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**angelo_co** · 08-27-2011, 02:48 PM

I was the other rider on this trip, I will contribute by posting my set of pictures as this log progresses. Here are a few shots of the roads in rajasthan. This short patch of curvy roads was a good change from the arrow straight roads we had been riding on all day.

The sunset near bhilwara

**harsha645** · 08-27-2011, 08:15 PM

well written and interesting log...would like to know how the pillon has felt after sitting on the n250 for whole trip

**kiran_borra** · 08-27-2011, 11:44 PM

Superb!
Very keen to know how was the feeling to ride the N250R in Spiti

Originally posted by harsha645 View Post

well written and interesting log...would like to know how the pillion has felt after sitting on the n250 for whole trip

Same question from my end too.....

**omvaikul** · 08-28-2011, 09:00 PM

Day 3: Just hours away from the Mountains.

Somewhere 45kms before Jaipur we took a halt for breakfast. Some nice hot parathas in this boiling hot climate and nice hot tea in this warm wind weather.

Anyways, one has to be mentally prepared to pass from this area however it is. I always got it hot throughout whenever I come here.

Ones we were full next halt was at a place on Jaipur bypass road. Its where these clean toilets of fleurs are located. And just when Anahita told me she wanted to go to loo, I parked my bike right next to the entrance of this Grand place.

Nothing like a CLEAN loo in middle of the journey.

We covered some 100kms from here and just stopped to stretch ourselves and some break for the bike too. A 5 mins break and some water down is always good on such long rides. The moment Angelo turned on his ignition and pressed the start button some noise came and the bike just got shut down.

I was getting a little frustrated now as I could see the idea reaching Chandigarh fading away.

I towed the P220 with my leg on the silencer at the speed of 100 and in 15mins we were standing right opposite the Bajaj service station.

That was good to know.

The climate was scorching hot by now and it was around 1.30pm. We decided not to take halt till we reach the McD just before you enter Gurgaon.

It was some 124kms from here and we covered this distance in 1 and a half hour. To be precise the McD is located in Manesar.

We ate good and got the much needed shade we wanted to cool down.

Reaching Delhi via NH-8 always something or the other happens I have seen.

Ones we entered the Capital it took us just half an hour to exit. Surprisingly there was no traffic at all otherwise the route is always choked. By 7.30pm we were on the NH-1 heading towards North.

And I remembered Panipat is exact 60kms from here on a straight smooth highway so we just went zoom. The only halt we took was on the Panipat bypass bridge where I saw this fair on my left side.

Ones we went it knowing its a 3 star place so price would be very much over our budget but Anahita managed to strike a deal and got a fair price.

It took us just few seconds to spoil the room. After all its guys room.

And what all items we found inside the place. From high class toiletries to a ceiling fan inside the bathroom.

And the food what we ordered was like a feast for animals. All flesh and just one veg item.

Finally on the soft bed and in a centralized AC room, I slept like a baby.

Just few hours away from the mountains now was the only thought I was dreaming about.

The Real Story begins now...

**lovish09** · 08-31-2011, 12:37 AM

oh, you guys stayed at sing n swing, it is a bit costly but you managed to get a good deal

and the 90km stretch from delhi to panipat saves a lot of time straight highways one can easily twist the throttle.

good going...waiting for the next update..

**angelo_co** · 09-01-2011, 05:33 PM

Some random pics from day 3. There was not much to click

The arrow straight ajmer jaipur express way

The massive toll plaza at delhi

And last, the damaged starter clutch that wasn't letting my bike start

I have no clue how it got mangled up so bad

**omvaikul** · 09-09-2011, 04:23 PM

Day 4: Entering Himalayas

1st August, 2011

Woke up at sharp 5am today. And was ready in half an hour. Had a thought of starting towards Chandigarh as early as possible.

Just tea and toast ordered in room and luggage was packed before breakfast arrives.

By 6am we started mounting stuff on the bike but before we began this we started the P220 on push start keeping the bike in 3rd gear for faster response. It started just in couple of seconds, Thank God.

Without wasting much time we hit the highway by 6.30am. And believe me it was boiling hot even this time in the morning.

Just an hour up the highway and a group of Police officers stopped us and couple of cars. I thought it must be routine check up or something like that but he asked us do we know the speed limit on this highway. We were doing close to 100kmph and the limit was under 60kmph. For couple of seconds I was laughing in my head and in next moment the laughter came out. Even the officer started smiling then.

After telling him where we are going and riding from where he told us immediately to carry on and ride carefully.

We went in and I explained the problem. Without thinking they said the bikes will be done in less than 3 hours.

Taking into consideration the problem they could have said come tomorrow as they were also overloaded with bikes today and we are coming by informing them just an hour before.

