J aNd J went up the HILL

‘J & J went up the hill’ is surely not Jack N Jill went up the hill to fetch a pale of water, well its not that J& J haven’t been to hills, they have jus came back on 5th Oct, morning after a marvelous outing near Kasauli with a fantastic group on a 4-wheeled crawler. And, surely they are not going there to fetch “Himalayan” pure drinking water.

Well let me introduce ‘J & J’

J – Jeet (aka Baba), self – employed, needs no introduction on this forum.
J – Jagrit (numerous alias names), still employed, after giving all possible hints in past few months to be fired.

This is how it goes. 8th October, 2008 sometime in afternoon.

Jeet (calls Jagrit) – Hiii… dude wazzup..
Jagrit – nothing man jus moving around on NH – 8in his black pearl (his car)

Jeet – Wanna go to hills tomorrow.
Jagrit – Well no issues tomorrow would be difficult because I will be reaching Delhi sometime tomorrow, lets make it on 11th

Jeet – hmm.. fine enough.. do u wanna know the place.
Jagrit – Well not that much, because m sure we are not going to ‘Kinoor’ Valley which we thought of because the way is closed for this season n will open for 2 months next summer and m sure that even u haven’t decided yet.

Jeet – hmm.. u are right.. its just going to be instinctive.
Jagrit – done I have to hangup m racing.. meet u on 11th morning.

11th October (0500 hours) after maintaining patience for 2 days.

J & J meet to start their journey from NH -1.
One reliable bike with Mumbai registration, Two insane guys, 2 sleeping bags and one rag sack, all set to roll.

Gears were pushed down to be pulled again.

The Journey started amidst high traffic with 16 wheeled Jumbo – trailers and this ‘Two – wheeled’ creeper making its way through this with a focusing light. Soon out of traffic and enjoying freeway, the dawn started breaking the sky started turning black to – purple – to blue and the fog along with mist all the while was just awesome. As the sun – rays were clear on the road we decided to take a first pit – stop after riding for 2.5- 3 hours. Fueling some carbohydrates, riders changed their turn.

Now we have to leave NH -1

Krukshetra (Pipli) – Yamunanagar – Jagadhari – Chhichrauli – Paonta Sahib

The comfort was soon lost, as we were through busy towns and roads where potholes were as deep as 2 –feet to find  withJour way through all the dust as if we were crossing Thar desert  visibility so poor, we were sure now that the adventure has started. As we crossed Chhichrauli, ride got smoother we were ridding through Tropical Deciduous forest and a call for another pit –stop was mutual. Just after moving deep inside for 5- 6 km, through woods big Zebra colored mosquitoes din’t like our company and so did we, had to rush back to continue with the journey. The ride was too pleasant with forest all along cool winds blowing into our helmets. Finally we were at our first major halt. “Paonta Sahib” a Holy Shrine it was too mesmerizing though I have never been pure agnostic ever but an own kind of polytheist (respect all religions) and Gurdwaras have always inspired, here I wished happiness to all and decided to take ‘Langar’ their couldn’t had been a better meal for the moment too soothing because of everything in vicinity.

After coming out we finally decided to take out the Himachal Map which we had been carrying all this while and look out for a way to our finally decided destination “Renuka”. We had decided a different way for to and fro. The way we had decided upon to take for backward journey was not even on a state map.

Paonta – Rajban – Sataun – Chandni – Renukaji

Till Chandni we were on road, from Chandni to Renukaji there was just a way with no road to trace and this was the beginning of the adventure to the next level. We wished we had taken our digital cameras along to capture all these moments, the only necessary item that we had missed out. The terrain was too tough that we could hardly do more than 10-15km/h either uphill or down. There were all sharp stones, loose rocks, land slides were expected anytime, with little greenery because of the altitude we were at. But still there was lot of beauty within. The way we were traveling was cut through mountain with very little traffic flow only some local villagers could be seen in traces. All along the mountain there was a river basin running along roughly around 200-250 feet deep with some water, behind which there were mountains and sun-rays making there way through them, though our energy levels were below reserve, but all this was too mesmerizing that we got a sudden adrenaline rush that we were too pepped up with.

