Monday 28 May 2018

Women on Wheels : Leh, July 2015 - Part III

As promised, I am back with the finale of this breathtaking journey. How I wish we had more days to spend in Leh.

With that thought we started our journey back to Delhi, sad clouds cast a shadow over our heads πŸ˜” 

We decided to follow the same route back, the one we took while coming from Delhi. Manali was all chaotic with long jams and slushy roads, a couple of bikers informed us. It had already started to rain and news of landslides had started pouring in from all sides.

We left from Leh early morning on July 12th, got quite a bit of downpour on the way but managed to reach Drass comfortably by late afternoon. Checked in to the JKTDC rest house, lazed around for a while then went about for our dinner. As the chilly winds started touching our face, slowly and steadily, we turned to our blankets for comfort and snored away.

We were back on the road early in the morning the following day. The idea was to cross Zoji La before it turned into a swimming pool. With all the rains that it had received over the last couple of days, that was the least that we were expecting. And the expectation was bang on! We got water crossings and slush and repeat. 

Zoji La got its fair share of landslides as well. Had to drive super carefully with all the mud and slush and the road being reduced to just enough for one vehicle to pass. Managed to reached Sonmarg safely, stopped for a late breakfast or brunch as one may call it, hogged on hot and fresh stuffed parathas, tea and stunning vistas all around us. It continued to drizzle while we stuffed ourselves.




                                                                  Rain washed Sonmarg

The day ended with us stopping at the JKTDC rest house in Banihal (I think it's called Hotel Maple), cost us some INR800.00 for the room. Neat and clean accommodation with basic facilities. No room service available but the guy got us food from outside so that kinda worked for us. It was quite a day we had, called it an early night and off we went into Lalaland.

The Jammu-Srinagar highway had remained closed for the last couple of days owing to landslides. So even though we started as per our early morning ritual, we encountered quite an amount of that held up traffic on the way. Srinagar was under curfew by the time we reached there, we were instructed to simply drive through and thankfully nothing untoward happened. Did it scare me? Well yes. Will I go back to Srinagar? Hell yes! πŸ’ͺ

Went straight through to the Jawahar tunnel and finally stopped at Patnitop. Let me just digress a bit here, for your benefit of course! 😁

Patnitop and a few other places (Kud, Batote) on the way have been completely bypassed thanks to the newly opened (April 2017) Chenani Nashri tunnel. This tunnel is approx. 9-10kms. long (longest one so far in all of India) and it reduces the distance between Jammu and Srinagar by 30kms. *info sourced from Wikipedia

So if you wish to stop by Patnitop, please ignore this welcoming tunnel 😊

Ended the day at Ludhiana. Stopped at one of the many hotels on the main highway NH-1, don't really remember the name but that doesn't matter as there are plenty of options on NH-1. Maybe if I remember later some time, I'll edit the post.

The stretch from Ludhiana to Delhi is a breeze. And so, it also has speed guns aiming right at you. The last time I checked, the speed limit was 90kmph which I didn't know back then, I was at a 120 so obviously got challaned πŸ˜’ Thought of sharing this with you all, being the good Samaritan that I am πŸ˜‡

Reached Delhi in five hours flat and then took forever to get home. It was right at this moment that it all sunk in. Those two weeks on the roads, each and every moment, all of it happened like a filmy flashback. It truly was a remarkable feat for both of us - I, for having driven through the entire journey and my darling partner, for sitting tight right by my side and never once losing faith in my driving skills. I mean, not that she had a choice 😝

Some fun moments to end the note with :

* We scandalized all of North India - an unknown woman driver and her equally unknown woman co-passenger on a route like this, I mean they're used to seeing celebrities do all this
* We got all sorts of curious glances - I think that had something to do with my height, I think people were not able to see me behind that huge wheel 😜



* This one's my favourite - while filling up the forms at the Kargil check post exit point, the police/army personnel at the counter kept doing his work waiting for the driver to furnish the form and other relevant documents, and I kept waiting for him to finish what he was doing and ask for the form. After a moment of sharing an awkward silence, I finally pushed the forms through. 
Guy behind the counter finally looks up (frowning) - driver kahan hain aur baaki log? (where is the driver and the rest of the passengers?)
Me (slightly embarrassed) - Main driver hun aur mere saath bas ek aur ladki hain (I am the driver and there's just one more female accompanying me)
Guy behind the counter - *smiles*
* This one my partner told me later - An army man gave us a salute while we were crossing Chang La. I obviously was in a different zone then, experiencing the heart being in my mouth moment, and didn't notice (facepalm moment)

I can go on and on about many more such experiences but you should have your own. So go out there, remember to be a responsible traveller and make awesome memories that'll last a lifetime..Bon Voyage!

Do drop in your comments. I'd love to read them. And if you haven't read the first and the second part of this gorgeous journey then without wasting any more time give it a read now:

πŸ‘‰Women On Wheels : Leh, July 2015 - Part I
πŸ‘‰Women On Wheels : Leh, July 2015 - Part II


6 comments:

  1. First things first, awesome read!! Thank you for taking me through this journey all over again, not that I have forgotten any bit of my travel to Leh (despite my forgetfulness πŸ˜‹). You need to add the link to this one on your other posts. Thanks for being the inspiration for my solo trip. If not for you, I would have probably waited for all the friends who made plans but never made it. Love the pictures, specially with the red giant (you know why πŸ˜ƒ). One day will do a similar drive, this time with you, to another exotic location. Till then...

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    1. Amen..to that last line 🀘
      Ohh the link.. good point, thanks a ton 😊

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  2. Awesome. I tell everyone of ur leh drive was surprised when I heard u tell about it. Really a salute to ur spirit. Eagerly waiting to do such adventurous road trip to some exciting place with you. Keep following ur passion for driving and drive safe. Thanks for penning down ur experience . Lovely write up

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