Day 3

Barkot – Dharasu - Uttarkashi – Harsil

8:00AM – 5:30PM

160kms



Excellent winding roads through and through!! The first stretch from Barkot to Uttarkashi was full of mountains and vegetation. I saw snow for first time beside the road in this stretch. Uttarkashi to Harsil was dry but all throughout we had the Bhagirathi besides us. Courtesy Salman and V2, we found a very nice place on the banks of Bhagirathi. Harsil is a beautiful place with snow-capped mountains all around.



Here we had the privilege of dining with Col. Negi and three other officers and a bon-fire. The bon-fire itself was at a place, which was a 1Km trek from the place where bikes could go (we had to walk to our dinner), a really wonderful place. One that I would definitely classify as one of the heavens on earth.


Day 4

Harsil – Gangotri – Harsil – Uttarkashi – Dharasu - Tehri – Srinagar – Rudraprayag

9:00AM – 2:40PM - 1:40AM

260kms



The Harsil – Gangotri route was closed but due to the army permission, we were allowed to go. There is a bridge near a place called Lanka (supposedly one of the highest in the world) which was absolutely fantastic. The bridge spans a deep gorge with a clean Ganga flowing through it and it was really worthwhile spending time just watching. I was able to spend about an hour on the bridge, drinking in the views. I had my first taste of riding in snow/sleet/ice between Lanka and Gangotri. Slipped and bike fell down but no problems.



Gangotri was deserted as it was not the Yatra season but it was fully covered in snow and a very beautiful place to see. The road from Harsil to Gangotri was very beautiful and certainly worth a mention. We started for Rudraprayag at around 2:40PM after having a nice lunch again courtesy the Army. The road was not good near Tehri and Rudraprayag. Some of us felt very sleepy and just decided to catch forty winks on the road itself. I remember it being mentioned that we were in a Wild life Sanctuary Finally, we arrived at Rudraprayag at around 1:40AM. Dinner was served to us even at that late and pagan hour, thanks to the army and their hospitality. What’s more our accommodation even had an excellent view of two rivers merging.


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RUDRAPRAYAG TO KEDARNATH, RUDRAPRAYAG TO JOSHIMATH...(Read on)