Heading West

Once more we wake to the same splendid view although there is a bit more rock visible and a bit less snow. The fire has burnt out sometime during the night and we are not asphyxiated. We get ready, pack and eat breakfast more or less concurrently with interruptions to watch spectacular yellow billed blue magpies flitting about in the trees above the car park. When we check out there is a pleasant surprise. We booked through booking.com at a price that we thought very fair. When we paid the charge was 800 rupees a night less.

Outside our car is waiting.  It is quite small, Maruti Alto 800, and the driver, Raki, is quite tall but he has skillfully squeezed all of our luggage into the boot and says that he is very happy with the drivers seat quite far forward giving reasonable legroom in the back. We get under way at about 8.40 in hazy sunshine.  The car has no A/C but it is not a problem.  The road is not too busy and we make good time down the Beas Valley and through the tunnel. On the way we pass the 007 Dhaba. Licensed to kill. Have they really thought that through. After the tunnel comes a really scenic part of the trip. R observes that it is no wonder that Scotsmen felt at home in the Himalayan foothills. Our driver stops briefly at a holy place and brings us back small balls of prasad. 

By 11 we have cleared Mandi and are on the road to Joginder Nagar and Pathankot. This road is more bucolic than NH 21 but has little traffic. We climb steadily through cotton trees and terraced hillsides, passing through a couple of small towns. Just before we reach the watershed where we cross into the upper reaches of the Kangra Valley Raki proposes a lunch stop. He picks a pleasant looking spot, the Snow Valley Dhaba, and gets his lunch while we sit in the sunshine and have black tea. They sell small packaged cakes so we try one, a sponge with small pieces of glace cherries in it, and pre sliced. How clever. The only downside to this place is the vertiginous descent to the perfectly acceptable loo and washroom.

We continue over the summit and down the other side where there have been some washouts and temporary road repairs. There are more villages and more traffic which slows progress. From Joginder Nagar we are running parallel to the Kangra Valley Railway, a narrow gauge line that is D's treat tomorrow.  Every few miles we get a glimpse of the track and cross it a few times. We are now much lower than we have been for a few days and the afternoon sun is much hotter. The last hour is a real grind through a string of small towns but we get to the Grand Raj hotel just after 3 p.m. Raki has been a most satisfactory driver, not too aggressive and able to adjust according to road conditions and traffic. He has ewrned a decent tip. The hotel seems pretty good but our room is on the main road, almost opposite the bus station. We realise how little use of the horn drivers make in Manali when we hear the racket here. It's almost like being back in Kolkata.

We decide to use what remains of the day to visit Kangra Fort and recce D's route to the station tomorrow.  The auto stand is just by the bus station and we soon agree a price for transport plus waiting time. The ride out to the fort takes us out to the south west of the town and up a hill.  Admission charges are Rs 5 for Indians and Rs 100 for foreigners. The lady renting out the audio guides does a good job on us as we normally avoid these. This one was worth having as it gave us a lot of info about this historic and impressive ruined fort. The views from the top are extensive and D even spots a train across on the other side of the valley. On the way out we spot a column of ants on the march and a pair of vultures circling. We cannot linger as closing time looms and our auto walla is waiting. Next up is Kangra Mandir station, accessed via a bazaar and a rather rickety suspension bridge, before we return to the hotel.  We both feel whacked and just opt for a sandwich for supper and an early night. Thankfully the racket seems to have died down.