A Bridge too far
- 8th of September
- Keylong - Tandi - Keylong
- 14km
We spoke to some BRO engineers we met at breakfast. They were the most authoritative source of information we had found so far. They maintained that it would be a week at least, probably much more before the bridge was navigable. Bad news, bad news. We had to be in Delhi by the 11th. No slippage, since Prashi’s & Ranga’s flights were on the 12th, and Chaithra’s was on 13th.
There was a small ferry of sorts across the river, hauled to either side by a system of ropes. It’s called a Jhula or cradle, and seats two grown men uncomfortably. Not only couldn’t it carry our bikes across, there was also a 5 hour long queue on either side to use the damn contraption. We spent the rest of the day researching alternate routes. Among those considered were:
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Back up to Suraj Tal, across Baralacha La, down to Kumzum La via Chandra Tal, then Lichu, Batal, Gramphu, Rohtang La and Manali.
Distance: 200km to Manali, and 480 to Delhi from there.
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A marathon run, back the way we came. Leh, Kargil, Srinagar, Pathankot and back to Delhi.
Distance: nearly 2000km, I guess
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To Tandi, and on to Udaipur. The locals claimed that the BRO had just cut two roads out from Udaipur, one towards Jammu and the other towards Chamba. These were not on any map, and all we knew about them was hearsay.
Distance: entirely unknown
There wasn’t much to choose from. The first route was closed, since there were many landslides near Kumzum La. The second was simply too much to be done in 3 days. It would have been pushing it beyond endurance levels. By nightfall, we were all set to ride into the unknown. I rode back to Tandi to fill up my can too, since I had little idea how much farther we had to go before refueling.
By now, the number of stranded travellers at Keylong had doubled, and most were waiting for the bridge to get fixed. A few were also set to go back the Leh-Srinagar way. The Tandi pump’s diesel had now been long exhausted, and that left many with little choice.