Dambudas

I had a second attempt at visa renewal at the Deputy Commissioner's office in Skardu in the morning. Though it wasn't entirely smooth it was successful. I arrived at 9am to find the passport office firmly padlocked shut but was told that someone would come in 15 minutes. I didn't believe it & readied myself for a wait. Shortly after my vigil began I was ushered into another office. It was not of someone who could help my cause, however one couldn't have a guest hanging around in a corridor. At around 10am the passport office people arrived & I explained my case. Unfortunately they weren't the normal occupiers of the office & weren't familiar with the procedure. After searching through some regulations & then finding the correct stamp we were in business. A pleasant chat with the Skardu Deputy Commissioner followed. By 11am I was on my way with permission to remain in the country until 14 November. It seems a bit of a pity that after all the hassle to finally get it that I will be long gone by then.

As soon as I got back to the hotel we set off back to Gilgit. Once on the road I realised that I wasn't fully recovered from the stomach upset of earlier in the week. I lacked energy & in spite of having nothing to eat since the morning I had no appetite.

The gorge views were spectacular from the bike. The great churning mass of the Indus river roared through very constrained space that it had cut for itself. Its gray silt laden water digging further all the time. Water polished rocks could be seen far above the banks, a testament to the power of the river. The road itself was a marvel, even more so than the Karakorum Highway that I'd followed from the Kunjerab Pass. The side of the gorge that the road was cut across was so steep, at times vertical. Evidence of rock slides could be seen everywhere. I could appreciate how much work opening the road would be at the beginning of the season & to keep it open especially during wet time of the year when rock falls are frequent. Before the road was made (at the same time as the Karakorum Highway) the area would have been quite isolated.

It was amazing that there were inhabited villages along the way, on both banks, that predated the construction of the road. The Indus river was too wild to be crossed, navigation on it would have been impossible. Communication between villages & to the outside world was via narrow paths. It's hard to imagine much trade occurring. Poverty must have been & probably still is quite desperate.

Just outside a village we camped on one of the few flat pieces of land that we came across was neither rocky, inhabited or used to grow something. We had planned to stay in a guesthouse but the one in the village was pretty disgusting, the price was outrageous & the owner refused to bargain.

I cycled 69 km in 4 hours & 35 minutes
Total so far 10919 km in 168 days
GPS Coordinates of end point - N 35°35.517, E 75°13.861