Day 97. Gilgit - Chilas

Big day today but we didn’t really get far south. 

We got away early and back through crazy town, but it wasn’t as bad as yesterday. Tank of gas and we are back on the wonderful KKH. 

Our first stop was a lookout for a spectacular view of the massif of Nanga Parbat an 8200m monster. Wonderful to see it with a blue sky background. 

We then turned off the main highway with the intention of going to Skardu. 

The road started nicely enough but soon deteriorated into a lumpy rough track. If you have seen those roads on TV where there are precipitous dropoffs, rough as guts narrow roads and maniac drivers then this was it. It was very scary at times. 

We boxed on and arrived at a town called Astore, the Main Street was incredibly steep and was basically constructed of boulders, how the hell we got up it without coming to grief I am not sure. 

We carried on for a bit and came to a bridge which was followed by a hairpin bend, a huge truck had unloaded its many sacks of potatoes so that it could manoeuvre around this bend doing about a twenty point turn, quite something to see. 

While we were watching all this we had a bit of a chat, we had come about 65km and had another 140km to go, we were not going to get to Skardu today which means the trip was going to take 4-5 days as we have to return the same way, so we decided to turn around and head back to the KKH. 

We entered a small village on our return trip and it looked like were stuck, a car was over to the right with a wheel off, a big orange truck had tried to get by but there wasn’t enough room and it was stuck.

I pulled over to wait it out and a shopkeeper indicated thatI should have a go, word went forward and the guys changing the wheel moved away, I wasn’t that keen to start with but really felt compelled to try, we held our breath and somehow we managed to squeeze through, at least with the state of most vehicles around here I didn’t need to worry about scratching it..

We met a couple of Indian guys on little Suzuki’s and stopped for a photo. 

Back on the highway we motored on, lovely views and asphalt but we were sad to be leaving the mountains behind. The road quality then deteriorated quite markedly and we entered an area quite prone to slips. Up ahead we saw a long line of stationary vehicles and we soon came to a real snarlup.  

There have been numerous slips in this area and they just push the worst of it away and then leave it. It is rough beyond belief, this particular one had cars needing to be pushed, both directions were jostling to get past a narrow gap only suitable for one way and right in the middle a large truck had broken down. What a circus. 

The road continued like this and we were starting to feel it.

We pulled over in a shady area just to have a stretch and to have a drink, it was so hot well in the thirties, our water was very hot.  Next minute Robyn is indicating she is choking and not making any sound at all. A sharp slap on the back didn’t help so next was the heimlich manoeuvre which drew an immediate sharp intake of breath, I didn’t know you could choke on water but I do now.

Back on the bike for more punishment until we arrived in Chalus and found a hotel. The people in the hotel are really friendly and cooked us a lovely meal. 

It is 500 km to Islamabad and if the road is like this all the way it will be a long day.