Last photos for now

Me, Mac and the man from Srinagar just before the border......

Walking through the uncleared section- trying to stay upright

7.8km to Pahalgam

Crossing an avalanche - there is a road beneath this

Just before one of the difficult bits of the journey

Relief all round - finally got over the scarey parts - big smile!!

Nazir, Gulam, guy from the village, Mac and two tourist police in Pahlagam bus station
Dal lake by night from my hotel

Back to Srinagar - finally!!!!

Friday 16^th March

A little sad today when I woke up as it would be my last full day in Kashmir and I would be leaving the tranquillity and beauty of Aru this morning. Nazir, Rafi and the man from Srinagar all went off to the mosque real early for Friday prayers and a steaming hot shower – whilst I scrabbled around by candlelight trying to wash and pack the last few things in my bag. Nazir came back and said he had a right time trying to find the mosque as the man from Srinagar and Rafi had already left – it was only across the field but in the dark and not knowing where the paths were cut was pretty hard going.

It was really cold on the walk up to the main house for breakfast – Rafeeka made us chapattis and Kashmiri tea – I was really fascinated to watch her making them from the dough – big bowl of porridge to go with it and then what I always find hard doing – saying goodbye. There were six of us that set out Mac, Gullam, a guy from the village whose name I didn’t catch, me, Nazir and the guy from Srinagar and a lot of the family came down to wave us off on the trek back to civilisation – which was really nice.

The road that had been cleared was treacherously icy and within the first kilometre my toes were so cold despite my two pairs of socks – just kept wiggling them to try and get some circulation into them. Gullam carried my rucksack and Nazir took my other bag so I had just had to concentrate on staying upright which wasn’t as easy as it sounds. After about 2k’s we got to the border where the uncleared section started – there footprints sunk down about a foot so it was a case of just trying to get your boot into them – which wasn’t too bad for me as my feet aren’t that big but I did lose my balance a few times and sink down even further. Finally we passed a sign saying Pahalgam 7.8km – then a bit further up another one saying 8km, which was a bit disheartening.

I had wondered why Mac had brought ropes and soon it became clear – at one point the valley narrows and it was here that there were a lot of fallen trees and mini avalanches blocking our path. It was quite difficult and I’m sure dangerous getting over the mountains of snow – but the guys really looked after me with Mac standing below me with the ropes. I wasn’t too scared as it was bit like going over Panthal – to get freaked would have been more dangerous so I just concentrated on getting a firm footing and tried not to look down. Still we couldn’t hang around, as there was still a threat of more avalanches in this part as the snow was melting but I did manage to grab some photos real quickly. Everyone was mightily relieved when we cleared this section and I was really glad they hadn’t told me what it would be like beforehand. A few minutes later we spotted the villagers from the other side clearing the road – and it was wey hey we’ve done it – celebration beadi stop and a chat with the road clearing crew. There was still no sign of the plough and even though the road was clear you still couldn’t get a jeep up there so it was another couple of k’s walk to meet up the driver who speedily took us the remaining 4k’s into Pahalgam.

It was then the pantomime began as first we had to go to the police station to say that I was okay – the policeman seemed more interested in the contents of his safe and Nazir’s ID card than me to be honest – I was just willing them to get a move on as my feet were frozen. Then it was down to the tourist police to speak to some head honcho in Srinagar to tell him that I was okay where we had chai and bread and smoked all the man from Srinagars cigarettes (think he severely regretted crashing his fags so early on!!!). Then back up to the police station again to meet the big boss who because I’m not too good with figures of authority did annoy me by saying because I was British my life was more important than the locals - I just didn’t buy that (but know why they said it) and told him they should be more concerned about clearing the roads as there still women and children stuck in Aru than getting their knickers in a knot about me. Gulmarg which is also a tourist town (same size dot on the map as Aru) had eight foot of snow and the roads from what I heard were cleared within a day but because they thought Aru was just full of locals it wasn’t judged to be that important.

Finally escaped the circus – quick call at the bank where the manager told me I had been mentioned on TV, radio and in the newspapers – crazy crazy – was calmed down the fact they had my age down as 35 so okay I can live with that. It was really hard saying goodbye to everyone – Nazir told me later that Gullam had been a bit unsure about me at first but because I gave him some money to take back to Rafi – he was so chuffed I didn’t forget him and said I had a good heart. One of the problems of being a quiet person is that sometimes people do get the wrong impression of you – I know I can be mardy and stroppy but essentially I am quite shy so sometimes when I do drift off into my own world people can think you are a bit strange.

The man from Srinagar had disappeared by this time once he realised that I wasn’t going to stump up for my own private jeep to whisk me back to Srinagar – it was real slow going on the road back to Anantnag at first - even though the road was clear there was only room for one-way traffic so we crawled along until we got further down the valley where you wouldn’t have believed it had snowed. Quick change of jeep in Anantnag – where I got recognised from the news stories by a couple of guys travelling with us – was so looking forward to reaching Srinagar, having a proper shower and getting my extremely wet socks off!

As we got nearer you could see that there had been a lot of flooding from the melted snow – once more to the tourist police to see the big boss. He wanted me to take tea but I was so tired and wet I just wanted to find a hotel and chill out – I did appreciate their concern but just hated the fuss and being the centre of attention. The guy asked me a few questions and then said I was a very brave lady for walking the 8k’s down the valley from Aru.

Ended up staying at an okay hotel overlooking Dal Lake – made a bit of a mistake with the shower and ended up with bucket one again though this didn’t involve going outside to collect the water but still I had been building a proper shower up in my head. Nazir had to go back to the tourist police as once more they were showing an unhealthy interest in his ID card so I stopped by the internet place to find that no one had noticed my absence for the 8 days I had been away – still I was glad no one had been worried.

Was sad in one way as I would be saying goodbye to Nazir and Kashmir in the morning but because I had such a brilliant time I had to smile and I knew that the memories of my stay would stay with me for ever – so bit of strange feeling all in all.