The winter was all but over. My last venture up north had been a failure. A ride to shimla had turned into a foggy and rainy nightmare. All of that... but no snow.
A three day weekend at hand, I was raring to make amends. Target was set on Dalhousie, right up there on my touring agenda.
As the D day (12th Feb) neared, i had doubts. What if we ended up biking 600km to Dalhousie and there was no snow...

Going to sleep at 0115 Hrs on 12th, i was still not sure where to go.

Day 1: 0400 Hrs
The alarm rang. I was too groggy to get up. Thoda aur so jaata hun

0600 Hrs
Finally, got up, suited up and we left Gurgaon at 0630 Hrs. Me and my wife on our Red 220.
Azadpur was a nightmare with a big traffic jam and throughout the route to ambala, there was digging for 6 laning of NH1. Progress was slow, so finally at 12 pm, frustrated with the traffic, we dropped Dalhousie. An alternate route sprung up in my mind. First day to Ludhiana (my in-laws-- keeps my wife happy to visit them ), Second day to Kufri and third day back to Gurgaon.
So, we trudged to Ludhiana, to the comfort of my in-laws house.

Took just two random pics, to open the account





Day 2:
Ludhiana - Shimla - Kufri - Shimla

Since the day was gonna be an easy drive, got up leisurely and finally left Ludhiana at 7:30 am.
The road to Chandigarh is very beautiful with very less traffic and some nice country side.



A word of Caution: Fill your petrol in chandigarh, not here. Its way too costly (almost 5.5 Rs more)

A disciplined ride through Chandigarh (very frustrating to see the open roads but the speed limit being just 50) , and we were soon climbing up the hills.

Wifey was struggling a lot. She had picked up an injury in ludhiana in the knees and now it was getting aggravated. I offered to cut short the ride there and then in Solan, but she said ... " Humey toh snow dekhna hai :-) " End of discussion
I am in love with the road from Solan to Shimla. Wide corners, reasonably less traffic and beautiful surroundings. It helps if the train to Shimla chugs by now and then

From Shimla to Kufri was reasonably ok, with the last few kms a bit dicey with slush and black ice at places. The view in Kufri was great. Let the pics do the talking.













The sky was getting dark and rain/snow seemed imminent. We didn't want to risk it so decided to fall back to Solan for the day. However, the days ride had really taken a toll on her, and we dropped anchor in Shimla only.
A short walk to the mall and a dinner at subway later, we hit the bed.



A blobby attempt to capture the beauty of Shimla


Day 3-14th Feb:



A bright sunny morning greeted us. The ride back to Gurgaon was leisurely and after a late lunch in Pahalwan dhaba, Murthal, we were back.

Overall 1041km on the odo, and all of it error free from my side

@KurtRules: Thanks for your various route suggestions. Didn't take a single one, but soon will. Holi is not far off