Day 3: 23 June 2014 : Contented we return from Kasol
Last night, we had already settled the bills and had no plans to visit Manikaran, so while everyone else woke up early and went in their direction, we woke up leisurely around 0900 hrs. Lazily, we freshened up, had our bath, packed the belongings, had a tea and then around 0930 hrs, we started for the Kasol Market. Om arranged for a porter to carry our luggage.
Just about when Sany crossed the hanging bridge, a shepherd came along with his herd of sheep and we (me & wifey) had to climb up the boulders so as to avoid a collision with them. And the shepherd was like “aur uppar chadho, bheden nadi mein gir jaayengi” (climb up higher or else the sheep will fall in the river). And as is the case with sheepish behaviour, if one falls, all would follow suite! 🙂
The shepherd with sheep
And then we crossed the bridge.
Crossing the hanging bridge at Kasol
I clicked around for the last time before we leave for home..
The snow-capped peaks…
Views from the bridge
The raging Parbati…
The raging Parvati river at Kasol
The painted bridge…
The painted bridge at Kasol
Any li’l kiddo playing around…
Kiddo with the bridge
close-up
One more pose
We were happy to see the trail clean with neatly placed garbage sacks…
Neatly placed folded bags
And the accumulated garbage was still there, waiting for the meeting between Gram Pradhan and the Mahila Mandal…
Collected garbage waiting to be picked up
We stopped at the small shop run by a Nepali lady to have some tea…
Tea time
and some bread-omelet…
and something to stuff
And then we hopped on the beast and started the return journey. The time read 1200 hrs.
Passing by Bhunter
DJ and others have informed that the road conditions around Swarghat-Bilaspur had improved much and so we decided to take the direct route instead of Ner Chowk – Bhota – Una. We stopped at the same dhaba near Mandi to have some tea and sandwiches.
The road conditions had indeed improved and apart of long queue of trucks, there we didn’t faced any issues. Yes, the average speed on this route is considerably less than what you’d expect and that’s because on a 2-way 2-lane road, a truck driving at 12kmph decides to overtake the truck ahead which is running at 11kmph. And this is a frequent occurrence on this stretch. 🙁
Since we had started late, and the Swarghat-Bilaspur stretch caused further reduction of speed, it was already late evening when we crossed Chandigarh, and by then we started feeling hungry too. We, however, stretched a bit and stopped again at Hari Dhaba at Murthal to have dinner. The time read 2310 hrs.
Waiting for Dinner – see the tired faces!
By the time we finished dinner and started again, it was already 0000 hrs and we had inquired, everyone else had reached their homes. Well, they started good 4-6 hours ahead of us!
Finally, we reached Noida around 0200 hrs. I asked Sany to stay put for the night at my home, but since he could not miss office the next day (remember the call he received day before to report immediately in office – the reason why Tirthan was shelved?), he decided that he would leave immediately for Janakpuri. I too had office the next day and we were already too tired, so quickly we went to sleep…
And here’s what my trip-meter reads – 1210.8 kms in all.
The trip-meter count
A travel with a cause – well ended. Or is it?
