Day 158 Thursday 22 February 2007 Karimabad to Gilgit, Pakistan

We decide there’s not much sense in hanging about in Hunza, so we drive and walk up to the Baltit fort, perched high above the town. The fort has recently been restored, with the living quarters of the former Mir (or ruler) well preserved. It dates back some 900 years and has seen battles of all sorts, particularly with the neighbouring Nagyrs who lived on the south side of the river, largely in shadow. However when they weren’t fighting each other they joined forces to plunder the caravans heading over the pass between Kashmir and central Asia or continued the tradition of murdering their fathers brothers and cousins to become Mir.

The fort has fabulous views over the valley and the soaring mountains which appear to be bleak and totally inhospitable. The countryside is strange, small parcels of land surrounded by dry stone walls and lines of poplars, with water channels built along the sheer mountain sides to funnel water to the village for irrigation. The channels which form horizontal lines high on the valley sides, supported on dry stone embankments and in places wooden troughs clinging to the bare rock are a feat of ancient engineering and the only way in which this arid stony area can support any population. Elsewhere the landscape is one of stone and rock and snow, with the river deeply incised in the conglomerate valley floor. In places the river has cut hundreds of metres into the conglomerate leaving great cliffs rising to the flat land above which is mostly alluvial fans spreading almost horizontally from the base of the sheer mountain sides. The mountains themselves have the most amazing jagged outlines, like no others we have seen, so steep that the snow doesn’t stick. In places there are glaciers some of which reach almost to the road, and massive scree slopes.

We drive north up the valley to Passu where we see two large glaciers set amongst barren lunar landscape almost totally devoid of vegetation or colour apart from the turquoise Hunza river. Its cold and desolate, there’s virtually no traffic apart from the occasional goat herder. We come across some yak and decide since we are not going to China 100km further on its time to head back. We reach Gilgit and return to the Serena for a comfortable night watching Top Gear.

Distance today 216km; Total distance 23,603km