Thursday Oct 9th
It’s off to Heathrow and thence to Islamabad in Pakistan. There I join others for a motorbike tour up near Scardu.
Today it’s last minute panics and packing. Easyish for me as not setting off to airport on my own bike as I shall be away for a while. Instead it’s daughter picking me up in a car to go to train station in King’s Lynn and thus to London and tube to Heathrow.
So one big bag, one rucksack and crash helmet . Reach train with about 5 mins to spare. Enough time to get a takeaway tea.! All goes smoothly. At King’s Cross get into conversation with a lovely Japanese lady who lives in Edinburgh and we travel together to Heathrow terminal 4. Big queue for Gulf Air. I am the only white in the pretty big queue. They all have a massive amount of luggage. Ask about upgrade and as expected its in excess of £1000. !! So it’s economy in row 50!!
Rupert, who is also coming on the trip finally reaches the airport after a bus ride from Woking that left 50 mins late. So he was gasping for a beer. I had some wine and we enjoyed what might be our last alcoholic drinks for the next two weeks.Plane leaves for Bahrain on time and we have a pleasant stop there before our connection leaves for Islamabad. 6 hour flight followed by 3.5 hour flight.
Friday 10th Oct
Must be Friday by now. Arrive in Islamabad about 3.30pm their time….4 Hours ahead of UK. Bags collected, we then search , not in vain , but extensively for an ATM having been told we must get some money there before leaving airport. We fail as cards rejected. Driver is waiting. Driver Mani tells us there is a TLP protest march coming from Lahore. The government has blocked all roads into Islamabad with lorries in preparation to stop them. This has meant the driver had big problems reaching the airport let alone get us back into Islamabad. We end up, with other cars, driving the wrong way up a dual carriage way on the hard shoulder. Only way in!!!
Finally reach hotel. Sleep for a couple of hours before walking off in search of ATM’s. No money , no food. Try many machines but cards do not work. So to a shopping Mall and a money changer place. Surprisingly good deal and thankfully had a copy of my passport ,which was needed , on my phone. With money we could now eat!! Funnily enough the restaurant we choose does take card payment.
We hear that two more on our tour are driving up from Lahore where this protest march has begun. They have severe problems with roadblocks to stop the marchers and have to detour. They will now arrive tomorrow instead of tonight. Another two will arrive by plane day after tomorrow.
Saturday 11th Oct.
Today Rupert and I who chose to arrive a day early are going on a tour by car with Mani. Quick breakfast and off at 9.15am. Late last night I had been reading about Islamabad . It is a planned city with building begun in 1960. Planned to take over as the capital from Rawalpindi which is not far away and we are going to go to tomorrow. It is laid out in a grid pattern with sectors. It is spacious with wide streets and many trees. Gives an impression of neat and tidy most unlike what we expected. None of the expected chaos we had imagined.
We first head north east out of the city very quickly as in opposite direction to the blockades. Islamabad is small with just over one million inhabitants. Soon we are seeing villages in the style to which we expected. First we visit a mosque near Golra. I don a scarf and we wander round .
Then it was off to Golra train station. This was very laid back, had beautiful old Banyan trees and some old carriages and steam engines beside the platform dating from about 100 years ago. A pretty old train came through . Whilst it was not steam the carriages looked very dated.
Then off to the Shar Allah Ditta caves in the Margalla Hills. Great view from the top of Islamabad and its environs but caves were a big disappointment as essentially very small..!! Back to hotel.Sat pm
Rupert peering into tiny cave!
Took a walk and found a bit of the not so tidy Islamabad. One filthy stream, piles of rubbish and some deer! Blackbuck apparently…a whole herd of them in a wired enclosure. The weather today has been very pleasant..edging on 30c. Islamabad is at about 500m in altitude.
Coming back from my walk around and fancying a drunk I found out via Google that you could get an alcoholic drink in smart hotels so suggested to Rupert we take a taxi to the Islamabad Marriot. Instead Mani drove us , waited while we had our drinks in a bar in the hotel and then took us onwards to the Kabul restaurant where we had a good meal with Mani outside.
