mémoires of my travels..: Jageshwar: a trip to Chill in the Hills...

A dark chilly christmas morning, when at 6am we assembled at the Dhasna toll.
The riders.. Antarpreet, Sunil, Shiva and Me..

Right in front of us was a road leading to nothingness..

Zero visibility fog.. Even the toll booth flood light wasnt visible..

It was like riding in a sea of white emptiness.. Just you and the sound of your bike.. Then all of a sudden you realize that there is a car is right behind you, with its high beam blinding you and horn harshly breaking the silence, almost running you down. You swerve sharply to the left and it misses you narrowly. But thats not where the ordeal ends. After a few kms of riding you have water condensing on the visor making it opaque. You could bear the cold wind numbing your cheeks and nose and ride with the visor open but we had a small problem. All of us wear wear specs and what happens on the visor happens on the specs also. We had to frequently stop to clean the specs..
The open highway..

The ninja-headed aliens..

So there we were.. Riding.. Blinded by the fog and water on the specs and visor.. Face being stung by the chilled December wild and hands n feet frozen. I seriously felt like going till Garhmukteshwar, having breakfast and returning home. 6kms from Garh the fog cleared but in front of us was a bad traffic jam. The only saving grace was that the dirt track next to the road was empty and the trucks were parked at a decent distance from each other. Off road and weaving through trucks we went. Sometimes riding on our side of the road, sometimes on the other side. At 10.30 we reached Garh. Thank god we were on bikes. A truck walla told us he had been stuck at same place for the part 2 hours. There we had the customary aloo berwi at the dhabas on the banks of Ganga. No Uttaranchal trip on the NH-24 is complete without it. Left by 11.30. Jam continued for another 5km but now traffic was moving slowly. When the road cleared i starting ripping. Atlast i was able to ride over 60 since morning. By afternoon we crossed Muradabad and took the turn for Kaladungi. The road has many villages on the sides and for some reason today all the villagers seem to be on the highway with their animals. It seemed like some sorta market. We reached Kaladhungi at 2, had lunch and left for Nainital. The twisties, the empty roads, the tarmac.. Whatte fun..
The smooth roads of Kumaon..

As we reached Nainital in was 5pm and the fog started settling in. This meant the end of riding for the day.
The Nainital lake..

We took a hotel and crashed into the bed. It was damn cold and i dint feel like coming out of my quilt. Others got food while i took a short nap. Then after food n drinks n the usual bakar we went to sleep.
Next morning at 9 shiva woke me up. By the time we got ready, loaded stuff on bike and left it was 11. Plan was to ride till Almora and from there decide where to go depending on the time left. Nainital-Almora is 62kms. You leave Nainital, cross Bhowali and after some time you get this feeling that the scenery around you seems to be wizzing past you faster than usual. You check your speedo and take sometime to digest what you see. Your speedo shows 70/80. Yes you have reached the stretch of road which runs along the river Kosi and has lovely wide roads with long straights and high speed turns. Speeds on this stretch went as high at 80/90 on my 150cc bike.
The river..

There was this nice view..

I asked Sunil to click my pic with the valley and the bridge in the background and here is what he clicked..

He put the valley and the bridge in the background as i had instructed. But only minor detail he forgot was that i am not transparent.. After much footpeg scrapping and toe sliding you start climbing up and reach the twisties passing though forests. Here too you find ample oppurtunities to make your footpegs kiss the earth.

After this extremely satisfying experience you reach the crowded town of Almora. By the time we had lunch and left it was 2. New Destination: Jageshwar. A remote town 37kms from Almora which had some really old temples devoted to Lord Shiva. Since we had only 37kms to go we were in no hurry.. The views on the way..

the line up..

some posing..

We reached the place by 4. It was a really small place nested in a valley surrounded by high mountains and thick forests. Straight away we went to the KMVN guest house. The rooms where good and they were asking Rs.1400 for 4 of us but they dint have a tv. But they did have lovely flowers in their garden..

We looked at other hotels. Finally we booked Radha Lodge, the only place providing us a tv. the whole town shut down by 7, what to do after that. Hence tv was essential.. Rent: Rs.450 for 2 rooms. Quickly we unloaded the stuff from the bikes and went to a dhaba(also run by the hotel owner) nearby to have some warm tea.

Then left for place called Vridha Jageshwar from where we were told we could see the Pachachuli Range as well as a good view of the valley. It was 12km away and on top of the hill. I would advise anyone going to Jageshwar to try to find accommodation here instead (i dont know if any is available). As we left the light was already starting to fade..

