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Cycling in Central Asia, Cycling the Himalayas, Cycling in North India, Cycling in Nepal
Cycling Rampur to Rishikesh
Off the beaten track into the rural alpine mountains - we didn't see another foreigner until we got to Moosoorie. A varied rollercoaster route dipping to as low as 400m altitude, peaking at 2500m, with some seriously mighty ascents. It's a verdant route with eagles a constant companion circling overhead. We were welcome and very unexpected guests in the old mountain villages.
Most travellers, whether on bicycle or vehicle, carry on from Rampur on the N22 over the big climb of Narkanda and onto Shimla. The N22 is highway, it's excellent asphalt but also increasingly busy the closer you get to Shimla. We wanted to avoid the traffic and noticed on googlemaps a possible rural route on a small road or track just after Rampur. The only thing we knew about this route is that it would start with a climb; as Rampur seemed to be in a basin/valley and any way out of Rampur is up. Apart from this, we knew nothing else about this route at all, or even that it's actually possible to get to Rishikesh this way - we did it anyway, hoping for something right off the trail...
Day 1 - Rampur - Bahli (41km)
On the N22, just 5.5km after Rampur there's a row of shops and mechanics on both sides of the road and a big road sign above the road. There's a left turn just before the shops but another 100m on there's another, slightly obfuscated left turn alongside a river on your left - this is the road we took into the wild. It's all ascent on this rural road, but it's a peaceful and a gentle climb along the abundantly green mountainside above the winding river below (see bottom left pic). It's also pretty humid due to the lower altitude (Rampur is 1300m). About 14km from the main road turn off we reached a bridge which had a road going left to the little village of Taklech, or the road continued straight on up the mountainside. We decided to head into Taklech to get something to eat. It's a pretty and very friendly little place, to say we were the star attraction was an understatement, but we felt very comfortable here, having stopped about half way up on the right, a little cafe with a sweet counter and a red plastic table and chairs. Good cycling snack food of samosas, pakora and stocking up on sweets. We cycled back over the bridge and up the mountainside, the ascent gets quite tough just after the bridge but there are a couple of rudimentary snack shacks on this road selling crisps and super sweet bottled mango juice. After about 26km after the main road turn off the ride finally levels out a little as the road traverses the top of the mountain that you've climbed. A few km further and the asphalt is replaced by hard packed mud, but it's reasonably smooth and descends a little too amongst more dense and sometimes tropical scenery...the stunning views across the mountains fades into an ethereal mist (bottom right pic).
After a tough 41km from Rampur, or 36km from the turn off, you reach the tiny village of Bahli. It is centered on a 3 way junction, and around this junction is a little white/grey old temple, three dhabas, a shop and a few houses dotted around. As you enter this tiny place, the Temple is on your left and the road to the left is the road to Sungri. We hoped to get to Sungri before the day's end but we were losing light, however, tiny Bahli didn't look like the kind of place that would have a guesthouse or Homestay. We stopped at the dhaba that was straight ahead of us rather than the ones to the right. I asked the dhaba owner if there was any chance of a place to stay here, he pointed to the guy next to him - turns out the guy next to him was a local councillor and he'd be happy to rent out the government building that was especially for visiting government officials. Ian stayed in the dhaba while i walked off to check out our potential lodgings - we were walking to what looked like a derelict old building opposite the dhaba, i was figured that as long as the roof keeps the elements out it will do, but when we got around to the front of the building it was a transformation, it was tidy, a nice front garden with views across the mountains and the room was huge and clean with an additional room and bathroom - it was way beyond what we could've hoped for. Ian thought i was taking the piss when i said it's 'a palace'. Knowing we had a comfy place to stay made the freshly cooked dhal/rice/sabje even more delicious. The dhaba was a friendly place and we chatted to a few locals only for this idylic scene to be shattered by the local drunk...soon we would learn that every rural village on this route has it's self appointed local drunk. So, he sat with us, obnoxious, insisting we drink with him (we said we didn't drink) telling us we're his best mate and then insisting we go and meet his mother 4km down the road. The drunk had a friend who was translating as the drunk only spoke a little english. The drunk wouldn't take no for an answer, his translator explained that we must go and meet his mother, and not to woory, the drunk has a car and can drive us there!?...On rough mountainside roads with drop offs - very reassuring!? After much deliberation and just about avoiding an argument, we manged to wriggle free from his suicidal suggestion by promising we would visit him and his mother the next day...and we then made our escape to our lovely government chateau.