Two of the others arrived late from Lahore after a 14hr drive from 100 miles away. The road blocks were everywhere and they had to back track many times and take to farm tracks etc. The protest has become quite violent.
Sunday Oct 12th
The last two fly in and arrive at about 10am. We are now all here.
Off we go in 2 cars to see the pretty new main mosque in Islamabad.
That done we went to a heritage museum. It was full of lovely ethnic clothing and stuff. All about the complicated history of this region. Different languages, different tribes etc.
Next, a long drive to end up at 1300m on the Margala Hills to eat a small lunch on a terrace at a resort place.
Back to hotel and then out to supper later.
Tomorrow we fly to Scardu and the bikes.
Monday Oct 13th
No rush but off to airport to catch plane to Skardu. The protest seems to have died down and only one lorry remained half blocking the road. Road very unbusy.
Plane seemed to be full of trekkers of all ages with their rucksacks. One group of kayakers who were going to go down the Indus river. No other motorcyclists it seemed.
Wonderful scenery to be seen from the plane, glorious sunny day. Plane landed in a valley surrounded by mountains. Tiny airport and very shortly we were walking out with our bags .
Bags into van and we walk a couple of hundred yards to our bikes that were ready for us. We change into bike gear. It seems pretty warm..15c…even though we are now 2200m high.
Off we go through a few villages which are all busy as we imagined Pakistan would be. Then Skardu town itself which was definitely busy as we battled a bit of traffic, wriggling around lots of other little bikes and some cars…slow tractors and various loads. The scenery was of a large high brown…no vegetation…mountain beside us and sandy river valley to our left. The sun was going down and the light was lovely.
We reached our resort hotel in Shigar as the light went. It’s a brand new place. With some WiFi!!
Myself and Maria.
Tuesday 14th Oct
Cool night and a hard bed. Wifi failed ! But sun is shining and off we go at 9am. I have put 360 camera on the bike so hoping for great photos. We are slowly settling into the interesting gear box of these Suzuki bikes. The gears work in reverse of normal. Normal is press down for first and push pedal up to change up the gears.These bikes it’s down for all gears to go up and then up for changing down. Got it!!
We bike along side a river on our left all day and mountain on our right. Scenery great. The river changes from Shigar, to the Indus to the Shyok.
We are near K2 !!
We stop for a light lunch in a brand new resort on the river. All rather unreal with Petunias, Geraniums and Marigolds flowering. Rough villages till we reach hotel at 3ish. Then it’s a quick about turn, get back on bikes and we are off to see a polo match. Uphill through very poor villages and finally masses of people ,bikes, and polo on a sandy long and thin pitch. We are given an honoury spot with chairs in the middle of a side. And then even more honour get invited to sit on sofas beside the local chieftain and Rupert is asked to throw the ball in to start a match !!
View of polo match site from 3000m above it !
Back down after to hotel. Marie manages to avoid a chicken but tumble off. No damage to bike or her or the chicken it seems. She was at the back so we did not see…
Freezing cold room…no heating!!
Wednesday 15th Oct
Leave freezing cold room for breakfast in freezing cold dining room. But best food and breakfast so far. On bikes at leisurely 9 .30am and not far but up ,up past polo ground till we stop and prepare for a climb. I now put shoes on instead of motorcycle boots but have heavy thick motorcycle trousers on. Take off jacket but have zero fit jersey which is warm. Carry a camera. Off we go. Huge high rocky steps and it’s a 800m climb up from 2200m to 3000m. Talk about exhausted by the top.
That pinnacle with building sitting on it was where we climbed to.
I was quite light headed. So were Rupert and Resh. Marie and Karl younger and Noel did not come.( he is diabetic no 1) . I am infact the oldest by a few months… Down to ride to a Palace. That was very interesting. Present king ( who no longer has any power) lives next door to old palace. Rupert did sit beside him at the polo match!! Palace had amazing mix of different cultures in its building . Khaplu palace.
View from palace.
Next off across the river to have lunch of trout. Then off to see K1 mountain from afar. Sadly it had cloud round the top of it. We motorbiked on dirt road a fair bit to get there.
