June 23, 2016
to Srinagar - 1626m: last day of cycling in India, probably a good thing for us and Indian drivers......
We have a bit of an issue getting out of our guesthouse this morning. The front door is locked tight and there is no-one to be seen. After some calling and knocking, Rachel rings a bell by the desk, the owner shows up wiping the sleep out of his eyes. As we apologize, "It's my duty", he says.
As advertised the road is mostly downhill today, but there are plenty of sections where we have to get back into the granny gears. What should have been a nice way to end this stage turns into a frustrating slog because of the heavy traffic. The dust thrown up at the unpaved sections, the constant honking and oncoming overtaking cars make the ride something we rather forget than remember. We have several stand-offs with drivers and Rachel can't remember how many people Patrick waved at with one finger today..... That's not how we want to remember India, most people are friendly and honest, it is just that the drivers.....what can we say? This was the most unpleasant ride so far from the past year.
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About 25 km before Srinagar the main road turns into a bypass road and we turn onto a lesser road that leads into the city. It is surrounded by willows for most of the way. We lose most of the truck traffic, but taxi tourist traffic is still heavy. After passing through the suburbs where the Srinagar rich are building huge concrete and brick boxes side by side, we then enter the old part of town (which the guidebooks tell us to avoid) and we pass without incident.
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Our goal is the Swiss Hotel recommended in our guidebook and it is an excellent choice. The owner is super friendly, gives us a great rate on a nice room and calls us "genuine travelers". Any overlanders on tighter budgets than us should know he will allow you to camp in their driveway or on their lawn and use the facilities for free.
We get to our hotel before noon, take a tuktuk to downtown to enjoy a chicken pizza. After that, we do a little information gathering on taxi options from here to Delhi, Jammu or Amritsar. We'll decide what to do tomorrow.
Today's ride: 81 km (50 miles)
Total: 2,080 km (1,292 miles)
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