The sun was slowly getting ready to rest for the day..

The first place that comes on reaching Vridha Jageshwar is this ashram.We went inside this Sita Ram Baba Ashram.. We stopped there and went upstairs to the temple..

Here lives a baba who has been blessed by Hanumanji and is said to be 117yrs old. They say they have killed him once and he again became alive. At the ashram is a temple dedicated to Hanumanji.

Opposite to it is a Ganesh-Laxmi temple..

But the most important thing was that it was situated above the tree-line with a clear view of the sunset..

On the other side were the snow covered Panchachuli peaks. But again i was out of luck and they were covered with clouds..

the ashram also had some lovely flowers..

which provided good macro oppurtunities..

a dog flower..

On the horizon the sun was setting..

And slowly it was becoming cold..

Orange ball of fire lowering itself..

solar eclipse.. :)

pink flowers, orange sky..

good night Sun..

Quickly as there was still some light we started back. Till the time we reached the hotel it was dark and very cold.. The fire around which the hotel people were sitting seemed too tempting.. So instead of going to the room we sat with the hotel people and chatted a lot.. The fire..

After a tasty dinner, we went to the room.. View of the deserted village from our room..

Next day we got up leisurely and after a breakfast went for local sightseeing. The places to visit..

First stop the Jageshwar temple complex..

The ancient temples..

Setting up a scale to weight a person. He will then donate the stuff equavalent to his weight to poor people..

ishmyle please..

The main temple..

This had a big shivling and a family was doing some puja. i waited for a long time for them to move so that i could click a pic but it seemed they were doing some puja..

From outside..

Then we came out a pandit directed us to the next temple.. Naag devta temple were they put a red teeka on our forheads.. then they ask you to offer some money to the god.. so carry a got Rs.5 or 10 notes with you..

there were many small temples with shivlings all around..

Next we were directed to the Hanuman temple.. Here they put an orange teeka on our forehead..

The main temple..

At the entrance was a Ganesh temple.. Here they put the chandan ka yellow teeka on our forehead..

Inside the temple(pic taken in a hurry as photography was not allowed)..

They say that the statue on the left is of Jageshwari Devi. It has a diya in its hand which was earlier at the level of her forehead and is slowly moving down. When it reaches the ground, it will be the end of the world..
Next was the Nav Durga temple..

The goddess Laxshmi and Durga..

Right next to it was the Kedarnath Baba Mandir.. The pujari claimed that this was the original mandir and not the Kedarnath one..

The temple from outside..

A huge tree.. i couldnt even see its end and its trunk was was thick as 3 me's..

Many shivlings around..

When we came out of the temple, we were told that there is a Kuber temple nearby.. Kuber is the god of wealth.. We were also told that praying there brings prosperity to people.. Now this was a chance we dint wanna leave..

The statue..

On the way back i wanted to click a pic of the whole temple complex.. tried climbing walls around it but couldnt get a good view.. From on top of one of the walls..

Next we went towards a place called Chauma.. Locals told us that we will get good view of the Panchachuli from there.. the roads were not smaller but in good condition..

once again we were disappointed. clouds covered the mountains with only a few peaks visible. we sat at the edge and enjoyed the sun..

i wasnt even feeling like going back..

then after some rest, some chat we came back to our hotel.. it was evening, sun was starting to play hide and seek..

The huge trees around the small village..

after some rest and tea we went to a see a temple called Jhakarsen temple. On the way there is another temple complex called the Dandeshwar Group of temples..

a closer look..

The route to the temple was good except for the last few hundred metres..

The temple..

Inside the temple..

There was this tree which is said to be in the shape of the Ganesh's head..

When we came out the sun was starting to set..

from a gap in the mountains Antar and Sunil spotted this..

Finally the clouds had cleared. We thought if we rush to Vridha Jageshwar, we could get a clear view this time. We rushed but we were 12kms away and couldn't possibly get there in time. From the road side we saw this..

We stopped there..

and the show ended..

but the photography had just started. we climbed up a hill to see if we could see the valley on the other side but found a village on top. on the top of the world.. Sunil..

yours truly..

then we climbed down and the fading light of the sun provided a good background for this..

and this..

the valley of darkness..

dude, where's my car??

On returning, some more bornefire..

and then good night..

Last day, time to ride home. We got up at 7.30 to find this..

Frost bitten bikes..

had to wash the bike with hot water to remove the snow.. Finally we left at 8:30 and reached Delhi by 10. Pics of the return journey..
Catching the rays..