The 1200+ Km Bike Trip --- Day1- Gurgaon to Rishikesh

The Beginning:

We started our journey from Gurgaon at around 7:45 am. Yes a late start, perhaps we could have started early morning, but again we laid back, chilled out Engineers have  in our DNA to be just in time. Anyways we filled the fuel tanks on the NH2 (Delhi) and started the Journey on our "Bajaj - Avengers". After a bit of struggle to be on the right path, we finally figured out the correct way.

As we started moving towards Raj Nagar Extension it started raining. This was the start of the rains that stayed with us the complete trip. Our Polybags and rain wear were tested for the first time.
It was already 9:30 - 10 am, our first stop for loo and some refreshment was at Raj Nagar Extension. 
Driving through the traffic at Raj Nagar and Murad Nagar we crossed a bridge over a canal, took left from the Murad Nagar Police Chowki to take the Upper Ganga Canal Road.

The Upper Ganga Canal Road:

The Upper Ganga Canal Road runs along the Ganga Canal up to Haridwar. The Upper ganga Canal road restricts heavy traffic and is the shortest path if not the fastest from Delhi to Haridwar. A carpeted road without heavy traffic was a delight to ride on. The road is closed for traffic during the Kanwar Yatra. During the Kanwar Yatra the road is dedicated to Kanwariyas, who use this road to walk till Haridwar.

By now the Kanwar Yatra was finished and the road was open for two/four wheelers. Few people used to take this route then hence there was less traffic. The rain had stopped by now and the Sun covered by clouds was playing hide and seek. The carpeted road with greenery all around and the pleasant breeze blowing from the Ganga Canal running by our side was a delight for us to ride our bikes. It is a straight road with road visibility until a long distance hence we could sometimes ply at high speeds as well. It was just heaven.

Our Second stop was at the Meerut Diversion, the place is also known as Bhola ki Jhal. Here you would see a bunch of road side vendors selling Pakoras on their Thelas. The Pakoras are sold by weight. It was almost lunch time so we took 1/2 a kilo of mix Pakoras (i.e. a mix of Pyaj (Onion), Aloo (Potato), Baigan (Brinjal) Pakoras etc) with Tea. The supper was such a delight. Off-late I have seen a restaurant as well that has come up now, otherwise previously on the other side of the small barrage on the Ganga Canal there used to be only these street vendors. Recently I was told that this place used to be a picnic spot for the people who flock here from surrounding areas to spend some quality time with friends and family.

At this place while I was trying to park my bike and was reversing it, it accidently hit the railing of the small barrage and broke the Bike's tail light cover into pieces. Fortunately the tail light was still functional. I collected the tail light cover's pieces and kept it myself. I thought I would get a new tail light cover and if I don't get one I will mend the tail light cover using quick fix and put it back on the tail light.

Anyways after enjoying the Chai-Pakoras, we again started riding. After riding for sometime there is diversion which suggests "Road to Dehradun". Most people take this diversion to merge on to the National Highway. Checking Google Maps we could infer that the Upper Ganga Canal road goes up- to Haridwar and was just two min slower that the National High Way, so we decided to continue on the same path to avoid heavy traffic. Little did we know that the road would be such a pleasure to ride. We kept riding till Mohammadpur, where the locals suggested us to take a left turn, cross the Canal and converge at the National Highway, as the Upper Ganga Canal was not in a good shape any further (I have heard that the road has now been built till Haridwar). We took the diversion to converge at the National Highway. I must confess that the ride from Murad Nagar to Mohammadpur was one of the best rides ever.

Roorkee (Uttarakhand):

We started riding on the National Highway and were probably around 10 km from Roorkee. We kept riding and halted for the Third time at 'Bhatia Fast Food & Shakes Corner' at the Shatabdi Dwar gate of IIT Roorkee. We had done out B.Tech from Roorkee and during our Engineering days we used to quite often come to Bhatia.
We had "Bun Omelet", (Trademark Bhatia Special) with Tea at Bhatia. It felt like time travel where we were kind of transported to our B.Tech Days, I would only say those were the days...
It was almost 3-3:30 pm. We spent some more time visiting some places like the Temple and various shops in Civil Lines. These were the places where we used to go quite often during our B.Tech days. It was such a nostalgic feeling to return to Roorkee after 12-13 years of our B.Tech.
Say by 3:45-4 pm we collected few other knick-knacks including Quick Fix from Roorkee and left for Haridwar- Rishikesh.

Rishikesh (Uttarakhand):

As we started driving toward Rishikesh, the plan was to get ourselves registered for the 'Char Dham Yatra' at Rishikesh Bus stand before moving ahead. During our research on the path to Badrinath on the Internet, one of the Vlogs had suggested to mandatorily get registered at Rishikesh before moving towards Badrinath ('Char Dham Yatra').
Anyways as we reached Haridwar and started driving towards Rishikesh there was a big traffic Jam. The Jam was severe; it was so severe that we both got separated despite effort to drive together on our respective bikes. It took some effort and coordination over phone to reunite. We reunited and drank some water. We just realized that we had now exhausted the water and Shikanji that we were carrying and drinking all over the journey. After refueling at Rishikesh, we finally reached Rishikesh Bus Station where we got ourselves registered. We drank water and filled our bottles as well.

As per original Itinerary we had to stay in Rishikesh. It was 6 pm. There was some more daylight left so we thought that we could drive fast, reach Dev Prayag and halt there for the night.
We started riding, we had ridden for some time, soon we realized that it was getting dark and Dev Prayag was still very far. So we decided not to go any further and abandoned the thought of driving till Dev Prayag as we didn't wanted to drive in the hills at night. We looked for OYO rooms and soon figured out that there was a Bamboo Cottage Nearby. We were at Shivpuri and we decided to stay at the Bamboo Cottage at Shivpuri.

At the cottage we had our meals, I mended the tail light cover with Quick Fix (which we had bought at Roorkee). We had some Tea to relax. Did some stretching exercises to relax as by now the whole body had started to pain and cramp. We had driven around 250-300 km on our bikes today. Little did I realize that it was my longest ride in a day. We instructed the attendant to bring Tea at 6:30-7am in the morning and arrange for breakfast as early as possible. We wanted to start early so that by dusk we could reach Joshimath which was still 250 km away. We went to bed by 9:30 pm so as to take rest and rise early to start the journey early morning. The place was serene with unpolluted air. As we went to bed our first day of voyage came to an end.  

Bamboo Hut - Shivpuri (Rishikesh)

Our Journey:

Day 1: Gurgaon to Shivpuri-Rishikesh (Stay at Shivpuri)

Day 2: Rishikesh to Pakhi-Joshimath (Stay at Pakhi)

Day 3: Pakhi to Badrinath/Govindghat (Stay at Govindghat)

Day 4: Govindghat to Ghangharia & Valley of Flowers (Stay at Ghangharia)

Day 5: Rest at Ghangharia (Stay at Ghangharia)

Day 6: Ghangharia to Hemkund Sahib (Stay at Govindghat)

Day 7: Govindghat/Joshimath to Dev Prayag (Stay at Dev Prayag)

Day 8: Dev Prayag to Gurgaon

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The 1200+ Km Bike Trip --- Day2