[akp]

We had done two driving trips to Himachal during the last one year, both were short 3-day trips, one to Chail and the other one to Narkanda. Ever since, we have been itching to do a longer trip to Himachal, to places further up north/northeast. Reading travelogues after travelogues on this and on BCMTouring only aggravated that urge. Having a school going daughter meant summer is the ideal time to do the trip. But this also means that most of the places are likely to be crowded and one has to plan well in advance and make bookings.

Started planning in early May. Owning a car that has 2500mm wheelbase and 160 mm ground clearance limits my choices somewhat. Also, my mother was to accompany us (wife, daughter, me) - so I had to take that into account too. After making a rough plan and throwing it on this forum as well as on BCMTouring for suggestions, ended up with the following plan:

Day 1 : Delhi-Narkanda [440 km] (Hatu)
Day 2 : Narkanda-Kalpa [165 km] (Kailash Cottage)
Day 3 : Kalpa-Nako-Kalpa [260 km] (Kailash Cottage)
Day 4 : Kalpa-Sangla-Chitkul [75 km] (Panchali Resort)
Day 5 : Chitkul [0 km] (Panchali Resort)
Day 6 : Chitkul-Sarahan [115 km] (Srikhand)
Day 7 : Sarahan-Jalori pass-Aut-Mandi-Rewalsar [235 km] (Hotel Lotus Lake)
Day 8 : Rewalsar-Delhi [470 km]

Third day's plan was a bit tentative, as I wasn't sure whether we can make it. But I wasn't overly bothered, because depending on what time we start and what kind of progress we are making, we can decide when to turn back. As it turned out, this was the only day we deviated from the original plan. More on that later. We were to start on June 12, and be back on the 19th which is a saturday, have some rest on the 20th before joining back work on 21st.


The route map (generated from the gps trail):




Had a wonderful time, all of us. Will try to share some of those moments through the photos and videos that we took during the trip.


A brief look back to the eight days of pure bliss:

[lordofgondor]

Man o man, this reminds me so much about a trip I did in July 2008. We'd been to almost the same places as you've been to. There's no doubt that it must have been a great trip.

Awaiting the continuation of the log.

[akp]

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

Man o man, this reminds me so much about a trip I did in July 2008. We'd been to almost the same places as you've been to. There's no doubt that it must have been a great trip.

Awaiting the continuation of the log.

I did read your travelogue while at the planning stage of our trip. It was very useful for me. Yes, our routes were very similar.

Day One coming up shortly.

[sen2009]

All eyes on this thread.
The nine framer is too good. Keep going fyaast!

[akp]

Planned to start early, around 4/4:30, so that we can reach by lunchtime. But eventually managed to start only around 5:30. Though we were late, traffic was manageable. But there were lots of diversions on NH1 due to road widening work going on. Somewhere near Karnal, our car got a happy journey kiss from a truck. As the kiss took place, for a moment I thought, oh no, now I have to spend the whole day in some workshop instead of going ahead with the trip. But when we stopped to have a look at the damage, to our relief we found it was only external. A big dent on the quarter panel.




Fortunately, none of the glasses were damaged, the door was untouched too and all the lights, including the indicator light were working fine. So we moved on. Between Kalka and Parwanoo, there were huge traffic snarls. Penalty you pay for starting late. As we progress further into the mountains, sky became very murky and a little later, it started pouring down heavily.



Rain and the mountains - that's an irresistible combination. Though it slowed us down considerably, it also cheered me up after the morning mishap.




As we neared Kiarighat, the sky held up. So we decide to take a break at HPTDC's Apple Cart Inn.

Here is a view from their lawn.




As we resume, the rains also resume again, though this time it was just mild drizzling.

We take the Shimla bypass from Shoghi, around 10 km from the Apple Cart Inn. It's the road going up on the right. There was a signboard right at the beginning that said " damaged road - DO NOT use this road". We ask a lady at a shop right opposite, she told us the road is just fine - there was some damage which has been repaired long since but the signboard has stayed on!

