NORTHERN EXPEDITION 2014

My thoughts !!

Well, i have come to the end of the Northern Expedition that took me from the West Coast of India right till the midst of the beginning of the Himalaya , hope i was able to depict what i had seen and experienced; stay with me as i venture out to new lands some famous while some not so famous ...
till then .. stay in touch !!! 

NORTHERN EXPEDITION 2014 : HOMEWARD BOUND

# DAY XVIII , XIX & XX: Jammu to Mumbai

#136.     From here on there is nothing much to write as we were on the return leg and were on the great Indian Highways . The route to Delhi was quite clear cut as we streaked across the Punjab heartland bypassing major cities and powering on ahead.

#137.     The second day saw us moving from Delhi towards Udaipur which by now we had become so very familiar with and the third day saw us doing the final stretch from Udaipur to Mumbai. Oh yes on this day we had the breakdown that was giving me an indication about which I had written in the earlier post , the moment I crossed Rajasthan and entered Gujrat , at one stretch where I braked substantially , there started emanating a substantial sound from the breaks. I realized that something had gone wrong and was wondering what next to do. I did call up M&M at Ahmedabad and they said to come over and they would look at it however luckily as I was crossing Himmatnnagar I was able to locate a M&M service centre and pulled in there.

#138.     The mechanics confirmed that my break pads had totally worn out on the right wheel and I had to go in for a replacement. The job took a total of 03 hours and I wondered if this had happened because of the trip to highly rough roads , I pondered for a while and then took out the vehicle log sheets and compared the periodicity of the previous break pad change and it turned out that in the way I drive I generally wear the pads after a certain period of Kms and the same had happened .It iwas not related to the terrain that I had been to , it had more to do with the way I use the pads and my driving procedure J. In a way I am glad that I did not attempt the Zanskar sector as then I would have been stuck with worn out pads either in the Zanskar region or on the way to Srinagar or on the road to Jammu  and all these three sectors at that time were definitely demanding and would have actually put me in a bothersome situation.

#139.     The pads replaced, the INDOMITABLE was good to go and we started for home destination and reached Mumbai late in the night .

The final ODO reading stood at 79278. Total KMs on the road were 7022

BACK IN THE PARKING SLOT : 20 DAYS ON THE ROAD ( CONCLUSION OF TRIP) 

NORTHERN EXPEDITION 2014 : Transversing on the road of the Mughals

# DAY XVII : Srinagar to Jammu

#131.     Srinagar , the city of beauty was ravaged by the wrath of nature and as the day dawned it revelaed the devastation that the city had undergone. There was disarray everywhere and it was the administration and the Army that were trying to hold everything together.

#132.     The Army was everywhere, every chowk , every intersection the one common aspect was the Army , whatever may be the opinion of many a individual there is no denying the fact that it is the Army that holds the situation finally when things start falling. This situation is so very common in places like Srinagar.

#133.     A distance of 300kms which normally would take six hours looked formidable indeed with conflicting reports as to the status of the Srinagar –Jammu Highway. I reached Pantha chowk and mingled with the local taxis asking for ground reports and almost all suggested to avoid the highway rather travel by the Mughal Road. Now as I was unaware of this route, I decided to tag behind a particular tax  that was heading out that way. The route involved pulwama , shopian, bafliaz and then ahead on the Mughal Road.

#134.     I followed the taxi till Shopian which was reached by 1100 hours and I am thankful for this for the route indeed was through narrow roads and villages in between with no signboard of any kind. From shopian a bit ahead one reaches a intersection and one has to take the right road which will lead to the start of the Mughal Road which is one of the most spectacular roads ever built anywhere in India as it races through the mighty Pir Pangal Ranges. The condition of the road was mix of good and bad and it was incline or descent all the way.

#135.     By 1400 hours I reached Thana Mandi and heaved a sigh of relief as I thought that the Mughal Road had come to an end, how was I to know that what lay ahead was torturous indeed, the road narrowed down by half immediately and the climb started once again up ahead and I was back in the jungles on a route which was completely broken at almost all the places and snaked its way through the undergrowth of the forests. The ordeal was immense as I was definitely not aware of the terrain or the condition , there was no option but to keep pushing ahead .

