Day 4 Udhampur to Srinagar
Day 4 (July 11, 2023) was not a fun day in terms of riding. It was Amarnath Yatra time and as expected it was too crowded as thousands of pilgrims travel to Himalayas.
We got up a little late and started late which meant it was bumper to bumper traffic all along. We weren't able to go fast which meant bike was heating up too early due to running in lower gears. Every now and then the console showed up 5 bars (usually bike's running temperature should be 3 bars I guess) in the temperature gauge which meant stop at some place and give the bike time to cool down before we could start again.
And we also required rest due to stop and go traffic.
Nothing much that happened this day that I could write here. We were very very slow and covered around 230 kms in 10+ hours and this delay was mostly due to the frequent stops we were taking.
After reaching Srinagar I went and checked a house boat to stay in but there wasn't a safe parking place for the bike and we decided that we would check the hotel that we had earlier spotted on the highway itself which had closed parking. We chose one name Hotel Highway and checked in, decent hotel not very high in terms of price.
It was all overcast in terms of climate, hot and humid until we reached Srinagar were temperatures were cooler. Not many spectacular photos as one would expect from the day's ride...
Next day it was the big one Srinagar to Drass/Kargil where we would cross the first of the high passes, the Zozilla Pass, on the route and this is where the bike would be tested thoroughly and give me an idea whether it'll be able to cope even higher passes and tougher terrains. Also ride through Sonmarg was something to look for. Traffic would be still there till the ascent of Zozilla Pass (Baltal) but if we started early we would avoid all of it...
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