The bypass is fairly long, about 30 km, and takes you to Dhalli. The road is very scenic, with nearly no traffic, and surface is mostly good, though there are occasional potholes and landslide prone stretches.

The road in and around Kufri was quite bad - no change from our last trip.

From the end of the bypass till Narkanda, the weather was quite dry again.



But this landslide very close to Narkanda tells us that it had probably rained here not so long back.



Last time we were in Hatu in April; the hotel was quite empty then. In contrast, this time we find the lawns packed and the parking nearly full as we enter. So much so that we do not get a place to sit in the lawn.

Rest of the evening we spend relaxing and enjoying the chill outside and charging all the electronic devices. The last one was quite a task actually, as there were very few plug points and fewer in working condition in our room.

[rkbharat]

wonderful pics, BTW that was nasty kiss, but this do happen on roads, so cheers

[StarVegabond]

Hi, Nice pictures there,

i liked your simple GPS trail and schedule overview at the start.
i have never been to north India on a vacation yet. may be some day.

it is sad that the truck kissed your car. i remember similar thing happened with our vehicle when we did Coorg trip few years ago. sometimes it happens.

look forward to your next posts...

[akp]

While we wait for breakast to be served in the lawn, my daughter is keeping herself busy with the camera.



The sky was clear and from the lawn, you get a good view of the surrounding valleys.




The plan is to go to Kalpa today at a relaxed pace, enjoying the surroundings. So instead of sticking to NH22 which will be much faster, we decide to amble along through Thanedar. We came here in April and we liked the drive so much that we wanted to go there again. It is a beautiful drive, on a well-paved road with apple orchards on both sides that neither my language skills nor my photographic skills can do justice to. In april, we saw the apple trees but no apple. Now they were all full of baby apples and teenager apples.




You can see river Sutlej down below.



The sky changing complexion every now and then.







Apples.



Here are a few videos on this stretch:

YouTube - Drive through Thanedar, the fruit valley (20100613100716)

YouTube - Drive through Thanedar, the fruit valley (20100613102400)

After Thanedar, the descent is reasonably steep.

YouTube - Drive through Thanedar, the fruit valley (20100613104800)

After competing the descent, you meet NH22 at a place called Bitthal (not sure about the spelling), from where you proceed towards Rampur alongside River Sutlej.



Soon the Kinnaur district starts, and you see these half-tunnels that are typically identified with lower Kinnaur,





The good parts are about to end as you reach Bhavanagar.





The next 30 kilometers till Karchham and a little beyond that are dirt roads. Once constructed, these will actually be very wide roads, but till the construction is complete, its a complete mess.





If it rains, it is pure mud, and if it does not, there is so much dust that at times you can not see what is ahead of you.

When the weather is dry, there are vehicles which keep sprinkling water on the road in order to keep it usable. You are fine if you are fortunate enough to be behind such a vehicle.



From Karchham, you go a little further ahead till Poari and leave NH22 on your left for a climb to Rekong Peo and further on to Kalpa. The Kinner Kailash range is actually on the right side of NH22, but you can see it only when you climb up to Rekong Peo/Kalpa.
We had booked a 3-bed room in Kailash Cottage that was more like a poor man's suite, with its own sitting/dining area and a small dressing area too. It costs Rs 2000/- per day and turns out to be considerably cheaper than booking two double bed rooms in the main complex. There are four-bed rooms as well and costs 2100/-, but they were all booked when I made my booking. The one we had was big enough though for four.



That is the cottage and we got the top floor corner room that you see in the picture.


The Kinner Kailash range through our window.

[akp]

Originally Posted by sen2009

All eyes on this thread.
The nine framer is too good. Keep going fyaast!

Thanks, Sen.

Originally Posted by rkbharat

wonderful pics, BTW that was nasty kiss, but this do happen on roads, so cheers

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Hi, Nice pictures there,

i liked your simple GPS trail and schedule overview at the start.
i have never been to north India on a vacation yet. may be some day.

it is sad that the truck kissed your car. i remember similar thing happened with our vehicle when we did Coorg trip few years ago. sometimes it happens.

