Day – 1 – 29th March
Delhi – Moradabad – Bajpur – Kaladhungi – Nainitaal – Almora – Kausani – Gwaldam – Tharali – Lohajung (500 kms)
The journey started @ familiar timing of 04030 hrs on 29th March in my trusted Black Bull (Santro). The target for the day was to reach Lohajung (500 kms ) away before sundown. We had no prior bookings for stay etc and thought we will check what we get there. First quick break @ McDonalds to fill something before we move on. Solaris was up by the time we were near Moradabad.
Solaris rises in playful mood with clouds 
The road is good but beware of some nasty surprises .A couple of invisible Speed breakers just when you don’t expect them. Black Bull literally flew over one of them @ 100 kms. Thankfully everything was ok but it did jolt us for a moment. I said …….damn…..what were they thinking while making those. I mean what’s the point of making an INVISIBLE speed breaker. Someone need to tell the authorities making road there that the idea of speed breaker is to make people slow down there vehicles not to make them fly / break them.
We took the turn for Bajpur road after the Moradabad 2nd toll. We did this route last year in April and were expecting that road near Bajpur might have improved. We were wrong it’s the same or worse I should say. Pot holes of the size of small cars and you literally have to play video game in the entire stretch. Thankfully it’s only 15-20 kms of torture and we are back to smooth roads.
Palm trees along the way makes you forget about the road conditions 
Driving on the Kaladhungi hills is my fav section of the route. Twisting turning super road is fun to be on , just makes me wonder why can’t all roads be like this. Next quick stop was Nainitaal somewhere around 1200 hrs and off we went to Almora. Just before Almora take a left turn to Kausani and then reached Gwaldam by 1500 hrs. The roads are good overall here.
Kasauni Views
We had our lunch at local dhaba in gwaldam , food was good as usual. We also inquired about the short cut route to lohajung from Gwaldam. If you check google maps it shows a road but it’s not for small cars like ours. So we have to go long way via Tharali. We reached Tharali around 1630 hrs and took right turn to Lohajung. Tharali to Lohajung is almost 50 kms but road conditions keeps getting from good to average to bad as you reach lohajung.Mohit was in touch with Padam singh and telling about our whereabouts , padam singh asked us to drive to WAN instead of staying @ Lohajung . As we reached Lohajung we did not stop and continued our journey to WAN. Soon we realized that the road is no more a road and has turned into a bumpy trail , construction is going on full swing. After negotiating a tough turn and scratching underbelly of Black Bull just 1 kms ahead of Lohajung I stopped wondering what lies ahead for next 14 kms till WAN. We call up Padam singh again to have a word about road and is it OK to get small car up there. Padam singh’s words were not very encouraging. I’ve taken Black Bull to worst roads and places, but I know it’s limits and there was no fun in taking UN-necessary risk. It was already 1800 hrs and Solaris was going to bed fast and rain gods were also looking upon us.
In all good senses we decided to stay at Lohajung today and hire a JEEP tomorrow for WAN.We came back and checked into GMVN Lohajung.
Lohajung
As usual negotiating were handled by Mohit for stay , food and tomorrow’s cab. Visited the small temple just beside GMVN to get views of Nand Ghunti.Had a nice time chatting with the GMVN guy and slept around 2200 hrs. Tomorrow is a big day ,15 kms jeep ride to WAN and then10 kms trek to Beedni Bugyaal.
Views from GMVN Lohajung
Me with Nand Gunthi in Background
