But the present condtion of the Karnal - Indri is worst and will b worst for long.BTW which college in YNR?

^^Haryana Engg College, Jagadhri

@devilboy: Yup, its the best feeling in the world. Being with your love and with your passion at the same time

Oh you must have done college ages ago Right now, its horrendous. The stretch from karnal to ymn is still manageable. But further on, its simply kilometers of no road at all !! Things improve after taking a diversion away from the chhachrauli route towards Paonta.

Oh is that it!! Surprisingly, when I left college in 2006, the Ymn - Chachrauli - Khijrabad - Paonta was a treat to ride on

@Kurt: Yes, back in 2006 when I rode to Chakrata for the first time, the YamunaNagar stretch was indeed very good. I don't know what happened, but subsequently when I rode to Chakrata back in 2007, it was really pathetic! And going by Mik's description and the photographs, it remains bad to this very day.

@Mik: nice pics buddy..

Has been a busy week. Couldn't finish off the log. Well here goes..

Day 2: Chakrata - Mussoorie - Tehri - Chamba

The plan was to bike upto Devban (16 km up from Chakrata) and then move towards Tehri. We took things a bit leisurely.





The hotel caretaker warned us that it will be difficult to go upto Devban as there was no road. Just a stone laden jeepable path. Having been to Jalori, i was pretty sure that this won't be that big a challenge.
It was. The trouble with having pillion, and specially your wife, is that skidding or falling is simply not an option. A few kilometers of pakka road, and then we started climbing up that road. Initially, it was fine, but soon the gradient increased and i was constantly on first gear on the loose gravel and rocks.


Finally, half an hour into the climb and with just a few km progress, i asked my wife whether we should keep moving. She wasn't feeling upto it herself so we decided to get to Tehri to see the dam as it was almost 11 and Tehri was far away.





We took the Chakrata-Mussoorie road, fairly ok road with a few rough patches but beautiful views.





Hmmm... :-)







The only trouble was that there is almost zero traffic on it and there are many places where there are tri junctions and no marker or a soul in sight to guide us. Instinct took over and i used the thumb rule that the older road would be the correct road.

The view of Yamuna from the top



The ride was leisurely and soon we were at Yamuna pool.

Was disappointed with such less water. Still, some rafting was going on there.


Here an amazing 2 lane road from VikasNagar was going towards Mussoorie. Speeds climbed up and i started taking the hairpins with lots of confidence.

Kempty falls


Met up with an old friend in Mussoorie for lunch (the bugger made us wait for half an hour )

From there on, the route taken was Mussoorie-Dhanolti-Kanatal-Chamba-Tehri.
As we were chasing the shadows to get a dekko at the dam, didn't stop for photographs. Somehow, i was dissapointed with Dhanolti. It seemed pretty ordinary. Maybe there are places to go from there





Chamba to Tehri was 18km with great roads again. As the sun kept bobbing up and down various hill tops, we finally got a view of the lake.







Photography is not allowed near the dam, hence didn't take any more pics. The dam itself is huge. I was expecting massive fall of water (like a traditional dam) but it turned out that this dam has 4 underground turbines. A local told us that on days when the water level is low, the Raj Mahal of old Tehri is visible inside the water.
Finally, satisfied with the days ride, we checked into a hotel in Chamba (Hotel Sirmaur - Rs 500 with safe parking. Take the GMVN guest house if you can. It has an amazing location but was full at that time)

Day 3:
Chamba-Rishikesh-Haridwar-Khatauli-Canal Road-Muradnagar-Gurgaon.

Like in many other trips, i missed any sign of a spectacular sunrise. We started early morning and the roads were pretty good to ride on so it was a pleasure. Reaching near NarendraNagar, we got these views.

Look at the forest lining. This was the first time i saw something like this.


A forest fire rages




Rishikesh



Dalwala



I was thinking that we would end up on the road through busy rishikesh but luckily the narendranagar road exited in Dalwala, bypassing Rishikesh. From there on it was a boring ride to Gurgaon.



Just a small incident worth mentioning. We took a break at a small dhaba. An old villager was sitting there and he looked at my knee pads and asked, "Yeh extra safety ke liye hoga na. Bahut sahi hai. Aisi cheezey pehnna chaahiye." I was pleasantly surprised to see a villager understanding the purpose of riding gear and not taking me for a racer/rash rider.

Just another point, take the Khatauli to Muradnagar canal road only at day time. There was a reasonable police presence on that road and a local did say "Din mei toh theek hai "

Another lovely ride from you Mik, there are really some brilliant captures. And that Chakrata-Mussoorie stretch really seems to be very scenic...

Finally, the update comes and how! Thanks for sharing it all, Mik. Lovely text and some really mouth-watering views there. Kudos to both of you, especially your wife for being such a brave-heart and participating in almost every ride that you do.

Thanks Yup, the chakrata - mussoorie road is very deserted and achingly beautiful. In the rains, it will be stunning.

@Ankitmohan: Thanks

@Aryan: Yup my wife is quite the braveheart. Though have convinced her that for a spiti/leh ride, i won't be taking her along

I would say otherwise! Take her along; Spiti/ Leh is one place which stands on one side, while ALL the other destinations look up from a distance! It's all heavenly!

Luv these sets of pics. luv the view.

"...the Raj Mahal of old Tehri is visible inside the water"
You meant to say that the actual Raj Mahal is submerged under water? woah! I did not expect this one. Reminds me of one hollywood movie, forgot the name, but it was a horror movie where the whole village believed to be practicing witchcraft was also submerged under water in the dam.

Keep pouring in buddy. I know you mite b busy, will still wait for the next update... no pressure....hehehe...

I know !! but such long rides on pillion on such terrain.. that too on a 220. I am not sure Infact, i have been toying around in my mind about any mod i can do to the bike to make the pillion more comfortable and also carry more luggage without inconveniencing her.

He he!! i was shocked too. I don't think any ghosts exist there . The New Tehri seems like a very nice hill city. Also, no more updates from my side. It was just a 3 day ride

Great ride there.

@Mik - I agree with Aryan. Now that you both have done quite a few trips together so she had already got a hang of things to expect on such rides. I guess 2-3more rides and she will be prepared for the big ride.

Oh Yes! I remember our ride to Kumaun during Monsoons, it was an amazing experience.

And I believe touring is nothing serious for you, it's embeding in your blood now. For me, i'll say 'Bike! Bike! and Away"

Well! You could have asked atleast....