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It had been more than a month since our last ride to the mountains. While i was getting constantly caught up in work in my new company, my wife was terribly bored in her job.
On a Saturday, in the sweltering heat, we ventured out to the markets and she said exasperatedly "When is our next trip!!"
A quick look through the 3-4 day getaways thread and we decided to go to Jalori pass.
Day 1:
Saturday Morning 0630 hrs.
"Damn!! we are late". Hurriedly we packed up and finally left noida at 0730 hrs.
The whole day was leisurely and the route followed was
Noida-Ambala-chandigarh-shimla-narkanda.
A poor attempt at getting the train out of tunnel shot. I actually thought it was gonna be a steam engine
After Solan,
The CCD just after the main shimla city. Truly a CCD with a view. Guess my bill there 220 !!!
Towards Narkanda
As it was raining off and on, progress was slow in the hills. We dropped the plan to go to Shoja that day and decided to stay in Narkanda instead. At 6 in the evening, we checked into a beautiful nature camp just outside narkanda.
It was chilly and it felt good to be away from the cauldron that delhi has become.
At the nature camp
Our cottage for the night
Sundown
Day 2:
Jalori was 90 km away and we left camp at 0645 hours. We had decided to keep this ride as leisurely as possible. First we descended down to Loorie, a small town on the banks of the roaring Sutlej.
The sutlej view
The traditional Biker baba pic.. this time meditating under a tree
The climb up from there to Jalori was 50km. I must mention why this ride is beautiful. The thing is, you are alone. In our 2.5 hour climb to the top, we encountered one bus and a few Mahindras.. Thats it. This place has no pretension of being a tourist place. Its just plain beautiful. At the entrance of each village on the hills there is a sign which also displays the population of that place. In one village it was just 95.
A small village bridge over a rivulet.
The Ant View
We crossed that village and took a break to wonder. There must have been some festival going on there as the sound of drums reverberated in the mountain. There are little joys on this route. The butterfly that rested on my glove for sometime. A few birds which actually flew adjacent to us for some time.
The last five km in the climb to Jalori jyot was crazy. Even with my wife and the saddlebag i rarely have to engage the second gear. Here, i dropped tofirst gear as we negotiated the loose stone path.
At the top, we were greeted with a view of the snow clad himalayas in the distance.
A call to home and our plans changed. We originally planned to trek to Srevotsar lake and stay at Shoja for the day. Now, we were planning to hit Chandigarh by night to be at a relatives place.
At 12:15 we started descending from the pass. Here things literally went downhill. I have never encountered such steep a descent, not to mention the absense of even one bit of tarmac. Just loose stones on a gravel path. With my wife falling over me, my palms were facing severe strain and the descent was incredibly slow. 11kms of tough terrain and finally we saw a decent stretch of tarmac.
Even the landscape changed dramatically. While the Sutlej valley was dry, this was all green with a river running along. Since Chandigarh was still far away we didn't stop to click any pics
Just a few km before hitting the entrance of the Kullu tunnel, i saw this tunnel before a barrage. Doesnt make sense to me as to why its there.
The Kullu-Mandi road has become a favorite of mine now. Sweeping corners and a beautiful view. The heat was now getting to me and then on, it was just a mad rush to get to Chandigarh as quickly as possible.
At round about 5:30, as the last few kms of the hills remained before kiritpur sahib, i took a wide corner at 50, straightened up and saw a truck(10kmph) being overtaken by another at 12kmph. They had simply left no space for me. I braked as much as possible and hoped that the trucker would atleast give me a bike width as offroading is not really a good option on the hills
The bugger didnt give an inch and i had to take my bike on the loose rocks. The front tyre skidded and we fell. As expected, the trucker didnt stop and moved ahead. Riding gear saved us and we had no damages at all. Same for my trusty bike. My bike does all its starting issues nakhras in Noida. Thankfully, never on tour
Anyway, we got up and made our way to Chandigarh through the dusty Ropar stretch.
P.S: Our relatives got a shock on seeing us. While the lady of the house and dressed up to just receive us, here we were, all dusty and rugged, but immensely satisfied with the short but beautiful ride.
