Weekend away part 4 - stuck in the mud

For the next part of our adventure we decided to take a drive down this little jeep track descending into Gittidas - this large area of green pasture at the head of the valley.  As always, click the pics to view them full size - it's usually well worth it!

Looking down into Gittidas.

This little road was awesome, and driving down it was kinda hair-raising.  The
road-builders have obviously just rearranged the scree slope a bit, using the
stones they take from the left side to build up the right side like a dry-stane dyke.

Our borrowed Land Cruiser coped quite happily with rocks and streams...

...but was less happy when we discovered this bit was a little deeper and a little
more slippery than we had anticipated.  Jimmy and I did some experimental
attempts at going forward and back, and trying to get some flat stones under
the wheels.  Trouble was, we appeared to have driven off the edge of a sort of
ledge of harder ground, upon which our spare tyre and rear diff were grounded.
A couple of local guys turned up and we had a go at jacking up the back of
the car in another attempt at getting some stones under the wheels.  We gave
up and they wandered on.

This is where we started to wonder things like "how far back were the last
people we saw?" and "how many hours of daylight do we have left? and "how
cold do you think it gets here at night?"

Actually, there were a surprising number of people passing by.  We recalled
having seen a tractor working further back down the valley, so after a bite to
eat Jimmy (with his superior language skills) hiked off to find some locals.

In the meantime we weren't short of things to look at.  Several lone guys came
past at intervals, and enquired how we were doing.  Being the man, I had to do
the communicating guessing what they were saying and trying to explain that
yes we did have someone else with us and he'd gone down the valley to bring a
tractor.  One guy said we should get some wood to lever the back of the car up.

Suppressing my doubts about the likelihood of finding any wood in this tree-
less part of the valley, I followed him to some patches of scree where he thought
he might have seen some.  After a while of scrabbling around and moving rocks
back and forward, he declared/gestured that it probably under this patch of ice
and snow and would therefore be difficult to extract.  I thanked him for his help
and he shouldered his pack (which appeared to be full of animal dung for fuel)
and continued on his way.  Whether he had actually seen some there previous
time he was here, or whether he was just showing willingness to help, we'll
never know.

The rescue party.  After a bit of a hike, Jimmy came across these chaps, and
got chatting to them.  They told him some stories about all the people they'd
dug out:  "Oh yes, there was this doctor who got stuck and the jeep couldn't
get him out, and the tractor couldn't get him out, but then he paid us eleven
thousand rupees and we got him out!"

To which the reply was "I'm sorry, we don't have that kind of money".  After
settling on a flat rate of four thousand (just under £30) to get us out, they got
out their spade and walked back up with him.  (Jimmy had asked for more
than these four to help us essentially lift the car out, but that would have
meant sharing out the reward money between more people, so...)

Hard at work.  By this time it was getting kinda chilly for our summer clothes.

Free!

As we started our long journey back (5 hours including a stop for some
local chicken karahi at about 10pm - we'd lost 2-3 hours in the mud),
it started to get pretty.

Driving back down those roads in the dark was less hair-raising than you might
expect - a case of what's out of sight is easier to put out of your mind.  Further
down it had evidently rained a bit earlier, which made some sections a little
more exciting.

Last but not least, over the course of the day we had seen (and had to stop for) various flocks that the Gujjars were driving back up to the pastures.  But it became quickly apparent that they do much of their moving at night time - cooler and less traffic.  We'd just see a couple of little torch lights in the darkness ahead, then we'd be pulled over watching thousands of animals troop though our headlights.  In the video above, about 3/4 of the flock had already passed by the time I'd got my camera out.

There was some fairly amazing stargazing to be had up here too.  We made it back to Naran just before midnight, where the nightlife was still buzzing!

SWH project part 15 - teething problems

Temperature sensors

The day after I mounted the temperature sensors on the panels, we had a big storm.  Had this happened after we had put the glazing on, this would not have been a problem.  In reality, despite the sensors being encased in a large blob of silicone, the water managed to do some impressive capillary action where the wires enter the silicone, shorting out 5 of the sensors.  One of the sensors inside the tank also failed, though this was more expected. 12/18 still working!

Water tanks

The original setup made use of an old blue plastic water tank, which acted as a heat store (unpressurised) through which passed a couple of copper coils carrying the water to be heated.

System diagram - with heat exchanger.

Old blue tank with heat exchanger coils.

While the heat exchanger method was giving decent enough results, after a few days of sitting at 70-80°C, it became clear that the surface of the plastic was not responding well to the hot water, so we bought a new superior quality (allegedly!) tank to replace it.

This tank had the advantage of having a screw top, hopefully allowing us to seal the tank. This would allow us to run the tank under pressure with direct connections to the water supply, dispensing with the heat exchanger coils.   The larger tank will also run cooler, meaning lower heat losses and thus better efficiency.

System diagram - without heat exchanger.

In a separate issue, it was found that the pressure loss caused by all the additional pipework meant that there was no longer enough pressure for the washing machine's liking (it's a bit fussy!).  So we raised the height of the water tower supplying the pressure by another 5 feet.

Newly raised water tower.

Anyway, yesterday we sealed the top of the tank, screwing the top on tight with silicone applied to the screw thread.  After giving it a few hours to cure, I opened the valve from the water tower.  The tank ballooned out slightly as expected, then the top just popped off!  Inspection revealed no cracks or tears anywhere; the lid had apparently just stretched enough for the screw threads to pass over one another.

Recalcitrant lid (with air release valve and sensor leads), having just popped off.

So, take 2: this morning we strung a bunch of jubilee clips together around the edge of the lid, with the hope of holding the screw threads in a meshing position.  This seems to hold okay, but the way the tank bulges makes me nervous about its future longevity.

Bulging lid.  The rest of the tank looks similarly bloated.