#135.     By 1530 we were at Rajouri after a back breaking constant braking and gear shifting ordeal of close to 80 kms. The road improved considerably after that and we had something decent to eat eventually. Soon we were on our way for I wanted to reach Jammu before sundown as I was totally on unprepared paths. The Chenab bridge was crossed at 1830 hrs and I rolled into Jammu at 2000 hours covering a distance of 345 km which had taken me close to 12 hours and was one of the most difficult and grueling days of the whole trip . It is commendable of the performance of the Logan that it took everything in its stride through the entire trip and I was so glad that I could rely on performance when I most needed it .

ODO stood at 77106.

IN THE PIR PANJAL  

NEAR THE CHENAB  

BRIDGE ON CHENAB RIVER  

NORTHERN EXPEDITION 2014 : Day XVI , on the brilliant National Highway 1D

# DAY XVI : Leh to Srinagar

#126.     As mentioned earlier we had decided to not venture into the zanskar region this time even though I had studied a great deal on it. It is important to be mentally positive when attempting a drive into regions like the Zanskar and it has to be mutually agreeable by all those who are doing it .

#127.     So we left Leh early and were on the brilliant NH 1D as we sped away on towards Kargil . There was mixed feelings as I kept moving away from Leh , like a part of me was being left behind and the strands of thread were one by one getting parted but then I knew that I would be back again in the future to pick up the threads where I had left them .

#128.     Our first stop was the spiritual Gurudwara Panther Sahib , constructed 25 km away from Leh built in memory of Guru Nanak Saheb , at a altitude of over 12000 feet. The history of the gurudwara is very special and speaks about the aura of Guru Nanak and has the famous story of his visit to the Ladakhi region entwined. The famous boulder on which the impression of his back and shoulder is embossed is a sight to see. We had the famous langar at this most holy of all places and the simple meal was for me the most important of all till date.

#129.     Thereafter we moved on towards the confluence of the green Indus and the grey Zanskar which is again one of the most iconic of all sights to witness on this brilliant highway. Soon we were passing Khaltsi and Lamaruyu and we gunned the INDOMITABLE towards Srinagar, our target for the day. The final passes of our Expedition Fotu La , Namika La were soon passed and by evening we were crossing Zoji La , the final Pass of the trip. After this we were in Sonmarg.

#130.     Sonmarg to Srinagar was covered in total darkness and I had no idea whatsoever of the road conditions that I travelled on. Srinagar was a city torn by the weather and rains with all signs of normalcy wiped out. We had plans to stay a day in the city but looking at the condition we decided to move the next day itself towards Jammu.

ODO for the day stood at 76761.

LOVELY DRASS AFTERNOON  

FOTU LA TOP  

LAMARUYU MONASTRY  

GURUDWARA PANTHER SAHIB 

AT KARGIL 

NAMIK LA  

THE INDUS MEETS THE ZANSKAR  

INDOMITABLE REACHES SONMARG  

MOONSCAPES AT LAMARUYU 

PRETTY VALLEYS  

Northern Expedition 2014 : Day XV , on the monastic trail

# DAY XV : @ Leh

#122.     Today we had decided to visit the gompas near the city of Leh. Accordingly got up late as we had no fixed agenda. Breakfast was once again at Gesmo Resturant , simply loved the breakfast out there. After a lazy huge breakfast mandatory shopping was undertaken which is unavoidable .After that I went to Mentokling Showroom by M&M in order to get the electrical point for the GPS/mobile repaired. The issue finally boiled down to a fuse and the same was checked by removing all the fuses. I also got the chassis torquing checked up.

#123.     By around eleven we were on our way to Hemis Gompa. The gompa situated around 42 km from Leh can be reached from Karu. Established in the 16^TH century, the Gompa is dedicated to Lord Padmasambhava. The recently renovated museum houses rare artifacts, thangkas as well as scriptures from the age of Buddhism and is worth visiting. There is a nice book shop too that is a treasure trove for books related to Buddhism.

#124.     After this we visted Shey Gompa , around nine kms from Leh .The monastery sits atop a hill and houses the 12 Metre Sakhya Muni Buddha statue which has altar lamps burning which burn all year round .The Tara temple also is worth visiting within the premises.

#125.     It was evening by when we were done with our visits and had a leisurely walk in Leh town .Tomorrow we began our run to Kargil, for now it was just strolling in the streets of Leh.

@SHEY GOMPA 

PRAYER FLAGS ..SET ME FREE  

TOWARDS SHEY GOMPA 

CHORTENS AT SHEY  

HEMIS GOMPA 

HEMIS GOMPA  

PRETTY HEMIS  

GURU PADMASAMBHAVA 

THE PRAYER WHEEL REVOLVES 

BEACON IN THE DARKNESS 

TARA TEMPLE