The Abbot and one of the young monks came out to see us leave on the final part of our outward journey to Padum, which at that time was as far as the road went from this direction.
We were early visitors to Rangdum that year and discovered no one had ever visited there on a motorcycle. The monks were very interested in the BMW. The Abbot, with a twinkle in his eye, said to us "A fine pony you have there."
To say the conditions in the Monastery were basic would be, lets say, perhaps a little over complementary. It was certainly an interesting experience and, as we were soon to discover, we left with a few irritating passengers.
3 comments:
Wow... in 1981 on a motorcycle...
Thats an adventure indeed.
I'm curious how Padum was then.
When did you guys do this ride?
In 1981 it was very wild along the road, which was nothing at all like the road shown on the various videos and photographs I have seen recently.
There was no road up from Himachel Pradesh at that time. We rode up from Srinagar to Leh, visited the Hemis festival and rode back to Kargil where we aquired a 5 gallon jerry can - I think the fuel depot was closed and we were kindly given some petrol by the local commissioner.
Everyone said it could not be done on a motorbike and that we needed a jeep. None-the-less we managed to get to Padum in three days, camping at Nun-Kun the first night and then in Rangdum the second.
There was no hotel or guest house in Padum and the local kashmir agent put us up for two or three nights - we took 2 days to get back to Kargil.
It was a little easier going back to Kargil as the melt water was just a trickle in the early part of the day and the rivers were easier to cross.
It is good to know that many bikers really enjoy the trip still.
Best regards
Peter Dewhurst
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