A 5800 km road trip from Bangalore to Uttarakhand in a Toyota Fortuner

If someone has read this till here, I know you are into road trip but for those who are sitting on the fences. Indian Highways/Expressways are now second to none when it comes to road infrastructure.

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Miles to go before I sleep….yet another milestone

It's that time of the year where Himalayas beacon you to visit it, last year we did Spiti and parts of Himachal, this year it was Uttarakhand . Kids had booked a 10 day hike to Dayara Bugiyal with Indiahikes, this is a kids only hike no adults. ( Do look it up it’s a very good learning for the kids and also will hook them up for hikes for a lifetime). The option we had was to use the chaperone service all the way from Bangalore and back but given our travel bug that was not an option we even considered! Given that we still have the flexibility to work from anywhere we decided let's just drive up and we will work from Rishikesh while the kids go on their hike. We threw in 2 days at Agra as an enticer , this would be the kids first New Seven Wonders of the World , sixth for wife and me ( Petra in Jordan is still pending), this got them hooked for yet another road trip. The plan was set, take a week off to travel the first 10 days, the work from Rishikesh for next 10 days and then travel back on a weekend back home.

Can the roads get any better

Yes they can and will

Any distance travelled would be forgotten when you see these marvels

Machine: Toyota Fortuner , 2021 Model

The Hero Honda CD100 advertisement of the 90's "Fill it, Shut It, Forget It" is what I remember every time we take the Fortuner out on road trips, well I am not talking of the 80L fuel tank or the mileage (12KMPL which is respectable) But the trouble free car, just service it regularly every 10k KM and hit the roads, any type of roads. The car never gives any room for complaints. We use it as a 4 seater so that gives us ample space for the baggage and people. Even after a 15hour drive one doesn't feel the travel fatigue of a long drive. If you have road trip in mind just go for this vehicle. Having said that ,this car doesn't see much of Bangalore city/traffic we prefer to stick to a Maruti Celerio/Public Bus for in city errands.

Ever Dependable machine

Preparation: Just the regular 30K servicing of the car. Knowing that we will do more than 5000 KM I took an additional 5L of AdBlue for the return journey( Call it OCD I don’t like any warning lights on the dashboard so the moment the AdBlue warning pops up I top it up)

A full House

People: Wife , Daughters and Me

Our 6th New Wonders of the World

Executed Plan:

Day by Day itinerary

(Request: For all the travelogue writers please always put this in, this helped us a lot in planning)

Onward: Don’t touch what works that's the policy we used. The onward route was straightforward we have done it a few times for our earlier trips. An early start to Nagpur covering KA-AP-TS-MH via Hyderabad . MH-MP-UP to reach Agra on Day 2. From Agra it was expressway to UP-UK to reach Dehradun. The interchange between the Yamuna and Eastern Peripheral Expressway is expected next year, looking forward to that.

Car(t) before the Horse....Who has more HP?

Return: Well why change what works return journey was the same as onward, including the pitstops (restaurants)! We did think of coming via Jaipur/Mumbai route but then we decided we will wait for the new expressway and explore that side of the country in greater detail.

The places we visited are all high tourist footfall places so not going into the description of each place. We did the usual plus some small hikes/detours , I will mention those in more detail.

Tiger Falls / Chakrata

It was my second visit , last was 20 years back in a Maruti Esteem. We had done a long hike to reach the falls but now it has changed they have a road right up to the base of the falls. One has to be careful driving on those roads large section is mud road. It was crowded but then it was a long weekend and this place is very close to Delhi. The infrastructure has improved by leaps and bounds from my last trip here in 2003 to Chakrata, there was a one way road to the top so it was usually 2 uphill trips in the morning and 2 downhill, But all that is history we have wide roads to accommodate the ever satiating love for huge vehicles!!

Moila Bugyal / Chakrata

About an hour's drive from Chakrata market the roads till Lokhandi are great then one has to move to the mud/stone roads. It's also called Moila Top. Deodar trees thousands of them all around you. Its an easy hike just to make it a bit longer and more exciting for the kids we parked our car about 4 Km before thus making it a 7km hike one way. It’s a serene and tranquil place, there is a Shiva temple on the peak, keep lots of time one can easily spend 2-3 hours exploring the peak. Jackets are a must as the clouds and sun play hide and seek. Also there a bit of a rain when we were climbing, the trees gave enough shelter so we didn’t get wet. There were many cattle's grazing peacefully. One can spend hours here just sitting and relaxing and enjoying the nature. Bonus there was a group of young girls who were making a dance video in their traditional dress, we sat and watched the graceful dance ( wonders of travel you never know what you will get!!)

Enroute Moila Top

Ascent to Moila Bugiyal

Moila Bugiyal

George Everest Peak Trek /Mussoorie

This wasn’t planned a google search on what to do in Mussoorie led us to this. It's an easy hike from the parking lot. There is also Heli tourism available here. The peak offers a spectacular view of the Himalayan ranges and the Doon valley. Yes the Himalayan prayer flags were very prominent on the top. 5km round trip , keep enough time to immerse on the peak. Lots of places offering Maggie, Bread Omelet, Tea around the start point.

With George Everest

Marching Orders

At George Everest Peak

Bhadraj temple /Mussoorie

As we were short of time and not in mood for another hike in the afternoon after the George Everest Peak hike, we decided to drive down to Bhadraj temple. We took the route through Clouds End. Now this turned out to be an adventure like our Mudh village Spiti trip! The roads were at a gradient where I had my doubts if we will tip backwards add to that loose stones making it more slippery. Finally we decided to park and walk about 2 km on a steep incline. The roads traversed through a small Jungle also. The temple is dedicated to Lord Balrama and is an all-white marble building. It offers a 360 degrees view of the Valley below. Would highly recommend everyone to drive to this place as it was adventurous.

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