My Travel Stories

Route: Gurgaon - Pipli - Yamunanagar - Poanta Sahib - Shillai - Tiuni - Hatkoti - Rohru - Chirgaon - Shiladesh (well amost) - Rohru - Sungri - Khadrala - Baggi - Jubbal - Kotkhai - Theog - Shimla - Gurgaon
Distance: 1100kms (approx.); Days: 4
21st Dec'07 to 24th Dec'07
The plan was simple, after a long sabbatical, me and my riding partner Risihi just wanted to ride out. Had a long discussion on the destination but could resist the idea of snowfall in the month of December. So, the date was set – 21st December, the destination was finalized – Pabbar valley, route was planned: Delhi – Pipli – Yamunanagar – Poanta Sahib – Shillai – Tiuni – Rohru – Chargaon – Shiladesh – Rohru – Sungri – Baggi – Narkanda – Shimla – Delhi. Roped in couple of friends (Arunav, Manoj, Aman, Arvind & Mr. Thakur) and we started preparing for the adverse situation that you might face in hills during peak winter.
21st December, 2007
As per the plan, five of us headed towards Kurukshetra on four bikes around 7:30 am, where one more friend was supposed to join us. We took a breakfast halt at Murthal at 9:30 am and were back on the road in half an hour. Reached Pipli around 12, where Aman was waiting for us. As we were getting ready to move, I had a flat tyre along with some broken spokes. Got it fixed and now we were way behind our schedule. Rishi’s bike was traveling with a pillion and lots of luggage. It started stalling on the ascents once we reached Kalesar. So we divided the luggage and it was smooth again. By the time when we reached Poanta Sahib, it was 4:30pm. After skipping lunch to make up for the lost time, we were quite hungry. We hogged on tikki burgers and chai at a mithai shop and enquired about the route further. We couldn’t carry on beyond Shillai as the road was really dusty with lot of truck traffic (this is a mining area). Reached the silent own of Shillai around 8:30 pm and took shelter in Govt. PWD guesthouse around 9.30 p.m after dinner. Not such a great day as it was already dark by the time we reached mountains. Looking forward to the day ahead.
22nd December, 2007
Shillai is a small town with barren mountains, with one of the most amazing sunrises I have ever witnessed. Woke up early, it was freezing cold but couldn’t resist the idea of a sunrise, got the camera, stepped out for a surprisingly beautiful sunrise. Soon, others also joined me to see the first ray. It was a beautiful sunny winter morning, could see little bit of snow on distant mountains. After a quick tea session, everybody was ready for exciting day ahead. It was descend from Shillai, the ride was just amazing, with occasional pine forest. Soon we reached the beautiful confluence of Tons & Pabbar river. The sight was something similar to a cold desert river, with barren rocky Mountains in the background, crystal clear water. Around 20 kms short of Tiuni, Rishi’s bike ran out of petrol. None of us bothered to refuel on the first day as most of us were either relying on their bikes or Rishi huge petrol tank. Irony, we all pooled in some petrol enough for the nest 20 kms. We reached Tiuni, with a quick fill up and little brunch, we rode on some of the most scenic roads to Hatkoti. Our next stop was at Rohru, the headquarters of Pabbar valley. Slowly, we negotiated through heavily crowded streets; and entered in to an open valley which was quite beautiful and unique, with Chansal peak right in front of us but quite far. After crossing the town, we proceeded at a low speed consuming the beauty of the valley and enjoying the company of Pabbar River. With population dropping with every kilometer, we reached the last town of Chargaon on the route. After crossing the town we stopped by the river for a short break. It was the most relaxing break of the ride with crystal clear water flowing and beautiful mountains all around with thick vegetation. Ahead of us was snow-clad mighty Chansal peak. We were back on the road after 30 minutes and started riding towards Shiladesh. There was no road once the ascent started. Initially it was fun to tackle the ascent but little further, we encountered snow, lots of it, which made traction little difficult, bikes started slipping. Somehow we kept on riding but and 3 kms before Shiladesh, we decided to turn back; as the sun was going down fats and most of were finding it really difficult to negotiate the slippery slopes. We failed to negotiate the climb, but promised ourselves to be back. As the sun was going down fast, we decided that I will climb down first and scout for a safe place to camp; meanwhile others will negotiate the slope slowly and safely. Found an ideal spot along the river bank where we stopped earlier. I parked my bike and waited for others to come. Once everybody was there, we divide ourselves in two teams, to pitch tents and arrange for food and water. Arunav and Aman went to Chargaon to get some food and drinking water and rest of us started pitching tents and collecting fire wood. Within half an hour tents were pitched and fire was burning. Arunav and Aman came back with food, but no drinking water, as the local shopkeepers didn’t even stock bottled water as it was a remote place. We could have used river water, but our water purifying pills had already expired. I and Rishi decided to go to the nearby village for water. And to our luck it was too late for the village to be awake at 8:00 pm ;-). As we started back, stray dogs started chasing us, and as we stopped, we noticed a small tea stall. After requesting him for sometime, he agreed to give us a big container of drinking water. we never anticipated the welcome that we got at campsite when they water in our hands JJ. That night, all of us sat around the fire, eating, laughing, cracking jokes, pulling legs; as for most of us it was the first night under the stars.
