chandigarh-kufri-shimla-chandigarh

It all started with me, my colleague and his darling at 5:30 am in the morning on Saturday (July 7, 2007). I wake up and rang up my colleague to give him a reminder that we need to go for an adventurous journey.
He wake up get ready and asked his darling to get ready and be prepared as she was going to take toil for both of us for the next 36 hours.
We started from the Panchkula-Chandigarh border and filled the petrol, shut and then forget it. Started our trip taking a speed of about 80 kmph for the next 15 min and soon we were out of Panchkula and were in the greens of kalka. At this point we felt a bit hungry but nature was calling us, so we ignored our hunger and keep on going forward. From now onwards our speed was slow as we were ascending the mountains and to be safe, it was obvious to keep the speed below 40kmph. Soon we were in Himachal Pradesh and beautiful hills and the long trees start to appear. It was a beautiful scene. We stopped there and took tea and snacks, took rest for 15 min and then started again.
As we were ascending the hills, the nature was showing its true vibrancy with its different flora and the deep gorges, but the scene was breath taking.
Soon in the next half hour we reached dharampur a small village from where we decided to take the left turn and go to Kasauli, a beautiful village been in the hills with its lush greenery. Absolutely stunning with very little crowd. We reached there and went up to the top of the village, where it started raining and from here we were completely drenched till the end of our journey.
We enjoyed this first rain, after coming out of the scorching heat of plains. We enjoyed a lot and seen very beautiful houses, really good ones. Took some food in between and then started our journey to the next point, Solan.
The hills and flora were breath taking. But to our surprise, the sun was taking toil of us as there was too much heat in the way, it was a hilly way, nothing more, but by the time we reached solan, we were almost dry, not completely but up to some point. We stopped there after 40 kms of non-stop journey and took tea and snacks and made our self to get ready for our next destination Chail, a very beautiful place with heritage resorts and beautiful landscape.
Started from solan, after 20 kms, we reached dharampur, as usual the way was absolutely stunning. From there we decided to take a left turn for Chail, instead of going straight to shimla. The road to chail was narrow and there were blind curves also on the way. So we decided to go very slowly at about 20-25kmph. The gorges and the trees were beautiful, large, and green. Tough we did not see much of the fauna except monkeys and some insects, but the flora was vibrant. After going for another 15 kms we saw a small tributary at SadhuPul. We turned back and went right the shore if the tributary. Though the water level was low, but the speed of the water flowing was making it a happening place. We enjoyed there, putting our legs in the flowing water and giving us a pleasure after a very tiring but adventurous trip. We started once again after half hour. We were still about 30 kms away from Chail. We were enjoying the curves of hills some where it got dangerous but luckily we were never in the problem.
When the Chail was 20 kms, it started drizzling; we stopped for a moment and decided to ascend. But after 10 min we found that it was pouring heavily and we need to stop so that we can be safe and driving on this slippery and single lane road can be fatal. We decided to stop and wait for the rain to stop. In the mean time we were completely drenched in rain and as there was no one in the near vicinity we were alone enjoying the heavy pour. Really good. After about 1 hour rain gets slowed and we decided to move forward with very slow pace and looking at the landscape, absolutely stunning and breath taking. It was like we were in the lap of nature and I would suggest that some time we should admire our beautiful nature. We follow a plan, to halt after every 10 min to admire the dangerous yet beautiful nature till we reach Chail. As we were approaching Chail, it again started to pour heavily, but this time we decide not to stop and keep moving.
It was 4:30 pm and finally we reached the Chail, enjoying the trip of sharp curves, deep gorges, a tributary, big trees and heavy down pour, a beautiful village in the vicinity of large and lush green trees. A some what paradise on earth. We stopped there and found a lodge so that we can stay overnight and start for the next day. We put our bags there and started to admire the nature and took a long walk. Wonderful fauna. We seen there some cottages and resort quite beautiful. We also saw the Palace resort, where Jagat Singh(Son of Former external affairs minister Natwar singh) marriage was scheduled on that day. We left the place admiring its beauty.
After a very long walk for two and half hours in the hills, we were tired, and hungry also, we took the dinner and left for the lodge to take a sound sleep and get ready for the next day trip.
We decide to leave for Kufri Next day at 6:00am (July 8,2007). As usual we wake up early, but to our surprise, it was raining heavily and in that rain we can not even thinks of driving. So we decided to stay till the rain stops. It was a bit cold even inside the rooms. At about 8 am the rain stopped and we sighed relief and then we started for Kufri (highest point on the hills we were having our trip).
Started for the journey for 25 kms for kufri and we took around 1 and a half hour to reach there. As it rained heavily, the roads were a bit slippery. So we decided to take utmost care while driving. In between the hills and the trees were so beautiful, we halted at every place in between literally and enjoyed in the lap of nature. I was so impressed with the nature that I called the journey from chail to kufri as journey to eternity. Clouds were floating around us, very little visibility at some places, blind curves, chilling breeze were flowing and above all this we were drenched in rain in the early morning. This was the most beautiful stretch of our journey. These 25 kms we never want to come to an end. Finally we reached Kufri and halted there for another 1 hour. Enjoyed the coldness in July what we get in plains in December. Walked for some time and then we decided to descend and go to our next destination Shimla.
We started descending, the road was good, and our speed was above 40kmph. It was good. Admiring nature and chit chatting. But during our descend, it was raining heavily, as the road was good, we decide not to stop and finally reached shimla in completely drenched state and still there was raining. Our hunger lost the patience and we get to get in one dhabba in shimla and took our brunch. The food was good. We moved towards the city, but the extreme pollution and the heavy rain did not make us to visit the shimla. So after waiting for about 1 hour for the rain to stop, we decided to get back to our homes.
We started around 2 pm, but it again started very heavily to pour, so we again required halting for some more time. In the mean time we noticed a place in Shimla near Leela Hotels, where "no U turn" was written, and from there maximum of the vehicles were taking the U turn. After about 15 min later, we decided to move ahead and at this time, rain was a bit slow. We were on NH22, so were a bit relaxed about the condition of the road. Quite good, and we did not face any issues in descending, but some where we overtake some vehicles. It was good , we halted on road side again to admire the nature. At one place my colleague stopped for eating 'Bhuta(Maize)". We looked at our watch and to our surprise it was quarter past 4 pm.We did not even realized that we have covered so much distance and we were near to our houses. After about half hour, we stopped at McDonalds’, my favorite, and how can be a very memorable trip be completed without a stop at McDonalds’. We took burgers, ate them and we started for the final leg of the journey. At about 5:45 pm we entered Panchkula and finally we were in the plains. In the next 20 min we reached our homes taking the memories of our unforgettable journey.
I would finally thank to my colleague for making the safe journey along with his darling( A hero honda Splendour MotorBike) for going non-stop without creating any road blocks. Thanks to nature for showing us its vibrancy and the rain, which made us to be drenched for 36 hours. All in all a very memorable journey.