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Hi everyone
Back to Gurgaon yesterday from a trip to the mountains. It was a test ride for my new CBR 250R after the 1st service.
Since March has finished & my VP was willing to give me a 4 days leave as I hadn't taken any leaves from december 2015 till march 2016, so I grabbed the opportunity to avail the leaves & head for the hills. Me & my "Begum" zeroed in on Mussoorie & Dhanaulti for a trip. Chakrata was ruled out as the trip would involve 3-4 Kms of trekking to Tiger falls (I can't walk for long due to an old spinal injury). Nainital & surrounding areas were also ruled out as we have been there couple of times. We were waiting eagerly for the day to arrive & finally the day came.
Although the alarm was set up for 3:30 am but we woke up an hr late to an international call, else we'd not have been up becore 7:00. We left gurgaon on thursday at 5:35 am for the Queen of the hills ... Mussoorie. We took the route via Ghaziabad, Modinagar, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Deoband, Saharanpur, Chhutmulpur, Rajaji National park, Dehradun & finally Mussoorie. The roads are good esp. the toll road where I was frequently clocking 120-125 Kmph but also frequent slowing down as there are lot of cuts in the median & many people were crossing them without looking left or right.
We also had to take 5 breaks enroute as she started to complain of backache & uncomfortable pillion seat. The backache was due to the backpack. I had searched a lot for saddlebags in Karol Bagh but could not find any that would be perfect for CBR. The roads were quite good with no bottlenecks anywhere. Somewhere near Deoband the top screw of the left RVM got loose & got lost. Once it got lost the RVM took a splendid olympian dive towards the front wheel & that was the 1st shock that I got on my 17 days old CBR. Found a local mechanic & he fixed it with a weird screw.
Now that the RVM was fixed, we started on our journey ahead towards Deoband. Enroute Deoband, there are many unmarked speed breakers. I remember this from my August trip on the same route so we were going slow. Driving in Deoband was a harrowing experience - the road is continously in a zig zag fashion till we got out of the city, as digging is going on for laying of the sewer lines. It took us close to 1 1/2 hrs to go through Deoband. Avoid Deoband as of now.
Once we were out of Deoband we headed towards Dehradun via Saharanpur & Chhutmulpur. Although the roads are narrow, they have median so we were doing good speed & we reached Rajaji NP very quickly. As soon as we hit RNP, the roads widened & it felt so nice to drive on the tar, but I was careful not to hit any of the monkeys crossing the road as they were crossing the road & sitting on the sides of the road & sometimes even in the middle of the road.
Then the ascent to Dehradun started, & I could see the dried river along the road. All it had were small & big pebbles & rocks, but sign of water. The road had the same rough patches as last yr & the construction of the road like last yr. At last we reached the capital of UK, & I was taken aback by the traffic snarls. The city roads were narrow & on top of that the traffic signals weren't working. The cops were trying to manage the traffic but were failing miserably. Somehow I got out of the city by driving zig zag amongs vikrams, cars, buses, & all kinds of vehicles. Crossing Dehradun took us another 1 1/2 hrs.
On the outskirts of the city, just after Max hosp, there's a Shikanji wala (opp petrol pump), we had shikanjis as it was quite hot & I was tired of driving in the city. That guy told us to visit Suakholi, a small hamlet lying a little ahead of Mussoorie. He said "Swarg hey sahab, parson hi baraf padi hey". We got super excited on hearing him say that & included it in our itinerary.
After enjoying awesome shikanji & a sutta we started the climb to our destination. The route was mesmerizing for us as we both are in love with the mountains. On the other hand I was driving cautiously & little more than the average speed as we had to enter the mall road before 4 pm else I'll have to park the bike outside in the paid parking & I was not in the mood to park it outside since the bike is brand new. So we didn't stop for pics. I covered the entire climb in 45 mins & reached the mall road barrier 7 mins short of 4 pm. I paid 100 ₹ as mall road entering fee & went to our hotel located on the mall road itself, parked the bike in the hotel parking.