Day 2 - Bahli - Rohru (45km)
It's downhill to start with on a mostly mud packed road. After 5km we passed through a sprawling village which stretches it's way for about 3km along the road. It had more goats than people and we got stuck in animal traffic (bottom left pic). The road deteriorates after this village into hard packed mud and rock. After 11km from Bahli the road starts to ascend and continues it's ascent all the way to Sungri. After 18km you hit the top of the mountain; there's a few shops and a restaurant on the right; but the road is two junctions: It hairpins to the left or goes straight on - then 40m straight on the road forks: left to Rohru and right to Narkanda, it looks like there's a government rest house above this junction, a lovely spot if you wanted to stay here, but the actual main village of Sungri is 1 km further down the Rohru road. The road descends from the top and we whizzed by Sungri without realising!! Sungri is beautifully perched on the mountainside above the road and we didn't notice any track or road going up to it. So, down we whizzed for over 20km through verdant alpine scenery on a good but dangerously winding asphalt road...with the road getting busier as it gets to the valley bottom and closer to Rohru. The main drag in Rohru is claustrophobic such is the chaos of the place, crammed with people and traffic and dirty old buildings piled up on three or four floors on either side of the road. There are hotels along the main drag but they look awful and the noise must be unbearable. In the middle of the main drag there's a bridge on the right, cross this bridge and it gets a bit quieter and there are a few hotels along here all well over priced, we stopped at Hotel River View, you can't miss it, it's on the right and is blood red with a neon sign. It was 550Rps for a double with flat screen TV and there's a passable Hotel restaurant too. It's not ideal for bikes as the hotel has one entrance, steps going up 2 floors...but the manager was happy for us to carry them up and lock them to the step railings.
Day 3 - Rohru - Tiuni (40km)
The hotel was convenient as the road that carries on to the right is the road to Tiuni. It's a busy road of broken tarmac all the way (12km) to Hatkoti, famous for it's temple, it seems to be on the Sadhu pilgrimage circuit. Holy Hatkoti is on the valley floor below the main road. Past Hatkoti, you cross a bridge over the river and the road then splits left or right, we learnt from the locals to go right to Tiuni. Soon we crossed the Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand border which is situated at the end of a small village. We were stopped there by Mr Ram, the incredibly cheerful and well respected Police Chief, but there was no passport check. The closer we got to Tiuni the better the road and it's either flat or slightly downhill, easy cycling through pretty and well irrigated agricultural land (top right pic) where the farmers are collecting sheaves of straw and building a wonderful assortment of different styled ricks. Tiuni has two parts to it: There's the main drag, a perfectly straight street of madness with it's countless dhabas and shops selling bags, jewelry and crap clothes, a few hotels & rather strangely it's absolutely full of tourist jeeps and mechanics...and then at the end of the main drag, you continue around a corner and eventually come to a quieter and more pleasant residential part of Tiuni. Above the main drag there are a few pretty houses peering down and a fast flowing river runs through the village. We stayed on the main drag, more than half the way down, on the left is a brand new looking hotel called Mohan. We stayed on the first floor, Room 201, at the back - it must be the best room in Tiuni, not only was it brand spanking new with a beautiful moroccan style blue tiled bathroom, but the balcony was right above the rapid river, which drowned out the sounds of the hectic main drag. It was a great spot to chill, with a view across to the quieter part of Tiuni and the mountain, and we could store our bikes on the balcony too. So we tracked down a few beers and hit the balcony.
