Travel enthusiast Puneet has been taking trips on his bike to various places in Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir and Uttarakhand. Here is what he wrote on one of his road trips in Uttarakhand-
Day 1: We started started our ride around 11 am. We reached Rishikesh from where one could read two sign boards, one each for Gangotri and Yamunotri.
We stopped at a Dhaba on the way to have our food and kept moving. Crossed Devprayag, then Srinagar and then at Rudraprayag. I missed the right turn for Badrinath as I took the bypass road and kept moving ahead. As we moved ahead, clouds started hovering and it started raining. The heavy downpour forced us to take a shelter for tea at GMVN resort which is just before Tilwara.
"We have to go according to the mood of nature", I thought looking at clouds while sipping the tea and eating pakoras. We asked for Bhang there but were told to go to Ukhimath to get some. We decided to go to Ukhimath and halt there for the night and decide from there itself about our next place on the route.
For those who don't know - Ukhimath, at an altitude of some 1300 meters is the place, where idols from Kedarnath temple are kept in winters and is on the way to Chopta. It is a small, busy town - somehow reminded me of Rampur in HP but is at a higher altitude than Rampur. We had no plan to go anywhere so we decided to stay at Ukhimath.
Day 2: I woke up early hoping for some sun, but the clouds had no intention of letting me witness the grand peaks around the area. After waiting for some time we braved them, and started for Deoria Tal.
A left turn from Duggalbitta on Chopta road took us to village Sari from where one can trek for Deoria tal. The best thing about Deoria Tal is the view it offers for surrounding peaks, but we could only see clouds all over so we started walking up towards the Tal. Met many guys over there, made them friends and got to know that one can stay overnight at lake side at very cheap rates, arranged by these guys.
When we descended back towards Sari, we decided to stay at some place on banks of river, at some peaceful, remote location. And as we sat at a tea stall in Sari, we decided to stay at GMVN guest house. Located at a beautiful location right on the river bank, it has eco friendly cottages for stay. We got a pack of cards with us, so spent some time there and then after having dinner in Tilwara village, we slept.
DAY 3: Next day, we decided to go back to Dehradun. But not through the usual route. We asked some guys and they told us about an alternate route via Ghansyali to Chamba from a cut right from Tilwara market. That route was very bad, there were lot of bad patches filled with rain water and slowly we cruised towards ghansyali. When we crossed Ghansyali and could see Tehri lake water extended. It was a beautiful view, with clouds, sun, huge lake on one side, huge mountain on the other, and two riders on a Bullet on a straight road.
I was in love with that road. It rained in between and we continued, then a heavy downpour caused sun to shine again and our clothes were all wet, still we kept going.
Crossed Chamba, new Chamba, then Dhanolti in dark, took Mussorie-Dehradun highway and reached back home in Bidholi at around 10pm. We ended our cold and rain-full ride and I was happy to ride through another new road in the Himalayas.
To read more about Puneet's travels, visit his blog.
For more on travel and food in Dehradun, visit here.
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