It’s been an year since we went there for an outing so I was getting restless. The hills beckoned us and we planned to visit Palampur,Dharamshala belt again! The heat of north Indian plains added to the frustration and we couldn’t wait to leave for the trip. I had planned the itinery well in advance and did some research on the places we had left out in the previous three visit which were more in the sense of ‘wherever mood takes us’. The programme was like this
Day 1: Chandigarh to Palampur 260 kms (stayed at Andretta 10 kms from palampur)
Rest and roam around at Andretta
Day2: Andretta to Baijnath, Bir and Billing
Visit Palampur in the evening
Day 3: Andretta to Dharamshala (Tapovan, Norbulingka, Naddi, St John’s church, Mcleodganj, bhagsunag temple)
Day 4: Andretta (Relax, visit, sobha singh’s art gallery, Andretta Pottery institute, Machial, a trek to village temple up in hills)
Day 5 : leave for Chandigarh after breakfast, visit Kangra fort on the way back
Day 1
There were 5 of us, my wife, son, My father, nephew and I. My father is an early riser and wakes up at 4-4.30 AM. Though we had planned to leave early around 6 but I woke up at 7. Finally we had breakfast and managed to leave at 8:30 AM. I took the usual root I follow :
Chandigarh-Kaharar-Ropar-Nurpur-Nanal-Una-Amb-Mubarakpur-Bharwain-Daliara-Ranital-Kangrabypass-Tanda(medical college road going through village)-join back at Kangra-palampur road-Nagrota-Palampur(around 5km before palampur take a right turn at a place where directions for Sobha singh Art gallery is plaed, also just before Palampur cooperetive tea factory)-Panchrukhi-Andretta.
Though I had read somewhere the Una-mubarakpur strech is in a bad shape I chose to rely on my brother in law’s (he’s a frequent visitor to palampur on business) advice that take the same route only. That is the harm in calling someone early in the morning! He realised 5 hrs later that a long strech of road is all gravel and being made around Amb!
I usually avoid the Ropar-Kiratpur-Anandpur-Nangal road and take Ropar-Nurpur-Nangal road, again on the advice of B-I-L . Both routes are around 100 kms but the former one though it goes through interior roads and is less crowded. Moreover some strech of Kiratpur section is in bad shape.
Journey was uneventfull till Una and after that the horrible Una Amb strech came and we were forced to drive on first or second gear over loose stones and gravel till what seemed like an eternity! Even before this section where road was being laid, it was all potholes and bumpy road all the way. Finally after Amb roads improved once again. We stopped around 11:30 before Bharwain at road side Dhaba to have tea. Though we had breakfast but the sight of yummy Tandoori paranthas tempted us and we ended up having one each!
It was a Sunday and this being route to Chintpurni and Jwalaji mata temples hordes of devotees in trucks, jeeps and taveras, apart from personal vehicles were going or coming back. Chintpurni is 2-3 kms detour from Bharwain. We bowed our heads on the crossing and continued towards our destination.
We called up the guet house to keep the food ready. Finally following the above mentioned route we reached Andretta at around 2:30 Pm. The paranthas we had midway served their purpose and after freshening up we straightway headed for food.
After food and rest we went to see Machial Mahadev , it’s a small temple where a natural stream flows in the back, it forms a pool behind the temple where big fish can be seen. Fed some bread to the fish and sat watching them sometime. After that we went to Panchrukhi market and had some pakoras. Came back and just relaxed in the front courtyard of the guest house.
A Little About Andretta
EXTENSION: Andretta, Himachal Pradesh|Full Stop India
Andretta is called the Artist’s village. With a close sylvan background, nestles like an oasis of beauty in the open Kangra Valley with snow-capped ranges of the Dhauladhar around it. Famous artists have made it their abode as it offered the splendid views and was away from the hustle bustle of large towns. It gave them the peace and inspiration to further their creativity. The names like Sobha Singh(The famous painter of such works like sohni mahiwal, The Kangra Bride,Sikh Gurus etc), Theatre person Norah Richards (
NORAH RICHARDS AND HER RETREAT AT ANDRETTA PALAMPUR), painter and sculptor BC Sanyal and master potter Gurcharan Singh settled here. Now all of them are no more. Sobha Singh’s adopted daughter runs Sobha Singh Art gallery as a private Venture. Daughter of BC Sanyal , Amba has built a Norah’s Art Centre and Gurcharan’s son runs the Andretta pottery society and workshop on pottery which is quite famous with foreigners. In addition Norah Richard’s original home is estored by Punjabi University which also conducts rural theatre workshops in summer every year.