Day 4 - Tiuni - Koti Kanasar (52km)
It's right out of the Hotel and at the end of the main drag a large green road sign states 'Chakrata 82km' - which we hoped to reach by the end of the day. From the sign the road turns a corner and you can go left over the bridge through the quieter Tiuni or the road goes straight on following the mountainside and above the river. We took the right turn over the bridge, but perhaps the road that goes straight on also finds it's way to Chakrata? Once over the bridge it's a 10km climb on good tarmac, the beautiful verdant scenery then opens up with some great views to the right as we have a free wheeling 3km descent along the mountainside clinging road...the road then levels out before climbing and descending and after 37km we arrived in the backward village of Saharanapam whose locals, by their response, had clearly never ever had foreigners in town. Typically, men and boys were hanging around and all bunched together, stunned, silent, not smiling. We had no idea when we could next eat so a chai and food was essential. We stopped right in the middle of the village and asked a guy for two chais; he didn't seem overwhelmed to serve us but got on with the job. It seemed as if the entire village's male populace had now gathered round and to break the stand off, we had to completely over act like clowns and generally lark about to break the ice and from that point on it was all smiles and laughter...while we were waiting for our chai, stumbling towards us was the village drunk...here we go again...it seems every one of these little remote villages has it's self appointed drunk...we wonder if the village doesn't achieve the benefits of village status if there isn't a village drunk. You can tell the drunk from a mile away: when you cycle into the village everyone's jaw drops, they stare as if possessed and back off a bit nervously...except the drunk who comes charging (not in a straight line) confidently at us to make friends and talks utter bastardised hindi drivel which i'm sure not even the locals understand...the drunk tries to make out he's the man of the village and starts taking charge shouting to the chai man to make 2 chai and beckoning us to take a seat...but our chai has already been ordered, and we don't move to the seats he beckons us too, but just ignore him, and he loses interest and stumbles off. We can't seem to find water or snacks in the village so Ian gives some kids some rupees and 5 minutes later water miraculously turns up. We find a dhaba run by a real bison of a mongolian looking woman, even Ghengis himself wouldn't have crossed this battleaxe...despite her snarl, she serves up a thali plate, it's a bit cold but at just 25p for a refillable thali plate, we can't complain...that was, and remains the cheapest eat of our journey - served up by Atilla the nun. After this crazy place the road was flat with some descent too, a few fading but still colourful old wooden houses dotted around, before a tough 12km climb through alpine scenery to Koti Kanasar. We were hoping to reach Chakrata but the climbs were tough, slow progress and as we reach Koti it's getting dark. As soon as we enter Koti there's a dhaba on the right where we stopped for a chai and we get speaking to a couple of locals who say they can find a place for us to stay and we are lead up the road to a huge moustache wielding guy who has the air of someone respected who you don't mess with, but the size of his smile matches his moustache as he shows us to a room that is basically a grubby store room with a bed in it - 1000Rps!!!?? We barter to 500Rps which is still ridiculous but it's a sellers market where we are concerned after a tiring ride. His wife cooked up a fantastic thali plate, one of the best we'd had, cooked from fresh with unusual but delicious veg. These little villages are initially weirded out by our arrival, incongruous as it is to them, but after a few smiles and basic communication it's a perfect meeting of different cultural minds as we bring some alien colour to their lives and they bring much needed warm hospitality to ours.