Day 3: Chandigarh to ludhiana to meet relatives and then a dash to delhi in the evening. Did ludhiana to delhi in 5 hours. Very happy with that
Trip Meter Reading:: 1235 km
On a Saturday, in the sweltering heat, we ventured out to the markets and she said exasperatedly "When is our next trip!!"
A quick look through the 3-4 day getaways thread and we decided to go to Jalori pass.
Day 1:
Saturday Morning 0630 hrs.
"Damn!! we are late". Hurriedly we packed up and finally left noida at 0730 hrs.
The whole day was leisurely and the route followed was
Noida-Ambala-chandigarh-shimla-narkanda.
A poor attempt at getting the train out of tunnel shot. I actually thought it was gonna be a steam engine
After Solan,
The CCD just after the main shimla city. Truly a CCD with a view. Guess my bill there 220 !!!
Towards Narkanda
As it was raining off and on, progress was slow in the hills. We dropped the plan to go to Shoja that day and decided to stay in Narkanda instead. At 6 in the evening, we checked into a beautiful nature camp just outside narkanda.
It was chilly and it felt good to be away from the cauldron that delhi has become.
At the nature camp
Our cottage for the night
Sundown
Day 2:
Jalori was 90 km away and we left camp at 0645 hours. We had decided to keep this ride as leisurely as possible. First we descended down to Loorie, a small town on the banks of the roaring Sutlej.
The sutlej view
The traditional Biker baba pic.. this time meditating under a tree
The climb up from there to Jalori was 50km. I must mention why this ride is beautiful. The thing is, you are alone. In our 2.5 hour climb to the top, we encountered one bus and a few Mahindras.. Thats it. This place has no pretension of being a tourist place. Its just plain beautiful. At the entrance of each village on the hills there is a sign which also displays the population of that place. In one village it was just 95.
A small village bridge over a rivulet.
The Ant View
We crossed that village and took a break to wonder. There must have been some festival going on there as the sound of drums reverberated in the mountain. There are little joys on this route. The butterfly that rested on my glove for sometime. A few birds which actually flew adjacent to us for some time.
The last five km in the climb to Jalori jyot was crazy. Even with my wife and the saddlebag i rarely have to engage the second gear. Here, i dropped tofirst gear as we negotiated the loose stone path.
At the top, we were greeted with a view of the snow clad himalayas in the distance.
A call to home and our plans changed. We originally planned to trek to Srevotsar lake and stay at Shoja for the day. Now, we were planning to hit Chandigarh by night to be at a relatives place.
At 12:15 we started descending from the pass. Here things literally went downhill. I have never encountered such steep a descent, not to mention the absense of even one bit of tarmac. Just loose stones on a gravel path. With my wife falling over me, my palms were facing severe strain and the descent was incredibly slow. 11kms of tough terrain and finally we saw a decent stretch of tarmac.
Even the landscape changed dramatically. While the Sutlej valley was dry, this was all green with a river running along. Since Chandigarh was still far away we didn't stop to click any pics
Just a few km before hitting the entrance of the Kullu tunnel, i saw this tunnel before a barrage. Doesnt make sense to me as to why its there.
The Kullu-Mandi road has become a favorite of mine now. Sweeping corners and a beautiful view. The heat was now getting to me and then on, it was just a mad rush to get to Chandigarh as quickly as possible.
At round about 5:30, as the last few kms of the hills remained before kiritpur sahib, i took a wide corner at 50, straightened up and saw a truck(10kmph) being overtaken by another at 12kmph. They had simply left no space for me. I braked as much as possible and hoped that the trucker would atleast give me a bike width as offroading is not really a good option on the hills
The bugger didnt give an inch and i had to take my bike on the loose rocks. The front tyre skidded and we fell. As expected, the trucker didnt stop and moved ahead. Riding gear saved us and we had no damages at all. Same for my trusty bike. My bike does all its starting issues nakhras in Noida. Thankfully, never on tour
Anyway, we got up and made our way to Chandigarh through the dusty Ropar stretch.
P.S: Our relatives got a shock on seeing us. While the lady of the house and dressed up to just receive us, here we were, all dusty and rugged, but immensely satisfied with the short but beautiful ride.
Day 3: Chandigarh to ludhiana to meet relatives and then a dash to delhi in the evening. Did ludhiana to delhi in 5 hours. Very happy with that
Trip Meter Reading:: 1235 km
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