It had been more than 6 months since my last road-trip. Thus, I decided to utilize the pending leaves and go for well deserved trip to Himalayas. Since both Bhavi and I had enough leaves in our kitty, we decided to make this trip at leisurely pace.
Day 1:
We wanted to start around afternoon on March 5 but seldom do our trips progress as per the plan. After a long discussion at home on which car to take, we decided to go-ahead with the Punto. In retrospect, it turns out to be a great decision as:
- Extra 15 mm of ground-clearance was very helpful
- Smaller overhangs were also very useful
- While the distance traveled was similar to what I covered during the kalatop trip. The fuel expense was at 50% of it.
We started at 7 PM and faced one of the worst weathers of the season. There was a dust-storm along with thunder-showers. We decided to spend some time with my parents-in-law, while waiting for the weather to clear up. We finally started around 9 PM and made a dash towards our first stop at Murthal.
The rain-continued but we could manage decent speeds. Since we visit Murthal regularly, we decided to give the Dhabas a miss, and try Chokhi-Dhani. Quite honestly, it was a disappointing experience. We moved from there within 30-40 minutes and decided to take a halt near Ambala.
The past few day were so busy that I has feeling extremely tired. We reached Karnal around 11.30 PM and checked into Savoy Greens. Spending 3100 for 5-6 hours of sleep did seem expensive but it seemed safer than other options on that highway.
Day 2
We started from Savoy around 9 AM after a heavy breakfast at McDonalds. We took Ambala-Kharar route to avoid Chandigarh. All the pace that we had built in Haryana+Punjab was lost at Swarghat. The roads from Swarghat till Bilaspur are in pathetic condition. I wanted cover as much distance as possible in daylight thus, we drove non-stop till Bilaspur. We stopped for lunch at Lake View Hotel in Bilaspur at around 1.30 PM. This restaurant offers amazing view of the Govind Sagar Lake. I was astonished at noticing the remains of the old Bilaspur city in the lake. One can see the roof of temples and palace of Bilaspur's king, protruding from the lake.
Govind Sagar Lake
Remains of the old city
A closer look
100% unadulterated Coke and view
Telling the tales of times gone by
![Go Snow - With my Punto to Hatu-006dsc04220.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/travelogues/1222281d1690734311t-go-snow-my-punto-hatu-006dsc04220.jpg)
After a heavy lunch and some rest, we started at 3 PM. The roads improved and covered distance quite rapidly (on a Punto). Sundernagar seemed really Sundar. We reached Mandi around 4.15 pm but it took almost 90 minutes to cross Mandi. Shiv Ratri is a major festival in Mandi and the celebrations continue for almost a month after Shiv Ratri. As a result, there was a terrible traffic jam in Mandi.
After Mandi we sped our way to Kullu (not before crossing the magnificent Aut tunnel). At Kullu, we took a turn towards Naggar. It started pouring when were near Kullu, and the weather kept deteriorating. The last 5 KMs to The Castle (Naggar) seemed quite tough due to the combination of darkness, tiredness, rain, narrow roads, steep climb, etc. We finally reached our hotel at around 8 PM.
Here's some detail about the hotel we stayed at:
Quote:
THE CASTLE
The Castle was converted into a rest house, a hundred year back and in 1978 this ancient building was handed over to HPTDC to run as a heritage hotel. This medieval Castle was built by Raja Sidh Singh of Kullu around 1460 A.D. The hotel overlooks the Kullu Valley and apart from the spectacular view and superb location this has a flavour of authentic western Himalayan architecture. Here, a gallery houses the paintings of the Russian artist Nicholas Roerich. Naggar also has three other old shrines. Hotel Castle is an unique medieval stone and wood mansion, once the home to the Raja of Kullu and now an HPTDC Heritage hotel.
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Source:
http://www.hptdc.nic.in/cir0201.htm
It's a beautiful and peaceful property. A famous song from Jab We Met was shot in this castle and many other movies have been shot here.
Here are a few pics of the The Castle and the view from it:
Castle from a distance
It can be an eerie place after dark
Neil in front of The Castle
Our private balcony
Wonderful view
Meguiars QD at work
![Go Snow - With my Punto to Hatu-121dsc04336.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/travelogues/1231073d1690746770t-go-snow-my-punto-hatu-121dsc04336.jpg)