So we left Delhi on time but before that here is just one last picture of Delhi (Connaught Place):

This is typical not just of Delhi but of most places we have been, the dogs laze around all day and then go scavenging in the human detritus during the night.

So anyway we left Delhi bright and early in dense fog, so dense we could hardly see the road and we certainly couldn’t see any road signs. What ensued was an entertaining hour as we negotiated our way through the suburbs and onto the highway, somehow we managed to go via the grounds of a very large hospital but finally we found the highway and were on our way.

This was one of the funniest things we have seen in ages, it doesn’t show too well in the picture but the little white mass on top of the bus is a sheep. Every time the bus changed direction the sheep did a quick reset, he didn’t appear to be tied down at all and his balance was as good as Nadia Comāneczi in her heyday:

We had a pretty uneventful day albeit on some of the most terrible roads which seemed to be home to half the world’s monkeys (none of which bit Leishia!). We stayed in a small hotel in the evening and were royally treated by the staff, they couldn’t do enough for us, here they are:

 The manager is Jitender Singh.

The next morning we went through the Kangra valley, the first thing we came across was outdoor school assembly:

This narrow gauge railway runs through the valley and seems to be home to the other half of the world’s monkeys!

We soon arrived at Kangra fort which is very impressive and appeared impregnable (although we subsequently found it wasn’t):

There were a series of seven gates leading to the main keep, I took photos of all of them but I won’t bore you, here are a couple:

and the view from the top:

After the fort we made our way to McLeod Ganj, the home in exile of the Dalai Lama which I had been really looking forward to visiting. It turned out to be much ado about nothing, a fairly untidy straggle of buildings on a hillside:

It’s supposed to be the last thing in yoga, meditation and all things Buddhist, perhaps we’re just not ready!

Anyway we had a tea in a small cafe (Cafe Illiterati) run by a Belgian in exile and left!

We saw a few more interesting sights along the way like this shrine in the river:

and having endured yet more terrible roads arrived in Udhampur where we stayed the night.

Udhampur has little to commend it apart from our host, Mrs Anoop who was the last word in hospitality:

The next morning we were on the final leg to Srinagar with some lovely sights along the way:

There is a the tunnel at the border of Jammu and Kashmir:

That’s not it but it is a tunnel!

Right after the border we had to fill in papers in a very pleasant little roadside hut, here is Leishia befriending the local constabulary:

Just after the tunnel and the paperwork we finally reached the Kashmir valley:

Unfortunately it was a hazy day so we couldn’t see the distant mountains but they were there!

Once we reached the state of Kashmir we started to see the Pakistani flag being flown:

There was also a significant military presence but we decided not to photograph them!

By around 4pm we had reached Srinagar and set about finding somewhere to stay, most people like to stay on a houseboat on Dal Lake but we decided against that, too cold!

So after three eventful days we arrived in Srinagar, little did we know that the next three days would be far more eventful – but that’s another story!