Our journey reached Udhampur on Day1 after munching 700 Kms, first day was highly challenging because of hot summer, but we are excited now as it will be beautiful landscape and soothing temperatures from here.
We all were new to a journey this long and nobody knew that there is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode and it started to smell on day 2 from Udhampur to Srinagar.
THE SMELL BEGINS
After having a good night sleep in Udhampur, we were all excited to begin our journey towards Srinagar, Sonmarg. Our day 2 destination was Sonmarg(Sonamarg).
Sonmarg (Sonamarg) is the ancient silk route of ancient India. This is one place which I call heaven on earth. It is my personal best, keep reading future blogs and you will know why.
Sonmarg is the day2 destination but, it is never our plan when God has his plan in action.
Journey from Udhampur to Sonmarg is approximately 260 Kms. We started our journey from Udhampur to Sonmarg, it was all going fine with some traffic in Banihal, we managed to cross it in time and decided to stop for lunch, 30 Kms ahead of Srinagar.
HIMALAYAN COULD NOT START
We had our lunch and were all geared up for the rest of the day. I along with other 5 started our bikes and begin towards Srinagar except for one, whose bike just could not start. He was pushing the start button but bike could not start, a short engine sound and pin drop silence afterwards.
It is a Royal Enfield Himalayan 411, bought in 2021, she is fairly new just like mine. But, it could not start. This is not the first time it had this issue. It had a similar problem in the past but, was solved by itself after a while. But, this time, it is almost 1 hour and bike just could not start.
We contacted Road Side Assistance (RSA), however, it was a Sunday and all workshops seems to be closed and we had not help from RSA.
LOCAL YOUTHS WERE GREAT HELP in the journey
As we were stuck in middle of the road, some local youths come for our help, 2 of them were very keen and seems a bit passionate both about bikes and helping people. They tried their hand however, it did not help us much. However, we were very impressed with their efforts.
They were even keen to get us till Srinagar which was not far from there.
PULL THE BULL
Himalayan 411 is a heavy bull, the bike itself weighs 200 Kgs and with long trip lugguage over it it was somewhere between 230 to 250 Kgs in weight. No way, any body could drag it on their feets.
Srinagar was not far, we decided to pull the bike with another bike and to try our luck in Srinagar. We tied the bike with another bike which will be pulling it and started our journey towards Srinagar.
THE Surprising Fall OF RIDERS
Pulling seems to work for some time however, just after few kilometers, both the bikes collide and stalled as the leading biker could not drag the HImalayan on a busy junction and stalled, along with that the following Himalayan also stalled.
Luckily, there were no major injuries except a pulled ankel and a wounded hand. Whether it was the fall or anything else, but to our surprise the Himalayan could get started after the fall.
Therefore, we continued our journey towards Srinagar with all seven bikes up and running.
THE EXPLOSION
Finally, we reached Srinagar, however the Himalayan again stopped and could not start. Moreover, the rear tyre of the bike was punctured. It was already evening and there is no way we could continue our journey. It was a complete halt and we decided to stay in Srinagar.
Once again we called the RSA and it was decided to take the bike to the service center for a complete check. The RSA would tow the bike to the nearest Srinagar service center.
The service center would open next day around 8:30 AM, which means we all have to stay at least till afternoon until the bike became fully fit.
STAY IN SRINAGAR
We looked up for a hotel in Srinagar, near the famous Lal chowk and just 2 Kms from Dal lake. Hoping that Day 3 would be better and we could reach Sonmarg the next day, we all had our dinner at the Lal chowk market. According to local hotel care taker, the place was not safe for our bikes.
Therefore, he parked our bikes right in front of the hotel gate (Hotel Sharjah) with some backup of camera eyes. We were worried but, too tired to think of anything else and slept in the hotel with a hope that next day would be all fine.
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