The Mountain Escape - 'BINSAR'

Kumaon Hills - 'Binsar'

Another quick ride to the Hills

After the Ladakh ride, it was already 3 months and no ride. So decided to ride somewhere during Diwali as a Diwali gift to ‘Unicorn’ :P. Himachal always dominates over others but I already have some other plans for this beautiful state. During last Diwali, me & Om were in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand. And that ride was quite adventurous. So thought of Kumaon Hills, to experience some great views and lovely hill roads. And this time the ride was only meant for riding and riding. As per initial thoughts (don’t misunderstand it as a plan :P) I was suppose to raid Munsayari via Chakouri, then to enter Nepal via Pilbhit, if time permits and then to return via Banaras/Varanasi. Oohhh… stop stop!!! Why my thoughts and mind never stops when it comes to touring #!*%?$**^%!!

But the things ended only in two days only due to some certain reasons.

I did absolutely no planning and was suppose to ride until I get bored.

This is the first time I was on road without any homework and I was not even seeing my Maps during the ride. Had an intention that i only will follow road signs available in front of me.

Day – I

Route: Kousambhi (GZB) - Hapur by pass – Garhmukteswar – Gajroula – Moradabad – Rampur (bear to left from here) – Rudrapur - Jeolikot – Nainital – Bhowali - Almora

For the first time I was on road by 6.00 in the morning err… no no, me n Omi also started at 4.00 in the morning for Jaipur but that was a sleepless night :P.

Nothing special to mention about the single lane Delhi-Lucknow NH-2 at most cases but with some beautiful stretches around Gajroula.

There are basically 2 routes from Delhi, one via Ramnagar (Jim Corbett national Park) and the other via Rampur and Haldwani.

Last time I took the Jim Corbett route and there was a butter smooth hill stretch from Ramnagar to Nainital. So I was hooked to Ramnagar route via Rudrapur. This route was not bad either but when I found the odometer crossing 200+ kms from home I was disappointed, where are the Hills!!! So why I took this route L. Anyways it’s completely personal feeling :P.

But hills started only after Haldwani. But the bridge on Nainital by-pass has collapsed so struggled with usual city traffic.

One interesting thing I did find the Tata ‘NANO’ plant at Rudrapur. It was for the Ace (a small carrier vehicle from Tata) but Tata people shifted from Singur, WB. You must be aware of the great story/history, what ever you say.

Once I saw the hills from Haldwani, I felt the adrenaline started running in the veins and we ripped on the curves of Kumaon and this time I forgot to be gentle of curves and rode to my worst till date until I realized after a skid that ‘m still running with a 40K old front tyre :P.

Anyways ride was complete fun and I was eyeing on the new set of Zappers on Bishnu’s CBZ.

We reached Nainital in no time but it was not the interest but the empty stomach forced to take a long break and the tummy only allowed us to ride after an hour or two. Aim was to ride as much as possible towards Chakouri or Munsayari but nothing was visible beyond Almora. This is the only disadvantage of winter, you get reduced hour of daylight riding. It was Diwali day so you can count the number of human breed on road with your finger.

Almora was around 70 kilometer ride from Nainital. So easy 2 hours with limited photobreaks and we were yet to capture any decent pics as hills just started :P. And as I mentioned earlier this time I was on road only to ride and ride :D.

We found some beautiful stretches after some 20 kms from Nainital and stopped for a long shootout session. And managed to reach Almora only after 8.00 with the welcome note from the crackers :D.

Winter is the corner and I was feeling cold under 2 layers of clothing and a a jacket. But ‘m happy thinking about show :D.

Diwali was to be celebrated with the snores so got a decent hotel with proper parking, just before main Bus Stand. Thank God, the room was quite peaceful. And bikes were happy with the Diwali gift.

Uni was flawless again. It still carries the dusts of Ladakh and Nubra. I only replaced the engine oil and chain set, and also cleaned the air filter. Its RPM meter now shows 1600+ during cold start. Sorry mate, you will be fine before we hit the road next time.

Day – II

Route: Almora – Kosi – Binsar – Kosi – Bhowali – Bhimtal – Kathgodam – Haldwani – Bareilly – Rampur – Moradabad – Kousambhi (GZB)

This was a lovely day, it lasted for 22 long hours :D.

Seems to be a typical winter-morning when I got my sense inside a thick blanket, without caring for the figure on the watch or an attempt to capture the sunrise I lost my sense again.

It must be much early :D, because we were on road by 9.00 ;).

Binsar/Chakouri was our destination for the day. But after reaching ‘Kafarkhan’ we decided to raid on Binsar. The 13 kilometer of ride was a real fun and yes don’t miss to ride till the view point if you are on a bike. The 3 kms of offroading may be add more fun for you.

It took quite a long time and we decided to return to home. And decided to return via Bareilly. It was around 10 in the night when we reached Bareilly. Met a friend there and decided to ride again. Why to stay when your are 5 hours away from home and it also becomes easy to complete the ride at a stretch.

At 11.30 PM we were on NH-24 and the clock showed 2.15 AM when we stopped at Garhmukteshwar after some 150+ kms of nonstop and furious night ride. We were lucky to get a cup of tea each. The adrenaline in the veins dried much earlier and we were riding only to reach home. 30 min break and we were on saddle again.

I gentle push with the thumb and Uni came to live, waited for Bishnu to lead. First kick, second kick, third kick and then 4th,5th,6th,7th kick in a row. WTF!!! CBZ was still dead.

There was no spark at the plug. A proper 2 hour surgery on the whole electrical and the four-way wiring seemed to be the culprit. But still the problem was there. Thanks to the regular experiments. All attempts went in vain and we finally decide to use the bungee cords to reach home. Eyes were going out of control and it was nearly 20 hour being on road.

The bungee cords worked well and after pulling the CBZ 4-5 kilometers the Mechanical Engineer’s mind clicked somewhere and he took one more chance to fix it without responding to my irritation :P. But now he proved himself by removing the earthing wire from the main coil and it worked. Oh God what a relief it was, I was more happy because I‘ll catch some sleep with in next two hours. But after 90 minutes I was snoring at home.