The moment I took off my helmet I was gheraoed by a burly looking man who started in a very shady voice "room chahiye? Sasta room dilaunga". I told him that we already have a booking in this hotel, thank you. "Kahan se book kiya ? Make my trip, oyo?" I said i booked through goibibo. "Yeh internet booking waale hame bhooka maar denge" was his reply & he left. We went to the reception, completed the check in formalities & were escorted to our room. We ordered tea, & while we were sipping the tea, the geyser was working for us & heating water. The shower took away the tiredness but we slept for 3 good hrs & woke up at 7:30 pm. We freshened up & went for a stroll to the mall road. The wind had gotten stronger & colder & we could see continous thunders beyond the mountains.
View of Dehradun from Mussoorie mall road
There's a shabby little tea stall behind the library chowk on the road just below Fortune Savoy which I discovered on our last trip serving fantastic adrak tea. Its a shady place so please be careful as it is frequented by drunk people. I think he recognized us the moment I asked him for a pack of Marlboro. "Sir aap pehle bhi aye ho idhar" then the conversation started. He was surprized when he heard that we came on a bike from delhi. I dunno what got into him, & he started turning his customers away who were drunk. "Sir aap hamare atithi ho aur madam ke saamne koi gaali de, to sahi baat nahi hey. Yeh to kal bhi ayenge, aap log roz nahi aogey". These words made us happy. In the meantime it started to rain heavily & the weather became colder.
Once the rain stopped, we left the tea stall after thanking him for his humble & respectful gesture & strolled on the mall road for a little while more. Suddenly, I remembered that we didn't had proper food since morning. We just had light food on the way. Now, the hunt for good chicken started. We found a new restaurant by the name Delhi 6. Went in, met the owner & he told us that he is from Jama Masjid, Delhi. By that time our Pavlov reflex had heightened seeing different varieties of chicken in the glass enclosure. We finalized chicken tangri kebab & chicken malai tikka along with roomali rotis. We finished it in no time. It was ok for a tourist place but not as great in taste as Delhi 6 restaurants. Thanked the owner for his hospitality, paid the bill & set out for coffee. Had good coffee at a shop on the mall road, which was brewed exactly the way we like, strong & less sugar. Post coffee we went back to the hotel, checked the bike in the parking & back to our room. We discussed the next day's plan, watched some TV & retired to the bed.
Day 2 started at 8:30 am with the breakfast call. We showered, had our breakfast & headed for the parking. Got the bike cleaned of dust, donned our helmets, warm jackets & driving gloves & left for Dhanulti stopping on the way to capture some natural beauty.
On the way to Dhanaulti we stopped at a roadside shack for a cup of tea. The owner told us that we can sit on the terrace & enjoy the tea while gazing at the surrounding views. I asked him about Suakholi. He told us that this very place is it. But there's no snow. He said it hailed 2 days back but no snow this yr. Indeed it was nice view of suakholi but it didnt live up to it's mark of swarg as told by the shikanji wala.
We set off for our destination - Dhanaulti. Going uphill then downhill & then again uphill to reach Dhanaulti. There were road signs stating that due to snow on the road, it gets slippery, drive slow. Dhanaulti is situated approx 1000 ft higher than Mussoorie & it was cold there. The drive to Dhanaulti was very cool & nice as the road was narrow & well paved mostly. The only saving grace for Dhanaulti was the view of the mountains from the Eco park & the peace & calmness similar to Lansdowne. Very few tourists & silence.
Stayed there for an hr & returned back to Mussoorie with loads of pics (can't post them all here) before 4 pm. We took rest for couple of hrs & left the hotel for a stroll at the mall road. Sat on the benches at the mall road looking at the night view of dehradun, went for tea at the same shabby stall, strolled again & had our dinner followed by the espresso & back to our room after checking the bike. Watched Iron Man 3 on TV & slept.
Day 3 of our trip started in the same wat as day 2. Post breakfast, we packed our backpack, paid the hotel bill for snacks & teas & bid adieu to Mussoorie. We skipped Kempty falls as it's very crowded & headed straight for Delhi. Due to the bad experience of the road condition at Deoband, we decided to take a longer route via Dehradun, Paonta sahib, Herbertpur, yamunanagar, ladwa, indri, karnal (karnal via pipli is much longer), panipat, sonipat, delhi.
