Roadtrip Day 31-32: Chandigarh stopover & Chandigarh to Pathankot. 6k kms done [Apr 8-9, 2021]
Had a great time riding north of Chandigarh. Hoping this is the (re)start of enjoyable rides
I had slept pretty late on Day 30 & was still undecided on my next destination. I had mentioned in the previous post that a friend CP from Chandigarh is willing to join me for the Spiti ride but he has a few commitments & was occupied for a few days. I had thought that I would either go to Dalhousie or ride towards Manali & check Atal Tunnel out. I had earlier posted in Motorcycle Touring of India group if Spiti circuit could be done on bike & I was being told that Kunzum pass closer to Manali is closed. So Spiti has to be done from Shimla & the return will be from Shimla too. Since I will not be able to ride to Manali, I was tempted to do an independent ride just to check Atal Tunnel.
It is worth mentioning that Narendra Kumar Gautam who happens to be owner of the Motorcyle Touring of India FB group, is an avid rider & has done Spiti circuit on his Bajaj Chetak. I do not remember exactly who told me about him & the group. I guess it was Raja Aggarwal from Ahmedabad.
On Day 31, I decided to first see a mechanic in Chandigarh for some opinion around oil change. I got the oil changed in Pali, Rajasthan but the oil filter wasn’t replaced. I had already done 1k kms from that point. I got contact of a garage owner Amit in Sector 20 motor market of Panchkula from CP. His mechanic ( a saradar guy) inspected the oil & okayed it. After a few nut tightening here & there, it was a go. My bike’s phone holder charger circuit wasn’t working & I thought of replacing it. Amit ji suggested Karan Automobile in Mani Majara & I decided to ride till there.
Karan Automobile was a crowded shop & there are mechanics outside the shop. I asked for one who can do Bullet work & was pointed to a short guy. I asked him if he can fix the holder circuit so that I do not have to replace & he did not give me a clear yes/no. I realized my horn is weak too so I decided to get it replaced first. A minda one costed Rs 150 & the guy asked for Rs 20 to replace it. After some thinking, the mechanic suggested that he has a circuit & he can replace the one on my holder with it. He quoted Rs 250 for it. The new holder was costing 500 so I decided to take the chance. He was quick to replace it & I then pursued my search for helmet shop to replace my visor. I would recommend Karan Automobile & the mechanic for bike accessories & work in Chandigarh.
I visited Helmet Shoppe in Mani Majra & the guy asked me to visit their Sector 21 shop. I have an old Volga helmet which I like for its fit. Getting its visor is rare but I had seen the helmet in the same Sector 21 shop during my last Chandigarh visit (I had bought the Ladakh carrier then). It was a quick job at Helmet Shoppe in Sector 21 & I was charged Rs 220 for it.
I was hungry (but more thirsty) as it was 3 PM by then. It occured to me that I am in a big city & can probably try a micro-brewery. I looked up & found The Brew Estate a few kms away. It had a nice open air seating & there were few folks inside. After ordering beer, I decided to write the pending blog posts. By 5:30 PM, I had finished & decided to get the last work done - patch my blue tent cover that I use as cover for my bags.
I was not sure who would patch it up. I called CP who suggested going to tailors. I looked up tailor on google map & saw some shops nearby. They eventually guided me to Sadar market & the tailors there asked me to go car market in a sector nearby. After some asking around, I found a shop but the tailor there was away. Casual conversation with 2 guys started (guess one was the owner of the shop) & it turned out one of them is a rider in Chandigarh. Their group name is Road Survivors. He mentioned about his friend who runs Make My Ride touring company & they provide managed bullet rides in Chandigarh.
The tailor did the patch work, which was probably not the best job, but I am thankful that he did it at that time as earlier he said that he would leave for the day & had asked me to come the next day. I then headed back home, bought a few beers on the way & soon Nilesh & I were sitting at his place enjoying the evening. CP & his wife Sonali joined us soon. I got to know that Sonali is equally excited to do the Spiti tour & it is now a family plan.
I decided to call it a day pretty late (not sure when), slept off & got up at 7 AM the next day. I had not decided my destination of the day yet. I was in two minds between Amritsar (wanted to visit Nityanadam Sree’s place called Anandam Yogashram but I was unable to connect to anyone on the phone number as it was always busy. Based on reviews I had figured that it is a day visit place & do not have residential setup like most Yoga retreat centers have. Their timing was also 9-5. I realized I would not be able to make it there on time & decided to eliminate Amritsar. Dalhousie is the only destination left & I decided to head there. I realized Dalhousie is 300+ kms so I decided to stop over at Pathankot. While talking to folks, it occured to me that I had never stayed in Gurudwara & now is a time to try it out. So I decided I will find a Gurudwara in Pathankot & stay there.