By the time they fixed the bikes and checked up everything, we kept all our stuff here and went out near by for lunch as it was close to 1pm now.

Market was located just 500m away so we walked across and had some good non-veg food. Also went to the ATM and made some withdrawal.

By the time we came to the workshop both Ninja was ready and P220 was close to be done.

Ones ready we cleared the bills, spoke with them for anything to look out for during the ride and stuff like that.

It was close to 2.30pm now and we were so eager to start the ride. In just few minutes we were going to Enter Himalayas and the thought was just turning up my excitement.

The moment we crossed Chandigarh I could see the small mountains showing up. And after crossing Kalka city the Grand Himalayas welcomed up with curvy roads, pine trees, huge hills and civilization on the top. The road was smooth as butter. Some patches had to lane division paint so I figured they were made brand new.

We covered some 60kms and took our first break in Himalayas next to a deep gorge and greenery all around. I also switched from kit lens to Sigma zoom from here onwards.

After riding few more kms from here, next break we took somewhere just before Solan for loo and some drinks.

What hotels they built over here. The architect and builders are total unique.

Though we were having less time with us before sun down still we were taking many breaks as after 3 days some good photo sites were coming up after each few turns and curves. They were all just tempting.

We did lot of time pass between the pinewood trees.

Overtaking here is not a challenge for them. All seasoned drivers.

After crossing Solan the entire highway all the way up to Shimla went in a mist. Fog was everywhere around and no visibility at all. We brought our speed down to 20kmph now.

Took few breaks as riding with full concentration was making me feel a bit tired.

Took some few photos and packed up the camera as light drizzle had started.

It is like twinkle twinkle little starts. But khichidi in he day time.

Hotel Navratna was the name of the place where we found accommodation. We ordered food in the room only.

Sleeping in the lap of Himalayas is always peaceful. But till now we were not out of the traffic and crowd chaos. Just a matter of half day now.

It was a Mission Parking.

**harikeshpk** · 09-09-2011, 10:52 PM

wow really good.. keep going

**angelo_co** · 09-10-2011, 02:38 AM

Here are a few additions from my side

Today was the day we were to enter the himalayas, if we managed to get my bike fixed first. Luckily the chandigarh service center had the starter clutch mechanism, so we roamed around the city while they worked on the bike. One thing i noticed about Chandigarh is how disciplined the traffic is. Even the pillion riders were wearing helmets, and no one dared to cross the white line at signals.

We found a hotel in the market area and asked them to serve us some local food, and this is what they got us. It was a dish called saag chicken.

Once we were done with lunch, we started off towards shimla. We could actually see the road climbing up from chandigarh, and that was a welcome change after riding on the plains for 3 days. Here are a few pics that i clicked along the way.

and then it started getting foggy as we reached shimla

**omvaikul** · 09-11-2011, 02:01 AM

Day 5: Yeah baby, now it feels like Spiti Valley trip

Sorry the next log is coming after a week. Had a busy schedule in office and home.

2nd August, 2011:

Getting up early was now becoming a habit. By 7am we were down the hotel and on the road getting our bikes out from a very very narrow lane next to the hotel.

Have a look in the picture below.

We managed to put the Ninja and P220 in the ally and were also successful in getting in out. But the task was no where close to easy.

The hotel we stayed in was a very decent one. It was in the morning I realized how much out of Shimla we made it last night and that too from the city route.

In my mind I was wondering where exactly is this point in Shimla map or Google maps as I had went over the city routes over and over again before this trip started.

Ones Angelo was down we started moving towards Narkhanda. We decided we will have breakfast at the Hatu Hotel that I had heard of from so many logs.

But just as we were covering some distance the Shimla and the area around came in light and we were tempted to stop at almost every turn.

We took some shots of the east end of the city and some in between the pine wood trees.

The climate was getting all clear from here onwards. No rains and no sun. It was very pleasant.

The place is so beautiful or we city guys are just not used to seeing such beauty and valleys everyday. The excitement was just getting higher and higher.

The house had this dog looking down from the window barking at us.

A small kid starring at us. And our eyes we on the flowers around the house. They we just dancing with the wind.

Here is the whole picture of the house. Quite a nice place to live. May be after retirement. Or come here to find solace.

A group of workers were starring at us which I think were BRO guys.

And this below pic made me laugh a lot. The expressions on the animals do all the talking.

We ordered breakfast straight first and then the talks will follow.

And what a grand breakfast it was. So many eggs and its varieties. With some chicken cutlets and apple juice to follow. All smiles.

The hotel is really worth staying. Just an amazing structure. I wonder how great it will look in winter or autumn.

