Haridwar - Rishikesh 19 Aug

Travel - bug seems to have bitten me this week. Just after two days after I returned from Shimla, a new trip (though a short one) was on the way.  The fun was that it was planned just a night before journey. Destination - Rishikesh & Haridwar. These are very sacred Hindu places. Rishikesh being my preferred place. The river Ganga(Ganges) in the proximity of mountains - what else needs to be desired for.

Since it was a one day trip, it was decided that we would leave as early as possible in the morning. 4 AM was the decided time. But as always, we couldn't make it before five. There was confusion as to which route to follow. The options were:

Option 1 
Panchkula - Ambala - Jagadhari - Yamunanagar - Saharanpur - Roorkee - Haridwar - 200 Km

Option 2
Panchkula - Ramgarh- Barwala - Saha - Jagadhari - Yamunanagar - Saharanpur - Roorkee - Haridwar - 200 km

Option 3
Panchkula - Naraingarh - Kala Amb - Nahan - Paonta Sahib - Dehradun - Haridwar  - 215 Km

The criteria was the condition of the road , as the distance was almost save for every route. Well none of the roads can be described as the best as most of them are single roads. After much brainstorming Option 2 was agreed upon.

As we reached Ramgarh, it started raining. Not this time, I thought. The road was single & it was the time when the truckers dominate the road. Our speed was considerably reduced due to this. Our target to reach Haridwar by 9 PM did not look feasible. The rain just didn't stop. The rain gods had decided to compensate for the dry spell of last month. But why today? I was thinking. Couldn't it be postponed by one day.

At about 7 we reached Yamunanagar. Outside view became a little brighter, but there was no respite from rain. I wanted to go outside to relax, but the rain was relentless. So we continued amidst rain.

Raining stopped when we reached Roorke. At about 10 AM, we were in Haridwar. We parked our vehicles near Har ki Pauri. The view ahead was awesome. Due to rains the river Ganga (Ganges) was flowing with full might, but its water was muddy. We were in fix whether to take a dip or not. All voted yes, and we took a dip in the holy Ganges. Once inside water, we realized that our decision was worth. Unfortunately, we had forgotten camera inside car. So we could not take any pictures.

After spending about 2 hours, we decided to go to Rishikesh.

Rishikesh is a small town, about 24 Kms away from Haridwar and mostly famous for its serenity & ashrams along the river Ganga. It took about 1 hour to cover this small distance as the road widening work was in progress & also there were many others who were heading to the same destination.

Rishikesh town is also called the Gateway for Char Dham Yatra (four sacred Hindu pilgrimages). A quiet well maintained road leads to Muni-ki-Reti, the most happening place in Rishikesh. Muni-ki-Reti literally means 'Sand of the Sages', which is true in the sense that this is the place where many saints have performed austerities here.

There are may attractions in this region, but we could only make it to Laxman Jhoola, due to scarcity of time. Laxman Jhula is a suspension bridge crossing the river Ganges. Similar to Laxman Jhula is Ram Jhula situated few kilometers away.

Ganga in Rishikesh looks more gorgeous than Haridwar. Spending some time along the banks of river here, is a blessing experience.

None of us wanted to go back so soon, but we had limited time. So with a heavy heart we left Rishikesh promising to visit the place again sometime in future. Due to the pathetic road condition & traffic, we decided not to follow the same route for return journey. So we considered Option 3 and decided to go via Dehradun. Milestone suggested 48 km journey upto Dehradun. The road passes through Rajaji National Park which is a sanctuary for wild animals especially elephants. Throughout the road there were warning signage indicating tourists to be beware of elephants that may suddenly appear along the way. We were anticipating to see one, but weren't so lucky, there there was no shortage of monkeys though :)

We passed through Jolly Grant, the domestic airport of Dehradun.The journey was going fine.We were thoroughly enjoying our journey through the jungle, until a detour awaited us.

When we reached Doiwala, there was diversion of the route through a single lane village road. The traffic police told us that due to traffic jam further, they were all diverting Dehradun bound vehicles through this route. OK, no problem, I thought. Dehradun was approx 17 kms from there and we expected to reach Dehradun within half an hour. But the luck had planned otherwise.

After criss-crossing the jungle & villages, we had our major obstacles waiting. Due to heavy rains, the pulis(small bridges) were washed away. In place of that there were heap of stones & water flowing across them. This created a jam like sequence In order to avoid one traffic jam, we were stuck into another. At first I was skeptical about crossing my car in such situation. But then, to my surprise a Tana Nano crossed the stream without any major difficulty. So, without hesitating further I maneuvered my car across the stream. There was a sudden thud indicating that some stone had hit the base of our car. But nothing major harm was done.

It was like a moment of victory. I felt like I was participating in Himalayan car rally.
But this was not the end. There were still more similar streams to cross. But this time I was confident. It took us two hours to reach Dehradun bypass.

The journey ahead, though, was a smooth one. Earlier the road from Paonta Sahib to Kala Amb was in bad shape, but this time, thankfully it was recarpeted. Had the time permitted, we would definitely have visited the Gurudwara at Paonta Sahib.

Here is the picture of the bridge over river Yamuna, that was takes last year from the Gurudwara Sahib.

This bridge joins two states - Himachal on one side & Uttrakhand on other.

The road from Paonta Sahib upto Kala Amb was in good state. We stopped near Kala Amb for refreshments. Finally reached home about 9 PM. It was a tiring but enjoyable journey.

Quick Facts

• Total Distance covered : 465 KM.
• Toll tax : 1 (Between Yamunanagar & Saharanpur)
• Routes: 
• Up - Panchkula - Ambala - Jagadhari - Yamunanagar - Saharanpur - Roorkee - Haridwar 
• Down -  Rishikesh - Dehradun(de tour) - Paonta Sahib - Nahan - Kala Amb - Ramgarh - Panchkula
• Road Condition - The one through Poanta Sahib & Dehradun is good.
• GPS Tracking provided by: Hi Tecpoint Technologies (hitecpoint.com)
• Tracking Device : Blackbox™ TM 33.

Route Playback