Rishikesh To Lansdowne Via Pauri Garhwal on Bajaj Avenger 220

Lansdowne is around 250 KM from Delhi, but we were at Rishikesh so we had to take the other route to reach Lansdowne.

We had successfully covered 220 KM (Delhi to Rishikesh) on Avenger 220 and we were ready to explore mountain roads. Our plan was to visit Neelkanth Temple and then back to Rishikesh. We were heading to Neekanth and I saw a sign board which was showing the way to Lansdowne and many other Pauri Garhwal villages. At Neelkanth temple, we had two choices. one we can go back to Rishikesh and another is Lansdowne. Pawan said, “It will be too risky to ride Lansdowne via Villages”. I said, “Let’s Do it“.

We took the road to Lansdowne after few hundred meters we saw a small shop.

We asked

Lansdowne ka Rasta yaha se hai?

He said :  Ha par aap yaha se mat jao Highway se jao.

Pawan : Rasta to hai na

He said : Kharab hai aap highway se jao.

But, I was ready to experience this extreme experience the first time. We both are idiots and crazy so we took the village route, not the highway. We had limited petrol and we had no clue about any petrol pump. We had normal tubes and we were worried about puncture problem too.

So we started our journey and after first few Kilometers we got the answer of that guy. He warned us about the road. but, I was very comfortable riding the bike, the road was damaged and stones were falling, we saw forest fire in many places. but there was no traffic so I had no problems. We were riding with 20-30KM/H Speed.

Now we continued on the way to Lansdowne on our bikes and we saw a small village and there was a school. we stopped there to ask about the route. Two school boys gave us the hint about the route, and we ride them to their village which was 10 KM far from their school and it was on our way to Lansdowne. one guy was sitting behind Pawan and other was on my bike. His name is Akash Bharatwal, studying in 12th. He was shocked to see bikes from Delhi and Rajasthan in that area. There is no public transport so they walk 10 KM daily on mountains to reach school. He shared his school life and his daily routine while we were heading to his village.

After dropping them we checked the Google Maps and the most advanced system doesn’t have any information about those roads :P. I hope they will update it soon.

It was a hot sunny day and we always feel more heat when we travel in mountains in summer. After riding another 20KM, we stopped at another village and we found chilled Thumbs Up(soft drink) there. It was 15 Rs. Pawan Said: “Ye to 10 ki aati hai”. But that bottle was perfectly chilled and 5 rs extra was for their efforts to keep bottles chilled and make them available in that area.

Road of 60-70KM was totally broken and finally we were riding on a decent road. we were reaching to Lansdowne from a different route and we saw a lone small resort there. It was the only building in that area. The whole area was covered with forest.

It was Hinval Valley View resorts, a hotel in beautiful location. We were hungry and we need some food we traveled almost 80 KM without any food. Pawan’s demand was Rajma Chawal. He asked about it. They said it will take some time. we were there in off season so they had no guests. both we agreed on Chow-Mein yes common food these days.

We had this spicy Chow Mein and we were ready to cover the remaining gap with this energy brunch.

Now, roads were about to connect with the main Highway which we left :P. but , we saw another shortcut to Lansdowne which could give us 4km cut to our journey. And guess what we took that road again. But we had nothing for our memory, so I decided to do some Jugaad with Selfie stick to record some descend off road biking video. We were moving to connect with the main highway so this was our last chance.

Finally, we were about to enter Lansdowne Cantt Area 🙂

It was the final 22 KM of our bike Trip, but the fun part was about to come. After taking this final 22 KM road, I saw someone is washing his car in a small river. I docked my bike into the river. And we captured some beautiful images of our bikes.

You can check

I tried this too, check the video 😀

We stayed there about 45 minutes after that we were ready to with beautiful memories of this unplanned bike trip to Lansdowne. Now, roads were excellent, we were in army area and the temperature was getting down as we are reaching to Lansdowne but the view was not accurate due to smoke of forest fire.

After the 4 hrs long ride we entered in Lansdowne. The temperature was about 18 degree at 7 PM and that was a huge relief for us . We were away from the heat of Rishikesh and Delhi.

“Journey is Important, Destination is not”

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