Day 111 - June 27 - Almora to Nandprayag

June27 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Trip Sharing with Google Maps

178 KMs Trip Meter 14502 KMs

Wanted to start early but got lazy in the nice room. Took my time having breakfast and tea at the nice sit out. These relaxed moments are also part of the trip right! Plan is to head towards Badrinath and stay where ever it gets to get dark! Started by 10 am and out of Almora in no time. Nothing much to say but it was a pleasant morning ride. The roads were good. Then everything changes suddenly, roads a bit rough, no proper hotels to eat. Towns look a bit poor. Thats when i realize that i have entered Ghadwal district. The standard of living between the two districts is quite different. Lot of rough roads this time. I rmbr Mr Girish said the previous day that the route via Gwaldom is not good so i should via garison instead. But today morning he writes me a map going through gwaldam!! This is realize only after riding some bad roads after Gwaldom. Lot of small offroad sections too. With the correct tire pressure is so much bettor now.

Now i ride on the walls of tall mountain valley. Typical tall valley with a river in between. Kinda feel claustrophobic i confess. Reached Karnaprayag by 5.15 pm. Since there will be sunlight till like 7 pm thought of pushing ahead for the next town Nandprayag. Stop for a maggie as all i had for lunch was alu tikki and a half samosa! Reach Nandprayag by 6.15 and find a reasonable looking hotel with some parking space, so pulled it. May be i could have pushed till chamoli but it might be expensive there in the tourist season compared to the smaller place Nandprayag. Its around 800 meters above msl and i quite hot. Prolly had i left couple of hours earlier could have made it to Joshimath. Any way Staying here for the night!

Just when i thought the day's chores are done and i can relax into the night, the laptop does not boot! Thought it has given way and this kinda affected my further ride plans if i want to get it fixed in Delhi. Or continue the rest of the journey till i reach journey and log on notebook! Not able to call friends to as the damn network is busy. But he mobile internet was working and searched my way to Lenovo forums and found a thread with same problem and one of the solution proposed was Remove the battery, remove the power cord, Press boot button 10 times and once for 20 seconds! Thought what nonsense! but being clueless tried it and voila the laptop now boots. It seems the problem was due to accumulated electrostatic charge which needed a discharge. The above process does that. As strange as it may seem to a lay person like me, it worked!

Today is the flowers day of the trip! Lot of flower i clicked!!

This is the common Boganmila, the flower whose petals are in shape of leaves...


The hotel had lot of flower pots...


I click away...








The old hotel had a great sit out. Enjoyed the mornings there...


Thats Enthusiastic Mr Girish to my left and his cousin to the right...


Enjoyed my stay there....


Bidding farewell to Almora...


Riding through the pine forests. One thing is that in pine forest, nothing grows in between the trees...


Caught sunflowers on the way...








All part of a pleasant morning ride...


Ladies carrying a heavy load...


There were more flowers than leaves...





I said it was a flowers day!!


Busy farmers...





More flowers...


Nice uttaranchal...


can you spot the bike...


Suddenly this fantastic road pops up...


Not so good road but through the forest kinda place...


Some open space...





You see the livers? I held the gun to the tank and that guy rotated by hand to pump the fuel!!


Interesting roads...


Riding by the river...


Some bad roads...


Lotoff monkeys...


I put in some work in this photo. It was like 30 feet away from me. Zoomed to max 10X and switched to macro mode to get the Bokeh effect, Turned on the flash, half clicked and focused and then screamed and clicked as soon as he saw at me :)


Some mountain road...


Typical of himalayas...








Karnaprayag below...


Valley i will be riding for some time...


I asked him if i can take his pic and he obliged in return of me giving some 'chai pani' Got into conversation and he is on a incredible journey! He is Murugan from Chennai. He travelled to varanasi by train and walked from there towards Badrinath!! He said he walks like 10 t0 15 kms per day. And he is heading to Amarnath after visiting Badrinath. Wanted to talk more but he was in a hurry as it was getting dark and he still had 7 KMs to cover till Nandprayag. The conversation was intersting and also lil funny cos we both were adressing each other as 'Baba' hehe.