A Drive from Ukhimath to Delhi | Revisiting Uttarakhand

The Journey so far-

Day 4 | 13th March, 2011 | Driving back from Ukhimath to Delhi

It was 6 AM in the morning and we all were ready to go back home. The snow trek to Tunganath and the reflections at Deoria Tal are going to be remembered for a very long time to come. We asked Umeid (cook) to prepare the breakfast and checked out the other Umeid too. He was also awake and over with the last night’s hangover :)… All of us quickly wrapped up the breakfast and after settling the final bill at Ukhimath, GMVN, bid adieus to the place and lovely people whom we met. We had to drop Umeid at Kund from where he will get the bus or shared taxi to his home town. Since, the roads were empty about 7 AM so we made quick progress to Kund. We dropped Umeid and shared some warm good bye words to see him off. He was really good and we too enjoyed with him.

Last sunset of the trip…

While coming to Ukhimath we missed the Syal Saur for a cup of tea on the banks of Mandakini river. But, this time we were not going to miss the place and entered the Tourist Village at Syal Saur. Tourist Village is nothing but Rest House, GMVN at Syal Saur right on the banks of Mandakini river. We ordered cup of tea each and went down to the river banks to enjoy the water. The views from the Syal Saur were extremely nice and we were regretting that we did not stay there. The place was very calm and peaceful, idle if you’re looking to relax a bit. It was certain that next time we will surely spend a day at this place named Syal Saur. After about half an hour of fun, it was time to call off the day and kick-off our run to home, New Delhi.

Early morning Kedar Peak views…

Mandakini River…

Going home and smiles are back…

Enjoying Mandakini River at Syal Saur…

Almost touching it…

The roads till Agustmuni are amazing and after that slowly deteriorates towards Rudra Prayag. As we crossed traffic mess in Rudra Prayag and further Khankra Bend, there was a major landslide which put our drive to a halt. The rocks were still falling as the efforts were made to clear the road and about 50 minutes were wasted standing there. The heat was turning our heads now and almost required AC to be switched ON as we approached Srinagar. Rudra Prayag to Srinagar is good road only in patches with majority in below average shape. We had to take fuel from Srinagar which was too much hot for the woolens we were wearing. Time to get rid of the woolens and continue with the drive. There was nothing but an excitement to reach back home 🙂 …

Roads enroute…

The Alaknanda River…

Landslide…

Board says it all…

Jai Shiv Shankar…

After Dev Prayag, the roads improved considerably and we made much quicker progress until Haridwar. Owing to weekend Shivpuri and Rishikesh were packed with the people coming from NCR types to enjoy the thrill of rafting, after all it was season time 😀 … About 5.30 PM we crossed Haridwar and decided to stop for the lunch at Bikanerwala/Bikano or Moolchand Resort at Mujjaffar Nagar. Well, the traffic was too much after Haridwar which slowed us considerably and ultimately we stopped for dinner at Bikanerwala / Bikano. Well, the food was really good and of course we enjoyed it a lot being hungry for almost 12 Hrs. The Wold Cup match between India v/s South Africa was ON and we enjoyed for about an hour with food there. Around 8 PM, started the long run towards Delhi first by cruising through the newly laid roads between Meerut and Mujjaffar Nagar and then getting stuck in the traffic jam at Ghaziabad. Finally, we reached Delhi disappointingly as India lost the match in the last over 🙁 … but anyways they won the work cup though :D… I dropped both Himanshu and Neeraj, picked my wife from the in-laws home to finally end the trip at my home around 12.30 AM 🙂 …

I hope you liked the triplog and its pictures too.