The Day (1st June) dawned bright & clear & we were up pretty early. A historic day of sorts on the personal front - conquering Zoji La! Anyway, there were others who were up early as well, taking a Shikara ride
Got a daylight view of the fort up there on the hill
We were ready to move in reasonable time. For the passes, the idea was to dress in layers with thick jackets bringing up the outermost layer. Caps, Mufflers & Gloves were kept handy (trust me when I say its
bloody windy at most of these passes).
7 am & we rolled out of Heemal after checking out
Time for Anecdote 1:
The plan was to turn left, go 200 meters down the road to the Pump, top up Diesel & then take the road to Sonamarg. All went as per Plan till we reached the pump. Deserted. Obviously closed. Called out to the Newspaper guy who was nonchalantly lolling on the sidewalk -
Bhaiyaa, aage Indianoil pump hain? Pump to kaafi hain lekin aaj to Diesel milna mushkil hain.... Kyun? Pump strike hain? Nahin nahin Sir, aaj to city mein hartal hain. Aapko kahan jana hain? Holy mother! And the buggers at JKTDC had not even bothered to tell us. Despite my umpteen queries about pumps & diesel......
Sonamarg jana hain.....raaste mein to mil jana chahiye? Han ji, koi problem nahin hogi - Ganderbal mein mil jayega.
So we turned round quickly, went back past Heemal & then on to the road to Sonamarg. There was heavy security deployment all along the roads but it was peaceful. Besides, it was bright & early so we didn't have any issues. Later on that evening, friends called up anxiously to enquire if we were out of Srinagar because they'd seen parts of Srinagar burning on the News Channels. That's when we realized that we had been extremely lucky.
Now, here's what amazes me - the Tourism guys didn't bother to caution us or advice us to get out early, despite them knowing about the Hartal and the possibility of trouble. I'd have expected them to have told me to fill up the previous evening itself. Lucky I had half a tank, what if I was low on fuel
? Well, as the lyrics of the song say......
People are Strange.
Anyway, end of Anecdote 1! Focussed on driving & found a pump just before Ganderbal (26 kms) and topped up.
Total Distance travelled - 319 kms, Diesel filled - 33.76 ltrs, Mileage obtained - 9.45 kmpl.And then, we were back to mile-munching.
Now, the Srinagar-Sonamarg route is extremely picturesque and memories from our trip 22 years ago came flooding back. We were going "ooohh" and "aaahhh" as the river bubbled by and as we started to climb and as the greenery and the snow clad mountains started weaving their spell on us. Unfortunately, the kids were asleep at the back so they did miss some of the sights. Till we woke them up.......In the meantime, my wife continued clicking. Now, at this point, I must say a BIG
"Thank you!!!!" to her because, if she hadn't continued to click from the moving vehicle, we wouldn't have got even a third of the number of snaps that we did.
(The Corollary to this is - please excuse the quality of the pics taken through the windscreen!)
We made decent time. Truckers & Buses on this route are very well mannered & they let you through at the earliest opportunity. A short distance before Sonamarg, we took a short break by the riverside and admired the snow that was so close to the road
And then we continued on towards Sonamarg, soaking in the wonderful scenery on the way!