CP & Sonali had invited me for breakfast at their place & I was ready by 9 AM after packing bags on my bike. I met their family - CP’s parents & his kids. It was a nice family & we talked mainly around travel, char dham yatras which CP’s parents have done & traveling to Jyotirlingas. I started on my ride by 10 AM.
As soon as I exited CP’s place, I hit a unpaved road & the view of hills from there is pretty good. While I was busy clicking pic, a sardar guy whose name was Sandeep Singh, stopped by & started having conversation. He offered help if I need in Chandigarh/Panchkula & after taking a pic, we were on our respective ways.
I had to pass by a good part of Chandigarh & riding in Chandigarh was one of the most hassle free riding that I have done in any big city. Entry & exit to & from highways are marked separately & I have not seen this in any other place. At one of the flyovers, I saw this view & the distant hills view looked pretty nice. My guess is these hills would have come on the way to Manali.
Inside Chandigarh, at some places, it was very scenic with wide roads, but equally wide sideways with some exotic trees.
Soon I was outside Chandigarh & entered New Chandigarh. I kept riding. New Chandigarh roads were deserted but it still had 45 kmph speed limit boards & I decided to honor the speed. It is worth noting that in Chandigarh people drive slow & honor city speed limits. I did not come across a lot of cops on the way but I was being told that the camera system & challan reaching home is a fairly standard practice in Chandigarh.
I had looked up Reliance Petrol pump which was on the way. Quick refill & I was back on my trip. We reached another blocked border road by Kisan Andolan but this time, bikers were able to make way & I decided to join a bunch of them to emerge successfully on the other side. Bigger vehicles definitely were having a hard time.
I was soon riding on the highway towards Jalandhar. I decided to stop by at a conglomeration of places which had McD, Subway but I decided to at Chulha Chowki (or some similar name). I ordered aloo tikki & lassi. It came in quickly & it was ok.
I had to take a diversion towards Hoshiarpur from the highway & the road became pretty nice from here on. I had entered a state highway with trees dotting the road. I had not felt the heat in this ride & I was happy to see countryside roads again.
I kept riding taking some tea stops on the way. I wasn’t exactly liking the tea in Punjab Harayana belt. The tea is pretty light in color & bland. But it isn’t bad. Also finding a specific tea shop seemed like a rarity with most eateries focussing on meal. I had stopped by at a small roadside tea shop & dhabha next to it seems to be serving very delicious tandoori roti. I hated myself for eating at a ‘high end’ place & missing out on some real roadside stuff. But then, I did not want to stuff myself & feel sleepy. So I moved on after having the tea.
At around 5:30 PM, I reached Dasyu & happen to saw a board which said ‘Pandav ki Nagri’. It piqued my interest & soon I stopped & started googling about it. It seems there is a Pandav Sarovar which Pandavs had built because the place had water scarcity. It wasn’t too far from the main road & I decided to head to the place. After some misrouting, I reached the place. I wasn’t much impressed & decided to skip going inside, took the pic & resumed my journey.
Just before entering Pathankot, there is a hilly region & I was passed by a biker who seemed interested to talk. We stopped on the sideway to talk. He was Vishesh, who had studied in Bangalore & currently works in Pathankot. It seems that some part of the road towards Pathankot enters Himachal & folks from Pathankot ride to Himachal to fill petrol, as it is 3-4 bucks cheaper per ltr. I asked Vishesh if he knows any Gurudwara & he said he will inquire at a few ahead & would let me know.
I reached the Shiv & Durga temple which is at the top of the climb that we were on. After a brief visit & I resumed.
I got message from Vishesh that Gurudwara Sri Guru Nanak Dev Sabha is open to host visitor but they do not have proper bedding as their room renovation is going on. Since I had my own, I decided to head there. They took my id & I soon checked in. The place is bare bones but clean. Their toilets were clean too. They also arranged food for me & I thanked them for their gesture.
Tomorrow, the plan is to ride till Dalhousie & spent a few days there . Lookup for hostels only showed GoStops & Zostel but I soon found Bird’s Hostel on Google Map & it said they allow pitching tent. So that looks like the place I would be heading to.
Oh btw, I completed 6k kms yesterday. I guess I would be doing another 6-8k kms if the Nepal & NE India plan works out.