Roadtrip Day 33: Hello Himachal. Pathankot - Dalhousie ride

The best ride of my tour so far

I got up at 7 AM & had my morning ritual of having tea outside. I was able to find a tea shop relatively easily. I met someone (did not ask his name) who had driven trucks to Bangalore at the shop. I was back to Gurudwara fairly quickly & wrote Day 31-32 post till 8:30 AM. By 9, I was ready to leave. I skipped taking bath as Pathankot to Dalhousie is going to be short ride anyway & I was hoping there would not be any drowsiness issues.

When I was about to leave, there was some ceremony happening in the Gurudwara where they have lowered a pillar which hoist the Sikh flag, cleaning it & then hoisting it back again. My bike was standing on the other side & I thought its best that I let the ceremony complete.

I was ready to start my ride by 10 AM. I looked up google for ‘restaurants in pathankot’ & saw ‘Bachan Kulcha House’ with good number of reviews. I rode to the place & had aloo pyar kulcha for Rs 50 & Lassi for Rs 40. Both were pretty good & had authentic punjabi taste. I had good conversation with the waiter there who noticed my bike parked a bit far away.

I left the place at 11 AM & started riding after putting my destination as ‘Bird’s hostel’. I had found this place the previous night. What caught my attention is that they let folks pitch their own tent & I had inquired about the cost for it. Mr Arun, who manages the place responded with a quote of Rs 300. I found it a bit high but then I anyway decide to head to the place & negotiate there.

While on the way, I crossed Patanjali store & decided to pick Giloy juice as I remember my wife showing concern around Corona & I wanted to beef up my corona shield a bit. I also passed a Reliance Petrol pump but then decided to ignore as I had only done 200 odd kms the previous day. But then, I stopped to check if there are any Reliance Petrol pump on the way to Dalhousie & I could not find any. So I went back to the petrol pump & got a full tank. I noticed that around 7 ltr of petrol was filled & I had done close to 280 kms from the last odometer reading. This means a whooping mileage of 40 kms/ltr. I felt happy about it but then offlate, I had stopped worrying about mileage etc. Maybe, its the growing up during the ride part :).

After about half an hour of riding, I had to take left turn & that marked the start of the most scenic ride of my tour so far.

The first sight was a lot of eucalyptus trees & soon I could see nice valley view. I did not stop to take picture because I knew it is going to get better from here. I did take a pic later though. I also crossed Badhani school on the way & the area around the school was very nicely done. Plus the school also had large playgrounds which got my attention.

At one point, I noticed large electric poles that have green color thing on it. I had not seen anything like this before, so I took a pic.

The place also had great view soon after I crossed the electric pole. I could see some snow clad peaks as well which unfortunately for some reason, never showed up till Dalhousie. If I would have known this, I would have spent more time looking at them :-(.

At around 12:30 PM, I started feeling very sleepy. I noticed an area with a largish shade & I decided to take a quick nap there. I forgot to click pic of the place. The place had some locals coming & having their lunch there. So looked like it is a reasonably known place among the locals as well. There was a ashram & gurudwara next to it as well.

Soon I entered Himachal & took some pics. I was stopping every 10-15 min & clicking pics as it was pretty scenic around.

I passed a food truck & saw some great views. So I stopped to have tea there. It was managed by Praveen Thakur & I managed to click a pic with him as well. The views were great too.

This place was in Tunuhatti & soon after there was a checkpost where they were collecting toll from outside state vehicles (even from the ones with white color number plate). They did not do so from me. Maybe, they dont do it from bikers. There was a police checkpost after this. My map showed a U-turn at the place & I stopped to ensure that I dont miss it. The police guys manning the post came to me & started asking questions on my luggage. This was the first time I was stopped & questioned but they soon realized that I am clean guy. I was not allowed to take the U-turn road on the pretext that the road is bad & they asked me to take the regular route to Dalhousie. I noticed that the route increased my distance by around 6 kms but I decided not to make a fuss about it.

After this, I route became more scenic & I took pics at regular intervals.

Soon I reached Banikhet & there was a right turn to Dalhousie. The road became well covered with trees on both sides & it was one of its kind riding experience.

I reached Bird’s Hostel . For reaching the place, I needed to cross Dalhousie & go towards Panchpula. Roads in Dalhousie became confusing & I happen to go on the wrong routes. At the end, I decided to ask locals for right direction. The place was nice & you have the view of the Dalhousie hills.

I pitched my tent on the terrace & then decided to head to the city for sight seeing. I wanted to try some local food but the only Himachali Restaurant on Subhash Chowk, first I had problems finding it as it was renamed to ‘Old Shere Punjab’. When I found it, it was disappointing to know that they only had 2 items & those were also curry items which were large in size. I decided to pass & head elsewhere.

Finding a parking spot even for bike is a problem in Dalhousie. I then decided to head to Dalhousie Cafe & some restaurants nearby there. The cafe was completely empty & I decided not to go in. Finally I went to Chamba Vaishno Dhava nearby & had thali. The presentation of the food was good & taste was decent too.

I then roamed around in the market which had a lot of street food but mostly sweets. I tried the small gulab jamoon & they were decent. The market had thinned by the time & after taking a walk, I decided to head back to Bird’s hostel.

The ride back to the hostel was unique in itself. I was using only the fog lamp & was riding at 20 kmph. The nearby trees were ‘illuminated’ faintly & I had the complete picture of the road inspite of not able to see every detail. It was a unique experience.

I was back to the hostel at around 9:30 PM & it was looking like a party place with great music playing. I was seriously impressed till a group of Bangalore folks (mostly girls) came in & changed music to some of their local taste. While it did not really spoilt the mood, but the great environment was lost. They chatted loudly sitting right behind me while I compose this blog post.

I have not yet decided tomorrow’s plan. People had advised me to check Khajiar & Jot. It seems there are some nearby treks too but I am not sure if I am really excited about them. I am also planning to do a trip to Manali from here & intend to take the less travelled Chaurah Dharwas route as it will take me through Atal Tunnel.

As for now, I will go for an early morning jog tomorrow (provided the Bangalore junta are not going to make noise late in the night & I am able to catch a good night sleep). I will decide rest of the itinerary after that.