[venuraja]

I did almost the same journey on my bike ninja 250cc except Surat and Ahmedabad route. It took me 31 days and 9000 km from Hyderabad.

At Vaishnodevi I climbed the hill on foot. At Amritsar I went there on my bike in an afternoon.
And from Leh to pongong lake and back , I did it single day.

[ku69rd]

Congrats Krishna, really nice to read your TL. Appreciate you doing the Bangalore to Udaipur non-stop. Think you did drive non-stop for a good 40 hours. Pretty good endurance mate. Hopefully people will not blindly emulate and do it based on their physical abilities.

Looking forward for your rest of TL.

[dzrebellz]

Bangalore to Leh Drive
Magic in the sentence itself.
Congrats on experiencing it first hand.
It takes guts, loads of planning and a whole lot of pacifying "shopping"
to execute this with official consent of the family.

Being the lone driver for the entire trip takes the cake. A real testament to your concentration and endurance.

Following this thread intently for the next updates.

I dream of the doing the same trip some day.
Hopefully 'some day' comes soon.

[nkrishnap]

Journey Leg 5 - Srinagar to Kargil

We started off quite early by 8 am after having light breakfast towards the Shankaracharya Hill. The place is guarded by CRPF round the clock with very tight security. The CRPF in-charge at the check-post was from Calicut. On seeing the Karnataka registration number, he was curious to know more on why we were here. As the conversation stuck, we had a good conversation for about 15 odd mins. We were offered tea as well in the meantime. The camera and mobile is not allowed to the temple, so a few pics during the drive up to the hill.

Dal lake with the hill background



Drive up the Shankaracharya Hill





The view from the top is amazing and you can oversee the Dal lake and the city from here. Would look fantastic with all the color lit boats on the lake during night.

The next place was Ganderbal. On reaching there, we were told that due to security reasons no visitors are allowed. Dissappointed a bit, we moved on. With a little spare time on hand, found a car wash center and got Linea a well deserved bath.



The car was clean for the next 15 odd kms and it started to rain again. This got us some amazing views Something that needs to be experienced than explained. A few pics till we reached Sonmarg.

A bridge en-route



The threatening clouds

















We were so excited see this





Nearing Sonmarg



Sonmarg Altitude



At Sonmarg





To be contd..

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by venuraja

I did almost the same journey on my bike ninja 250cc except Surat and Ahmedabad route. It took me 31 days and 9000 km from Hyderabad.

At Vaishnodevi I climbed the hill on foot. At Amritsar I went there on my bike in an afternoon.
And from Leh to pongong lake and back , I did it single day.

I did read your travelogue on the Ninja. It is quite an achievement that gives immense satisfaction.

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Congrats Krishna, really nice to read your TL. Appreciate you doing the Bangalore to Udaipur non-stop. Think you did drive non-stop for a good 40 hours. Pretty good endurance mate. Hopefully people will not blindly emulate and do it based on their physical abilities.

Looking forward for your rest of TL.

+1. It is best advised to know what your limits are and stay well within it.

Originally Posted by dzrebellz

Bangalore to Leh Drive
Magic in the sentence itself.
Congrats on experiencing it first hand.
It takes guts, loads of planning and a whole lot of pacifying "shopping"
to execute this with official consent of the family.

Being the lone driver for the entire trip takes the cake. A real testament to your concentration and endurance.

Following this thread intently for the next updates.

I dream of the doing the same trip some day.
Hopefully 'some day' comes soon.

The biggest hurdle for me was convincing the family. It should be easier to convince going forward knowing that they were reasonably happy with me and kept up the promises I made to my parents.

[nkrishnap]

Journey Leg 5 - Srinagar to Kargil Continued

Sonmarg to Drass

It was around noon when we reached Sonmarg. We stopped for lunch here. The cool breeze couple with light drizzle made the weather very pleasant. After a relaxed lunch, with the network still available, logged into BCM touring to check the Srinagar - Leh road status. The road from Drass to Kargil was still closed due the cloud burst the previous evening. With this in mind, we thought we will drive till Drass and see what happens from there. The Zozilla pass was the next target.











The Baltal - Amarnath Yatra Camp







A few kms after Baltal, the traffic was stopped. Pulled over to the side and enquired with the military guy with the Walkie Talkie. He told us the Army convoy was on its way to Sonmarg from Zozilla pass. A few mins, the military trucks did arrive. A good hour gone here, the traffic started moving, but the impatient cab drivers made matters worse. All they do is risk their lives and their passengers lives to reach a few mins earlier.

The traffic jam





















At the Zozilla



The climb up towards the Zozilla pass is quite bad as the road (if you can call it as road) is quite narrow with ruts created by the trucks, huge stones and loads of dust. We were lucky enough to have driven on a dry Zozilla pass. However right after the rocky terrain is over, the tiled stretch starts and here it was drizzling. We stopped at the zero point for a few mins. Even though it was drizzling, I got out of the car to simply experience the atmosphere.

A quick stop over at the war memorial. This is not the Kargil War memorial.























