Shoes at Uttarkashi

10.10.06. At 0530 hrs., we started loading and left Bhaironghatti at 0600 hrs. - the right time to soak in the rich beauty of the Bhaironghatti-Uttarkashi drive which we had missed on our way up. We made an unscheduled halt at Uttarkashi for a warm breakfast and to get cash from the SBI ATM. Right outside the restaurant, next to the ATM, we saw that very good quality shoes and boots for sale were piled up on the street.

Footwear had been a major concern long before we started – the internet recommended shoes that were not available in India and it was not easy to decide on the final choice. My husband had excellent mountaineering boots, but we bought rough terrain shoes from a Reebok store in Mumbai, since we suspected the weather might be too warm for boots. I had bought a similar Nike pair from Cochin and D had bought his Nikes from Mumbai.

All our shoes did very well during the walk up to and down from Gaumukh. But it was only after looking at the quality that was available in Uttarkashi that I realised that we could have saved us much time, energy and valuable luggage kilos and space, if we had but known that we coud safely buy footwear at Uttarkashi itself, taking a rain check on the warranty.