Auli - Rishikesh - An Unexpected Journey - II

Day 2
Auli is 263 kms from Rishikesh and the road has been opened not long ago, after being washed away during the catastrophe of Uttranchal. Next morning on the 4th May we woke early and arranged for two bikes - an avenger and a Pulsar 220. Our expedition began at 7 am from Rishikesh along NH 58 going at a brisk pace to get used to the bike. Just like The Lord of The Rings involved some walking, some running, and then more walking and more running and more and more walking and running our trip mostly consisted of biking and sitting and a lot of biking and me sitting on the backseat like Gimli, son of Gloin sitting uncomfortably on horse back along with Legolas.

We stopped at few scenic locations and snapped pictures for our facebook, twitter, linkedin, goodreads, google+, hi5, tumblr, pinterest, flickr, instagram and another 100 accounts. We were skeptical about the climate but it was quite cool in the morning hours. We came across lots of camps along the Ganges where people camped, went rafting, relaxed and played on the clean white sands. The river Ganges followed us as we rode cautiously upto Devprayag. Devprayag is the confluence of rivers Bhagirathi and Alaknanda meet in two contrasting colours. The confluence is called Ganga hence forth. The road at Devaprayag is in quite terrible condition.                                                                                                                                                                                                   Having spent a lot of time in Kanpur and Jharkhand I don't generally fuss about potholes with roads in them but i think it is worthy of mention when the road is barely wide for a truck and, in poor condition and there are is a fully loaded truck honking at your neck from below with the river roaring and effervescing wrathfully in the gorge a few feet to your right. We passed Srinagar and reached Rudraprayag - the confluence of rivers Mandakini and Bhagirathi. The famous man eating tiger of Rudraprayag written by Jim Corbett lived here. 

Intially we had the mountain wall as our guardian angel to our left and vehicles overtook us on the right keeping us away from the devil cliff and the river. Later we were riding on the edge of road overviewing the gorge on the left and big and medium vehicles constantly pushed us to the very edge while overtaking us. I especially disliked the part when the road ahead of us suddenly went missing having succumbed to some landslide in the past and we had to bend around the "Stairway to Heaven" to stay on our mission. Halfway through the ride I had made my mind that if Piyush D brings me back alive I treat him heavily. 

We passed Karanprayag where some more rivers "not so muchj in our geography books" met. We traversed through a multitude of sceneries scraped out of tourism books or places we dream of - sometimes a long road canopied with trees on each side with a cloudy sky and mountains looming in the distance with no sign of sun and cool winds blowing in solitude and silence or sometimes a slanting wall of mountain on one side, a long stretch of road and terraced farms in the valley below with tiny huts scattered here and there in the fields unaware and untroubled of the worries of the world or being sandwiched sometimes two parallel grey rocky mountains, jagged with numerous piercing edges and sharp points without an inch of greenery on it obscuring any trace of outside world from our view.

We had our lunch at Chamoli. The last stretch of journey was unforgettable. The roads were wide but had gone crazy ascending to insane heights and the scenery was outrageously thrilling and dangerous. The chain of steep mountain walls devoid of vegetation and so much grey and rocky as if refuting any trace of life anywhere, only roads going berserk reaching absurd heights in a run from one hill to other, twisting and climbing and falling in the gloom of lost sunlight. It had grown evening and we hardly met any vehicles. Knowing that there were no shelters in next 20 or 30 kilometers we climbed and fell stoically and with haste. The steepness constrained us to a speed of 25kph and the motorcycles were sweetly piercing the quietude of the hills with rumbling engine sound. 


We were loosing daylight and we got an impression of distance between km stones incrementing . Just when we used to feel that we had been riding a long time since the last kilometer post and must have come a long way from it we were met with the reality that only a single km has been covered. It started drizzling and winds blew coldly, piercing our chest. We dared not stop and take out warmer clothes in our desperation to reach Joshimath the nearest shelter. Shivering and shaken we crossed the signboards welcoming us to Joshimath. The mere sign of shelters and human settlements melted our frozen spirits and we were relieved to be in the town enclosed in a ring of human cheerfulness, chaotic yet appearing musical the sound of humanly hustle, the magical street lights, the sounds of vehicular engines and the warmth of companionship of those whom we knew not but appeared so dear. 
It was 7 Pm. We took a hobbit-room with comfortabe beds but unlike hobbits we forgot to eat. Except that I woke at midnight and had a secret mid-night meal.  A hard day ride deserves a good meal. Auli is only about 11kms from Joshimath.

Some more pics:

For once diverting from LOTR here is a pic inspired by Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara: