Cycling through Canal de la Deûle

Hello mes amies,

I'm writing after a long break. To be specific, after 1.5 years.  The last blog was on my Kashmir trekking experience and now I'm back with another amazing experience. This time it is about France. 

A sunny day is probably one of the most anticipated thing when you are in Northern France, especially in Lille! And ever since sun has started to show it's face in the month of March, I'm trying to be outdoors with my cycle as much as I can. 

I have been planning to cross the France-Belgium border in "mon velo" (my bicycle) for a very long time and in fact attempted twice already. The first one was a disaster which I want to forget! The second attempt was not so bad but not so great too. So to make things easier, I gifted myself a brand new cycle from Btwin, exclusively for this adventure. Some motivation that is!

Reaching Belgium border from Lille is not as hard as it sounds like. You only need to follow the canal which flows through the Citadel (in Lille). This canal is called "Canal de la Deûle". It starts in Bauvin (Northern France) and flows all the way to Belgium, covering some of the most beautiful landscapes. For more details on this canal, please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_de_la_Deûle

So, here I start my journey on a beautiful Saturday sunny morning with my husband, Shreeni. Items checked:

• Water bottle (with water of course)
• Sun glasses (aah, it feels like a luxury to put on sunglasses in Lille!)
• Snacks (petite cakes, snickers, blah blah blah)
• Phone (fully charged)
• Umbrella (you never ever know when it will rain)
• Some euros which I'm left with
• Last but not the least - iPod with my favorite playlist!

Get set and go! Here is the journey through pictures.

Starting from Lille

Canal de Rouaix. This spot is so relaxing and beautiful. One of my favorite spots in this trip. All those little ducks and "petite" houses make it a perfect treat to the eyes.

At Canal de Roubaix

Once you cross Canal de Roubaix, it is better to cross the big bridge (which comes next). Otherwise, the path will have many tram rails, slippery ones. Soon you reach the swan paradise, Wambrechies! I love love love this place! Super cute with it's small cafes, bars, restaurants, swans. What more do I want??!!

At Wambrechies. Are these paper boats?

Woo hoo

Any time is snap time

Chocolate chaud-ing

Wambrechies was the first break to grab some food and drinks (other than for photos). Next break point would be Quesnoy.

At Quesnoy

The journey from Quesnoy towards Deulemont is full of breathtaking landscapes. If you take any detours, it gets even better. Here are some random shots taken. It's not the destination, but the journey that matters the most. Somebody's quote it is and that is so true!

At this point, the crosswinds were so strong and I was quite struggling to cycle anymore. So we decide to go slow so that we are not exhausted. At the same time, it is more fun to chat and cycle rather than speeding. So I go slow-slow-slow. And sooner than I expected, we reached Porte de Deulemont! Woohoo! That happy moment on seeing the resto-bar!

At Porte de Deulemont cafe

Lunch, snacks, drink, whatever, I'm tired and hungry!

In no time, we reach T-junction! Here, one path takes you to Belgique and one path goes to Frelingien (within France). 

Celebrating at the T-junction bridge! 

River Lys

First things first! Explore Belgium for sometime and then Frelingien.

Now we come back to the T-junction and head to Frelingien.

Now, wind up and return! Miles to go before we reach home! 

My dear velo!

And my favorite song in my playlist goes on... "Doore doore... neeyay paaye..." (From Dulquer's Neelakasham)

With every muscle in my body breaking & aching, I still felt a huge sense of achievement and positive energy rushing through me! Chasing your dream is absolutely worth because the joy of the dream coming true is priceless. 

The only thing is, when I write this blog, I have already lost my dearest velo (stolen) and that hurts. But sometime soon, I will manage to gift myself a new one. How else can I write many more cycle diaries? :)

Thanks for reading. À bientôt!

Kashmir Great Lakes Trek - As it happened - Day 6

Day 6 - Gangbal to Naranag and back to Srinagar - The last day of the trek

5, 6, 7 schedule. Today we don't have to unpitch our tents. This is because the group which is staying back will take care of this. Bags packed, group pictures taken, thanked all the members of India Hikes. An emotional morning. Yes we know that we will miss this place. This group. But that is life.

This could be the last day of the trek, but noone said it is the easiest day! It starts with crossing a narrow little bridge/ plank across a river (Or may be a large stream. I'm not very sure.) But there is a queue to cross. A queue of sheeps and then us. Here is the picture taken by Swaraj.

As we queue behind the sheeps and their shepherd, I spot this baby lamb! Cute little lamb! I really want to grab it but the guardian dog behind it does not allow anyone to approach the lamb. We came to know from the shepherd that the lamb is just 5 days old! Which means it was born when we started this trek! Amazing! Itsy-bitsy lamb. Super cute!

We walk past some beautiful meadows. Clicking pictures, trying to absorb as much as our eyes could. Each one of us is in love with this beautiful valley, these mountains. I have heard that doing a mountain trek can change your perspective towards life. It can help you find answers to many questions in life. This could be true. Yes I did this trek just for fun, but may be for someone who is looking for answers in life, this trek might have helped.

We walk through the meadows and pine forests for hours. Civilization is just few miles away.

Meanwhile, Farooq bhai who is our trek leader/ guide for the day mentioned that we will soon reach a dhabha where we can have some food. This is one thing which is keeping us going. Everytime we asked him how far the dhabha is, his answer is - it is 5-10mins from now. The '5-10 mins' has been happening for quite a while now and already it is more than an hour. There is no sight of the dhabha.

The day is not easy like we expected. The sun is hitting hard on us. I can feel the sunburns. I am getting drained out. Feeling very very exhausted. The day is turning out to be more challenging than the previous days! This was not the expectation! Very soon we start into steep descents. Slippery ones. Very dry and dusty. But the hope to see the dhabha keeps us going. After hours of long walk, we see THE DHABHA!

The tea and the noodles served here taste like exotic dishes due to our extreme hunger levels! Some of us get mobile signals here. First feel of digital world after a week.

We resume our trek really quick. This descent was no less than an ordeal. The trail was really steep and very dusty and slippery. My both knees start hurting a lot. My energy getting drained out. Farooq bhai comes to my rescue. He takes me through a shortcut which is helpful in one way and in another way hurting my knees more as the shortcut is steeper. But I have no choice. We descent and descent and descent for hours. Many times I slip and fall. My feet moves like a robot. I'm not in my control. That is the level of my exhaustion.

At around 2:45 pm, with great assistance from Farooq bhai, I reach the base point at Naranag! Yes I completed the KGL trek! Time to forget all the pain and just rejoice! With every muscle in the body breaking and hurting I feel so happy and satisfied for successfully completing the trek. Yes, I'm proud of myself.

All of us have a quick lunch and head towards Srinagar. Within few hours we reach Srinagar where we get into our respective house boats. The next day there is a strike in Srinagar as a protest against the beef ban. There is only one agenda for all - relax.

This trek has taught me to appreciate small things in life. My house feels so much more luxurious now than ever. A bed to sleep feels like something precious. A simple shower never felt so good. Overall, this trek taught that life can come in a bag. You really do not need a lot to enjoy life if you have health and the right people. Yes, I will return to the mountains with a better stamina. Health is wealth and this trek proved it.  I will think twice before I complain about minor things in life. World will not come to and end if kaamwaali-bhai (maid) doesn't turn up for one day. World will not come to an end if that beige color dress which I was eyeing for a long time went out of stock in the mall.

Mountains did not teach me how to be lazy, they taught me to appreciate simple things around me. They teach you to be humble. Ego melts down. Can't believe I learnt so much in this one week.

So what is that which makes us go for high altitudes? Why take such high risks with the mountains? So this is my experience. The mountains stand tall roaring at us. You cannot tame them. All you can do is strike a deal with them. Pretty much everything about mountains is unpredictable. So it gives you that high-octane experience with adrenaline rushing through your body. There is a slight chance of losing sanity while going for extreme adventures. There is also a chance for calamities. But it is your choice. You chose it and go for it. That is the fun of being adventurous.

Here is the crew from India Hikes. Pictures taken by Adithya/Deepak.

Dushyant - Our Leader

 Farooq bhai - Djokovic look-alike

Javed bhai - Guiding us all the way

Ravi - The cowboy

Mountain's child Shravan bhai with Javed bhai

Making some noise in the kitchen - Mumtaz aka Ratta

Someone rightly said, it is the journey that matters more than the destination. See my journey in the form of a video. Keep your speakers on for a better experience.

https://studio.stupeflix.com/v/RukArfTkjTPk/

Kashmir Great Lakes Trek - As it happened - Day 5

Day 5: Zach Pass and Gangbal-Nundkol twin lakes

Having a partially injured knee can bring your enthusiasm down when you are in a trek like KGL. This was happening to me. As far as the landscape was concerned I really want to enjoy the entire trek to it's fullest. As far as physical conditions are concerned, 50% of my energy level was getting drained away in managing my leg. I even talked to Ravi to find a way to skip Day 5 and start descending to Naranag. But I was told that there is only one way to reach Naranag - complete this trek. Okay so I need to go with the flow. Also we were told that today was the last day with ascends. And the next day which is the last day is going to be much easier than today. So it was all about gathering some energy and tackling this day.

