travel


This is the story of my motorcycle ride to Lansdowne, Uttarakhand, India during July, 2017

Ghaziabad (4:10 AM)

Delay of ten minutes from proposed start time, Which is acceptable if initial 100 kilometers are covered unstopped
This was an spontaneous decision to ride and I am not wearing any protection this time
I am riding with a helmet as the only protecting gear. Which i later realized, a great risk
Traffic is very light but no sunlight. We are riding with headlights on

Rode for 95 kilometers from our homes, arrived on Chandpur road at Gajraula. Emptied our bladder and restarted
Next stop Chandpur is 50 kilometers. Road is nice but single sided, which forced us to reduce out top speeds
Took a minor stop of 10 minutes, at some mid point, quickly checked google map to avoid any deviation

Its wee hours and life is coming back on roads. School kids and peasants started to resume the daily life
Chandpur is alive and we crossed it without slightest of traffic snarls
Next stop is 16 kilometers, known as Noorpur, a small town
While riding to Noorpur, i got a bee stung, almost felt like a warm piercing in my left shoulder. Spent 5 minutes to regain my energy and restarted
Lesson learnt from bee incident: Always wear riding jacket and leave no open gates for bugs!!

Swiftly crossed Noorpur. Nothing slowed our speeds, despite of regular day activities of city
We are heading to Nehtaur, which is 20 kilometers away

Nehtaur is clocked. We are feeling good after successfully crossing the maximum distance without any traffic
Next stop is Nazibabad, which is 50 kilometers

Nazibabad was slightly busy but it has not taken much time to cross the town
Eventually the breeze became cooler and roadsides became greener, which our eyes were fervently waiting for 3 hours
Passing through jungle road with almost no traffic, smoothened our ruffled feathers and reduced our riding fatigue
Next stop is Kotdwar, which is 25 kilometers

And finally we are in Uttarakhand, the neighbor state of Uttar Pradesh
Stopped at a small eatery, ate sumptuous aloo parathas with butter and pickles, scrounged enough to give us the ability to survive for complete day

After riding for around 45 minutes, we finally arrived on the entry gate of Lansdowne but the main place is still 22 kilometers up hills
Spent here some time in capturing beautiful moments

After crossing 6 kilometers from Dugadda, arrived at Kho river pass
Feelings to take bath could not stop us and we were in clean water within few minutes
A small mid aged group of south Delhi males, was enjoying the bath and booze
It took us minutes to remove all our clothes and jumping in cold water of Kho river
Water is always a natural smoother to us, and it was natural hill water, which increased the enjoyment
A water snake enhanced our adventure and forced us all to run away. Snake kept starring us, and we kept laughing and joking
We have enchased the cost of long drive so far. Few more people from Delhi, joined us meanwhile
Finally after complete refreshment, we decided to ride again and enjoy the hill beauty

Started climbing the mountain again after getting refreshed
After climbing for another 15 minutes, with a quick jerk, my bullets clutch wire decided to say adios to me
Bike is stopped and I am trying to understand the reason of failure, at the middle of no man’s land
Last town to get repaired is 8 kilometers behind, next is 14 kilometers far
Boldness is always rewarded!!! I decided to ride uphill without clutch, may sound scary to few but it’s not that difficult for regular bike riders
We are riding in clouds now and its magical to feel the chill. Body is drenched with rain and mild drizzling of clouds

Finally we arrived at Lansdowne and our search for a mechanic is also ended. My stallion received a new clutch wire within 30 minutes

Lansdowne, at a height of 5,800 ft. (1,800 m) above sea level, is the recruitment center of the Garhwal Rifles
War history of Garhwal Rifles is worth respect and reverence
Lansdowne was founded and named after then Viceroy of India (1888-1894), Lord Lansdowne in 1887
The War Memorial (Darban Singh Museum), near the Parade Ground of the Garhwal Rifles Center, is worth a visit, if you love history
Good part of Lansdowne is that its not commercialized, some of its attractions are
- Bhulla lake
- Tarkeshwar Mahadev Temple
- Bhim Pakora - Kaleshwar Mahadev Mandir
- Garhwali Mess
- St. John’s Church