Day 7

Joshimath – Badrinath – Joshimath – Tapovan – Joshimath

10:00AM – 7:10PM

130kms

We started at around 10:00AM from Joshimath and had to negotiate quite a few stretches where repair / construction work was in progress. Consider the bawdy, “Bura Na Maano Holi Hai” nature of the occasion (an unholy pretext for anyone to douse anyone else with colour) and you would wonder why we were riding at all! The road became better as we rode one and the Badrinath stretch was just excellent. There was snow everywhere and we played Holi with snow and proceeded to Mana. Mana is arguably the highest inhabited village in India. From Mana, there is a 2kms trek to Vasudhara falls. We talked to couple of ITBP members proceeding towards China border by trek (64kms from there). On the way back to Joshimath, Histu’s bike’s throttle cable broke. We stopped by a beautiful hanging bridge and explored that place while Histu replaced the cable. We couldn’t get lunch as all shops were closed in Joshimath, so everyone stocked up on Tea. Proceeding on to Tapovan, we stopped just after Tapovan on seeing a hot spring. Spent some time there and then rode back to Joshimath by 7:30PM.


Day 8

Joshimath – Karnaprayag – Gwaldam– Baijnath - Kausani

10:00AM – 7:30PM

210kms

We started at around 10:00AM riding mostly on good roads though some stretches were under construction. We even rode over a stretch that had just leveled by a Bulldozer for us ! Lunch was at Karnaprayag. Vaibhav’s chain cover came off at around Tharali and while he was fixing/removing it with Histu’s help, my helmet rolled over into the valley. A nice old man retrieved it for me. In retrospect, it is events like this that make one remember a ride, long, long after. We proceeded to Gwaldam and Kannan and I stopped in joining Salman to see the sunset. The sunset and an impromptu talk with a local farmer were the highlights of this day. Kumaon’s scenic beauty is just breathtaking and every vista and panorama seems worth being on a picture postcard. The valleys are full of fields of lush green Wheat and Mustard crop and dotted here and there with trees flowering in Pink, Violet and White. Just “Too good”, clichéd though it may seem. At many places the natural beauty rivals that of Switzerland. We finally arrived at Kausani in the night. Here we were surprised to discover Kannan’s enterprising nature. Our fellow traveler proved his worth and managed to organize a dish of chicken at almost the middle of the night! No mean feat, considering that he speaks no Hindi. And that most of the hotels were already closed!