Villages we go through are very basic. But everyone seems busy doing something.We are in Baltistan…Balti people are famous for their cooking.
Thursday 16th Oct
We now head back to Skardu. Seems boring, same road , but it is not. Stop in village and some buy drinks and sweets and then lunch in Skardu itself. Good food. We have had good food …interesting and different from India. Then we take a different road as we head to Gilgit. Before the night’s stop it’s a visit to a lake, Lake ?.It’s up a side road rough and dirt. Then many high steps down to the lake edge.
Pakistanis at play in boats doing tight circles etc. Back up the steps in motorbike gear plus my rucksack but a quick chai before getting back to the bikes. Met a Pakistani family now living in Australia. We have seen very few tourists. It is the end of the season in two weeks time. Everything closes.
Hotel is not far away along this dirt sideboard. We are now in the Sok valley beside the Indus. My room is hysterical. No water comes out of the shower. Wash hair under basin tap. Has a tv but power lead does not reach the one and only plug. Fan heater does not work. Light does not go off in the bathroom. Others are luckier. Wifi is a joke as “does not do internet”.
Road or just track up hillside?
Washing clothes in the river…
Friday 17th Oct
The moment the sun comes over the mountain all is warm.Off we go splashing through a little stream and heading down the dirt road to the highway. Today it is fast motorbiking on good road…first the Skardu road and then the Karakoram highway. The Suzukis’ top speed is about 80kms or 50 miles an hour. The surface did vary from excellent to broken patches. The recent flooding had done no favours by taking out a bridge and wrecking some buildings by the river….Indus. Traffic was minimal, mostly little bikes like us and slow lorries. The occasional cars were a pest
Love the long eared goats..
It got warmer and warmer as we headed down with the river from 2500m to 1500m or so. Animals wander. The villages were very busy with potatoes. Hessian sacks full of potatoes were being loaded onto lorries. We did wonder where on earth they grow them. Up top somewhere apparently…
Lunch and on to where the three mountain ranges…Himalayas, Karakorams and Hindu Kush meet where the Gilgit and Indus rivers join.
Potato sacks near Karimabad.
Tonight’s hotel is warm and so far the wifi works ..fingers crossed. Gives more time to look things up on the Internet which I like to do as I travel. Gilgit was on one of the old silk roads and was once Bhuddist. Gilgit is in Baltistan which is in Pakistani administered Kashmir.
Saturday 18th Oct
It is up the Hunza valley today. Tabish leads us slowly through Gilgit. Two of our number tend to lag…Finally we go over a bridge with wooden planks and off we go up the valley. It’s a bit dull at first but we stop in a village and that is interesting. Butchers shops across the road have all sorts of meat hanging including yak launches with tails on. One guy is burning hair off hooves as they will be eaten. He has several heads of goats to see to as well floating in water.! A cut up yak arrives in a pick up. Bare meat lying in the back..head, skin and all.
Note the Yaks tails.
Scenery is stunning. We follow the old silk road for a bit. It’s rough and dirt. The KKH is mostly in good order but one or two parts have problems.! Arriving in our hotel in Karimabad we are soon off walking up hill, up and up to the Fort Baltit at the top. Very old…800 years… The rooms were very irregular in size and shape but it seemed a good place. We were guided round. The wood used was 70% Juniper. Some Walnut.
Part of Fort Baltit
Fort Baltit.
Rupert has been dying to get some alcohol. We thought there was some in a Serena Hotel but not so having walked some way back down the hill. Then it was back up for supper. Excellent meal again with different dishes …unique.. Had to sit on cushions to eat. In an old building too.
Sunday 19th Oct
Staying in Karimabad for two nights so today we do two things nearby. One all the way up the Nagar river to Hoppar village and the Hoppar glacier. I am the only one out of us 6 prepared to walk down to the glacier and up again. About 700ft drop. Altitude 2800m down to about 2500m at the glacier. I have a guide. Pretty tricky path. Slippery with sand and on side of hillside but make it. Filthy glacier covered in rocky bits. Melting, shrinking very fast. Anyway back up we go , me needing rests because huffing and puffing
Path down..and then up
On the glacier!
