Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): The well-known Amarnath Yatra has started in the Kashmir valley and thousands of pilgrims have already taken the blessings of Lord Shiva. The 62-day-long Amarnath Yatra began on July 1 and is set to conclude on August 31.
Most of the pilgrims are reaching the base camp by traveling in vehicles from various routes including Pahalgam. Many pilgrims are reaching Srinagar by plane. However, this year also some pilgrims, devotees of Lord Shiva, have come to the pilgrimage in a unique way.
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A pilgrim named Narendra Yadav, hailing from the Bhiwani area of Haryana has started his cycle journey to reach the holy cave and on Tuesday, July 11, he reached Srinagar. Waving the Tricolor on a bicycle at Barsu, Avantipura on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway, Narendra Yadav told ETV Bharat that he first cycled from Haryana to Katra where he visited the Mata Vaishav Devi shrine and then left for the Amarnath Yatra. "After taking blessings of Lord Shiva, I will return to my village," added
"If a person desires something, then God also helps him in it and the same thing happened to me," quipped Narendra Yadav. "I made up my mind and God supported me and only due to his grace, it was possible to reach Srinagar on bi-cycle," he added. The distance between Bhiwani to Srinagar is around 793 kilometres.
The pilgrims approach the Himalayan cave shrine either from the traditional south Kashmir Pahalgam route which involves an uphill trek of 43 kilometres from the Pahalgam base camp or from the north Kashmir Baltal base camp which involves 13 kilometres uphill trek.
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