It looked like a cloudy day today. Last night, wasn't a very good sleep, but I slept good early in the morning at 6 and so kept sleeping till late. Got up only when my phone rang. "Hello" , Atul and Haider had reached Kalka, downed there bikes and were ready with full dress.
That filled a little hurried-ness in my mind already which anyways is not good for long rides. So, I started getting rerady, shower and other rituals didn't take much of my time. The luggage was already tied up there on the bike, I hadn't opened it up yest night. So, I started pretty soon from Chandigarh for Kalka, By that time they were already ready and so i asked them to move towards the Simla road and have breakfast and that I will catch up them over there on the highway itself in some time. This is the second time, I am going to meet these guys. I hope, it won't be too tough to go through the whole ride and almost next 15 days togethere with so much unknowing amongst us. So, I tanked up in Chandigarh itself and then slowly trudges through the Chandigarh, Panchkula, Pinjore and then Kalka traffic to reach the dhaba they were waiting. The meeting rituals and it had already started raining. I put my wind sheeter and the rain gear lower so as to save myself of the rain.
The hills start just around Pinjore and the route becomes fantastic there onwards. Being cloudy, the route was looking too good for the day, although it was raining cats and dogs in the mean while. There were clouds all over the road almost all through the route. I had always only dreamed abo
ut walking through the clouds and here, today, I was living it, my dream. There were clouds all around and were so dense, that the visibility would drop to less than 5 meters at some places.
Dense fog en route at almost all the places for the whole day. These couple of snaps are taken at noon, around 12 O clock on 15th June 2008.
When it started pouring heavily, I stopped at some place. Called up other people. Phew, we were almost scattered around 50 kms. One already near Shogi, 13 kms short of Simla, me around 50 kms from Simla sitting in front of Solan Bus Stand and Atul still another 15kms behind me.Slowly, both of us started inching towards Shogi, braving rains now, soon weather Gods saw our effort and gave us way, and Shogi we reached. I had already changed once at Solan as I was shivering there, after being drenched for many hours. Now, I was wet again, almost. We started again and thought of going ahead of Simla to stay for the night. A couple of miles ahead of Simla is a small place Chota Simla, it comes in Simla only, as it is very small distance from The Lift. We found a place there, Hotel Ashiana, Rs 1500 for the night after much negotiations by our negotiation master Atul. This was going to be the most expensive accommodation of our whole trip. Still the room was OK and was very near to the Lift and mall. A few min ride saw us parking near the lift and go upto the mall. We were scouting for a small iron, all our clothes were wet and we wanted to do something about it. We found one and were now looking for a decent place for wine & dine. The only place we got was Comberemere, it was very expensive and so the first day of group riding was getting heavy on us after the light beer and heavy food.
Went back to the hotel, then ironing of some clothes done for the day. My new Woodlands, :-( were so so wet, that they are not going to dry up in next 10 days. Sob sob...I have no other pair of shoes except a water proof sandals.
Thinking about tomorrow, we go to sleep today.
The day saw us through
Chandigarh - Pinjore - Kalka - Solan - Shogi - Simla -Chota Simla.
This ride for the day of total 121 kms only was the smallest I think and the wettest ride of my life. It made whole loads of my whether proof bags litter and all the stuff in them got wet. My only shoes were dripping to the core. All my preps were being laughed at on the second day of the trip.
Hotel Ashiana Regency : Rs 1500/= for triple occupency.
Trip meter : 121 kms for the day.
Food : Rs 375/=
Fuel : Rs 400/=
Beer : Rs 875/= ( @ Hotel Combermere, if you go to Shimla, this is adjacent to the paid lift for the public. This hotel also has a lift which you can use, and in itself is a good place :-)
Some photographs for the day:
Road situation and visibilty, almost all the day. Evening it got a little better.
My waiting spot, in front of Solan Bus stand, for almost 2 hours.
Fantastic views, what with the cloudy weather and incessant rains :-)
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