Dreamland Leh-Ladakh (Chapter 2)

9 o’clock, From Pathankot we started again. Our next destination was to reach Srinagar. We ate parathas + chai in breakfast at nearby dhaba of enroute highway. As soon as we started, just after 400 mtrs. Spark plug of one of our bike just popped out from engine on the road. We couldn’t believe this. Anyway, Khush Kaushik dominantly fixed the problem and we moved on. We crossed Udhampur and then very famous 9kms Chenani-Nashri Tunnel which was open for public in 2017.

Around 11:30 PM, Sunday, 17th June 2018, we have managed to reach Srinagar. Whole city looks like some war like situation has happened in India. Every bridge/flyover has commando’s truck on each side. Our brave Indian Army is guarding every corner of the city. We haven’t seen any local on the road. We took 5mins break and started again towards Sonamarg. It was 80kms from Srinagar. It took 2.5 hrs to reach Sonamarg. We booked the hotel for overnight stay. We covered 425kms in 17hrs.

Me, Dhirender and Atul got the pleasure of bike ride from sonamarg and rest of the people was in car. Prashant was sitting on pillion seat with Dhirender.

As I was about to take bike on the road, A foreigner lady crossed from in front of my bike.

I had a little conversation with her. She was telling her age is 63 and she was alone. She was dreaming to complete the journey by bicycle till Leh. This short meet-up has fuelled loads of motivation in me.

Tregedy No.2 …!

It was around 84kms before kargil. There was a check post which was about to come and this tragedy happened. I was lucky that I didn’t get injured.

As we move ahead we came to know, one of our bike is running on reserve fuel mode. Now, it can only run around 45kms. Sonamarg doesn’t have any public fuel refilling station. So, we have only option to move ahead and see if we are lucky enough to get fuel.

After moving 10kms, roads conditions were really bad. We were moving ahead with the speed of 35-45kmph on bad roads.

Tregedy No.2 …!

It was around 84kms before kargil. There was a check post which was about to come and this tragedy happened. I was lucky that I didn’t get injured.

I met rest of the guys at check post which was 200 metres away from the place.

Moving ahead from the check post we were eagerly waiting for the Kargil war memorial.

But, before that we got to crossed from the stark beauty of Dras. A recaptured place from Pakistan in Kargil war 1999. Intensely beautiful, challenging and numbingly cold, this Himalayan getaway is like none other. Feast your eyes on these gorgeous images of Dras Valley – they will make you want to pack your bags and leave for Dras right away !

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