The tarmac is amazing on this route, untill karnal I very frequently touched 125 Kmph as the road has very little traffic. The forest road passing through Kalesar NP is very nicely laid. There were many road signs showing pics of leopards in their abode. Monkeys as usual were lined up on the road sides.
When we were close to Radaur, a group of locals started following us in a car. I thought that it's better to stop at the next dhaba & let them pass. But, to my surprize they followed us there as well & started talking loudly about a group of 4 girls sitting on the next table (I think they were travelling alone). I very calmly reached under the left of my jacket & took out my handgun & started to reload the cartridges (I have the licence for the same, valid all India except the state of J & K, NE India & I always carry it with me if I am with my begum or driving late at night for safety purpose). Some one among those guys saw me pull out the gun, & neither they nor their car was seen in 30 secs flat.
The girls gave us a thanking smile & we left the dhaba for our rest of the journey. Karnal is around 50 Km from radaur, and we covered the distance in 20 mins. As soon as we hit AH 1, we knew that we were close to Delhi. Drove on it consistently at 120-130 Kmph, occassionally hitting 145 Kmph on empty stretches & in no time we were at the famous Sukhdev dhaba. Hogged on to some delicious parathas & resumed our journey home.
The moment we touched Delhi border, begum said "oh god, this traffic, why did we come back to Delhi", to which I replied "Monday, we have to join our offices". The journey from the Delhi border to our home in Gurgaon took 2 hrs, whereas the journey from Mussoorie to delhi border took us 6:15 mins including 3 stops.
We reached home, showered & started discussion for the destination of our next trip. Finalized Ranikhet, Almora, & Kausani...hopefully at the end of May or starting June.
Tips of this trip:
if you are taking the paonta sahib, yamunanagar, karnal route, please make sure that you are in a group & dont drive on this route after sun set at all, although the roads are fantastic. This is a longer & much scenic route than the route that I took while going.
Be safe, ride safe & cautiously with full gear on (if possible), but bare minimum requirement are good comfy shoes, branded helmet that fits snuggly & well fitting gloves.
Saw RE Himalayan parked outside an atm in dehradun
Back to Gurgaon yesterday from a trip to the mountains. It was a test ride for my new CBR 250R after the 1st service.
Since March has finished & my VP was willing to give me a 4 days leave as I hadn't taken any leaves from december 2015 till march 2016, so I grabbed the opportunity to avail the leaves & head for the hills. Me & my "Begum" zeroed in on Mussoorie & Dhanaulti for a trip. Chakrata was ruled out as the trip would involve 3-4 Kms of trekking to Tiger falls (I can't walk for long due to an old spinal injury). Nainital & surrounding areas were also ruled out as we have been there couple of times. We were waiting eagerly for the day to arrive & finally the day came.
Although the alarm was set up for 3:30 am but we woke up an hr late to an international call, else we'd not have been up becore 7:00. We left gurgaon on thursday at 5:35 am for the Queen of the hills ... Mussoorie. We took the route via Ghaziabad, Modinagar, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Deoband, Saharanpur, Chhutmulpur, Rajaji National park, Dehradun & finally Mussoorie. The roads are good esp. the toll road where I was frequently clocking 120-125 Kmph but also frequent slowing down as there are lot of cuts in the median & many people were crossing them without looking left or right.
We also had to take 5 breaks enroute as she started to complain of backache & uncomfortable pillion seat. The backache was due to the backpack. I had searched a lot for saddlebags in Karol Bagh but could not find any that would be perfect for CBR. The roads were quite good with no bottlenecks anywhere. Somewhere near Deoband the top screw of the left RVM got loose & got lost. Once it got lost the RVM took a splendid olympian dive towards the front wheel & that was the 1st shock that I got on my 17 days old CBR. Found a local mechanic & he fixed it with a weird screw.
Now that the RVM was fixed, we started on our journey ahead towards Deoband. Enroute Deoband, there are many unmarked speed breakers. I remember this from my August trip on the same route so we were going slow. Driving in Deoband was a harrowing experience - the road is continously in a zig zag fashion till we got out of the city, as digging is going on for laying of the sewer lines. It took us close to 1 1/2 hrs to go through Deoband. Avoid Deoband as of now.
