Route
Srinagar → Doodhpatri → Tangmarg → Gulmarg → Sopore → Bandipore → Razdan Pass → Gurez → Tulail → Srinagar → Pahalgam → Daksum → Aru → Betaab → Srinagar

Highlights

The meadows at Doodhpatri, and kahwa by a stream at Tangmarg.

The Gulmarg gondola, with views all around.

Razdan Pass, and the long light coming into Gurez.

Tulail valley out to the Chakwali post.

Khanqah and Jamia Masjid in the Srinagar old city.

Martand Surya temple on the way to Pahalgam.

Aru and Betaab valleys, and the Shalimar gardens on the last evening.

Food Along the Way

Wazwan at Mughal Darbar, Srinagar.

Kahwa near Gulmarg and Tangmarg, more than once.

Nihari and kabab at Khayam Chowk.

Harissa hunting and bakery hopping on a drizzly Srinagar morning.

Trout at a local inn in Pahalgam, and farm to fork grilled trout at Daksum in fifteen minutes flat.

Pizza at Cafe Wilo, and chai and Maggi in the room.

Notes from the Ride

You land in Srinagar and the valley starts working on you before you have even got to the bike.

Seven riding days and 1000 km, on a loop that never really leaves the valley — Doodhpatri, Gulmarg, over the Razdan Pass into Gurez, back out, then south to Pahalgam and Daksum. On paper it is a small ride. In practice each valley is walled off from the next, and getting between them costs a pass and most of a day.

Gurez was the far point, and getting there was the ride: the gondola at Gulmarg in the morning, then north and up, through the checkpoint at Razdan and down into a valley that runs towards the Line of Control and stops. It was eight in the evening by the time I got in, and the light was still kind.

Not everything opened. Sinthan Top and Margan were shut at the Daksum checkpoint, which turned a pass into an afternoon by a stream and a grilled trout that had been in the water fifteen minutes earlier, five metres away. Aru was rained off one day and made up the next.

The rest of it, honestly, was food. Wazwan on the first afternoon. Harissa and bakery hopping in the drizzle. Nihari at Khayam Chowk at nine at night. Kahwa at every hour, including the ones you should not be drinking anything at.

Snow on the passes, apple orchards under them, and trout somewhere in between.

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