotel. The ride started off very well and I covered a large part of my day's ride without much traffic and breaks. Going against the general rules of riding , I did'nt take frequent halts and rode relentlessely for 5-6 hrs. It was a test of my concentration and will power and I was adamant to prove myself of bieng quite strong. The only halts I took were for breakfast at the famous Haveli restraunt in Jalandhar and for lunch in Haridwar. By around 1600hrs, I started to feel the effects of my doing on my body. My eyes started to get heavy and my shoulders and wrists started to hurt a bit. I shook off the sleepy feeling by shouting songs under the helmet and took 2-3 very short halts to relax the muscles. I called up Abhinav at around 1700 hrs to see if he has made it to Delhi or not. He picked up the call from his home in Delhi. He had reached comfortably before 1600 hrs. I continued my relentless ride and managed to reach Rudrapur just as it was starting to get dark by around 1930 hrs. I checked the odometer readings and to my surprise, against the 670 Kms on map, I had covered an amazing 750 Kms in the day!! My body had Cramps and pain all over but I had a 'never felt before' sense of achievement.
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| Haveli, Jalandhar Was'nt Much Crowded that Early in The Morning. |
6. The trip remained in our thoughts for many days to come. It was an experience which surpassed the best of our dreams and kept us amazed till the very end. It opened for us gateway to a world beyond our imagination. A world which held endless new experiences waiting for us to unlock and a world which brings sensations, feelings and emotions like we had never felt before. We both got addicted to the adrenaline rush biking brought to us and did a lot of other trips together. Even though a recklessely planned and hastly done one, this trip will remain as the best one of our Lives!!
7. We had to wait for three years to get back together again to ride to Laddkah and we added the magnificient Spiti valley, which was newly discovered as a biker's paradise, to make it even more extravagant! The travelogue will soon be put up for all to experience! Till then, thanks all for bearing me! Pl do put your comments below and suggestions to help me improve.
!!Happy travelling everyone!!
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ALSO READ:
1. TRAVELLER DEEPAK - THE OPENER.
2. A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO TRAVEL.
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