I think we'll revert to the heat exchanger plan (assuming we can get the kinks out of the copper pipe).

Tank stand

A stand which was adequate for the 600l tank was not sufficiently strong for the new 1200l tank, with a couple of dodgy welds breaking. Fortunately we spotted one of the legs beginning to bend in time to avert a complete collapse, and the stand was then beefed up considerably with an extra central support and some proper diagonals made of some nice new chunky angle iron to stop it flexing.

Beefed up tank stand with new 1200l tank.

These problems partly stem from the way people are taught to learn parrot-fashion and the general low standard of education here - the guys have an idea what a structure should look like, but often without really understanding why you need to put a particular strut in a particular place. Hence you will end up with something which looks similar to a strong structure, without necessarily having the function of one.

Weekend away part 3 - Babusar Pass

On Sunday we set out on a little expedition to the top of the valley, some 70km away.

The first challenge was getting out of the car park.  The guys at the guest house
apparently only built it a couple of weeks ago, and are milking this little money-
spinner for all its worth by packing up all the available space.  Even though we'd
told them we'd be leaving early, they still had to go and wake some poor guy up.

There are many side valleys branching off the main one, each one would be
an adventure all by itself.

A view back down the valley, sometime after we stopped at a roadside eatery
for breakfast parathas and omelettes.

One of the better bridges.  At every river crossing there were concrete supports
waiting for a permanent structure to be (re)built, a diversion to a little temporary
structure like this one, and in some cases a little way down the river the twisted
remains of the previous one.  On most, the planks rattle and bounce as you cross,
on one the plates were misaligned meaning you had to slalom across it, but the
best was a tiny one about the width of the car, which you had to drive both on
and off at an angle.  Fun.

You know, parts of this look a lot like Scotland.  Only somewhat... magnified.

Looking up towards the pass.  After a while you get used to roads with no edges.

There are lots these settlements huddled in the base of the valley:  some of them
seemingly abandoned, others being re-inhabited by the nomadic Gujjar peoples
bringing their flocks (mainly goats, sometimes with a few horses/donkeys/mules
thrown in) back up to the summer pastures.  Some of them walk for two months
each way to/from wherever they spend summer.  The richer ones hire a truck.

Keep your thumbs out - the rocks make the steering wheel really kick.

Looking down the other side of the Babusar pass towards Chilas.  There were
a surprising number of tourists up here, in/on a surprising array of vehicles.  I
would not have liked to take a motorbike up those steep twisty gravelly rocky
roads.  It hailed.

The ground up here is festooned with all sorts of tiny little wild flowers - pink,
yellow, blue, purple, white, and even dark red, contrasting with bright orange
and green lichens on the rocks.

Cairns.  I think hills everywhere have these, but I've never come across such
geometrical ones.

Looking down from just below the Babusar Pass into the Gittidas pastures.
Click to view full size.

Weekend away part 2 - Lake Saifal Muluk (again)

We took another trip up to Lake Saifal Muluk, a popular tourist destination. Last time it was entirely covered in snow, we had it all to ourselves, and we had to walk.  Make sure you view the panoramas at full size.  Really.

This time the road was open, so our Land Cruiser joined by other jeeps.

It was only when we reached the summit that we could appreciate just how many!

Lake Saifal Muluk from the jeep trail.  Click for the full glorious bigness.

And from further round the lake.  Click for large version.

These chaps followed us for a while trying to sell us a ride
on a horse.  That didn't seem like a bad idea for the river
crossing part, but first we had to show willing to keep on
walking in order to get the price down.  Worth Rs50 (36p).

While we were crossing it was cloudy and getting a little chilly.  3/4 of the way
round, the sun just started to peek through...

...until it looked like this:  the silhouette of one mountain range superimposed on
the other.  (Click to see full size.)

And then this happened.  The rain spots on the camera lens are an occupational
hazard of rainbow weather.  (Click for the big version - it's certainly worth it!)

Malika Parbat ("Queen of Mountains"), while at 5290m small compared to the
8000m-plus peaks further north, has a reputation as an extremely difficult climb
- and you can see why.

Weekend away part 1 - Naran (again)

This weekend we took another trip up the Kaghan Valley to visit a couple of friends who are spending a few weeks volunteering at a school in Naran.  (We would have happily taken a week, but that would have left the hospital even more short-staffed...)

A view down the lower part of the valley.

And up the way.  I'm still amazed how populous these steep hills are.

Driving close to the edge.

Since we were last here, a little progress has been made with this landslide.
The two temporary bridges have seemingly been pressed into service elsewhere,
leaving the traffic to fight its way along the side where the road used to be.

A new addition since last time is the beekeepers.  Every half a mile or so we
passed a few hundred of these little beehives, usually with a tent or two nearby
for the keepers.  We must have passed tens of thousands of hives on our trip -
do they get packed away to hibernate in the winter?  Or are they packed into
trucks and forcibly migrated to somewhere warmer?

Most of these places also have a little stall where you can buy the produce.
It comes in unmarked recycled containers, from old jars to 2-litre coke bottles.

No problems getting past the glacier this time, as thousands of people have
apparently already discovered.  Naran has been transformed by the tourist
season:  a huge tent village has sprung up on all the available flat land,
catering for tourists using tents bearing the logos of countless different aid
agencies; all those broken down building have been fixed up, painted, and
filled with things that tourists might like to part with their cash for.

We even had the thought that Naran might be the Pakistani equivalent of
somewhere like Ibiza (minus the drinking/clubbing) - bustling until the small
hours with young trendy tourists from the big cities, throbbing music, rowdy
social gatherings, even a big searchlight-type thing sweeping the night sky.

And of course no Pakistani street scene is complete without one of these -
and this is a particularly fine example.  Next part tomorrow...