Later back to Karimabad. The trees look lovely. It’s autumn and the poplar trees of which there are lots, because they use them for building and fires, have gone a lovely yellow. The village Hoppar grows potatoes and hemp. Hemp oil and seeds are produced . Hemp seeds , if eaten, keeps you warm in winter apparently! Back in Karimabad we climb up behind to the Eagles Nest. First on bikes then a bit of a plod to admire the view amongst the rocks. It’s a view point.
The group..
Roads have been various today…quite rough in parts.
Monday 20th Oct
Leisurely start at 9.30am. Not far to travel today to reach Passu. But sights on the way. First the newish Attabad lake formed when a landslide happened in 2010 and blocked the river. Villagers died ad their villages were drowned. The Karakoram highway was blocked and it was a major disaster. My friends Will and Kate came upon it in 2011 and they got ferried across by boat in order to carry on on the highway on their bikes.
It was a beautiful colour. The road now goes through tunnels to get round the lake. We continue to the suspension bridge. Walk down to it and then across for amusement. Planks of wood with about 6 ins in between so you can see the rushing river below. It was a matter of hanging on to the thick wire as you wobbled across . Resh decided to take a quicker return route via zip wire.
Locals making a better job of walking across than us.
Then it was a walk to look at Passu glacier. We biked up a dirt road and then walked. Two waited at lunch place, 3 walked a bit …Rupert not enjoying the path on the mountainside with big drop down…and I went all the way with Tambish the guide. (pronounced Tarbish). It was not too arduous but I was in motorbike gear minus jacket. The glacier is shrinking very fast. It was dirty but not so bad as the other and did at least have white serracs.
Lunch and then back to main road. Scenery huge and around you. See glacier again from main road in the distance stretching up and up to mountain tops..
Reach Passu and a hotel with cold rooms and lack of good internet …it comes and goes.
Large room, but tiny heater helps.
Tabish walking to the Passu glacier with scenery.
Tuesday 21st Oct
And it is up to the China border and back..250kms all in. We are at 2580m and the border will be at 4700m.
The sheer rocky mountains are enormous. The river heads downhill past us at speed. Powerful even now before any snow melt etc. The weather is holding for now. Up and up . Pay our dues…30$ US for foreigners. Police checks here and there. Road has great surface but rockfalls do it no favours. Rocks seemingly fall down all the time. Great damage is done. Crash barriers mangled. Some rocks that tumble are big. Road edges full of rocks and stones and there are rough patches.
But we make it. Lots of extra clothing …it is going to be cold, and is. Photos at the top in front of China’s strong gate across the road. And then off down and away. Hanging around at 4700m was going to bite.
The wind starts to get up and the first of clouds appear. Weather changing ? Back in our hotel my room is warmer as the fan heater has been on all day. It works when there is enough electricity.! Shower and then off to see a Yak as Rupert has never seen one. 4 of us in the truck!
On the way up to the border is a village called Sost. It acts as a border town. Chinese lorries…modern….come down to Sost and there their loads are unloaded and put onto much smaller highly decorated Pakistani lorries and then off they go down the valley. The reverse must go on.. All in all there was very little traffic. Some tourist buses..mostly Chinese…and smaller Pakistani buses. Few cars and not many lorries really.
Rupert hidden among the Pakistani lorries.
Wednesday 22nd Oct
We take a trip up the famous Shimshal valley. It is a dirt road hanging to the edge of the river in many places especially with moving suspension bridges in about 5 places.
Watching a Land cruiser go over one you do wonder how they will survive. Not designed for that weight. It’s tricky riding and pretty rough. We do about 20kms of the 60kms to Shimshal village. Back down and it’s a Yak meat lunch at the Yak grill. Then walk up to a nearby place for Chi.
Then if we wanted , motorbike trip to see women in village make carpets. I skipped and relaxed back at hotel. It is not a comfortable hotel as it is pretty cold and lacks good electricity and wifi. Tonight in my room the lights suddenly got brighter. Wifi is not working though…about 4 to choose from but all no good.Tomorrow is our last motorcycling day..