Did stop a few times to take pics and make entries at the police/military checkpost. One thing that brought a smile on my face and a quirky look on the face of the people manning the checkpost. One such conversation at the Gumri checkpost.

Police Guy: Koansi Gadi Hey (Which vehicle is this)
Me: Fiat Linea
Police Guy: Kya?
ME: Fiat Linea
Police Guy: Kidar se Aye ho (Where have you come from)
ME: Bangalore, Karnataka
Police Guy: Karnataka? Gasping! Itna door se
ME: Smiling at him
Police Guy: Teek Hai, Dheere Chalo (OK, Go Slow)

Shook hands with those guys and they were a bit surprised and happy as well at the gesture.

The roads, the surrounds, the mountains all change with every kilometer one passes by. The blue skies, the clouds, the snow tipped mountains all add to the serene and out of the world experience.

With the roads varying from smooth Tarmac to rubble patch, the speeds were quite low. We reached Drass around 4 pm where all the traffic was held up since the landslides between Drass and Kargil were not cleared. On inquiring with the locals, they told the road would open only the next day. Took a room at one of lodges for 800 bucks and left the luggage in the car. With nothing to do, walked around the street to get more information on the road status.

The DCP arrived from Srinagar with the convoy. He was supposed to go to Kargil for the Fathwa party the same night. The police guys headed out to see how much of the landslides were cleared. They reverted back after an hour and were making preparations to get the convoy going towards Kargil as the roads were cleared so as to let one vehicle pass. We too decided to dump the hotel and drive up to Kargil

To be contd

[treadmark]

To be honest I couldn't digest the fact you covered close to 1800 Km in one stretch , may be because I know I am not good at anything more than 1000 Km at least in our country. Keep my fingers crossed to hear the last leg of travel hope it will be a jaw dropper.
Keep it up mate and this is really inspirational for people who wish to take long trips.

[jacs]

Enjoyed reading the new episodes too. Its no doubt a challenging and refreshing journey for a FIAT lover driving a tank with a low hanging belly.

[Mister_M]

Man, this is just awesome. Truly inspiring Krishna, thanks for sharing. I am still hoping to hit these roads one day. Just like how you had a Leh-inspiration from another T-BHP Travelogue, yours could be a motivating factor for many; keep the pictures and your experiences coming.

***** Just Rated a well deserved 5 stars!

Cheers!
M

[specialedition]

Hi Krishna, what a fantastic journey you have set upon that too from bangalore. I had just been to sonmarg and was on the same path where the mile stone read leh ahead. It is a dream to drive down my self, hope to do it soon. Great log you have written and will help us a lot along with photos. Waiting to see more from your journey.

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Journey Leg 5 - Srinagar to Kargil Continued

Sonmarg to Drass

The climb up towards the Zozilla pass is quite bad as the road (if you can call it as road) is quite narrow with ruts created by the trucks, huge stones and loads of dust. We were lucky enough to have driven on a dry Zozilla pass. However right after the rocky terrain is over, the tiled stretch starts and here it was drizzling. We stopped at the zero point for a few mins. Even though it was drizzling, I got out of the car to simply experience the atmosphere.

Only this much about the mighty "Zozilla Pass".

Please share some photos of the streach.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by Sommos

Only this much about the mighty "Zozilla Pass".

Please share some photos of the streach.

The damn road was so bumpy, sitting in the driver's seat and getting the view of the road itself was a task , so forget taking photos while driving or even worse stopping on the steep ascent to click photos.

One needs to keep the momentum going especially for the sedan and hatches, else the clutch will take a bit of beating.

[jeethucj]

nkrishnap,

This is brilliant stuff mate! Hats-off to your endurance and determination. It really gets boring for me after say like 800kms at a stretch. Well done and I'm sure this is a life time experience for you.

[nkrishnap]

Journey Leg 5 - Srinagar to Kargil Continued

The roads were partially cleared and the traffic started moving towards Drass. It was already closing in on 6 pm and we still had 58 kms to go Kargil. Since it would take about 2 hours max we were game for this.

The board which says about Drass



With the trail of traffic we move along overtaking a few cars and trucks in the process.







We finally cross a couple of landslide areas where the roads were partially cleared.

A few pics of the landslide and the road condition







The left tyres of the Innova in front of the Santro had a sidewall cut as he drove a bit carelessly and ended up stranded between Drass and Kargil. The travelers were from Mangalore. Though the roads, look great, it can turn into a tricky situation if one is not careful.

We carefully threaded through the landslide zones and hit the smooth tarmac. Lovely to drive with the river next to the road which is flowing with raging current.



Wonderful roads, hats off the BRO guys





We reached Kargil around 7.45 pm and checked in to Hotel Greenland for the night.

The twist in the tale coming up next.

To be contd.

[wanderernomad]

awesome to say the least. I heard there is a new alignment on Zozila now for the up convoy? did you take that new route? That board at Drass is at the market? If you want to see the actual spot where that record breaking temperature was recorded, its at the Drass transit camp, slightly on the left side and on a small spur about 20 meters from the Transit Camp Gate. If I remember correctly the temperature reading was about -30 or so. Need to check.