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Going to Neverland
Kashish Tandon (aka mindless wanderer) was visiting India on account of Eid holidays in Kuwait. A travel plan brewed up. Another friend Manoj joined in. Choice of destination was the next step. Saach Pass came up in our discussions and almost finalized. Then idea of Chandratal cropped up. Incidentally, we three had never been to Chandratal. Hence we all readily agreed to the idea. Kashish’s Pajero was most likely choice for the vehicle for the trip. Additionally we had another option of an AWD Duster owned by Manoj. With destination and the vehicle decided, we counted days for the trip to happen.
Date of the journey was 18th to 21st August. However, as the fate would have it, we could not go to Chandratal. Kashish came up with some work at Mukteshwar on the 20th August which could not be avoided. With not much room to travel beyond Mukteshwar we decided to spend some quite time either at Chaukori, Binsar or Kausani for a day or two and reach Mukteshwar in time to let Kashish finish his work there.
We started early on 18th. Duster was pressed into service. Manoj and Kashish stared from Gurgaon and picked me up from Dhaula Kuan. Our first break was at Mama Yadav Shiva Tourist Dhaba for tea and coffee. Roads were mostly empty till Brajghat. However, from Brajghat, we encountered a huge rush of kanwadiyas on a home run. With huge Dak-kanwads and sound systems blaring on top, the going got painfully tough. One side of the highway was blocked for the smooth passage of kanwadiyas, still the other carriageway was also disturbed with many of them traversing on the other side as well. It carried on all the way till the cut for Rampur at Moradabad.
We breathed a sigh of relief and pressed the pedal. We took another break for freshening up and some refreshments near Bazpur. From Kaladhungi we took the cut for Nainital and started ascending on the mountains. As we gained altitude, the mist took over the mountains and the entire scenery turned magical. Breaks became frequent to enjoy the misty drive. By 2.00 pm we had crossed Nainital and were on our way to Almora. We had a late lunch break at River View restaurant near Almora.
While we reached Almora, we started thinking over a possible night stay destination. First thoughts were about Binsar or Kausani. We even considered Chaukori but the distance and dropping sunlight made us retreat on the option. Finally we decided to stay at Kausani for the first night and then move over to Binsar for spending the second night. We reached Kausani by 6.00 pm. Kausani welcomed us with a drizzle. We checked into the KMVN tourist rest house and got ourselves a nice cottage for the night stay. We gazed at the night sky watching the play of rain and mist before retiring for the night.
Date of the journey was 18th to 21st August. However, as the fate would have it, we could not go to Chandratal. Kashish came up with some work at Mukteshwar on the 20th August which could not be avoided. With not much room to travel beyond Mukteshwar we decided to spend some quite time either at Chaukori, Binsar or Kausani for a day or two and reach Mukteshwar in time to let Kashish finish his work there.
We started early on 18th. Duster was pressed into service. Manoj and Kashish stared from Gurgaon and picked me up from Dhaula Kuan. Our first break was at Mama Yadav Shiva Tourist Dhaba for tea and coffee. Roads were mostly empty till Brajghat. However, from Brajghat, we encountered a huge rush of kanwadiyas on a home run. With huge Dak-kanwads and sound systems blaring on top, the going got painfully tough. One side of the highway was blocked for the smooth passage of kanwadiyas, still the other carriageway was also disturbed with many of them traversing on the other side as well. It carried on all the way till the cut for Rampur at Moradabad.
We breathed a sigh of relief and pressed the pedal. We took another break for freshening up and some refreshments near Bazpur. From Kaladhungi we took the cut for Nainital and started ascending on the mountains. As we gained altitude, the mist took over the mountains and the entire scenery turned magical. Breaks became frequent to enjoy the misty drive. By 2.00 pm we had crossed Nainital and were on our way to Almora. We had a late lunch break at River View restaurant near Almora.
While we reached Almora, we started thinking over a possible night stay destination. First thoughts were about Binsar or Kausani. We even considered Chaukori but the distance and dropping sunlight made us retreat on the option. Finally we decided to stay at Kausani for the first night and then move over to Binsar for spending the second night. We reached Kausani by 6.00 pm. Kausani welcomed us with a drizzle. We checked into the KMVN tourist rest house and got ourselves a nice cottage for the night stay. We gazed at the night sky watching the play of rain and mist before retiring for the night.