The trek for the day starts with ascending through a whole bunch of boulders. Okay so my knee is in a certain situation. And I need to ascend through boulders. Seriously?! But out of nowhere I got this energy. It was like lightening struck me! I started playing around with these boulders and lo and behold, I'm running through the boulders! I am having fun, super fun! This is not boring like the normal ascends which we have been doing. This one is tricky and fun. I thoroughly enjoyed the climb, in fact my run, and reached the top in no time. I could not believe myself! WOW! I felt like a hero!

This was followed by more ascends (the normal ones) which I struggled. I guess I was in love with boulders but not with normal slopes. We reached the last pass of our trek - The Zach Pass.  Yet another mind-blowing view! We could see the twin lakes of Gangbal-Nundkol and also 2 more lakes (whose name I cannot recollect). Another victory moment. I guess we were at 11,800 ft above sea level now.

By now I have completely forgotten about my knee. From here we had to go through a very steep descent. It was very tricky given that the path had loose rocks. Boulders are fun and safe as they are big and chunky. So you can land on them safely. Loose rocks are very tricky. You can slip if you land on them carelessly. You need to focus a lot while descending through a narrow path with loose and sharp rocks. Hence all of us together walk quietly. Focus, focus, focus. For some reason my legs are unstoppable. Anurag, one of our trek mate, helped me in certain tricky situations.

Pretty exhausting descent. It is amazing how locals, who are not wearing any kind of shoes, glide through these slopes. I saw one old local lady who took minutes to descent through this slope. Experience cannot be beaten!

Steep descent comes to and end and we take a short break for our lunch. We click some pictures here. Adithya had pointed out some wild flowers. Interesting ones. Also we spot some garden lizards. Weird creatures! I am super scared of these reptiles!

Soon trek resumes. My legs are again unstoppable. Descend, descend and more descend. Then we cross a small stream and there is a pretty meadow. This is followed by an ascend again which drains away a whole lot of energy from me. This is followed by a meadow walk. We can already see those orange tents, our campsite! On almost all the days, campsite always sounded like a myth. This is because even after walking for hours together, the campsite was just not possible to be spotted.

Any campsite will have a huge obstacle to cross and today was no different. Yet another hurdle created by some boulders. Again I jump around and in record time reach the campsite! It was just 1:35 PM! Wow! Dushyant had estimated 3.30-4 PM. Me, hubby and few others were very well ahead of time! Moment of happiness!

We get enough time to take rest, unpack our rucksacks, munch some snacks, have a cup of tea etc. The group was pretty relaxed as the trek is almost coming to an end. There are no more campsites to conquer. Guys in the group take this opportunity to take a dip at a nearby lake. Pretty cool experience they might have had.

Our campsite is at the foot of Mount Harmukh. This one has some religious beliefs associated to it. It is believed to be the abode of Lord Shiva. Below pictures are taken by the avid photographer of the group - Deepak.

I and hubby spend some time at the lake shore. The Nundkol lake is sapphire in color, pristine and very attractive. A soothing experience. Another beautiful evening to remember.

As I said in the beginning, half of us had not really registered for KGL. It just happened that our original plan got cancelled and we were put into this. For us, this is the last campsite and the next day we are descending back and returning to Srinagar. The original KGL group is staying back and they can enjoy their rest day.

Dushyant arranged for another fun evening to share our KGL trekking experience. Also he distributed our KGL Trek completion certificates. Proud moment!

This was followed by something very special. The next day, i.e., Sept 11th, I & hubby are celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary. A pretty interesting date to remember. In fact it is for the anniversary that we planned to do this trek. During a conversation we had conveyed this to the group as well. Also our trek mate, Shikha, was celebrating her birthday on the same day. All of a sudden a beautifully decorated cake appears! OMG! India Hikes has arranged a cake for us! To celebrate our wedding anniversary as well as Shikha's birthday! This was unbelievable! How can someone bake a cake in between these mountains? Kudos to the chef!

Cutting cake in the middle of mountains has been the most special moment I can remember till date! Thanks a ton India Hikes!

So our trek was coming to an end. This is the last day in our respective tents. I go to sleep with mixed feelings. I'm pretty relieved that I'm going back and hence my legs can relax. But I was sure that I will these mountains and the people! One more beautiful day to remember.