A family holiday with my wife and my 18 months daughter was on the cards since May/June'09. But some how or the other it kept on getting postponed. Then in July'09 I got the opportunity to accompany Mom for the Kailash Trip in Tibet hence this holiday get even more delayed. Finally came the Shradh season and since both of us are in the hotel industry we both could manage about 10 days holiday from our respective places of work. (hotels are pretty dull in Shradh)
With the dates getting postponed the choice of venue also kept getting changed. Few things that remained constant in deciding the destination were the following.
a. It had to be in the hills where the temperature was much cooler than Jaipur.
b. It had to be some run of the mill place where we dont find much of tourists spoiling the natures beauty.
c. Run of the mill yet, a place where we could find good accomodation and basic necessetities for our 18 month old daughter.
d. This was more of a family bonding trip than an adveturous trip, hence the destination had to be such where we could go, get our feet up and just relax.
Initially in May/ June the destination was supposed to be Ladakh. For Ladakh we were not sure if we could take our 18 month old daughter with us, plus 10 days now wouldnt have been enough to do justice to Ladakh, also Ladakh in 10 days would definately get adventerous hence Ladakh trip was cancelled till next year.
Then we thought of going to the Tirthan valley, Tirathan Valley fitted the bill perfectly, but that also had to be cancelled since Raju's Cottage was fully booked all of September. I only wanted to stay at Raju's Cottage hence kept it for next time.
Finally we decided to go ahead of Shimla to Kinnaur and just stay put at Kalpa and chill.
As the days got closer we started getting news of North of India getting heavy rains. We were informed of landslides happening in the Kinnaur area. This fact was accentuated by the elders but still left the decision on to us. What made me decide against Kalpa was a news article in one the dailies just 2 days before starting that some 300 tourists stuck in landslides for over 24 hrs. No, my daughter did not deserve this treatment on a holiday, hence Kinnaur will also have to wait.
With just 2 days left for our holidays to start and the destination still in a limbo, my Dad suggested us the Kangra valley. I had been to Kangra valley when I was 10/11 years of age. My dad was posted in Alhilal and we happen to visit him a few times during his tenure there. After 25 years all I remembered about the place was beautifull green hills, tea gardens, lots of stream, fishing and fresh air. The idea stuck to me. After few hours of google searching the destination was also fixed, it was YOL camp.
YOL the abbreviation standing for "Young Officers Leave" Camp is mainly an army cantonment with very few civilians around. YOL was mainly used for POW's in the 2nd world war and mostly Italian prisoners were camped there. YOL is surrounded by Dhauladhars ranges on three sides making it difficult to escape, the prisoners were allowed to roam freely inside the camp.
Another advantage of YOl was that it was 20 minutes drive from Dharamshala on one side and 40 minutes drive from Palampur on the other side.
We decided to spent 4 days there and for the rest of the days we decided to spend in Jammu with my Mother-In-Law. That was suppose to be a surprise for her.
With just one day remaining, the accomodation was fixed. Finding the route was never a problem thanks to numerous travelogues on Dharamshala on TBHP. With the accomodation fixed, the route taken care of and the car serviced we were ready to leave the next day
The Route From Jaipur to YOL
Jaipur - Delhi - Amabala - Kharar - Ropar - Kiratpur - Nangal - Una - Amb - Mubarakpur - Chintpurni - Ranital - YOL
Total Distance= 730 kms
Total Toll Paid = Rs. 333/-
Time Taken = Jaipur- Delhi- 5 hrs
Time taken = Delhi - YOL - 15 hrs- too many breaks and photo stops
This route the roads were more or less good except at some places between Ropar and Kiratpur where the stretches are under construction and are very very bad. After Una the hill driving starts.
YOL - Pathankot - Jammu
Total Distance- 200 kms
Total Toll Paid = Rs. 70/-
Time taken = 6 hrs - Lots of photo stops and breaks
The roads again are pretty ok, some culvats and bridges under construction before Pathankot. After Pathankot the 100 odd Kms have been made double laned each side, but at the moment just 2 lanes are open, hence lots of diversions. But on those 2 lanes the surface is new hence the drive is very smooth.
Route to Jammu to Jaipur
Jammu - Pathankot - Jalandher - Ludhiyana - Ambala - Panipat - Delhi - Jaipur
Total Distance - 875 kms
Total Toll Paid = Rs. 464
Time taken Jammu - Delhi = 14.5 hrs= long break in Ambala as had to meet some friends
Time taken Delhi - Jaipur = 5 hrs
When our return journey started rains had already played havoc in Punjab and Haryana, thus close to the major cities the road was very very bad, crater size pot holes and stagnant water was a big problem.
Our ride was an Aveo and it so happened that the day we started i.e 3rd Sept, it was our rides first Bday as well.
Total Distance covered in 11 days = 2245 kms.
Total Fuel Consumed = 160 Ltrs (+/- 3 Ltrs)
Total Mileage delivered = 14 kmpl (including hill driving)
Since most of the places have been already covered in the previous travelogues, the rest would be just photo stories to complete the travelogue. If you guys have any questions you can ask me as I post the pics.