Islamabad and Lahore


Islamabad here we come


Abbottobad to Islamabad in one day is our challenge today. It’s really hot and humid now with temperature reported at 43 degrees. Not great for trying to haul a 45 kilo touring bike 75 miles on uneven roads. Motorways are not an option for us. 

We passed many interesting sights as we plugged away at about 12 miles an hour, things as diverse as some horrible smoky smelly brickworks, a guy who we helped bump start his bus and one a guy with a small scythe and a wheelbarrow happily harvesting cannabis plants, they were growing wild out here. He gave us a big smile and a wave and even posed for a photograph. 

Every day brings so many adventures. That night exhausted but at least in Islamabad we called up a guy Pedr met in Tajikistan. He happened to the the Vice President of the National bank of Pakistan and was based in Islamabad. He immediately agreed to take us for drinks out at the Margalla hills (snake hill). This ‘hill’ at 5,262 feet is a great place to sip fruit juice and look out over the flat city of Islamabad. Yes four weeks and not even a beer. No alcohol here except some dodgy back garage “Hunza water” which we decided not to try. The ‘drinking water' made us sick so risking Hunza water seemed like a bad idea!!

Islamabad from Margalla Hills












Islamabad to Lahore

It was getting hotter all the time as we cycled south to lower altitudes, Lahore averaged about 4 degrees hotter and more humid than Islamabad. Our British bodies were not coping well with cycling hard and long in the heat. 

We agreed it was necessary to stay in hotels with air conditioning although that was not easy to do because none existed between the cities and with 200 miles to cover from Islamabad to Lahore we were not going to make it in one, or even two days. We were glad when one of the by now regular selfie takers offered us a room in his house for the night in Jhelum. 

Unfortunately I had been emotionally forced to take a roadside freshly squeezed orange just along the way and it proved to be a very bad idea. That night was spent on the bathroom tiled floor trying to keep cool with a bucket of water continually being sick from both ends wasn’t great. The next day we decamped to the dire ‘Tulip’ hotel, the best that Jhelum had to offer to recover. 

My stuttering cycle from there to Lahore was a challenge despite setting off at first light, I just didn’t have the energy reserves to do the 75 or so miles we needed that day, so I caught a lift for the last 35 miles in a truck. I needed a fully working digestion engine to power my bike that far! 


Miles of straight hot road

Dodgy orange juce stop!

The road stench from trash, rotting rubbish and dead animals was overpowering at times and the number of the flys together with the hot dry dusty roads and manic traffic didn’t help with the motivation to continue cycling with a dodgy tummy either.

We booked a tour of Lahore months ago, it was a visa requirement from our local sponsor ‘travel agent’. So with humidity hitting 85% and at peak afternoon heat the tuk tuk ride from hotel to the walled city was worse than a bike saddle ride on a bucking donkey. Nevertheless the Lahore walled city and food tour proved fun. Somebody else organising us was a novel treat too! 

The food choice and variety was much better here and the Mosque towers gave a great view of the flat busy disorganised streets of Lahore.

Enjoying the Tuk Tuk ride!
Gateway to the Walled city of Lahore
View from the top of a minaret in the Lahore Mosque









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to Abbottobad...

Image
Welcome to Abbottobad   Mohamad welcomed us to Abbottabad with joy and excitement although the city was really overcrowded with rubbish all over the road, was very dirty, quite in contrast to the beautiful mountains we had been through.   Mohamad’s mother father and sister were all welcoming and very interesting. We learned a lot through conversations with them all. It’s great to be able to talk openly with such intelligent and interesting people in a place so strange and interesting to us like Abbottobad.   Pakistanis are very proud of their nuclear missile capability to such an extent that this roundabout had a missile on it. There were also a number of Indian military hardware items we assumed that were captured, like a helicopter and a tank. Quite strange to us but there are clearly a lot of problems between India and Pakistan. It is of course famous for being Bin Larden’s home/operation centre and interesting was only a few streets ...
Read more

On my way to Bishkek..

Image
Heathrow Terminal 3 Rachie the check in lady, you know the, ‘been there seen it all’ type, began to stumble, having clearly never come across a Charlesworth before.  Adopting a pert position on her stool and curiosity clearly getting the better of her, she asked what’s in the box??.  Well a bicycle was clearly not computing very well because the immediate follow up, pitched a few octaves higher was, “a bicycle in Dubai?” Then checking my ticket, oh where is FRU? Ah yes that’ll be Bishkek. The bags garnered attention too with, where’s your suitcase? and then as if clarification was needed, your bags are a bit well, unusual. I enjoyed embellishing “The bicycle and suitcase” scenario and yes really the panniers were all I could cary for two months which brought a somewhat unbelieving, oh ok (with a look that said you are clearly as mad as a hatter). My 42 kilogram load however was 12kilos over the limit and it took all my charm to reduce the excess baggage cost of ...
Read more