Amongst Indian driving enthusiasts (both car and bike) Ladakh has a sort of cult status. Many Indian motorists consider a drive to Ladakh as the holy grail of driving adventure.
So how come I waited till the ripe old age of 61 to make my maiden car trip to Ladakh? There are several reasons, but the most significant one is that I did not possess a suitable vehicle earlier. Soon after acquiring a XUV, I started thinking about a drive to Ladakh. Doing several long drives over 6 months, especially a drive to Nathu La and North Sikkim, gave me the confidence to take my XUV to Ladakh.
When I discussed the plan with my childhood friend Major Amitava Ghosh, he was excited. We drew up a tentative itinerary together. Both of us being ex-servicemen, we arranged most of our en route accommodation in Army units. The date of our departure was frozen when Maj. Ghosh received an invitation from his old Artillery Regiment, presently based near Uri in Kashmir, to attend their Raising Day on 14.05.13.
Dhiman Shah, a friend of mine from Jamshedpur, was keen to join our trip and we gladly took him on board. Barely a week before commencement of our trip, my elder daughter Debashree Mukherjee and her friend Iram Ghufram decided to jump on the bandwagon from Delhi and they were more than welcome. My wife needed to travel to London where her brother was to undergo surgery and so she was not a part of this team right from the conceptual stage.
Being the only hard core driving enthusiast in the team, I drove the entire distance of 6,576 km myself.
A brief travelogue of our 25-day, 6,576 km expedition follows. Like my earlier travelogues on Team-BHP, I shall try to use less words and more pictures.
Three cameras were used for the pictures I’ll be posting here. A Canon EOS 5D Mk III with a 16-35 mm lens was brought to the table by Iram. The other two were my old faithful Canon SX100IS and my newly acquired smartphone Micromax Canvas HD A-116. Almost all the pictures posted here were clicked by me. But a few were clicked by Iram and my daughter Debashree.
Day-1 (07 May 13) : Dhiman and I drove 130 km to Ranchi and spent the night at the home of Major Amitava Ghosh.
Day-2 and Day-3 (08-09 May 13) : Dhiman, Amitava and I drove from Ranchi to Delhi (1357 km), spending a night in a hotel near Kanpur.
The 180 km long Yamuna Expressway from Agra to Greater Noida is a big boon. I drove the entire distance on cruise control. Here, Amitava and Dhiman are posing near the Agra end. Day-4 (10 May 13) : At Delhi.
Day-5 (11 May 13) : Dhiman, Amitava, Debashree, Iram and I drove 634 km from Delhi to Jammu and put up in an Army unit. Roads from Delhi to Jammu are excellent.
Day-6 (12 May 13) : The 5 of us drove 301 km to Srinagar. The 3 men put up in an Army Unit at Badami Bagh and the 2 girls went to a houseboat on Dal lake.
The girls taking out their woolens after crossing Jawahar Tunnel. XUV looks happy to reach Kashmir. Our first glimpse of the Kashmir Valley. Poplar lined avenues – so ubiquitous all over the Kashmir Valley. At Dal Lake. At Dal Lake. At Dal Lake. Day-7 (13 May 13) : The 3 men drove 90 km from Srinagar to Boniyar (near Uri) and put up in an Army Unit. The 2 girls stayed back in Srinagar.
View from our officers’ mess at Boniyar. The lovely river is Jhelum, flowing down from Srinagar, towards the Pakistan border at Kaman. Day-8 (14 May 13) : The 3 men drove from Boniyar to visit an Artillery field gun battery and then to the Indo-Pak trade gate (border post) at Kaman near Uri, and back. Special permits were required for these visits and the same were issued to us by the Army.
On the way to Kaman trade gate. Bottoms of trucks about to cross into Pakistan being inspected. At Kaman border post. The hill in the background happens to be in Pakistan. The 3 men posing in front of the short bridge joining India and Pakistan. This poster on the Pakistani side reads : “From home to home; We extend a very warm welcome to our Kashmiri brethren”. Needless to say, the key word here is “home”. The two fauji friends posing in front of the Kaman gate. The Jhelum river flowing into Pakistan at Kaman. The hill on the RHS of the river is in Pakistan. The Army mess at Boniyar. Day-9 (15 May 13) : The 3 men drove from Boniyar to Srinagar (90 km) early in the morning (started at 4 AM) and picked up the 2 girls at Dal Lake at 7 AM. Thereafter, all 5 us drove to Kargil (208 km from Srinagar).
Debashree and Iram returning by a shikara to a Dal Lake ghat from their houseboat.
The altitude of Srinagar is just about 5,300 ft. From Srinagar, the road to Sonamarg and then onwards to Baltal (one of the starting / finishing points of the Amarnath Yatra) is quite good. Thereafter road is quite steep (climbs to 11,700 feet at Zozi La) and road condition at places is bad – full of craters and large puddles due to melting snow. A considerable part of this stretch was unpaved and was very muddy and slushy due to recent heavy rains. The condition of the roads near Zozi La was not good.
This route is very scenic, especially near Sonamarg, Baltal and Zozi La. The Kargil war memorial at Drass is worth visiting. After Drass the highway is excellent but one cannot drive very fast as there are stretches which have got damaged due to landslides or streams.
The altitude of Kargil is 8,900 feet. We found the temperature there to be 25-30 deg C during the day time and about 15 deg C at night.
On the way to Sonamarg. On the way to Sonamarg. On the way to Sonamarg. Glacier near Sonamarg. Glacier near Sonamarg. At Sonamarg. At Sonamarg. At Sonamarg. Near Baltal. Ice walls appear on both sides of the road as one climbs towards Zozi La. Boulders being cleared from the road. Nearing Zozi La.