Bike Trip to Mana

Even before moving back to Noida, I had plans for bike trip to Himalayas. A trip to Uttaranchal was definitely on the cards. One day Siddhant suggested going to Mana -- the last village on Indo-Tibet border. Without second thoughts, I said yes. I talked to Raghu(rks), cheema and nitya and all were quite enthu to go.

"Kitne din mein?" Asked Nitya on mail, and I coolly replied..."weekend!! ....friday shaam ko chalenge....aur monday morning wapas". It was only then that he started having second thoughts. Infact Nitya had said no earlier, and we were surprised to hear that he finally turned up. Cheema as usual was indecisive till the end, and finally dropped out.

So, 4 ppl, 2 bikes (both Avengers -- Nitya's and Mine), we decided to meet at shoprix Mall, at 4 pm (sharp). Raghu and Nitya turned up on time, but me and Siddhant turned up by IST standards, and it was only by 5 that we got out of Delhi.

Just as we drove out of delhi, we were struck by the "Kawadia factor" (They deserve a whole new blog for themselves !!). We had planned to reach at least Rishikesh by 10:30, but our avg speed was drastically reduced by the Kawadias. By Meerut, we had got really frustated with them, but we had no choice !!

First stop @ Meerut

After long and relentless driving with short breaks, we finally reached Haridwar at around 10. There we took some rest and decided to have our dinner. The dinner was sumptuous and we filled ourselves to the full. Although laziness was setting in, but we move further a bit. The only village after Rishikesh which we could find hospitable was Byasi. It was already 2 am in the night, and there were little to no options. So we just went upto a cheap hotel, paid the guy Rs 300 and took a room for 4 of us. Sweet slumber followed :)

Morning mist at Byasi :)

Next morning we had decided to start early, so we were all up and ready by 6:30. With the morning mist around, the drive upto Devprayag was awesome. The breeze was fabulous, and enjoying the nature we reached Devprayag in an hour. Nitya's bike had already got on reserve. So we filled up here, and had breakfast at a small tea shop besides it.

The road from Devprayag to Srinagar is mostly good, with exception of few small potholes here and there. The drive was full of twists and turns, typical of the Himalayas. Aiming to reach Joshimath by 2:00 pm (the time at which the gate for badrinath closes), we kept driving relentlessly, with only few breaks in between. From Srinagar to Rudraprayag (Rudra [related to shiva] + prayag[confluence of two rivers/streams]. There are 9 prayags from Rishikesh to Badrinath, each related to a different Hindu God), the road was excellent, along with fantabulous scenery along the way, but after Rudryaprayag, the number of potholes increase as we moved forward. Although the scenery around was really amazing (chamoli in particular!!), but we could not afford to stop for long and enjoy it all.

Flora en route to Mana

After a near continuous drive of more than 6 hours, we managed to reach Joshimath in time. Having crossed the gate (it was only meant to be for 4 wheelers..bikes are free to go anytime!!), we stopped at a roadside Dhaba for some rest and food. After a good rest we were ready to move ahead. Although the road after Joshimath is no road, but we had more than 3 hours to cover the next 30 kms, so we stopped every now and then to enjoy the nature.

The road to Neverland

It was after 6 when we reached Mana, and there were some parts of body we wished we could part off with :(. The evening was getting cold, so we took a cheap (Rs 300 for the night again.....and this time with all the quills and facilities!!) but cozy accommodation asap. For long we kept debating on our decision to go back the next day, but due to official commitments for some of us [READ -> me :)], we had to return back the next day. So early dinner and a good sleep was the key to survival!!

Next morning, although we had planned to get ready and leave by 7, but it was only by 6:30 that we came out of our beds. There after we decided to visit a couple of places nearby (Bhim pul). By the time we finished with our hefty breakfast, and were ready for the return journey, it was already 10 a.m. It started drizzling a bit just as we started, but now the drive was now more leisurely, and we had some of the best views to come!!

The Avenger duo

It was by chance I realized that my bike had been on reserve for long, and petrol might run out anytime. The nearest petrol bunk was 23 kms away. We were extremely lucky that the bike behaved like a perfect friend, and gave up just as we reached the petrol bunk. Our butts (especially the pillian's) were really in bad shape after the onward journey. So at Joshimath we purchased some stuffed pillows, particularly for the pillian's comfort. We also fastened our bags tightly to the back of the bikes, as we were ready to embark on our longest journy till date.

As we started from Joshimath, we found ourselves driving amidst so much traffic. We had hardly found any on our onward journey. The next few hours till Nandprayag was really pathetic, and we were covered in all dust and mud. At Nandaprayag, we repaired ourselves (lunch). With road and traffic much more behaved thereafter, we moved on with lesser breaks. The next major stop was only at Srinagar.

At Srinagar, we were in a big dilemna to take the Rishikesh-Haridwar route(NH-58) or Kotdwar-Bijnor route (NH-119). We were really psyched up with the Kawadias, so we quite inclined to take the other route. After taking some feedback from other people, we got to know that NH-119 may be a little longer, but the road was good. So, we decided to take this alternate route.

The road was indeed in an excellent condition till Pauri. We stopped at Pauri and had our dinner. It was late and a good idea would have been to stop and spend the night at Pauri. But, it was imperative for us to reach Noida next morning, so we could not avail the luxury. As we inched forward, we found the road blocked at many places and the road construction work in full swing. At the first place we had to wait for over half an hour to get the road cleared. Thankfully at other places there was enough space for a bike to pass through, so with small hiccups we managed to cross over the turmulous stretch and finally reach Kotdwar.


The monster at work

Achanak hotel to our rescue @2 am at night !!

At around 2 am in night, we reached Kotdwar, and we really needed something to freshen up. "Achanak hotel" was the one that came to rescue, as we woke up the old man who made us tea at such an odd hour. The hills were almost over, and the plains were about to start, so we now decided to stretch ourselves a bit to complete the journey with minimum number of stops.

NH-119 passes through the thick of forests, and a lot of wild life can be found in these jungle. Our night travel gave us the rare opportunity to sight some of these. On the edge of the road we saw a leopard (who ran away on seeing us!!), sometime later a rabbit tried to race along, then a porcupine crossing the road, and finally a Barasingha (deer). We were excited and afraid (at least on seeing the leopard) at the same time.

The journey thereafter has little to tell, as biking we were for more than 18 hours straight, we had little energies in us than to drive and keep driving. At max, the pillion when tired of sitting back took to drive. We crossed Najibabad and Bijnor on the way to reach Meerut, to meet our beloved Kawadias :). For the rest we drove and drove and drove to reach our beginning point (Shoprix Mall Noida) at 10 am. We had traveled for exactly 24 hours straight, and looking back at it, I feel it to be one of the most daring adventures I have undertaken till today.

Trip Summary:
Distance: Noida to Mana and back (1180 kms)
Time: Leave from Noida on Friday evening -- reach Mana on sat evening -- start back on Sun morning -- reach Noida on monday morning

Route:
Onward journey: (NH-58)
Noida --> Meerut --> Haridwar --> Rishikesh --> Byasi --> Srinagar --> Rudraprayag --> Joshimath --> Badrinath --> Mana
Return journey:(NH-58 + NH-119)
Mana --> Badrinath --> Joshimath --> Rudraprayag --> Srinagar --> Pauri --> Kotdwar --> Bijnor --> Meerut --> Noida