Total Distance covered: Approx 551 kms
Driving Directions from Kasol to Noida via Bilaspur: From Kasol, drive straight towards Bhunter, with Parbati river giving you company on the right, passing by Jari village. Once you reach Bhunter, leave the first bridge on your right (on Parbati river, goes to Manali) and drive further to cross the second bridge (on your right, over Beas river). Drive ahead and turn left after the market at the T-point. Do not take any left or right cut and follow the major road that is the national highway to arrive at Aut tunnel. Cross the tunnel to emerge at Larji and take immediate right to go towards Pandoh, the left road goes to Larji Dam and further to Banjar (Tirthan valley). Follow to road to arrive at Pandoh dam and take the road built on the dam and immediately turn right to go towards Mandi. Following the road, cross the Jayuli channel and keep on straight following the main broad road with Beas giving company on the right, not crossing it. Driving ahead, you arrive at Simla Automobiles at the outskirts of Mandi. Keep on following the road and do not turn right yet to leave the first and the second bridge on Beas river. Take left at the second bridge and then take right at the next bridge to cross Beas river. Take immediate left after crossing the Beas and this ensure that you remain outside Mandi town and cross it. Drive ahead with Beas now on your left and keep on the broad road to reach Ner Chowk. Take left at the Ner Chowk tri-junction, the right one goes to Jahu-Una. Cross the river and take the right fork at the tri-junction to go towards Sundernagar, the left one goes to Baggi. After crossing Naulakha, take the right fork at the tri-junction to go towards Sundernagar town, the left one goes to Tattapani. Keep driving along the water channel and keep to your right, but do not take any right fork yet. Just after Sukhdev Vatika garden, take the left fork to remain on the NH and keep following the road until you reach Sundernagar Hospital where you take absolute right at the tri-junction. Now keep onto your left and do not take any right cut to pass by JNGEC on the outskirts of Sundernagar town. Drive on straight and you pass by Harabaag area from where a small stream starts giving you company on your right. Driving further ahead, arrive at lots of Mayur Dhabas on your right at the edge of the hill. Keep on driving and pass by Jarol and then Sadhwan where you can see a river giving you company – that’s Satluj! Cross the bridge on Satluj and take immediate right to remain on the NH. Take the left fork ahead at Bhantrehar to remain on the NH and keep on driving without taking any cut to arrive at Ghaghas. At Ghaghas, take the left fork (right/straight one goes to Jahkan-Kandrour) and then after crossing the bridge, take immediate right towards Bagi. Keep on the NH and drive further to arrive at Bamta (outskirts of Bilaspur). Keep on following the major road that is NH and do not take any road that appears to be arterial. Any confusion, ask for directions to Swarghat or simply follow the trucks. Just after passing Nauni, take the right fork at the tri-junction and pass by Kallar, the left fork goes towards Bhararighat-Darlaghat. Drive further to pass by Charol and then Jamli after which cross the bridge on the river to pass by Baner. Keep towards your left and keep on the major road to arrive at Swarghat marked by big craters on the road. Drive ahead on the NH and do not take any right or left cut and any insignificant road till you reach the tri-junction where the right one goes to Naina Devi. Keep left, drive ahead and arrive at HP-Punjab border, marked by HP toll collection booth on the other side of the road. From the HP-Punjab border, drive straight on the NH to arrive at Kiratpur sahib. At Kiratpur Sahib, do not take the flyover, rather turn left to be on the NH 3 and then drive on the same road passing by Bhartagarh followed by Ghanauli, Malikpur, Rupnagar (or Ropar), Kurali and then Kharar at Chandigarh outskirts. Turn left at Kharar to go towards Chandigarh, the straight/right fork goes to meet NH1 at Shambhu Barrier after Banur and reaches the outskirts of Ambala. One you’ve taken the left turn at Kharar, follow the signages to go towards Delhi and remain on NH3. Pass by sector 39 to 47 and then take left at sector 47C where the jagatpura bypass road meets NH3 and pass by sector 31. Take right from the next roundabout to remain on NH3 and reach Zirakpur, from where the straight road is known as Chandigarh-Ambala expressway (also known as NH22). Take left/straight at the tri-junction and after couple of minutes, arrive at McDonald’s and KFC to your right, just ahead of the Decathlon store. Keep on straight and pass by Dera Bassi and take the right fork to remain on the expressway. Drive straight ahead to join NH1 at Ambala and thereon keep following NH1 towards Delhi passing by Kurukshetra, followed by Karnal, Panipat, Samalakha, Gannaur, Sonepat and reach Singhu border near Alipur village. Drive ahead and take the clover at Mukarba Chowk (interestingly, Mukarba is a violated form of Maqbara) to turn right and be on the outer ring road towards Burari. Follow the outer ring road to pass by Golden Jubilee park followed by the rear side of Vijay Ghat. Keep on looking for board to Geeta Colony and turn left on the Geeta Colony bridge to cross the Yamuna river. Turn right after crossing the bridge and follow the road to pass by Vikas Marg junction, Akshardham, Mayur Vihar to arrive at Noida Gate. Keep driving straight to pass by Film city and just after that, turn left along the overbridge to reach TGIP Mall. Drive straight to pass by DPS, followed by Iskcon temple. At the next junction, marked by a CNG fuel bunk on right, turn right. Drive further ahead and you arrive at Sector 52 gate on your left.
Google Map directions for Kasol to Noida via Bilaspur: https://goo.gl/maps/JdsUC
