[sparate]

Hi Guys,

I am planning to take 2 weeks off to do a road trip from Delhi to Srinagar to Kargil and back to Mumbai via Delhi. I am from Mumbai and would prefer to start the trip from Mumbai, but somewhere it's not fitting in with a 2 week break. Hence the plan is to drive the car from Mumbai to Delhi on a weekend before I start by travels from Delhi and then fly into Delhi on April 16 to start the road trip.

I am gunning for the following itinerary:

April 16 - Day 1 - Delhi to Jammu
April 17 - Day 2 - Jammu to Srinagar
April 18 - Day 3 – Stay in Srinagar
April 19 - Day 4 - Stay in Srinagar
April 20 - Day 5 - Srinagar to Kargil
April 21 - Day 6 – Stay in Kargil
April 22 - Day 7 - Kargil to Srinagar
April 23 - Day 8 - Srinagar to Katra
April 24 - Day 9 - Katra, Vaishno Devi
April 25 - Day 10 - Katra, Chandigarh
April 26 - Day 11 - Chandigarh - Delhi
April 27 - Day 12 - Delhi - Udaipur
April 28 - Day 13 - Udaipur - Mumbai
April 29, 30 - Reserved for any contingencies in J&K Region.

I have a few concerns which I would really appreciate some suggestions on:
1. Road from Jammu to Srinagar and Srinagar to Kargil - Is there any way to figure out the days when these roads open up for civilian traffic. Also I understand that there are specific timings for civilian traffic through some key passes, tunnels and road.
2. Would fuel shortage be an issue? Or should I carry the jerry cans and stock up some fuel in Jammu?
3. Lastly, I am doing it in a Honda City. I really don't mind the car taking a bit a beating due to low ground clearance, but is it really doable?

Further, feel free to list in your comments, suggestions and anything more that I should do en-route to Kargil and back.

[deky]

1. The topmost question in my mind. Why just till Kargil and back? Why not Leh too? Time constraint?

2. Srinagar to Kargil you dont need to stock up fuel.

3. The road after and before Zoji la (around 10 kms both side) was really bad in August 2010. But I believe the upper alignment road of Zojila should be ready and operational. So if you are lucky u will get to use that. Its a brand new road.

4. Last year 2010 the Zojila pass opened mid april. Hopefully this year also it will open by the time you reach there. But cant say now. One day heavy snow fall and it shuts. So you can only judge once you in Srinagar.

5. Honda City should not be a major problem, you might scrape the bottom at a few places at ZojiLa. So be very slow and negotiate the bad roads carefully

Good luck

[sparate]

From what I have been reading on various discussions here, the whole round tour - Delhi - Srinagar - Leh - Delhi - itself is a 2 week affair. I don't want to rush through the tour, but would prefer to take it slow in J&K region and enjoy it.

Given time constraint (14 days) and political situation in J&K I guess I would be happy just heading to Kargil and back.