@rkbharat, @StarVagabond: thanks.
Initially I felt bad because it happened right at the beginning of our trip, but I think it was better that it happened then rather than later somewhere in the hills - also, it kept me more alert for the rest of the trip.

[hvkumar]

Great drive, tell me one thing, the road to Thanedar - is this the one just outside Narkhanda town - turn offs to Hatu Peak as well), with the check post?
Are there any time restrictions at this check post?
And at Bittal, are there clear signboards showing the way to Thanedar?
And did you see any turn off this Thanedar road towards Rohru?

[akp]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Great drive, tell me one thing, the road to Thanedar - is this the one just outside Narkhanda town - turn offs to Hatu Peak as well), with the check post?
Are there any time restrictions at this check post?

Thanks, hvk.
Yes, that is indeed the road. As you are going from the Shimla side, if you do not enter HPTDC Hotel Hatu, there is an immediate 180 degree bend if you want to remain on NH22. Here there is also a straight road. You take this and after probably a couple of kilometers, it branches off in three (or is it four?) directions. One on the right takes you to some village (thats what we were told by the Hatu staff), the one in the middle goes straight up to the Hatu peak, and if you keep left, the road leads you to Thanedar and further on to Bitthal.

Now that you talk about the checkpost, there is some provision for a barrier as you leave NH22 near Hotel Hatu, but in our last trip in April as well as this time, we always found it open and unmanned, so never even thought it could be a checkpost.

And at Bittal, are there clear signboards showing the way to Thanedar?

On our return, while coming from the Rampur side to Sainj, we tried to locate the point where we met NH22 at Bitthal, but could not. So I guess signages, if any, are not placed right, at least for traffic in that direction.

And did you see any turn off this Thanedar road towards Rohru?

To be honest, I was not familiar with Rohru (I am quite new to all this territory), so even I saw some signboard, it wouldn't have registered in my mind.

[deeps79]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Great drive, tell me one thing, the road to Thanedar - is this the one just outside Narkhanda town - turn offs to Hatu Peak as well), with the check post?
Are there any time restrictions at this check post?
And at Bittal, are there clear signboards showing the way to Thanedar?

As AKP said, no one is manning the checkpost....i have found it empty even at 10 in night.....

There was a small board at bitthal in july 09 when we were returning from sarahan....

in apr 10, when we were coming back from chitkul, we didnt notice it though. probably cuz we were too much in rush to reach shimla (it was 8 in night at that time)

[akp]

As we get up, we get a nice view of the Kinner Kailash range through the large glass windows that constitute one side of the room.









Original plan for this day was to start early, go to Nako and be back by late evening. But we were told by the hotel staff that in order to have any real chance of doing that, we have to start really early, by 6 o'clock. Because there are places where road work is going on, and they often block traffic for blasting etc. So you need to cross those stretches before they start the day's proceedings. Now, while on a trip we are not among the early starters. We can normally start around 8:30/9:00 with some effort, and if we try harder, we manage to start at 10:15! Which is what we did on this day. Also, as I found out the previous day, once you cross the good stretches of NH22, with four passangers in a car with low GC + long wheelbase, your speed goes for a toss, as you have to constantly watch out for the slightest bump on the road and slow down. Going to Nako would be possible only if we start early, do not stop anywhere and just drive on. That would be a torture, specially for my mother and my daughter. So Nako was out. More than the Nako lake or the village, I wanted to experience the Kazigs, but it was not to be this time.

So we just decide to proceed at a relaxed pace, proceed forward till about midday and then turn back andhave a late lunch after coming back to the hotel.

We have breakfast and proceed towards Rekong Peo.

