This was another big day with a lot of climbing. The road was mostly quite good and the traffic light. Going through towns livens things up and is just as wild and lawless as Indian towns. There is a new motorway that can be sometimes seen from this the Karakoram Highway, and it looks very impressive. It is Chinese built and will eventually go up to the border.
In the meantime they (the Chinese) are constructing 2 enormous dams on the Indus in Kohistan. They live in enormous compounds and have almost no contact with Pakistanis. Some of the security issues no doubt have to do with these projects, as well as the terrible state of the highway in places.
Nice stay in Chattar Plain at a “motel”.
I was shattered though when I did arrive at the motel and I am sure Strava got the elevation gain wrong.
Chattar Plain to Besham was another very nice ride and along the way met the grand Indus River which I am still following as I write this, hundreds of kilometers later. Along the way I was interviewed in Urdu for a Pakistani tv station. I hope I can add this video here.
There was a point where the KKH meets the new motorway and I was let through by the police. It was glorious, as good as the best roads of Spain. Then came a 650 meter tunnel where the police asked me to get out my front light, and they drove their car behind me. That super road didn’t last long, but it was fun.
In Besham I stayed in a decent hotel and was able to wash my clothes.
