June 18, 2016
to Saspol - 3145m: stuggling with two climbs
"I could see shortcuts, but this is safer" Patrick says as we scrambled up what looked like a path up the rocky side to the old fort. We retreat and find the correct path to the caves. The day started with a scramble to get out of Leh on the old fort road.
It is just the two of us again today, Dan does not have enough time to cycle all the way to Srinagar with us. He will take a bus to Srinagar and on to Delhi for his flight back home next week. We enjoyed having Dan along on the ride from Keylong. He is also taking almost 300gb of digital photos home for us so we can make room on our hardrive for the next stage.
We leave town at about 7:30am. Dan has risen early to wave us goodbye. The route we choose leads downhill to the airport, but the road is under construction and it is slow going until we reach the main road again. After about 10km of downhill, just past the airport, we climb away from the Indus River to cross a huge alluvial fan. Army bases are stretched out along both sides of the highway. After reaching the highpoint we descend back to the Indus River and see the confluence with the Zanskar river. In Nimmu we take a break and eat one of the apflelstrudels (Apple strudel) we picked up in Leh. Our panniers are packed with goodies we know we won’t be able to find the next week to Srinagar.
A few kilometers of flat through a nice green valley full of Tibetan houses, then starts a climb up to the next alluvial fan. The Indus River has carved itself a way through it, but the valley walls are so steep and unstable that the road needs to go over the rubble. At Basgo we start with a series of switchbacks, then a long fairly steep climb on the plain before reaching the next high point. We struggle with a headwind. Just as we start the downhill we meet a cyclist from Seattle, but he still has a long way to go to Leh and is in a hurry. We met his buddy yesterday in Leh, the guy had fallen ill and took a ride.
At the bottom of the downhill we reach Saspol and find the very nice Tongyok Guesthouse. The people are very friendly, the place is immaculate and we are served a nice cup of hot tea upon arrival. Saspol is a pretty village spread out in the narrow green valley. Above the irrigated land are steep dry cliffs with a ruined castle and a line of caves. We hike on narrow paths through the fields towards the cliffs. The valley is flood irrigated, narrow canals take the water down past the terraced fields. The flood irrigation reminds us of home.
The American cyclist recommended us to surely don’t miss the “cave with the red door”, and he is right. Inside are very old wall paintings in beautiful colors. We are not sure, but it does look like someone went through with a sharpie and put some sharp lines over the figures. The caves are excavated in a cliff of river rocks and sand and erosion is taking its toll. A retaining wall has been built last year trying to slow down the calving of the hillside and preserve the caves for a few more generations.
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Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 18,232 km (11,322 miles)
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