[v&v]

Its been long since we had our last vacation (Jan @ Goa) and we all were itching for our next trip. With kids summer vacation started we were more tempted for a vacation. With my office schedule going on busy we planned a quick trip to Himalayas again to beat the Delhi heat.

Shimla in May is usually packed and hotel prices were sky rocketing. I casually called up Club Mahnidra on 11 evening to enquire for room availability and to my sheer luck due to a last moment cancellation one room was available for 14,15 & 16. Immediately confirmed the booking at Club Mahindra Whispering Pines, Mashobra. Last year March we had been to Shimla, Chail, Narkhanda so this trip we planned to explore places on state highway 13.

Plan :
14th Monday : Start early reach Shimla by 12. Explore around Mashorba
15th Tuesday : Naldhera , Tattapani and if time permits then cover Chindi in Karsog Valley.
16th Wednesday : Explore Pine forest around Kufri and Himalayan nature park.
17th Thursday : Return

Lots of photos to process, will upload soon with the log.
Here are a few random shots for now.

Pit stop at Zirakpur


Solan city view


Shimla View


Somewhere between Mashobra & Naldhera


Tattapani


Shiv Gufa @ Saror

[motomaverick]

Great start to the travelog, specially liked the color production of the McD, also nicely designed building, if you remove the bike it looks like a dinein in US.

[hvkumar]

Did you go through Shimla city or take the bypass? How was the condition of the roads in the region?

[ADI_77]

Some great shots man. Waiting for more to unfold.
Pls share details on the road taken from Shimla onwards.

[v&v]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Great start to the travelog, specially liked the color production of the McD, also nicely designed building, if you remove the bike it looks like a dinein in US.

Yup very true. Even i too like the early morning pics. The color reproduction is very true.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Did you go through Shimla city or take the bypass? How was the condition of the roads in the region?

We did take the Shimla bypass. The traffic on bypass too is very high with cars parked on the sides. Adding to it is the road patch-up work in progress.
Shimla by pass has bad patches towards Dhalli, but overall its good.
Delhi - Chandigarh too is improving. We took 3.15 hrs to Chandigarh.
Roads after Kufri till Fagu has pot holes. But overall in good shape.

Originally Posted by ADI_77

Some great shots man. Waiting for more to unfold.
Pls share details on the road taken from Shimla onwards.

Thanks, Will mention all the details in the log.

[sudev]

By those dates even the Pinjore Kalka bye-pass would have been open. This saves major time and hassle now.

[v&v]

Originally Posted by sudev

By those dates even the Pinjore Kalka bye-pass would have been open. This saves major time and hassle now.

Yup the Kalka bye-pass has opened, it saves a good 1 hour. Now Zirakpur to Timber trail take just 30 minutes.




Continuing with the log..


Day - 1
---------
We as usual started early morning 4.15 am to beat the monday traffic en route. The progress was fast and road quality between Delhi - chandigarh improving day by day. Roads after Panipat till Ambala has diversions due to onging construction but many bridges has been completed too. Early morning advantage less traffic. We reached Panipat @ 5.25am, Ambala @ 06.50 and Mcdonalds near Zirakpur @ 7.30 Am.






A good 50 min pit stop and resumed our journey. Traffic was mild and the new bypass for Pinjore/Kalka is beautiful. It almost saves 1 hr of drive time. it mergers just before Timber trail.








The roads to all the way to Shimla is in good shape. We crossed Jabli @ 09.05, Dharampur @ 09.20, Solan @ 09:55. We took a 20 min tea break and then headed to shimla. As we crossed Shoghi the traffic density increased.



Toy train - i think its Shivalik Express




Reached shimal by pass by 11:30 am and Dhalli by 12:30pm. By 12.45 we were at our destination Mashobra.
The Shimla bye-pass too was congested with road repair going on. Occasional traffic jam and some bad patches of road towards Dhalli end.

Shimla bye-pass road


CM Hotel Whispering Pines


Evening plan was to visit mall @ shimla but was told it was overcrowded and parking a big problem. We spent the evening strolling around Mashobra town. The climate is just perfect both day and night. Night temperature is around 12-14 degree and day around 22-25 degrees.

[Irish]

Originally Posted by v&v

Y

We did take the Shimla bypass. The traffic on bypass too is very high with cars parked on the sides. Adding to it is the road patch-up work in progress.
Shimla by pass has bad patches towards Dhalli, but overall its good.
Delhi - Chandigarh too is improving. We took 3.15 hrs to Chandigarh.
Roads after Kufri till Fagu has pot holes. But overall in good shape.

Thanks, Will mention all the details in the log.

