Kalpa: Duster meets the hills..

All photos posted in this blog post are shot from mobile as yours truly forgot to take the camera..



This was a meant to be a weekend getaway.. a trip to relax.. but the desire to see snow made it an long arduous ride.. Google aunty of course contributed her share..
Kalpa had been on my to visit list for a long time.. this time i was starting the journey from Chandigarh, so i thought Kalpa could be reached easily in half a day.. so plan was to reach Kalpa by Friday afternoon, chill on Saturday or maybe even go till Nako and come back on Sunday.
We started on a Friday morning from Chandigarh at 5am following the route shown by Google.. Soon the air felt cleaner and skies blue-er, the hills were here.. We were making good progress till the cut for Kasauli.. From that cut, Google asked us to turn left. I ignored and continued, assuming that it will re-route and take the main highway. But at a small cut after a few kilometers it again asked us to turn right. Google was showing this route to be 45mins quicker. I wanted to avoid the traffic around Shimla so took the route shown by Google. As soon as I turned i started getting the feeling that i was making a mistake. Google was taking us through narrow village roads where 2 cars couldn't pass at once. I had to slow down for each 2 wheeler coming from opposite side. The road was mostly good but progress was slow. Stupid Google doesn't know how to calculate distances in Indian mountains..
The route which Google aunty made us take..

It was a scenic route through villages and forests covered with long green trees.. In some patches there was no road at all.. This route was supposed to meet the main highway at Kingal after Narkanda. By the time we reached Kingal is was 4pm. It had taken us almost 11 hours to reach Kingal from Chandigarh!!! from Kingal we got the main highway. Here the road was broad and we were easily driving at an average speed of 50-60kmph.. When we reached Rampur it was 5pm. Duster enjoying the open skies and the hills.. Kalpa was a 100kms ahead. If we continued for Kalpa we would not reach before dark. But we dint want to come this far and stay in a place like Rampur which had no view. After much debating we decided to carry on. The road around Karchham dam was broken as usual. Duster was coping well with the rough terrain and we made good progress and reached Karchham by 7pm. Now Kalpa was just 40kms. But suddenly there was a barricade on the road and the traffic was being diverted left. As we took the turn, the road led us to a small path going up the hill. The path was big enough for just one car to pass through. And it was badly broken. Then began the worst part of the trip. There was a landslide on the main road due to which the traffic was diverted. We had to climb the nearby mountain and then cross it. Every time a car came from the other side, we had to stop and many time reverse till we found a place broad enough for 2 cars to cross. It was a loooong journey. 20kms of driving at a speed of 15-20kmph. By the time we reached the other side, it was pitch dark. Kalpa was still 30kms ahead. Now we had no choice but to carry on. By the time we reached Kalpa it was 9pm. 16 hours of driving!!! We had booked at Hotel Kinner Villa.. Also the temperature was 3 degrees. We had dinner and ducked into 2 layers of quilts...

Next morning i woke up late.. This was the sight which greeted me from the window of the hotel.. I kept looking at the snow covered mountains for a long time.. the view made the long journey worth the effort.. We even had the breakfast on the terrace with the view of the mountains.. In the afternoon we went for a walk to the village.. not actually a walk, we went by car. there was a direct path from our hotel to the village but it was narrow and the climb was steep. We had lunch of momos, chowmein and thupka at a local restaurant. Then walked up to the local monastery.. The monastery was shut so we walked further into the village. There was big Kali temple with some interesting sculptures.

Crocodile attacking the bird.. The temple was also closed.. We walked ahead.. And saw the revenge of the bird.. View from the temple.. Then we returned to the hotel.. The narrow path.. The duster poses.. By the time we reached, the sun was setting.. Wish i could just stay here..


Next day we got up early to leave.. We refueled at the petrol pump in Recong Peo.. Soon we reached the broken road.. Bidding farewell to the snow tipped mountains.. the duster roughing it out.. We drove non-stop till Rampur. After a quick lunch, we drove ahead..
Panomaric view of Rampur.. Final good bye to the mountains.. The roads cut in mountains in Kinnaur.. The smooth twisties.. waterfalls on the way.. Till Shimla the progress was fast. After that we got a lot of traffic and slowly covered the rest of the hills. Towards the end there were long jams with 10-15 cars driving in a line. In the plains, the traffic was usual and were driving at an average of 70-80kmph. We reached Delhi by 9pm covering a distance of 600kms in 16hours..