On 11th August at the crack of dawn Ride To Ladakh began. The first patch of the ride was from Jammu to Srinagar. You’ll have to take Srinagar Jammu National Highway which is a part of National Highway 1A (India) system. The distance from Jammu to Srinagar is around 300 kms. We decided to leave around 6 in the morning. Getting up by 5, we were ready by 6 as planned but things dont always work as you want. It took us two hours to arrange our luggage on the motorcycles. Finally, after arranging the luggage we left Jammu around 8 am due to which we were behind of our scheduled time.
For Jammu to Srinagar the highway starts from Jammu city and then passes through the Udhampur district, Ramban district, Kulgam district, Anantnag district, Pulwana district and ends in Srinagar. From Jammu the highway passes through series a of Mountains up to Qazigund which marks the start of Kashmir Valley. The roads from Jammu to Srinagar are better as compared to ones from Srinagar to Leh.
After covering about 40 kms you’ll reach Katra which is the base camp for the journey to Maa Vaishnodevi.
After this comes the beautiful Patnitop which is almost 110 kms from Jammu. The hilly terrain may hamper your speed on your way to Patnitop.
Travelling a couple of kilometers you’ll cross Rambam and Banihal which will further take you to the 2. 85 kms long Jawahar Tunnel.
Just before entering Srinagar you’ll see line of tents on both side of the road selling cricket bats. These areas are famous for the Kashmiri willow bats.
We reached Srinagar around 7 in the evening. The climate of Srinagar was pleasant. One of us had relatives in Srinagar who came to receive us near Dal Lake. From there they took us to their home in Badgam. Their house was like a dream place surrounded by apple trees with a garden in front and a small farm in the back.
The journey from Jammu to Srinagar was tiring. Making ourselves comfortable, we rested for sometime. After getting fresh we were presented with some tasty Kashmiri Dinner. The food was excellent. Post dinner we chatted for some time with our kashmiri friends, after which we were ready to sleep.
“Kal me tumhe jannat dikhaunga” (Tomorrow I’ll show you heaven) our Kashmiri friend said before bidding us Goodnight.
To know about the heavenly place which our Kashmiri friend was talking about read my next blog 🙂
Aawara hoo 