54 hrs 3600 mts above sea level 1070 km
It was friday evening when the urge for a roadtrip reached its maximum limit inside me i couldnt bear this overabundance of emotions. Like always guru was game for it, he only had one issue he had to reach office by 10 on monday morning.
With valley of flowers as our final destination ( which got changed to joshimath just 30 km before ) and with tormenting urge to just leave delhi we started from delhi at 1 am on friday night (technically saturday). We did the whole trip and as usual it was a very satisfying trip with a lot of incidents happening one after the other, how we reached and how we came back is a different story all together but i would rather like to share the most adventures and dangerous hrs of my life with you.
We had to reach our final destination of joshimath by sat evening and there we were about 30 to 40 km from it when the road was blocked by the locals over some dispute. We had stopped at a pastoral outlook when i noticed the sky darkening with unnerving speed. The glorious sun had been suddenly eclipsed by dark, wind driven clouds cresting the monstrouse peaks and channeling down the deep valley in anger. Even the cows had stopped chewing their cud, cocking their heads to the threat. i just thought if we had to reach joshimath by tonight it should be right now, i cluthched the throttle pressed the blaring horn and thrusted towards the crowd and there they were all shedding their balls and running for cover to the sides. But as the wheels started to roll, the skies opened and let loose a deluge.
As we descended the mountain, the rain rapidly morphed into marble- sized hail.My face shield fogged up and i had to flip it up to see any semblance of detail, inviting the lashing of ice directly to my face. And then the lighting started and im not a expert on this issue but at this height it seemed it was happening just above my head. There was no lag between blinding flash and ear splitting thunder clasp, accentuating the alarmingly close vicinity of the strikes. There i was, carefully tiptoeing the bull through the pebbled path, stream of water flowing with full force and at that time it was only us who were on that road, with a immense feeling of adventure and a trickle of fear i had forgotten the body pain from driving from last 20 hrs.I thumped my bertha (my bike) down the winding, slippery path and again up on a steep climb splashing with torrents of water, through hammering hail and blasting wind. As we were riding on slow speeds the headlights were of not much help as they went down with the throttle going down. I managed to use white ridges of gathering hail on the roadside to gauge where the pavement ended and drop of the sheer cliff began.
The unrelenting rain eventually penetrated my rain suits. Each pull of the clutch, each stab of the brake, each shift of transmission was met with slosh of water trapped inside boots, gloves, pants and jackets. the thoroughly exhausting, all consuming ride demanded every ounce of experience.The body became stiff the fingers went numb but what i learnt the most in this whole trip was that its the mindset which counts if you really want to do something, against all odds you can achieve it. Finally 90 minutes later, beaten and numb, the lights of joshimath loomed. We arrived in front of a small hotel. As i entered the guests loitering about the lobby fell silent.
The experience continues to rouse a strange, almost perverse, sense of accomplishment. That night we raised the bar as to what we consider trying or difficult.
It was friday evening when the urge for a roadtrip reached its maximum limit inside me i couldnt bear this overabundance of emotions. Like always guru was game for it, he only had one issue he had to reach office by 10 on monday morning.
With valley of flowers as our final destination ( which got changed to joshimath just 30 km before ) and with tormenting urge to just leave delhi we started from delhi at 1 am on friday night (technically saturday). We did the whole trip and as usual it was a very satisfying trip with a lot of incidents happening one after the other, how we reached and how we came back is a different story all together but i would rather like to share the most adventures and dangerous hrs of my life with you.
We had to reach our final destination of joshimath by sat evening and there we were about 30 to 40 km from it when the road was blocked by the locals over some dispute. We had stopped at a pastoral outlook when i noticed the sky darkening with unnerving speed. The glorious sun had been suddenly eclipsed by dark, wind driven clouds cresting the monstrouse peaks and channeling down the deep valley in anger. Even the cows had stopped chewing their cud, cocking their heads to the threat. i just thought if we had to reach joshimath by tonight it should be right now, i cluthched the throttle pressed the blaring horn and thrusted towards the crowd and there they were all shedding their balls and running for cover to the sides. But as the wheels started to roll, the skies opened and let loose a deluge.
As we descended the mountain, the rain rapidly morphed into marble- sized hail.My face shield fogged up and i had to flip it up to see any semblance of detail, inviting the lashing of ice directly to my face. And then the lighting started and im not a expert on this issue but at this height it seemed it was happening just above my head. There was no lag between blinding flash and ear splitting thunder clasp, accentuating the alarmingly close vicinity of the strikes. There i was, carefully tiptoeing the bull through the pebbled path, stream of water flowing with full force and at that time it was only us who were on that road, with a immense feeling of adventure and a trickle of fear i had forgotten the body pain from driving from last 20 hrs.I thumped my bertha (my bike) down the winding, slippery path and again up on a steep climb splashing with torrents of water, through hammering hail and blasting wind. As we were riding on slow speeds the headlights were of not much help as they went down with the throttle going down. I managed to use white ridges of gathering hail on the roadside to gauge where the pavement ended and drop of the sheer cliff began.
The unrelenting rain eventually penetrated my rain suits. Each pull of the clutch, each stab of the brake, each shift of transmission was met with slosh of water trapped inside boots, gloves, pants and jackets. the thoroughly exhausting, all consuming ride demanded every ounce of experience.The body became stiff the fingers went numb but what i learnt the most in this whole trip was that its the mindset which counts if you really want to do something, against all odds you can achieve it. Finally 90 minutes later, beaten and numb, the lights of joshimath loomed. We arrived in front of a small hotel. As i entered the guests loitering about the lobby fell silent.
The experience continues to rouse a strange, almost perverse, sense of accomplishment. That night we raised the bar as to what we consider trying or difficult.
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