so we were afforded a late start of 9am .
Beautiful scenery presented all along the route and allowed for many water breaks to take it all in . The vistas were made more special when we were presented with the sweet peak that is Rakaposhi , visible all along the main sections of the Karakorum Highway .
Peter was thoroughly enjoying the surroundings and the good road until we reached Pissan , a small village about 30 kilometres short of Hunza . The road had been blocked owing to a landslide .
It had rained heavily during the night causing the land to slip , blocking the road . It wasn ’ t much alarm for us as we were awfully close to Hunza , our destination .
The size of the blockage meant we had to wait three hours before it was cleared . It was a chance to enjoy the many views and speak with others also stuck here .
Once the road was cleared , we were off , our plan to visit Minapin , a small village about 25 kilometres short of Hunza .
A five kilometre ride off the main Karakorum Highway led us to this amazing place called Diran guesthouse in Minapin where we thoroughly enjoyed the complementary apricot tea and fresh apricots from the guesthouse ’ s garden along with some French fries .
The claim to fame of this guesthouse is that a track from this place goes to the Rakaphoshi Base camp and onto then on to the summit . From Minapin it only took us about an hour to reach our hotel at Hunza .
With seemingly an addiction Bilal and I took the Vespas to the Karimabad market to get more apricots , albeit dried before we took a car with Peter to the Duikar viewing point to watch the sunset . Duikar being the highest point of the Hunza Valley at 9,000 feet and boasts some exceptional views .
The following morning , we started at around 8am as we had to cover merely 90 Kilometres during the day and although short the day promised to have a lot install for us .
Reaching Attabad Lake we took a boat ride which lasted around half an hour and as always it was a spell binding experience , with tall mountains on both sides and clear turquoise waters , the experience was unmatched .
Soon following the lake , we rode into a small village called Gulmit and stopped at the Marco Polo Inn for cold drinks . The staff were very courteous and extended us the invitation to visit a museum which was being maintained nearby . They were kind enough to welcome us into the home of a local resident who showed us around his place to give us an overview of how the locals live . It was an incredible experience and a very pleasant stop .
Our plan was to stop at Hussaini Village , where we parked our Vespas on the roadside , asked for directions to the nearby newly developed tea stall and started walking towards the famous Hussaini Suspension Bridge .
It ’ s quite a long rope bridge which seems quite dangerous , however is extremely scenic and the locals use it to move to and from Hussaini Village to other villages to the east of the river .
It was a short 10-minute hike to the bridge and after some pictures and experiencing a couple of steps on the bridge we headed back to where our Vespas were parked . We sat at the Tea Stall had tea and the most incredible Dowdo soup which is an old traditional soup made of homemade noodles .
After enjoying the soup and phenomenal views we proceeded to another major attraction of the area ; the Passu Cones also known as Passu Cathedral .
The ride was as comfortable as possible and the Vespas seemed to be enjoying the environment . We were again afforded another incredible view of the Passu Cones at the Ambassador Hotel , that consumed another 30 minutes of our time . Thick clouds were forming when we finally moved on at around 5pm .
A sense of urgency crept over us as we wanted to avoid rain , we still had 38 kilometres to reach Sost , and we still needed to see the Boltoro Glacier .
Heavy cross winds buffeted us as we reached Khyber , another small village 15 kilometres from Sost . Our little Vespas were being blown in all directions , yet the rain still hadn ’ t arrived and thirty minutes later we reached our destination just as light drizzle began to fall .
It had been an awesome day with brilliant scenery throughout the ride . We inspected the Vespas as soon as the rain stopped , cleaned up , had dinner , and called it a night as the next day was the most important one which was to lead us to the apex of our whole trip .
The final day would see us ride from about 12,000 to 15,357 feet and back covering around 176 kilometres . It was still raining from previous night when we started our day ’ s ride at around 6am . The wind chill was quite something to contend with . We had to rely totally on our mental toughness to bear the harsh and unsupportive conditions .
To cater for the lack of oxygen at the high altitude we kept munching on dried apricots that we had bought from Hunza . It took us about two hours to cover 50 kilometres and although we were aptly dressed , the cold was still quite unbearable . We needed to stop at a checkpoint .
The officers stationed here were kind enough to invite us inside and warm up alongside the stove . Extremely appreciative , they also gave us hot tea . The kind hospitality meant we stayed for around half an
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