On a cold Friday evening Vishal called me at around 7 PM and told me that he did not want to spend the weekend in Delhi in the same old fashion way and wanted to do something that would rejuvenate us so that we reach fresh to the office on Monday morning. He told me that he had already left from home on his bike with some essentials and his buddy “his camera”. He asked me if I had any ideas what we could do or where we could go as he had not decided before leaving home (nothing new about Vishal).
I asked him to come to my house and pick me up and then we could decide on the way what best we could do. Vishal and I had dinner around 8:30 PM at my place and we decided to hit the road immediately. Like always; my mom and my wife showed resistance but they knew that it was all in vain as it was nothing new for me to leave on a journey on such a short notice. Vishal and I left my home at around 9 PM and we had still not decided where we were going.
Even though we had done it many times together, still we finally both agreed that we will go to Rishikesh, do rafting and come back home by Sunday evening and so we headed towards NH 58. Vishal rode the bike all night and our speed was pretty slow because of the fog that started about when we reached Meerut bypass. We reached Rishikesh at 5:30 AM which was too early to go for rafting and too late to book a room at any hotel; so I asked Vishal if he was comfortable in riding the bike for a few more hours. Vishal as always said that he had no problem in riding and could do that for hours to come. We both decided to ride for about 100 KM further on the hills towards New Tehri to have a look at the Tehri Dam and the huge man made lake it had created. We reached New Tehri at around 8:30 AM. It was a beautiful morning. We spent about an hour at New Tehri and Vishal clicked a few pictures.
Beautiful morning
On the way
New Tehri town
A view of the Tehri dam
And then there was another change in plan. Instead of going back to Rishikesh; we decided to carry on with our journey further towards Chamba and then towards Mussoorie.
We had our morning tea and light highway breakfast at Chamba and rode further towards Dhanolti. A few kilometers before Dhanolti we stopped at a place called Kanataal. There is no actual taal over there but it was an amazing place with a breathtaking view of the snowcapped Himalayas. We spent more than an hour there and Vishal made the optimum use of his camera and took a lot of pictures at that spot.
A view from Chamba
Another view from Chamba
A view from Kanataal Mata Surkanda Devi Temple at the top
Beautiful snow capped mountaing in the back drop
Vishal waiting for me
We were riding slowly and were enjoying the breathtaking views of the nature. We stopped on the way where ever Vishal wanted to take pictures. Well he wanted to take pictures everywhere but we had to keep moving also.
On the way we met a beautiful newly wed local couple and I could not resist taking the pictures of both.
Newly wed
We reached Dhanolti at around 2 PM. It was amazing that nether Vishal nor me were feeling hungry. Probably because we never had time to think about food as we were so mesmerized by the beauty of the Mother Nature. As usual and as always; the moment Vishal used to park the bike, the first thing he used to do was taking his camera out and start shooting indiscriminately like a terrorist with a camera in his hand.
In Dhanolti we saw some kids at a school who were studying under open sky with beautiful sun shining on their tiny heads. It bought the childhood memories back to us. Vishal did not want the studying students to be disturbed but at the same time could not resist taking pictures of the kids, so he picked up a spot from where he could see the kids but the kids could not see him and he took a couple of pictures.
A view of School at Dhanolti
We moved on towards Mussoorie and we were singing songs while riding along the beautiful road and enjoyed every moment of the ride. We reached Mussoorie at around 5 PM. Since it was off season we got a good hotel room at a very reasonable price. Even though Vishal was tired as he had been riding the bike for almost 24 hours now; we still chatted till late in the night recalling our experiences on the various trips that we had done in the past. Vishal also cleaned his camera of the pictures which did not come out well and made room on the memory stick for clicking more pictures the next day.
At Mussoorie
We decided that we will wake up early in the morning and then head towards Dehradun and then to Delhi. Don’t exactly remember when we fell asleep. The next morning (Sunday morning) we woke up early and I called up my friend Tony who lives in Dehradun and is a big time Ghumakkar just like us. I told him that we were in Mussoorie and are coming to Dehradun and would like to spend some time in Maldevta by the river side. I know that place quite well as I have been there a couple of times on quick weekend getaways.
We reached Dehradun at around 8 AM and while we were waiting for Tony, Vishal was mind boggled to find out that the dhaba where we were waiting had his favorite breakfast BUN MALAI being served. Tony reached us while we both were finishing our BUN MALAI and Chai breakfast.