There were rough water streams cutting our way through this route, it was cool to pass bike through them, we did halt at some of them just to dampen our faces with chilled water and to discover natural Jacuzzi somewhere. One of them even had watermill to grind grains. Until we came across a natural water fall of around 15-20 feet high, this surely was a call for a longer pit-stop. Jeet decided to go down under and I decided to climb up. The climb was dangerous with all rocky and edgy slopes but could finally make it and jus sat there in silence for some time realizing my philosophy of life. I wished this silence was never broken. After waiting for 15 – 20 min. it was time to come down which was far tougher, now Jeet decided to go up as nothing should be missed. At hills the darkness arrives sooner n we knew we were getting late and we were again continuing with our acts.
Now we were going down hill as Renuka was at lower heights. There was some amount of mistiness there as this was part of a forest reserve and it was already evening. After strolling around for few hours and enquiring about good camping site around Renuka. We also got to play with 2-3 feet tortoise in the natural lake at Renuka though we could hardly touch them. Now was the time to move for our night halt spot, Puruwala (Near Paonta) at a Friends place.

Dadahu – Girinagar – Puruwala

This time we were moving on a peak which was more weird than the one we had taken earlier and it was already dark. Just few kilometers uphill from Dadahu, we finally got what we were expecting for long a flat tyre after all how much endurance one can have. Thankfully we were not that far from town, had to drag it for just 2-3 km. and shop was still open. the only time we felt that we are all exhausted was during such haults. The journey continued, the most thrilling of all where your vision can only be up till the beam of headlight and there were sharp cuts all along. But our sense of adventure was still high that we decided to switch off lights and ride for few minutes just through the patches of natural moon light, it was actually enjoying the edge. With few pit stops on this dark mountain we finally made it to Puruwala. Well we were prepared enough with sleeping bags to spend night under worse conditions.

Our final hault for the day, finally got the chance to sit on sofa after spending 17 hours on bike in all that tough terrain, it was so comfortable. The sleep was best ever after long just switching off as if we still on hills.

Day 2

Our destination for the day was Saketi Fossil Park (near Nahan)

Puruwla – Majra – Girinagar – Dhaula Kuan – Saketi Fossil Park

After moving around in this small town , we started the day by late morning. Incidentally this time we were moving in comfort of ‘Indigo’ thanks to Jeet’s Friend Ankush. This was through lower tropical forest and again mainly through woods and so engaged in enjoying ourselves that we missed our destination and reached Kalamb. We rolled back, visited the site, the only discouraging fact is when you see plastic wrappers on hills, a real nuisance. After spending some time we reached back to Puruwala to start our Journey back. it was afternoon already. There was a change in route now.

Puruwala – Paonta – Chhichrauli – Jagadhari – Khijrabad – Bilaspur (small village in Haryana) – Yamunanagar – Kurukshetra

The diversion was taken from Khijrabad – Bilaspur just to avoid the pathetic road from Jagadhari to Yamunanagar (Thar desert – experience ), though it adds a few kilometers but the decision was good.

Before leaving the hills we took last halt to just climb the hill and relax in silence for sometime. Now that we have left Himachal I would like to thank the people of Himachal for all the extended hospitality and courtesy that they have shown to us.

Soon we were back on NH1, it was evening by now. We took small meal stops and continued at a good pace as the machine was still responding good at 100-110km/hr with 2 riders and after going through all that tough track. And by 2100 hours both J& J were back to the starting point. Looking for smoother rides in future.

Accomplishment, Well it was awesome seeing too many heads turning towards us all throughout our journey, though somewhat used to it, but it was making us conscious sometimes. At times people seemed too curious to know where we were from and where were we heading towards especially because of Mumbai registration. The major one covering 631 km in 41hrs of which around 150-170km was among the toughest to be covered on a 2 wheeled creeper and we were satisfied with it to an extend. Missed capturing too many still moments but the memory of such a trip would surely take long to go to the recycle bin.

J & J were back to the concrete Jungle, both went their ways.

Jeet all set for making future explorations and trips, and by now his friends must also be back from Jaipur after shooting for A/V commercial

Jagrit have been traveling a lot for weeks, but this was an ultimate experience and would chill for sometime now.

Well, throttle has been relaxed and not off, so combustion is still on, don’t know where we go next. What if NOS burst on its own.
Globe is still unexplored.

Till then Keep exploring, Keep adventuring

NO WORLD IS TOO FAR
UNLESS U STOP THE WAR >>>