to Narkanda - 2630m: First glimpses of big mountains on the horizon - Racpat RTW 2015-2017

May 16, 2016

to Narkanda - 2630m: First glimpses of big mountains on the horizon

"The women look like gypsies" Rachel says, the way the women have scarves tied on their heads and wide hoop earrings. "Where do you think gypsies orginated?" Patrick says, "They orginated in India." The men in this area wear round hats.

We walk the bikes up the short steep hill away from guesthouse through the tunnel to a shortcut to the main road NH 22. Then an 8km climb to Kufri, the high point from 2200m to 2600m. The road goes through a beautiful pine forest and the hillsides on this side away from Shimla are still fully forested.

Just before we reach Kufri, there is a huge section with eco adventure tourism and resorts, then we get our first glimpse of the Indian Himalayas. From Kufri to Theog we drop back down to under 2300m. This was our destination for today since the 35kms to Narkanda is mostly climbing back up to 2630m. We stop for samosas, ordering two each. They come with a gravy of chickpeas covering the samosas. Too much for Rachel, so two more are ordered indicating plain no gravy. The town is spread out and busy, we decide to continue on to Narkanda. A couple of kms after leaving Theog there is a short steep section, then a gradual climb to Mariana.

The gentle climbing continues, the hillsides are terraced, cherry trees are covered in netting and there are not many food stalls, but plenty of water pumps if in need and are inclined to try or filter. There are plenty of cherry and apricot sellers along the road, each selling a dozen or so boxes of fruit, then we cycled past the small distribution and see where all the fruit is coming from. Wonder how many rupees the sellers make in a day. At 8 kms from Narkanda, we can see the town on a ridge across the deep valley. Patrick stops at one of the water pumps to try the water. We are having to adjust to the higher elevation. This last stretch is the hardest especially for Rachel.

Entering Narkanda, there are two hotels we know of to check out. There are signs for guesthouses, and home stays, and we see Hotel Mahamaya Palace by a Hindu Temple and across the street a Himalayan Dhaba. The room is 1300 rupees, this is considered high season in this area, understandable as the temperatures increase in the lower lands, people especially from Delhi come into the mountains for cooler weather. We check in, there is hot water for the "bucket bath", the room overlooks the Hindu Temple.

It is cooler, we go for dinner and both wear jackets for the first time since forever. We walk around the "town square" that is a nano size with market area that takes about 10 minutes to see. The shops seem better stocked than in Shimla. The town also has a better feel than Theog, there's no honking. Lots of touring motorcyclists. There is a website www.devilonwheels.com that gives travel information about passes, we've used this site to check on pass openings.

Tomorrow is mostly downhill, so not so early a start. We even plan on having a Cappuccino at the restaurant across the street before taking off.

Leaving Shimla, a tunnel takes us through a ridge.

The hills around Shimla are covered in concrete structures. As we move further north though we see farms and pine forests. The road is lined with parked cars.

Our first views of snow covered Himalaya peaks to our north.

Lower in the valleys are terraced farm fields and orchards.

The road quality is good today. There are a couple of steep sections, but also long gradual slopes. Traffic is light after Kufri.

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 17,223 km (10,695 miles)

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