Once we were out of Deoband we headed towards Dehradun via Saharanpur & Chhutmulpur. Although the roads are narrow, they have median so we were doing good speed & we reached Rajaji NP very quickly. As soon as we hit RNP, the roads widened & it felt so nice to drive on the tar, but I was careful not to hit any of the monkeys crossing the road as they were crossing the road & sitting on the sides of the road & sometimes even in the middle of the road.
Then the ascent to Dehradun started, & I could see the dried river along the road. All it had were small & big pebbles & rocks, but sign of water. The road had the same rough patches as last yr & the construction of the road like last yr. At last we reached the capital of UK, & I was taken aback by the traffic snarls. The city roads were narrow & on top of that the traffic signals weren't working. The cops were trying to manage the traffic but were failing miserably. Somehow I got out of the city by driving zig zag amongs vikrams, cars, buses, & all kinds of vehicles. Crossing Dehradun took us another 1 1/2 hrs.
On the outskirts of the city, just after Max hosp, there's a Shikanji wala (opp petrol pump), we had shikanjis as it was quite hot & I was tired of driving in the city. That guy told us to visit Suakholi, a small hamlet lying a little ahead of Mussoorie. He said "Swarg hey sahab, parson hi baraf padi hey". We got super excited on hearing him say that & included it in our itinerary.
After enjoying awesome shikanji & a sutta we started the climb to our destination. The route was mesmerizing for us as we both are in love with the mountains. On the other hand I was driving cautiously & little more than the average speed as we had to enter the mall road before 4 pm else I'll have to park the bike outside in the paid parking & I was not in the mood to park it outside since the bike is brand new. So we didn't stop for pics. I covered the entire climb in 45 mins & reached the mall road barrier 7 mins short of 4 pm. I paid 100 ₹ as mall road entering fee & went to our hotel located on the mall road itself, parked the bike in the hotel parking.
The moment I took off my helmet I was gheraoed by a burly looking man who started in a very shady voice "room chahiye? Sasta room dilaunga". I told him that we already have a booking in this hotel, thank you. "Kahan se book kiya ? Make my trip, oyo?" I said i booked through goibibo. "Yeh internet booking waale hame bhooka maar denge" was his reply & he left. We went to the reception, completed the check in formalities & were escorted to our room. We ordered tea, & while we were sipping the tea, the geyser was working for us & heating water. The shower took away the tiredness but we slept for 3 good hrs & woke up at 7:30 pm. We freshened up & went for a stroll to the mall road. The wind had gotten stronger & colder & we could see continous thunders beyond the mountains.
View of Dehradun from Mussoorie mall road
There's a shabby little tea stall behind the library chowk on the road just below Fortune Savoy which I discovered on our last trip serving fantastic adrak tea. Its a shady place so please be careful as it is frequented by drunk people. I think he recognized us the moment I asked him for a pack of Marlboro. "Sir aap pehle bhi aye ho idhar" then the conversation started. He was surprized when he heard that we came on a bike from delhi. I dunno what got into him, & he started turning his customers away who were drunk. "Sir aap hamare atithi ho aur madam ke saamne koi gaali de, to sahi baat nahi hey. Yeh to kal bhi ayenge, aap log roz nahi aogey". These words made us happy. In the meantime it started to rain heavily & the weather became colder.
Once the rain stopped, we left the tea stall after thanking him for his humble & respectful gesture & strolled on the mall road for a little while more. Suddenly, I remembered that we didn't had proper food since morning. We just had light food on the way. Now, the hunt for good chicken started. We found a new restaurant by the name Delhi 6. Went in, met the owner & he told us that he is from Jama Masjid, Delhi. By that time our Pavlov reflex had heightened seeing different varieties of chicken in the glass enclosure. We finalized chicken tangri kebab & chicken malai tikka along with roomali rotis. We finished it in no time. It was ok for a tourist place but not as great in taste as Delhi 6 restaurants. Thanked the owner for his hospitality, paid the bill & set out for coffee. Had good coffee at a shop on the mall road, which was brewed exactly the way we like, strong & less sugar. Post coffee we went back to the hotel, checked the bike in the parking & back to our room. We discussed the next day's plan, watched some TV & retired to the bed.