Thursday 23rd Oct
The weather holds though a touch colder. Back down to Gilgit with an early lunch stop at an un prepossessing spot up a rough road. However round the back was a lovely garden. We had a good lunch watching a cat play/tease the Magpies with a dead rat it had caught .
Arrive near Gilgit up a narrow dirt street and in through a small doorway to the headquarters of Karakoram bikers.! Slightly surprised that plonk, that was where we left the bikes. Taxi to hotel. Rupert and I then went to smart Serena Hotel to get ,perhaps, a drink at a bar but no way. Even in touristy Gilgit there is no alcohol. Supper together at a noisy , busy, place .
Friday 24th Oct.
Had a walk up the main street. It is really quite filthy and found no shop worth going into.Traffic streamed by. Chicken lorry was delivering poor white chickens. Wifi there is in the hotel but without Internet!!
Got taken to airport at 11am. We all sat around and then eventually at 12.30 the flight was cancelled due to bad weather. The plane used from here is a Fokker and they do not climb high…5000m.. The bad weather was round the mountains which can be higher!!
So we have to drive to Islamabad. This takes 14 hours due to bad roads and it’s 600kms. Night on the way. Two vehicles..I am in the car as opposed the landcruiser. Road has been badly damaged by the recent flooding and huge amount of rain. Rockfalls galore with damage to the road. Bridge swept away in one place; lorries inching along.
Then the pass…Babusar. 4000m high. Rough road and steep stretches as we climb from 1100m to 4000m. In the snow at the top. Down the otherside…slowly over broken road. Down to only 2400m. Hotel just before Naran.
New hotel, rooms enormous and no heating except a little gas stove which has to be put outside my room before I sleep. Sitting in bed in trousers and two top layers. Thought done with cold rooms.
Saturday 25th Oct
Off in 4c wearing 3 layers in car. Downhill we go…2500m and down. Still mountainous, many rough spots, twists and turns but not flood damage really. Chi stop and one layer off and then lunch…another layer off. Left with one hot jersey. Journey was long…7 hrs. Felt tired when arriving. Have got a cold after weeks of sneezing. Has gone to one eye…weeps…but hope improves after today.
Pakistan points…
Many mopeds…riders in cotton clothing , flip-flops and not many crash helmets. Saw 5 up.on one..
Mountains spectacular
Cheap.
Friendly
Desperately poor in places.
Roads in mountains need a great deal of upkeep!
Sunday/Monday 26/27 th Oct.
Slept a bit and got up at midnight. Tabish drove me to the airport where ,to my surprise , there were hoardes of people . Eventually found my way in through them and off into security land. The last security…female only, tried to say I had to check in my helmet. I did resist. It was not in their hands but the airline. I was flying with Etihad and had before with a helmet. I won. Later I heard that Rupert had similar problems with security.
Flew to Abu Dhabi and then onwards to Kuala Lumpur. 3.5 hr flight and then 7 hr. All went well, good airline. In KL I had to collect my bag and then change to Batik Air. Transit. I had booked a transit hotel but time ran out as I spent so long getting round the airport and also it seemed the transit hotel was miles away. Got to passport control who wanted me to have a visitor form filled in. Went to a desk with computers to fill in form. Queued behind an Italian woman. She was having problems. Eventually queued behind another. In the end got there. Form a nightmare.!! Finally got through and got my bag which had been taken off the carousel by then. I had to exit the airport and enter by departure ! All through the whole business again. It’s a big airport . I had time but got no sleep! Batik Air left at midnight for Perth.
My cold was pretty awful through all this. Eyes streaming etc. This last flight was 6 hrs. I got a seat that would not recline. The plane was cold. I fussed and in the end got another seat further back. Had to buy a blanket and some food! In the end slept. Kept the blanket! Do not rate Batik Air.
In Perth caught a bus to Busselton where lovely daughter Emma was waiting for me.
I had travelled for about 30 hours. I am staying in Emma,s railway carriage all restored into accomodation. I have a sleep and when woken thought I had slept the whole night. .it was only an hour or so.! Supper and then bed again.
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