Hi V&V,

I have also been to all these places but please provide more details about Shiv Gufa. Haven't ever heard about this before.

And yes, the Delhi - Chandigarh is very much do-able in 3+ hours now, depending upon the time you leave. Once the mess between Panipat - Ambala is over then it shall be either 3 or less than 3 hrs, with the same starting times.

BTW Good Snaps!

Cheers!
Irish

[v&v]

Originally Posted by Irish

Hi V&V,

I have also been to all these places but please provide more details about Shiv Gufa. Haven't ever heard about this before.

And yes, the Delhi - Chandigarh is very much do-able in 3+ hours now, depending upon the time you leave. Once the mess between Panipat - Ambala is over then it shall be either 3 or less than 3 hrs, with the same starting times.

BTW Good Snaps!

Cheers!
Irish

Thanks Irish. We too came to know about this at Tattapani only.


Some more interesting photographs were on display at the hotel gallery.

[v&v]

Day - 2

The plan was to visit Tattapani and Naldehra. If time permits to visit Chindi in Karsog valley which is around 50km from Tattapani.

Started by 9.15 am headed to Tattapani as Naldehra was planned while returning. The roads were ok with negligible bad sections.

There are many beautiful spots en-route to Tattapani















We reached Tattapani by 11. Seeing the Satluj river kids were just crazy to play in water. Parked the Safari on the river bed for our first break. While talking to locals came to know about a Shiv gufa which is in Saror village about 6 kms from Tattapani. it is a 1 km trek with 700 odd steps and will take 30 to 40 mins for each side depending upon the fitness. Kids were very excited for the trek and voted for shiv gufa rather driving to Chindi.

Tattapani is 45 kms from Mashobra is mainly visited for white water rafting & hot water spring. Mostly rafting is done between sunni to Tattapani which is about 5 kms. I was also told by our hotel travel desk that rafting also starts from Chabba which is around 12-14 kms rafting. Charges are anything between Rs 500 to Rs 700 per person for Sunni. IMO i did see any rapids between Sunni to Tattapani.





Hot water spring : Small streams are flowing from the river banks. Indeed they were hot. There is a hotel hot spring which is offering private pools for sulphur water bath.





After spending an hour at Tattapani we headed to Saror.

[v&v]

Its a 15 min drive from Tattapani to Saror village and we reached by 12.30 Pm. Every one was very charged up for the trek. Initial 50 step climb and I was totally breathless. We reached the hill top(only 30% of total trek) which was 150 odd setps with 2-3 stops. It was a breeze for kids. After resting for 10 mins we started our descend, The track is narrow and steps too were damaged. it took a good 40 minutes to reach the bottom of hill. But must say its a very lovely place (must visit) with a a small stream flowing.

Road to Saror Village




















The cave is a naturally formed one with a depth of 30 odd feet. It will have around 100+ shiv lingas.
The poojari told these small lingas are "Ganas" of Lord Shiv.








Naturally formed Shiv lings






We spent a good 1 hrs there. Kids enjoyed playing in water. Return journey is difficult. It was 70% climb and rest 30% is the descent. By the time we were there at the hill top, I was totally exhausted. Rested there for a good 20 mins before the descend.

Note : its better to carry drinks and food for the trek. There is a small shop at base where one parks the car.

[v&v]

Next we headed back to our Hotel with a stop over at Naldehra to see the Golf course. We were there by 4 pm. The golf course is a 5 min walk from the parking. Rest let the photos speak.

Roads towards Naldehra




Steep climb to the Golf course







Golf Course which is more than 100 years old




After spending an hour there we heading back to our hotel.

[laluks]

Hi v&v nice trip.
I think I should swap locations with you to explore the CM resorts in North .

[sudev]

Sorry but this may be a bit OT.

Two of the most interesting holes I've ever played. #4 & #13. Approximate trajectories marked on the picture. If you hit too high the ball rolls down the slope after landing on the greens side (left) and if you are too low the trees in the center make you suffer. The perfect way is to hit is low and let it bounce up the slope and hope for the best.

And the eighteenth is a devil. Hit from the low spot somewhere in the middle of the picture up the slope to a small landing green almost at the edge of cameraman's feet. If you land on the green perfect. Lower than that the ball will almost roll back to the tee and if hit higher it will go out of bounds beyond the green in to club house area.

Thanks for rekindling the memories.

[Sparkiplug]

V&V i myself has just returned from Wildflower Hall, Mashobra yesterday. One of the most beautiful properties in the World. Also the Pinjore/Kalka by-pass is according to me one of the best roads in India with the right mix of bends and curves (especially if you're driving an E92 320d in Sport mode)