We took lot of photos here of the place around, little down the side and behind. Quite a vegetation you will find here. Angelo also managed to capture some colorful insects in his camera.

We had good time here. So good that we decided to stay back here on our return trip.

After spending close to two hours here we decided to ride to Hatu peak now. Its just 20kms from here and I heard the ride up hill is quite a challenge.

The first 5kms was a piece a cake but the next 15km my god. Steep, narrow and quite edgy. A little on the valley side and you are gone. See you directly in Haridwar. We ascended very slowly as all curves were blind.

And I remember one car we crossed which was coming from opposite side came very close.

Here is a photo back 2 back.

Coming down from here was easy and fast. I think in less than 20minutes we were at the highway towards Sarahan.

I took shots of my bike and we waited for Angelo to come down. In 10 more minutes he was down and we came to know a stone had hit his silencer when a car went pass.

There was not serious damage but quite a big dent on the silencer. We just examined it and were off on the highway towards Rampur.

Just few more kms down this road and we came across a sign board which said first view of Sutlej.

We again took a halt here and took alot of shots around. It was a grand view of the river, the valley, the villages and the curvy roads.

We covered some 50kms from here and it was way past lunch time. I was feeling very hungry. We decided we will eat at Rampur as that was next big town.

But just when we were cruising I noticed this restaurant beside the road all decorated and neat looking. I though it might be a good place to eat.

I parked my bike right outside the hotel literally.

We were just sitting on the other side of the glass.

It was all non-stop to Jeori from here.

We tanked up full at Rampur and in an hour we were at Jeori. After reaching here we came to know that Sarhan is not on the highway. You have to go 17kms uphill from here. Its high up in the mountain. A good thing is that we still had some sun light left.

We managed to reach Sarahan just around 7pm and still there was enough light to meet the hotel guy Sheetal spoke with for us. He had messaged to come straight in the market area and he will recognize us.

And like he messaged he did. Apparently Sheetal gave good description of us. Green and black bikes, all dressed up huge and weird

When he took us near the hotel we first felt creepy as it had a old shady look but from the inside it was just sweet and neat. And the rooms we just awesome with and amazing view of the valley. We got two rooms just for Rs.1200 and it had a common balcony.

After having shower and cleaning up, we spent most of the evening on the balcony. We also had our dinner on the balcony.

After dinner it was drinks time and I remember I had downloaded Truth or Dare app in my iPhone.

So while having our drinks not dare but we definitely went for lot of truths. Came to know some interesting facts about each other.

It was quite entertaining.

By 10.30pm we were out. Ate, drank and now were feeling sleepy. Had also washed clothes before our dinner so felt a little tired.

Made some notes in my diary and switched off the lights. Climate too was getting cooler by the passing hour.

Yeah baby, now it feels like Spiti Valley Trip.

Tomorrow landing in Sangla.

**angelo_co** · 09-11-2011, 02:29 AM

shima to narkanda

As Om mentioned, we had parked our bikes in that small space. While the bikes were safe there, there was a pleasant (or should i say unpleasant?) surprise waiting for me in the morning. There was monkey crap all over my bike. It took me half n hour to wash it off. Not a the best way to start the day. There's not much text for me to add in today's log, so i'll just post a few pics from my cam.

Shimla city in the morning

As the road climbed up from shimla to narkanda, the view of the hills around kept getting better.

Somewhere along that road, I came across a patch of wild flowers and out came the 55-250mm lens.

With all these breaks, we reached narkanda at 9am

**angelo_co** · 09-11-2011, 02:54 AM

Around narkanda

The view from the hatu was really beautiful.

We had our breakfast there and wandered around for a couple of hours. There was a small trail leading towards one of the hills, which had a lot of wild flowers growing. That kept me busy for a couple of hours.

From here we moved on towards hatu peak. The road was around 8km long and most of it was so steep that it had to be done in 1st gear.

Once we were at the top, we clicked a few more pictures of the views around, and a couple of group photos too.

And off-course, my fascination with macros continued here as well

From here onwards, it was all downhill back to rampur. The road ran parallel to the river sutlej

After taking the turn to sarhan, we were once again climbing uphill.

We reached at around 7pm and checked into the hotel which had a great view from the balcony.

**GuRpReEt SiNgH** · 09-21-2011, 01:05 AM

Take it forward mate, been too long w/o any updates

**blackside** · 09-21-2011, 11:49 AM

Ammazing!

such a great trip log, beautiful photos too.. thanks guys for sharing the experience

Its good to live the experience through your logs.. cheers!

**Acquilles** · 09-21-2011, 02:53 PM

beautiful narration

and awesome pictures

..waiting for more..

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SPITI Valley - 3 years dream finally comes TRUE : Rivers - Valleys & The GREEN

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