[Photo Feature]: Himachal (2500Kms)

This is my 1st thread at xBhp. Kindly suggest if it flows out in any manner.

3 Individuals,
2009 Hero Honda CD Deluxe
2010 Honda CB Twister (Front Disc)
2011 Thunderbird Twinspark

July 8th to 18th 2013

The !dea was to ride from our home town, Aligarh (UP) to Manali (HP) and return in three days (1300 Kms) but it ended up on the 10th day!
We all were inexperienced, and being inactive on motorcycle forums we all had no clue how to fasten the luggage, what else to carry as remedy and so on.
We just took a backpack each and fastened it with the elastic cord and started at 07:30 on July 8th 2013!



Day 1:
We headed towards Musoorie via Meerut. It was so much of fun to take out bikes down stairs at Kempty Fall at midnight :D
We had to park them in between the stairs when a local man made us realize that this is an offence and you won't be able to TAKE THESE BIKE's UPSTAIRS
We spent about 2 hrs in the fall- swimming pool and came back to the bike, the luggage was untouched and a pastry shop was still open, has some meal there before police caught us while uplifting the bikes... It took us and local people an hour to convince them and we were released.
The policemen suggested us not to ride towards PAONTA at 3AM and better sleep overnight in any hotel and headup in the morning, since it was unsafe to pass through the mountains overnight.
But we all were so excited and energized that we started riding to PAONTA which was just 80 Kms from Kempty Falls,
It was scary to switch off the igniting in the mountains, there was no sound/noise, light... We could hear the wolfs and spent 15 minutes with typical silence and dark!
After riding for 45 minutes, I started feeling sleepy and tried to ride but felt unsafe, hence stopped the other two...
We decide to sleep on the roadside and continue next morning. We took a safe corner and parked our bikes and slept off in just windsheeters!



Day 2:
It was such an amazing experience to wake up at 8'o clock and see the shining sun through the mountains and see a water fall beside :)
We took a bath under the waterfall and didn't care of staring people passing through in cars... It was lovely but indecent.
Headed to PAONTA SAAHIB at 11AM and reached before 01PM... One of us (Vaibhav, RE TB) got a call from his university for VIVA and had to go back, we had LANGAR in the PAONTA SAAAHIB GURDWARA and decided him to drop to Dehradun Bus Stand and he'll rejoin us from the same place after two days. Parked his enfield inside the Gurdwara and all three headed to Dehradun on two bikes.
We two took a power nap at Petrol Pump while coming back to PAONTA after making him catch a bus. Arrived the Gurudwara around 12'midnight and got a room for free


Day 3:
Got up at 11AM and had Langar, unlike our commitment to the third friend we started wandering PAONTA, then thought of meeting up one of our old friend from Dehradun, we marked his hostel around 4pm and spent some time with him, he made us explore Dehradun. We stayed at his room only. Ended up the day with wine



Day 4:
The day started at 11AM and we both decided to explore Rishikesh and Haridwar, we reached haridwar afternoon and found it over crowded, Har-ki-pauri was too messy but we played cricket somewhere in Haridwar with so many kids, which made it worthy! and then we rode to Rishikesh, loved it, the temples, food of famous chotiwala, laxman jhoola, shivpuri, everything...
At 9PM, while standing at Laxman Jhoola, we decided to remember one of my uncles who had an unoccupied flat in Haridwar :D
I called him up, took his assistant's no. was supposed to hand over the keys to us somewhere in Haridwar, had a nightstay there


Day 5:
Our friend was on his way to Dehradun, hence we rode back to Dehradun from Haridwar after having paraanthas with tea at Bhaichaara Dhabha,
We had a tight sleep at our friend's room in dehradun until we got a call to pick the third friend from bust stand, one of us lift him up to our friend's room at 11am and he took a nap, then we all three rode back to PAONTA on our two bikes to get his Enfield and continue our journey.


Day 6:
The day started with a police challan for breaking a traffic signal unknowingly, and we ended up at NAHAN (HP)... Got our first PAID ACCOMMODATION in a GOVT. FOREST HOUSE for just Rs. 400 ;)



Day 7:
and we started at 7AM from NAHAN towards SHIMLA and it continued as rain riding throughout the day and ended up at Shimla, from where we had to depart towards MANDI instead of KAZA because of land slides.
We were completely drenched and shivering. While riding towards MANDI around 12'midnight, the rainfall turned so heavy that we had to take halt, then decided to sleep under a tree. It was 10 degree and we all had just windsheeters, Wine became our lives saver and somehow we all kept on trying to sleep throughout the night.



Day 8:
The day started at 7AM with tea beside our sleeping point, without any meal we started riding in rain towards MANDI/KULLU
Witnessed a MELA in kullu and reached MANDI, then heard about MANIKARAN SAAHIB and took its turn at 9PM and marked KASOL before reaching :)
It was already 12'midnight at KASOL and we made MANIKARAN before 1AM, had LANGAR, SLOW DIP into the naturally steamed water, then free accommodation at 8th floor. We could see clouds inside the hall where we all were lying down :)




Day 9:
It was certainly one of best mornings of my life thus far, CLOUDS ALL OVER US :)
Lovely feeling it was... after having langar, we started our ride towards MALANA
Malan was scary, almost no roads, NOT EVEN A SINGLE PERSON throughout the way,
Towards Manali, It was the fastest ride of us throughout the trip, we took crazy turns at 60-70 through the hills! :D
Had to take a hotel after reaching manali, since it was too populated to sleep somewhere around road.
Didn't find the city too fascinating and slept off timely.



Day 10:
It was the day to Snow, Rohtang-La... We we so so so excited to see snow!
It took us 5 hrs to cover the distance and almost 7 kms before Rohtang La we realized that our camera fell down somewhere on the way :(
We covered the same distance in 2 hrs to reach the maggi pint where we remember it last, But couldn't find.
Rode back to Manali, registered an FIR and then started riding back to our hometown route...
Reached MANDI overnight and stayed at a Gurudwara.



Day 11:
It was 6:30AM and we heard the landslide news about UK and its impact upto HP, heard about 7-8 deaths nearby us...
We decided to ride non stop towards Aligarh. Very limited halts, only for food and petrol were taken and we reached Delhi via Chandigarh at before 10PM, and then Aligarh, our home before 3AM :) On the last day we did more than 600 Kms with just 2-3 food and petrol halts.

Attached Images