Day 2 started at 8:30 am with the breakfast call. We showered, had our breakfast & headed for the parking. Got the bike cleaned of dust, donned our helmets, warm jackets & driving gloves & left for Dhanulti stopping on the way to capture some natural beauty.
On the way to Dhanaulti we stopped at a roadside shack for a cup of tea. The owner told us that we can sit on the terrace & enjoy the tea while gazing at the surrounding views. I asked him about Suakholi. He told us that this very place is it. But there's no snow. He said it hailed 2 days back but no snow this yr. Indeed it was nice view of suakholi but it didnt live up to it's mark of swarg as told by the shikanji wala.
We set off for our destination - Dhanaulti. Going uphill then downhill & then again uphill to reach Dhanaulti. There were road signs stating that due to snow on the road, it gets slippery, drive slow. Dhanaulti is situated approx 1000 ft higher than Mussoorie & it was cold there. The drive to Dhanaulti was very cool & nice as the road was narrow & well paved mostly. The only saving grace for Dhanaulti was the view of the mountains from the Eco park & the peace & calmness similar to Lansdowne. Very few tourists & silence.
Stayed there for an hr & returned back to Mussoorie with loads of pics (can't post them all here) before 4 pm. We took rest for couple of hrs & left the hotel for a stroll at the mall road. Sat on the benches at the mall road looking at the night view of dehradun, went for tea at the same shabby stall, strolled again & had our dinner followed by the espresso & back to our room after checking the bike. Watched Iron Man 3 on TV & slept.
Day 3 of our trip started in the same wat as day 2. Post breakfast, we packed our backpack, paid the hotel bill for snacks & teas & bid adieu to Mussoorie. We skipped Kempty falls as it's very crowded & headed straight for Delhi. Due to the bad experience of the road condition at Deoband, we decided to take a longer route via Dehradun, Paonta sahib, Herbertpur, yamunanagar, ladwa, indri, karnal (karnal via pipli is much longer), panipat, sonipat, delhi.
The tarmac is amazing on this route, untill karnal I very frequently touched 125 Kmph as the road has very little traffic. The forest road passing through Kalesar NP is very nicely laid. There were many road signs showing pics of leopards in their abode. Monkeys as usual were lined up on the road sides.
When we were close to Radaur, a group of locals started following us in a car. I thought that it's better to stop at the next dhaba & let them pass. But, to my surprize they followed us there as well & started talking loudly about a group of 4 girls sitting on the next table (I think they were travelling alone). I very calmly reached under the left of my jacket & took out my handgun & started to reload the cartridges (I have the licence for the same, valid all India except the state of J & K, NE India & I always carry it with me if I am with my begum or driving late at night for safety purpose). Some one among those guys saw me pull out the gun, & neither they nor their car was seen in 30 secs flat.
The girls gave us a thanking smile & we left the dhaba for our rest of the journey. Karnal is around 50 Km from radaur, and we covered the distance in 20 mins. As soon as we hit AH 1, we knew that we were close to Delhi. Drove on it consistently at 120-130 Kmph, occassionally hitting 145 Kmph on empty stretches & in no time we were at the famous Sukhdev dhaba. Hogged on to some delicious parathas & resumed our journey home.
The moment we touched Delhi border, begum said "oh god, this traffic, why did we come back to Delhi", to which I replied "Monday, we have to join our offices". The journey from the Delhi border to our home in Gurgaon took 2 hrs, whereas the journey from Mussoorie to delhi border took us 6:15 mins including 3 stops.
We reached home, showered & started discussion for the destination of our next trip. Finalized Ranikhet, Almora, & Kausani...hopefully at the end of May or starting June.
Tips of this trip:
if you are taking the paonta sahib, yamunanagar, karnal route, please make sure that you are in a group & dont drive on this route after sun set at all, although the roads are fantastic. This is a longer & much scenic route than the route that I took while going.
Be safe, ride safe & cautiously with full gear on (if possible), but bare minimum requirement are good comfy shoes, branded helmet that fits snuggly & well fitting gloves.
Saw RE Himalayan parked outside an atm in dehradun
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