Bun Malai breakfast
Chai time at Dehradun
Once we were done; we headed straight towards Maldevta. We picked up a spot and parked our bikes besides the road. We climbed down the hill to reach the water. The water was bone chilling and absolutely crystal clear. We could see the fish in the water and I regretted that I had not bought my fishing hooks and lines and other stuff which I normally carry every time I set out for such trips.
Vishal Tony and me at Maldevta just before the explosions
We were enjoying our time there and Vishal as usual was busy clicking pictures. Just then HELL BROKE. We heard a loud deafening bomb explosion and saw huge boulders size of a car rolling down the mountain towards us. Without thinking what had happened and what was going on; we grabbed our bags and rushed towards safety cover. Luckily there was a small cave sort of a carving in the mountain which could hardly accommodate three people. Just as we were adjusting ourselves in the so called cave; there was another similar explosion which shook us to the core and we had no idea what was going on. The whole scene was covered with dust and it looked like we were suddenly in a war zone.
Huge rocks kept rolling down the mountain and we had no idea what was going on. Once the boulders had stopped coming down we carefully rushed towards our bikes so that we could get away from that place still not knowing what on earth had happened. Just a few hundred meters ahead we met a labor who was working at the road side and we asked him what those explosions were all about. He said that there was road construction going on at the other side of the river and they were blasting the boulders that were obstacles. Well that made sense.
Anyways we decided to move on towards Delhi. We left Dehradun at around noon. After riding for about 20 kilometers we saw a few Gujjar huts besides a dry river. Vishal wanted to take some pictures of the Gujjars and there typical huts so we climbed down to their huts.
Gujjar homes
Gujjar homes - Another view
The river that we thought was dry actually had a few pools of water. We could not resist investigating those pools. To my elation there were small fish trapped in those shrinking water bodies. I could not stop myself from trying to catch a few.
Fish
I got one too
I took off my undershirt and used it as net and managed to catch a handful. We collected some firewood and barbecued the fish on the spot. We borrowed some salt from the Gujjars and enjoyed our catch. Even though the fish was small; still it tasted fantastic.
We got so engaged in the activities there that did not realize how fast the time was passing by. We suddenly realized that the sun had started to go down and we had a long way to go so we hit the road once again. We were in no hurry and rode back to Delhi with a reasonable speed and reached Delhi at around 2AM.
What a fantastic weekend it was!!!
awesome !
Delhi – Rishikesh – Tehri – Chamba – Dhanulti – Mussorrie – Dehradun – Delhi is a complete circle. It takes almost one week if explored thoroughly which you covered in two day.
To reach Dehradun if you want to skip Dhanulti – Mussorrie , take a left turn from Kadukhal (near surkanda) , kown as Maldevata road. Road is very narrow but their is no traffic.
Good Job !
Maheshjee ,
Don’t come up with comments only. Your posts are necessity in Ghumakkar…………………..
People are waiting ……………….
Jaldi Sir……………………….
Ya Vishal I know its long time no post on Ghumakkar. Restarted with comments soon coming up with post also. :-)
Yes Semwal Ji I have been on that road, although I traveled from Maldevta to Chamba not the opposit way…
Once again Harish jee,
You have proved my guess that you are very good prospect for future in ghumakkar.com
An excellent post with proper ghumakkari tag to this post.
You have written in the post that both of you and Vishal were not hungry till 2 pm . So when did you take your supper.
I liked Gujjar Huts also, very beautiful………………………
Keep writing and posting…………
Thank you Vishal Ji,
On the way we were happy with munching biscuits and kurkure ( we made sure to dispose off the empty wrappers and other litter at designated places)
We had a proper three course meal at the hotel in Mussoorie :-)
???? ?? ?? ??? ??? ??? ?? ?? ??? ??? ??? …………………………………?? ?? ??? ??? ??? ?? ???? ??? ????? ………………….?? ???????? ?? ?? ????? ????????………..????? ……….????? ?? ????? ?? ????? ?? ?? ???????? ?? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?? ………….?? ???????? ?? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ?? ??? ?? ????? ????? ………….?? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ?? ???????? ???? ??? ????? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ????
Manu Bhai ye harsih ka post hai na ki mahesh ka :-)
Thank you Manu bhai…Bahut bhut dhaniyawad….The camera that Vishal uses is Cannon 550D DSLR.
Thanks Harish bhai for posting our journey here. I would now suggest please post all our trips here. It will be fun!
One should have caliber to explain the details of our trips and I see you are not only a great adventurer but also a good writer. We had lods of fun and enjoyed such extensive bike driving. I wish to go with you soon again!
Let it be big time BANG!
Vishal jee
Welcome to Ghumakkar through comments………………….
Your advice to Harish is right . Please share all your ineteresting Ghumakkaris.
