What a fantastic start to our July travel story competition.

We are privileged to have this second  entry from Lucinda E. Clarke, who won our May competition with A Trip to the Seaside.

Read her great story An Unforgettable Trip on the Lucinda E. Clarke page.

If you are interested in Lucinda's books, please visit her Amazon Author page:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lucinda-E-Clarke

After a comfortable introductory night in a category 'B' boat on Dal Lake, Rita and Fred move to a category 'C' boat called the Wild Rose, where they plan to stay for a week. The rest of the afternoon was spent making themselves at home and getting a few essential things done. Later on they get a boat to the nearest point on the boulevard.

"It seemed strange to be back on dry land again, even after only a day on the boat. We suddenly realised that we were back in a town of nearly 300,000 people and were hit by the noise of the traffic especially."

Read about today's happenings from 34 years ago on the Daily Diary page.

After a disturbed overnight train journey Rita and Fred arrive in Jammu in the early hours of the morning. After queueing for ages Rita manages to get tickets for their eleven hour bus journey to Srinigar. They have an enjoyable and comfortable ride through some spectacular scenery. There is also evidence of the large military presence in the region with army checkpoints along the road.

"We saw many advisory signs telling drivers to slow down and be careful. We saw the scene of one bad accident where a vehicle had crashed through one of the protecting walls and into the valley and a couple of trucks were there towing it out."

Follow today's journey on the Daily Diary page.
 

Rita and Fred leave their luggage at the hotel while they have a last look around Delhi before heading north to Jammu and Srinigar. The weather is really hot and they cannot spend too long out in the sun so they escape to an air conditioned bazaar. They then go to the station and find out that they have got berths reserved and board the train which leaves promptly.

"The weather was absolutely stifling with very high humidity, a haze over the city and only a slight cooling breeze."

Read about Rita and Fred's travels on the Daily Diary page.

Rita and Fred spend the day on a magical mystery tour of Delhi. They are mostly accompanied by Indians but they are also joined by a young Israeli couple on the pre-arranged bus tour of Delhi. They see so many things that the tour eventually becomes one big blur. It is a fascinating day though.

"It was a bit like a comedy show with the guide speaking very fast, monotonous ‘Indian’ English which was difficult even for me to understand. When we weren’t travelling along in the bus swivelling our heads from right to left to see various sights we were getting on and off the bus for periods varying from ten minutes to three-quarters of an hour."

Join Rita and Fred for their tour of Delhi on the Daily Diary page.

Thank you so much to the 7 writers who got involved in our June travel story competition. They were Nancy McBride, Frank Kusy, Julie Haigh, John Rayburn, Richard Klein, Francene Stanley and Jill Dobbe.

You can follow the links above to read all of their entries.

The standard of stories was again very high this month and it has been an extremely difficult choice but the JUNE WINNER IS .......... 

NANCY MCBRIDE for her fantastic story 'Babushka the Beautiful'.

Many congratulations Nancy, your $30 Amazon voucher is on it's way.

A voucher for the Fred's Diary 1981 e-book will be sent later in the year when the second edition is released.

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER YOUR MEMORABLE TRAVEL STORY INTO OUR JULY TRAVEL STORY COMPETITION.

After that all stories entered into the competition from March to July 2015 will be eligible for the overall prize of £100/$150 and a signed copy of the paperback version of Fred's Diary 1981.

This decision will not be made by Fred this time but will be open to a vote from all you blog readers out there. More details to  come early in August.

Today is largely a day for getting things organised. Rita and Fred visit various places around Delhi to get flight tickets back to Europe confirmed and arranged, including an additional leg for Rita from Delhi to Bombay on the 25th. They also buy return train tickets from Jammu for the 24th. In addition they meet a rep from one of the houseboat companies in Kashmir who helps them by driving them around.

"They were very nice and we agreed to take a place on one of the boats for our first night in Srinagar at least. This will cost R60 with breakfast for a ‘C’ category ‘room’, which I was led to believe includes a bedroom, living room & dining room plus the services of several ‘servants’ who live on a separate boat nearby."

Read about their day rushing around Delhi on the Daily Diary page.