Last evening, when we were coming up to rekong Peo from Poari, it was a moderately steep climb. At one place, as we took an almost 180 degree turn along the road, we found a car coming down from the opposite direction very fast. We were alarmed - is he trying to commit suicide or what? There is no way he can turn so sharply at that pace. Found on the rear view mirror that the car went straight! it was actually a three way crossing, and there was a straight road going down too that was not visible to us at all as we were coming up. That road goes down and meets NH22 a little ahead of Poari. We took that straight road today.

From this point till you meet NH22 again, it is mostly a narrow and relatively little used road.





Soon we see a small bridge ahead over a stream/waterfall. This is where you meet NH22.

We cross the bridge and stop for a while.



The bridge is a small and narrow one, with wooden planks placed above steel/iron bars.



While three of us got down from the car to check out the surroundings, my daughter remains inside. My wife discovers the reason.


While we are busy taking pictures and enjoying the surroundings, she is quietly eating away the Ajawain from a bottle that my mother keeps with her.

At this point, we had actually not realized that we are already on NH22. We go a little further and find someone - we ask him the road to Pooh and he confirms we are on NH22.

YouTube - On NH22 between Kalpa and Akpa (20100614112314)

Going ahead, we soon come across another, this time a little bigger, waterfall and another bridge, the Kassang bridge.



The stream goes and meets Sutlej just a little ahead.







We see a small dhaba on the left and park the car, to have a cup of tea.

YouTube - Between Kalpa and Akpa on NH 22 (20100614115552)

But soon some people come and tell us, there is some bridge construction work going on (not the one you can see ahead, that's an older bridge) on the right, they are going to make a small explosion a little below where we were, and there might be small stones damaging the windscreen or the windows. After the first day's injury, I didn't want another one for the car. So we go ahead, cross the bridge, go to a safe distance and watch. Soon the explosion happens, but it was a complete anticlimax. I was expecting some big explosion, but it was a rather weak one, not worth spending the five minutes we waited to watch it.

Ahead of us there was a little bad stretch. There were small but steep and uneven parts of the road, where I had to be really careful not to hurt the underbody. It is stretches like this that you feel you should have an SUV, with ample GC, so that you pay less attention to the car and enjoy what is around you.

It was past midday by now and all three ladies unite and command me to turn back.



We can see a small village across the river. I try to convince them to visit that before turning back - but they won't budge.



So back we have to go.


(Contd)

[akp]

As we head back, again we are going alongside Sutlej. Views are nice but there is not much vegetation in these parts.



Suddenly on the other side of the river, you see a small house in a world of its own.



And another.



Road surface is fine, but every now and then you find these. Kind of grim reminder that you can not take anything for granted in these parts.





We stop frequently and try to soak in the surroundings as much as we can.





Watercrossing.



Meanwhile, my daughter gets impatient to get back to the hotel and we hurry up a bit. As we go further, we can see Rekong Peo at a distance against the backdrop of the Kinner Kailash range.



Soon we are back to our hotel again. Have a quick lunch and take a small nap. Get up refreshed.

This is the Kinner Kailash range again (that is the only thing visible from here anyway) as we come down the stairs from our cottage. The building on the left is the dining hall, with the reception one level below. And further ahead behind the tree is the main hotel complex.



Between the dining hall and the cottage, there is this small hut on the right as you come down. I saw an old man and a youngish kid staying here who didn't look to be among the staff. Possibly some kind of caretaker during the off season when the hotel remains closed.



We sit in the open space in front of the reception and have tea.



My daughter gets busy clicking her grandma.



After tea, we come out for a small walk. As the sun goes down, there are different hues of colors in the sky.









The HPTDC hotel along with a few other hotels are a little higher up from the village. Here you see the village down below.




The day ends with dinner which we order in the room today followed by the usual job of charging the electronics and organizing the day's photos. Last night I could not connect to the net - but today the reliance netconnect was working, albeit very slowly. Caught up with some emails and stuff. And retired for the day eagerly looking forward to the next.

[//M]

Lovely pics and nice writeup too. Btw overall how did the Jazz perform over such terrain?