Day 5 - Koti Kanasar - Makhti (42km)
In the morning we could see what a sweet little village Koti was, but off we pedalled...yet again the day started with a climb, of 10km, mostly rough off road conditions, but after 10km we reached the top of the mountain: The road splits: Straight on ahead were a few chai/snack shacks and a large telecoms mast; to the left a road clings to the mountainside with a truly stunning vista over the colourful green mountains. Left we rode, but the amazing views stopped us at the first corner and before we knew it we were surrounded by the friendliest of goats (top right pic) and distracted by huge eagles circling above. It's then 3km of downhill with continuing great verdant scenery (top right pic) before the road flattens out and we pass some wonderful old colourful wooden houses (bottom left pic) at which point, at 17km, the road starts to ascend again. At 20km we reached the summit of another mountain peak with more outstanding views across green mountain peaks and valleys. Then it's a mix of downhills, flats and climbs before reaching another summit at 26.5km and a road sign which announces "Welcome to Chakrata Cantonment area". There's a couple of well stocked shops here offering the kind of bounty that we hadn't seen for days, and also there are two roads: A higher road and one lower road. The higher road had a disinterested military guy lounging in a chair and we understood this was a sensitive military road, so we took the lower road as advised by one of the shop owners. This road took us past a few houses, a turn off for Snow View guesthouse and a hectic little temple, seemed we rode right through a holy procession of some sort, possibly linked to a wedding, and then after 4km from the summit we wheeled into the agora: A well kempt newly tiled large courtyard with views on either side, various people leisurely loitering and two military guys in a military hut pulled us over. They weren't too happy to see us and evidently our existence was a challenge to their reality...they were perplexed and weren't sure what to do but did tell us that this was a restricted area that was not open to foreigners and that they had only ever seen one other foreigner come through this way. They called in their superiors and about half an hour later a few more senior military guys appeared with a few casually dressed but evidently high rank Intelligence officers. They questioned our existence and asked where we had been, when I (Toby) mentioned we'd been to Uzbekistan, they replied: "Pakistan?" Toby retorted "No, Uzbekistan", to which the Intelligence guy replied "Pakistan, you've been to Pakistan?"...it continued, "No, Uzbekistan". When they had eventually understood we probably weren't Pakistani Jihadists, they stated we would be escorted to the edge of town by two military guys and that there was a hotel a few km down the road where we should stay the night and then continue onwards the next day...and so escorted out of town we were by two cheery and bemused military guys...with many a spectator. So, shooed out of our planned stop of Chakrata, we continued along the road which was traversing the very mountain top...and after 5km we reached a small village which had a very reasonable and quite new looking hotel on the right as we entered and several people were milling in and outside of a dhaba on our right. I asked a random local if it was possible to stay at the hotel, to which they replied that it was before some old misery goat of an elder said that it wasn't possible...he must have been the most senior in the village as although everyone else was pleased to see us, they bowed under his word...seeing as the hotel looked empty, it was rather odd...anyway, we cycled on, passing another empty hotel on the edge of the village, wondering if we would find another hotel out here in the middle of nowhere?! It was still lovely cycling acorss the top of the mountain range, often with views on both sides...another 7km after the village that rejected us, we reached another pretty little village: Makhti (bottom right pic). To our delight, one of the last buildings on the right was the surprisingly new looking; and of course empty; Hotel Himalaya Keshar Lodging. We were welcomed warmly, although we had to barter from 1000Rps a room to a still over priced 600Rps. They also cooked us some reasonable food, the aloo pakora going down particularly well. We had a little wander to the basic village shops and the people were so friendly and interested, a lovely little place with great views all around.
Ever since Rampur, along this route we've witnessed a weird wedding celebration in which family and friends try and cram as many people as possible inside, and on a jeep, and then drive around hazardously. It looks uncomfortable, but the locals seem to love it.
Day 6 - Makhti - Moosoorie (68km)
Considering Makhti is strung along the top of a mountain ridge, it was a shock to be starting the day with another climb - 8.2km to be precise, but once we'd hit the peak of this ridge the cycling was stunning, we were on a high peak with stunning verdant panoramic views and a feeling of remoteness with not even a goat or goat herder in sight! With the abundance of well kempt grass,there were many good camping possibilities
around here with views money cannot buy. It's then a beautiful free wheeling descent of over 20km which eventually reaches a main highway and some of the views of the Yamuna river around here are stunning (see right pic): At which point it's a left turn which brings you to Yamuna bridge - literally just across this bridge is a little dhaba on the right on the river's edge. It's a friendly little place and the guy is a great cook - he served up freshly pepared pakoras, the tastiest we'd ever eaten with aloo, onion and chilli. After a km or 2 there's a road sign stating to turn right for the mighty 30km climb, mostly on siwtchbacks, up to the
bustling Moosoorie hill station. It's a long but gentle climb and there are many dhabas, restuarants and hotels on the way up, the busiest strip is half way up, at Kempty Falls: These water falls would be beautiful if they were left naturally, but they have been made into a tourist attraction in their own right and it's all a bit tatty, crumbling and faded...not unlike Moosoorie, although there are great views, it's all a bit commercial and too built up. We stayed at Hotel Atitha which has stunning views down the valley from the balcony. We entered the town into the main drag of shops and restuarants, from here, there are some nicely situated Hotels around the corner to the right, but we turned left through the pedestrianised part, passing Silver Rock and Hotel Mayur on the left, then there's 6 or 7 shops on the right and an ATM at the end of them and next to the ATM are steps down from the road to Hotel Atitha - great views, big room, huge TV (to watch the cricket), a bit tatty, but fine for 500Rps.