But My wish is that even you post some of those interesting stories with Harish…………
Thanks ………….
I can try sir! I do not write so well as others would like reading but I can surely try…
Thanks for encouraging me!
Dear Vishal,
You can try and see my first post below , how i used to write in the beginning ( my first post) very simple.
https://www.ghumakkar.com/2011/05/21/a-religious-trip-to-somnath-lord-shiva/
And read any of my latest post for improvement.
The imp thing is to try SIR.
a very well written travelogue.i admire your ghumakkarpan.its duly supported by some nice snaps.keep it up.
Thank you, Sharma Ji
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????? ????, ????? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ????? ??????? ???? ??? ?? ????? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ????? ???? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ??????-> ?????-> ?????->?????-> ???????-> ?? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ?? ??? ?? ?? ??? ??, ?? ??????? ???? ???????? ???? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?? ?????
Thank you for the advise Neeraj bhai. I totally agree with you. Par aap to jante hain ki Ghumakkadi ka kida kaisa hota hai. So I cannot promise you ki aage se aisa nahi hoga…. Pata nahi kab mai fir muh utha ke likal padun par aapki baat zaroor yaad rakhunga…
Indeed a fantastic weekend it was.
The whole circuit takes much more time, as Mahesh observed, but the Ghumakkari ensured that you are moving all the time. The pics (fish, Himalayan Range) have come out really really well.
Things like, “…. we were going slow…”, “…. not disturbing kids..”, are inspirational and gives us a way to know more about you.
Great going Bhat Ju as they say it locally. (Guess, I am not messing up with it, just back from 7-tal last night).
Nandan ji Garhwal aur Kumaun ke accent ke bahuth fark hai ……:-)
:-). Ouch. I didn’t know. If not Bhattju then what should I be saying to correct my mistake.
Thank you, Nandan Ji. Your comments are always very inspiring and encouraging. In Garhwali it would be Bhatt Ji. But you are right if; if you are in Kumaon it would indeed be Bhatt Ju.
BTW Congratulation Sir. I hope to learn a lot from you….
that was cool man….ispe toh movie banni chahiye…. nice man…keep it up….
VERY NICE WRITE UP BHATT JI…..EXCELLENT PICTURES ….
Thank you, Ritesh Ji…
Nice blog. Good Pictures. I too want to try the Malai-Bun! :-)
please inform me if u visit against the place at Daunlti Musoori, and chamba
how is road from rishikesh to tehri?
is it safe for us to travel if its our first bike trip?
hiiiiii shivam
if i am not disturbing you….i have some update about rishikesh tihri road status….
on 13 august i went for a solo bike ride from delhi-rishikesh-musoori-dhnaulti-chamba rishikesh-delhi…
road condtion is fine from rishikesh to dhnaulti..however little bit landslide you will find on dhnaulti to kaddukhal route..but from chamba to tihri or tihri to rishikesh its big NO NO for at least for some days..lots of debris and mud came on highway near aamsera..i got stuck there for 4 hours..even i could not move my bike for few meters due to plethora of mud…rishikesh chmaba road is still block.. its better do a trip from delhi-haridwar-rishikesh-dehradun-masoori-dhnaulti..and come back vice versa…even in dehradun, rajpur masouri road revived many land slide yesterday…..
Anyone been on the route recently? I would be driving tonight on that route. Faridabad to Rishikesh and then Dhanaulti and if time allows then Mussoorie from there or back to Rishikesh
kya pa thake ni ina lamba tour krke bike mai and mai or mera frnd bi jane ka plan krre soo
Bhuta acah bhaiji
I wanted to know the condition of the delhi-dehradun road for a solo bike ride?
want to cover rishikesh, new tehri and kanatal from gurgaon. So,please share how i should plan?
Take this route – Gurugram – Delhi – Haridwar – Rishikesh – Narendernagar – Chamba – New Tehri – Back to Chamba – Kanatal – Dhanulti – then take a left turn from Kaddukhal if you want to skip Mussoorie – Dehradun – Saharanpur – Back to Delhi.
Hi guys,
What a fantasti post. I with my family are planning a trip up there in a few days, all the way from Bengaluru and this is what we needed!!! Most helpful indeed. Thanks a ton.
You guys are having lots of fun making me envious!
Thank you for reading. Glad you liked it. My best wishes for your journey…Have fun…
Hi guys,
What a fantastic post. I, with my family, are planning a trip Up there in a few days, all the way from Bengaluru(via Delhi) and this is what we needed!!! Most helpful indeed. Thanks a ton.
You guys are having lots of fun making me envious!