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DELHI TO DEHRA DUN, DEHRA DUN TO BARKOT
A biker travels by train
I booked my bike for the train journey a day before, i.e. the
afternoon of 26th at Nampally station. It took about an hour
to do the packing, booking etc. etc. and I was frustrated as
I felt it should have been done in 10 minutes. Later, I realized
how quick it was when I had to repeat it on the way back, i.e.
at Nizamuddin. I reached the station an hour early at 5:30AM
on 27th to ensure that my bike got loaded. Had to part with
100-120 bucks to ensure that my bike got loaded on to my train.
With my friend and my family waving me off at the station, I
started my journey. Contrary to my initial expectations, the
train journey was not as boring as it generally gets to be.
Reached Delhi on 28th morning where Paraj and Vivek picked me
up. I reached my hotel around noon and then went with Vivek
to shop for spares etc. Vivek took me to Lalli motors, Khajanchi
workshop and a couple of markets too. Then, we went to pick-up
Kannan in the evening and went through the same ordeal but with
help of a small-time broker guy. We had dinner and went around
Karol bagh. Vaibhav and Rishad came in the night and it was
time for sharing memories of other rides and other times.
The next day was a little hectic with each rider arriving, shopping,
and getting things ready. All of us met Lt. Gen. A. S. Bahiya
in the evening when he invited us over for tea. We had the opportunity
to talk to him and explain our opinions about our club and the
rides. The day was summed up with a small party in the night.
On the road
Day 1
Karol Bagh – Khatauli – MuzaffarNagar - Roorkee
– Dehradoon
9:00AM – 7:30PM (On road until 9:00PM)
260kms
 Wading
through the chaotic Delhi traffic, we got out of Delhi thanks
to Vaibhav’s (V2) expertise and stopped for lunch at Cheetal
Grand amidst lush green gardens. Thereafter, we somehow missed
the by-pass and entered Muzaffarnagar. I was very confused and
perplexed about what so many people were doing on the road.
However, as we moved further from Roorkee to Dehra Dun, the
road just seemed to become a jetty of black in a sea of greenery
with both sides of it having fields full of crops. I had my
first view of the mountains from afar as we approached Dehra
Dun. There, we stayed at a small time place - Shelly’s
guest house. While it was not so great compared to the rest
of the places we stayed, we got used to it.
Day 2
Dehra Dun – Mussoorie – Kempty Falls – Nawgaon
– Barkot
7:40AM – 6:10PM (Came back to Barkot again at 9:30PM)
160kms
 Leaving
Dehra Dun I left with Kannan for an early morning ride to Mussoorie.
We had excellent roads with lots of curves and moreover it was
morning. A really heady combination indeed! Stopped enroute
at a picturesque location where Salman teamed up with us and
then all of us rode into Mussoorie. We left Mussoorie, searching
for a non-existent route through Landour, thanks to Lonely Planet
Atlas. After puttering along on the challengingly steep roads
for four hours, finally decided to go through the Kempty falls
route. Here we had good, winding roads with a steep valley through
which the Bhagirathi flows on one side and huge mountains on
the other.
We reached Barkot at around 6:00PM. Around 12kms out, Jay’s
bike had a flat. This resulted in a downtime of about 2 hours
and we decided to go back to Barkot for the night. We were lucky
and got good rooms at Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam guest house.
It was here that we had our first taste of Uttaranchal’s
cold climate. A communal plate dinner at night (courtesy V2
and Nicky) was followed by everyone catching some shut-eye.
Next day morning I woke up to beautiful views and the sound
of birds chirping away.
Next...
BARKOT TO HARSIL, HARSIL TO RUDRAPRAYAG...
(Read on)
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