Day 7 - Moosoorie - Chamba (57km)
Good luck to anyone trying to find their way out of Moosoorie onto the Chamba road - asking various locals to verify their answers may be necessary. Once on the Chamba road it was no surprise that we start the day with a 7km ascent; at which point there's a big green road sign stating: 'Chamba 50km Dhonital 20km'. The good tarmac road continues to climb amongst lovely verdant scenery. We were about 7km from Dhonital when the road has peaked and begins to descend all the way to Dhonital - there are a few guesthouses and 'camps' before you reach Dhonital which are all beautifully situated on the edge of the mountain. Dhonital is a small hill station strung along the road with dhabas and hotels, most of which only cook up egg or maggi noodles or maggi soups, but a couple do basic thali plates. It's a 5km climb out of Dhonital before the excellent road levels and soon descends. The descent goes through Kanatal, a sprawling village which has some nicely situated guesthouses, worth considering! Also on this road is a large white temple which you could easily pedal past as it's set back on the hill - we only noticed because we stopped to take in the views and looking back saw the temple glowing in the sunlight. Chamba is a busy and sizeable town. The nicest places to stay are the first few guesthouses you come to on the outskirts of the town; the further you get into the town the more hectic and noisy it is. We stayed at Neelkanth Hotel for 500Rps which was okay but a bit central/noisy.
Day 8 - Chamba - Rishikesh (62km)
The Hotelier recommended a short cut that went down from the hotel. Despite learning that Indian recommended short cuts are a bad idea, we took the recommendation...and it was a bad idea...the road became rough off road track and although it was about 3km shorter than the main road, it was slow. The main road is good asphalt with some rough patches on hairpin corners. It's downhill for the first 19km and then the road winds it's way along the mountainside. It was a hot and humid ride, something we weren't used too, and a bit more traffic too. There's a few places to grab a much needed drink or a snack. The road climbs for a total of 13km before we were treated to a 1km descent, and then one final km ascent before we could free wheel all the way down to Rishikesh. The road levels at a junction and there's a temple on the right, the road forks here, left to Lakshman Jhula or right to Rishikesh and Dehra Dun. We verified this with the temple warden and set off to Lakshman Jhula. We started to pass a few ashrams before a couple of corners took us past shops and restaurants. We knew we had to go right at some point to get to Lakshman Jhula bridge, and chose a right turn which did indeed take us down to the bridge past shops and dhabas. Once across the bridge, the garrish Siva statue was staring at us and we went right here alongside the big bell temple and continued onwards until the pastel green Hotel Aadi Badri. It's a newly renovated hotel, good sized and clean rooms run by a friendly family: Barter price 350Rps. You can find some really cheap places in Rishikesh, but they are usually pretty grim. Aadi Badri is nicely situated, secure, has an adjacent internet cafe and has great views of the Ganga from the rooftop. Finally we were in food heaven...Ganga view, close to Aadi Badri did a great fresh squeezed ginger and lime. The similarly named Ganga Beach View (The restaurant was devestated in the June 2013 floods and had just been rebuilt) does the best chips in town and good falafel. We found a great dhaba back over Lakshman Jhula bridge which Ian couldn't get enough of and the noisy taxi stand near Rishikesh bridge has Shanti cafe, a tiny place run by a lovely family which does really healthy and light food, often for the yoga types. The buckwheat pancake is yum. Although we both liked Rishikesh/Lakshman Jhula, we had no intention to stay a whole 2 weeks, but were waiting for some couriered brake pads to arrive from the UK, which took far longer than they should've done...but at least they arrived! There are worse places to be stuck though, great food, ayurvedic massages, yoga, meditation.