23rd December, 2007
After a good night sleep, we woke to an icy morning, cold wind was picking up, but thankfully the fire was still lit. It was time to get ready for the day ahead, we were thinking of taking a dip in river (it was third day without shower), but locals strongly suggested against as the water was extremely cold, cold enough to freeze you in seconds. Before we can do anything else, it was time for nature’s call, but it was no less than a torture without toilet paper. I sat their chatting with a local just to discover that it was a leopard country and lots of animal carcasses were scattered around behind the campsite. It was quite informative after we have camped there for a night. It was time to leave; we packed our stuff, returned the water container and returned back to Rohru. Refueled and asked for directions to Sungri. We could have taken a safer route to Shimla via Theog but no. It was a beautiful road to Sungri with very less traffic, from 1400 mt., we climbed up to around 2200 mt in just 50 mintues. Enroute we saw some small patches of snow which really got us excited. Took a halt at Sungri, had breakfast and tea and enquired about the road ahead. From Sungri, you can either take left turn for Narkanda or right turn to Rampur. We decided to go by Narkanda as locals suggested that jeeps have been moving on this route, so bikes wouldn’t be problem. That’s all we needed, packed up and got on to the Sungri-Narkanda road. It was 12:30 pm and Baggi was just 40 kms away. So we planned to stay little ahead of Narkanda that day.
As we started to ride, we got a first patch of snow on the road – excited 99%, got to see another one round the corner - excited 95%, got another one and another one and another one. By the time we reached Khadrala (18 kms away), our excitement level was quite low. At Khadrala most of the bikes were standing in the snow without any support. Locals suggested us to turn back and not proceed further as the road was blocked with snow. But we decided to move ahead as we had already managed 18kms of snow patches, ‘we will manage’ rest 22 kms also. To put in other words we didn’t had energy/patience to go through that icy road again. But few kilometers down the road, all of us knew it was a bad idea to proceed further. Snow was replaced by ice and icy mud slush. We were finding it difficult to stand on ice, but we had to take our bikes across these patches. We took turns to help each other to cross these patches. Three of us would hold the bike and help rider to cross it. Everybody had their own share of falls. Midway, Arvind had a flat tire; as it was getting late, we decided to divide the group and send three riders (Rishi, Arunav, Aman & Mr. Thakur) to check the rest of the way and get closest accommodation as it was next to impossible to pitch tents in snow. Had a tough time fixing the tire as rubber got stiff, so did our hands, it took us an hour just fix it up. It was about to get dark and the worst was yet to come; guys ahead informed us about another ice patch ahead and a mud-snow slush. Finally we crossed all the patches and it was dark. People at Baggi were surprised to see us arriving from this side of the road as it was supposed to be close due to excessive snow. By the time we reached Baggi, our shoes were wet, clothes were dirty, hands were freezing, and all we wanted was bed. We unloaded the bikes and took shelter in PWD rest house. It was a long hard day. The rooms were warm and nice with a fireplace which we later used to dry our wet shoes and clothes. After little chitchat, all of us went off to sleep as nobody had any energy left. Won’t be able to forget about that day, mislead by a local, we covered 40 kms in about 7 hours.
24th December, 2007
Hoping to reach home, we woke early and packed our stuff on time. After enquiring about the road ahead, was glad to know that little ahead, a road bifurcates towards Theog which is all clear of snow. We couldn’t have been happier. We checked our bikes and started our journey with a cup of tea. Decided to stop for breakfast nearby Theog. It was fourth day without any shower as there was hot water or electricity available anywhere we went. This place is known as Baggi coz this area is surrounded by apple orchards, and we enjoyed the ride through beautiful country side surrounded by apple orchards. We took a short break at Chaila and proceeded towards Theog. It had been quite sometime since we had nice food, so decided to eat at the famous ‘Giani da dhaba’ at Dharampur. Crossed maddening Shimla and pushed ourselves to Dharampur, reached their around 2 pm, hungry and dirty as a pig, we hogged on as we haven’t eaten in days. Earlier we decided to divide the journey in two days, but Delhi was only 300 kms, we decided to carry on. Reached home at around 1am, covered around 450 kms in a day. Woke up next morning and it all seemed like a dream, a dream which got over too quickly.
But the journey was not complete yet, until we tread beyond Shiladesh someday.