Lowari Pass

11th July
Another day, another horror road. At least this time it lacked some of the danger of coming down from Shandur. We climbed up and over the Lowari Pass today, the road out of Chitral was a good sealed road until we began climbing. The 43 sphincter-tightening hairpin bends weren't too bad, it was the climb over all the slips that were a strain as the undercarriage of the poor van scraped and crunched its way over the more solid rocks. More dents in that bloody water tank but still holding firm Those 43 bends were going up, going down was a little easier. People are advised not to travel on the pass at night as there have been cases of armed holdups.
There were some interesting sights: glaciers coming down to the road from where the locals cut the ice to sell to the shops in Chitral and other towns. The slip on the pass yesterday was the reason the lassi wallah had to apologise for no ice in my lassi. The sides of the valley were so steep the roof of one mud brick house is the floor of the one above. The opening of a 9km tunnel, 4 years in the making and meant to be finished next year. We met one of the Austrian engineers working on the job at the polo. This will do away with the climb.
Our good news is that it seems the road to Quetta and on to the border is now open. We will push on south now and should cross over about the 17th July.
13th July
Yesterday was a day to forget. Owing to two similar sounding names we ended up in the Swat Valley instead of on the Grand Trunk Road heading south. We took a short cut that included 3 low passes, most of it on a sealed road. Then suddenly it deteriorated to a goat track meaning we had to make do with a stop at Madan. A choice of 2 low low budget hotels, the room we were shown had a/c but no outside windows. The temp would be in the high 30's. At 8pm there was a power cut that lasted the whole night. The only window was on to the foyer where the staff slept at night. It was a shocker of a sleepless night with me having to take a hose down at some early hour. My turn for a crook gut didn't help matters.
Today we headed off early and decided to make it to Islamabad where we booked a room at the Marriott to celebrate Joan's birthday. They are putting on a birthday celebration at no expense to us. It's one of the few places that you can have an alcoholic drink as well. The room has broadband and I can therefore post a few photos that I have taken over the last week. Thre are quite a few and will go onto the 'old posts' page.
We will make up for time with a big drive tomorrow.