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Travelogues

India Travelogues: Travel diaries, journals, personal travel experiences & impressions of people and places that bring India alive

Home > Travelogues > Nainital, Ranikhet, karnaprayag, Rishikesh > Chasing the Rain - Part 1

Chasing the Rain - Part 1

Travelogue on Nainital, Ranikhet, karnaprayag, Rishikesh, Delhi

By:MatadorV1 | Read more Travelogues by this Member
Posted on: Oct 21, 2008
Views : 485
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vishal and i rarely disagree on anything. so, when vishal proposed a bike trip, the excitement got to me instantly. the last trip we made was quite a while back and the longing for the next one was getting stronger by the day. the independence day falling on a friday gave us a long weekend and we made it longer by taking the thursday off as well. the initial plan was to go up to joshimath and back, but that had to change. the garhwal hills on that side are landslide prone and getting stuck on that route would have left us with no option but to come back. we zeroed in on nainital rather. the plan was to reach nainital on the first day and keep our options open for the next two days. as usual, convincing the families was the first hurdle. but not much of an opposition came up. it’s safe to assume that our wives have, by now, come to know our souls pretty well and are happy to let us follow our hearts from time to time. that’s really pleasing i must say. our parents, on the other hand, are typical with their concerns, but convincing them is never too difficult.

on sunday, the 10th of august, we got our bullets serviced. my bike needed new rear brake shoes and vishal’s needed a new decompressor body and new front brake cable. with the bikes ready and all the required stuff in place, the next three days were difficult to pass. the two of us kept on planning different things about the trip over the phone. concentrating on the regular office work was just not possible. the moment finally arrived. it was 7.00 pm on wednesday and we were back from our offices. time to pack our bags. the plan was to set off by 4-30 am to avoid the traffic on the delhi-moradabad highway. but we hardly got any sleep that night. vishal couldn’t sleep due to sheer excitement and i due to load shedding and mosquito bites. we woke up later than planned as a result and set off at 5.00 am, late by half an hour. we met up at badarpur border. a quick hug and we were off. in order to cover the lost time we rode rather fast on the free highway and by the time we stopped for breakfast at gajraula, we were ahead of time. the dhaba was pretty crowded that early in the morning. many people were heading for nainital with their families. our bulls drew instant attention. a couple of jolly looking guys actually came up to us enquired about the bikes and our destination. we simply love that ‘wish i could do that’ look in people’s eyes. that makes us feel really special. a heavy breakfast comprising of hot tandoori paranthas with butter, omlets, and tea was deemed enough to carry us past moradabad.

the weather till then was pleasant with light clouds and no sun. we soon reached places where it rained just before we arrived and the chase was on. it was a case of two bravehearts on two shining silver bullets chasing the rain. we were prepared with raincoats for ourselves and plastic covers for our luggage. the rain kept moving ahead of us but we soon caught up with it. in moradabad we had to put the raincoats on. there we decided to avoid the popular route via rampur-rudrapur-haldwani and took the less frequented kashipur-bazpur-tanda-kaladhungi route. a smart decision it was as the roads via rampur was a real pain as we came to know later. the route we took was lovely with smooth tarmac and pleasant green surroundings. we reached kaladhungi in no time with just a couple of stops to click some photographs. by then it had started raining heavily and we were soaked from head to toe despite the raincoats. from kaladhungi it’s a 35 km climb up to nainital and the road condition is pretty good barring a few stretches where road supporters were being constructed. initially, my bike struggled for pickup on the steep climbs but soon i got the gear settings right and that nullified the problem. with clouds hanging so low and the refreshing greenery, it was some view on either side of the roads. but we really had to concentrate on the road, as there were quite a few s-curves and hairpin bends to negotiate. the rain got heavier still as we kept on climbing. it was getting pretty cold as well and we had to stop 16 kms from nainital to dry ourselves. we found a nice and cozy tea stall where we put on dry clothes and had two hot cups of tea each.

after half an hour or so, we resumed our ride. the rain continued to be heavy and it was a matter of time before we got soaked again. but there was no point stopping again. so, continued our climb and reached nainital by 2 pm. i had been to nainital once before but that was by bus through haldwani. the kaladhungi route actually took us higher up on the mountain and from there it was a descent down to the nainital town. the whole town looked great in the rain. but we were in no mood to enjoy the beauty at that time. we were wet and cold and pretty miserable. we were in a hurry to find a hotel and get warm. but to our dismay we found nainital

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Travelogue on Nainital, Ranikhet, karnaprayag, Rishikesh , Delhi

By Poornima Dasharathi | Sun , Nov 16, 2008
The editor in me wishes for shorter sentences and case changes. But hey dont listen to me - just enjoy your travels dude. Its a great travelogue - the enthusiasm passes on to ma, a reader, and I was virtually transported to all the lovely places. Thanks.

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By Manisha Kothari | Wed , Nov 05, 2008
congrats on the editors pic...great read!

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By Mukesh Miyan | Wed , Oct 22, 2008
This is such a fantastic read man...but why the pics are so few...

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