Lucknow to Munsiyari (Day 1)

Lucknow to Munsiyari 

Ride Participants :

1. Sanjiv Rastogi - RE Thunderbird 350

2. Austin Raj - RE Electra 350

3. Amir Ahmad - RE Desert Storm 500

4. Deep Narain - RE Desert Storm 500

Ride Duration : 

5 days (3rd May to 7th May 2013)

Day 1 : Lucknow to Lohaghat

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The 4 of us assembled at Sanjiv ji's place at sharp 5:30 a.m.. After a cup of hot tea all four of us were ready to hit the highway. 6 a.m. we departed from Eldeco Greens Colony , Gomtinagar.

1st halt for loo was at Sitapur bypass after covering approximately 1st 95 kms of our journey . I didn't expect a morning in the month of May to be this chilly.

Austin and Amir straightening their backs at Sitapur Bypass

Next halt was on the Pilibhit- Shahjahanpur highway. We stopped at a roadside dhabha  for tea and biscuits.

Our bikes parked outside the dhabha.

All 4 of us ready to hit the highway again after the short break.

We didn't have to fuel up till now. 1st 200 kms of our journey were going smooth without any glitches.
The route we took from Shahjahanpur to Pilibhit was via Bisalpur , Barkhera and Shergarh. Bisalpur, as Austin said was known for its active local mafia and dacoits.

Our 1st refueling was done at Pilibhit. And then we headed for Tanakpur ,Uttrakhand. The road condition till Pilibhit was decent.
Tanakpur was the gateway for us to the hills. The climb starts from Tanakpur. Our ODO meters were showing 350 kms till Tanakpur.

This bridge marks the start of the mighty hills.

We all stopped for a photography session.

 The dry river bed with the backdrop of the hills was indeed a beautiful sight. The sun was shining bright and we were absolutely running on schedule.
The next stop for us was at Syamlatal. There was nothing much to see there as it was a natural rain water pond. A little off the route, we headed to the Vivekanand Ashram located a few kilometers ahead of Shyamlatal. The Vivekanad Ashram, once open for visitors was no more so. But the caretaker still allowed us to take a couple of pictures of the garden outside the Ashram.

Sanjiv ji and Amir with the Ashram in the backdrop.

Our bikes parked outside the Syamlatal premises.

After the short break at Shyamlatal we left to cover the remaining distance to our destination. It was around 1 in the afternoon and we hadn't taken any log halt as such. We stopped by a dhabha which offered us only a buffet . Sounds silliy when I say that for a dhabha but jokes apart this dhabha guy offered us " Thali's " for only Rs. 50/- .

This wall post had the menu and rules written very expressly.



  

After a comparatively ' cheap' lunch we moved on towards our destination- Lohaghat. Hardly 35 kms ahead of the dhaba Sanjiv Ji, our lead rider, pulled over his motorcycle to the side and parked near a few road side vendors (unusual on the hills). Now these road side vendors had some very sour and tangy berries on offer. Sanjiv Ji, a connoisseur , couldn't resist to taste them. Though I found them to taste like crap, he seemed content.

We were 13 kms from Champawat , the district head quarter, and about 35 kms from Lohaghat.

We reached Lohaghat before then sun went down at around 5 p.m. We were putting up at the KMVN (Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam) rest house. We were welcomed as celebrities at the rest house. There was some local marriage that was taking place in the compound of the rest house and the marriage ceremonies took a pause when the  " beat of  our bullets " grew louder than pundits voice.

The groom's ride back home.

Our room at the KMVN TRH

Our luggage kept inside the room. We tried to travel as light as we could.

Upon our arrival we were given evening tea along with some free entertainment. The entertainment was the lovely pahadi music and some insanely drunk pahadi's dancing dancing to the tune.
We went down to the central market of Lohahat for our dinner which was a walk of about 3 kms. Trust me 3kms seems too long to go by foot on the hills. We had a very comfortable nights sleep.