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KAUSANI TO MUNSYARI, MUNSYARI TO DARCHULA
Day 9
Kausani – Bagheshwar – Chaukori – Thal –
Tejam – Ratapani – Munsyari
11:30AM – 9:20PM
190kms
 Started
off very late at around 11:30AM. Stopped at a Tea factory enroute
and started off again at 1:10PM. We stopped at Chaukori for
lunch, a really beautiful place. By evening we reached Thal.
Between Baijnath and Bagheshwar the rest of us slept on the
roadside below pine trees waiting for Jay and Histu. And thereafter
in the night, we stopped and rested on the roadside again, this
time watching the stars in the heavens. 20/25kms before Munsyari,
we saw a huge tree across the road and huge boulders around.
60kph team at work. We removed the rocks and placed some onto
the fallen tree so that bikes could be taken over the tree.
This whole thing took us about 30 minutes. We finally reached
Munsyari at around 9:20PM after somehow managing to ride on
a really torrid (under construction) stretch for about 15kms.
Fom the Road Captain's Log
Vaibhav Vats (V2) was the Road Captain for this ride and is
basically a Law student from Delhi. Vaibhav gives a detailed
account of the last two days of the ride.
Day 10
Munsyari to Dharchula via Madkot, Seraghat,
Srini and Jay left the main group as Srini had to reach Delhi
on the 12th and even Jay was in a hurry because he would be
riding from Delhi to Ahmedabad. This is one thing I don't like
(saying bye to the fellow riders) but it is also a part of the
ride and a sad reality. We were now 5 people on 4 bikes.
The view from Munsyari was out of the world. You could see the
complete Himalayan range from this town with your naked eye.
We had our breakfast and started of taking the direct route
from Munsyari to Jauljibi rather than taking the one from Thal.
The route till Jauljibi was an amazing one. It was a "sleep
proof" route, till Jauljibi there was no sign of a road
and the entire ride was a bumpy one. 40km out from Munsyari,
Naztu(Histasp's bike) had a flat tyre, incidentally the second
one in the same day. The going was really slow (almost 10km/hr)
but nobody minded it because of the pristine beauty of the surroundings.
There were waterfalls coming on to the road, some Nullahs and
lots of greenery all around. Must say, the best way to enjoy
this route to the fullest would be in a 4x4 vehicle. 30kms of
butt-crunching conditions and we stopped for a cold drink break.
The constant riding in low gears had heated up our Bullets too.
This stop over was after crossing village Seraghat and hereafter
we had tarmac in front of us.
Seraghat village was looking a bit like Kerala as there were
Plantain groves all over and even a few palm trees. Jauljibi
onwards, we were cruising, as the roads now were very good,
and a bit more wide than a 2 lane highway. After crossing Jauljibi
one can see Nepal on the right beyond the river Kali a natural
border between India and Nepal.
We reached Dharchula at 5:00pm. Met the Army people at the camp
and after having a cup of tea with them we wanted to go to Nepal
but told that one cannot cross the border after 6:00pm. We were
advised to go there the next day. With time on our hands, Kannan
and I decided to go and just see the bridge and come back for
dinner, so we did just that. Everything was already shut down
for the night even the market was closed. This bridge across
the River Kali has two huge gates on it, one on the Indian side
and the other on the Nepalese. After a small chat, we returned
to the Army camp, well in time for dinner. The officers out
here were more like friends to us and treated us really well
and even treated us to a Hindi film!
Next...
DARCHULA TO PITHORAGARH, PITHORAGARH
TO DELHI...(Read On)
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