The Himalayas

The Zoji La pass on my return leg

Riding over my first Himalayan  pass at Zoji La was a brutal baptism. My legs were still sore from the previous day's 80 km climb to the glacier resort of  Sonmarg. The air at 3500 metres was noticeably  thinner, especially when carting my ladened bike on a rough uphill track. What wasn't rock was mashed to mud by convoys of army trucks heading in the opposite direction.One section was so steep that  I got off to push, but sticky mud was wedged between  the mudguards and the tyres so I couldn't manage. I had to get back on and pedal with all the force my wasted muscles could muster.
After cresting the snow covered summit there was a dramatic transformation in the scenery. Instead of the alpine look of the Kashmiri  Himalayas, the Ladakhi side was naked, multi-hued rock with occasional patches of golden poplar trees.
I stayed the night in the dirty, bleak town of Drass. Its the second coldest town on earth with an average winter minimum  temperature  of -45 c. The next town had an internet cafe, the weather forecast showed I had one more sunny day, then snow. So I ditched my bags at a clean hotel and rode  the unladened bike up to the village of Mulbech. In just 25 miles the culture went from entirely  islamic to predominantly  Buddhist  - with prayer flags and prayer wheels and ancient statutes of Buddha.
To beat the snow I retraced my route in a shared taxi. We stopped in a town for tea break - so I thought. Suddenly there was a stampede  of people surging past the cafe. A fellow passenger shouted through the open door "The pass has opened!" So I too rushed for our taxi. Then there was a mad race with cars, minibuses and trucks jostling for position on the broken road. Going back over the pass was a bit dicey, as the weather conditions were grim. The pass is blocked a lot in the winter.
I returned to the houseboat in Srinigar, to sort out my washing and a new route south to warmer sunshine.

Sunshine  on the way in