Lansdowne, A place surrounded by beautiful oak, silver fir, spruce and pine forests is a proper weekend getaway from
This serene and unspoilt hilly town was established as a British Cantonment in 1887 and named in the honour of Lord Lansdowne.
But now it houses the Regimental Centre of famous ‘Garhwal Rifles’ of ‘Indian Army’.
Places to see:
Bhulla Tal:
In Garhwali ‘Bhulla’ means ‘Younger Brother’. This small beautiful small lake was created in the memory of young men of Garhwali Rifles who sacrificed their life in the service of the nation. A small park is also constructed close to it.
Sitting peacefully there for some time and watching the reflection of Deodar trees on the lake was really worth. And there is also provision of boating in the
Tip in Top:
It is the top most point in Lansdowne with a magnificent view of the
This Church was built in the year 1936 and the construction was completed in 1937 and is the only one in Lansdowne to worship. It is situated close to Forest Bungalow.
St. Mary’s Church:
It is the oldest church in Lansdowne which was built in 1895-96 with a surreal backdrop of Snow topped mountains.
Best time to Visit: Throughout the year though January is considered as the coldest month.
Route: Delhi-Meerut (no by-pass)-Mawana (by-pass)-Bijnor-Kiratpur-Najibabad-Kotdwar-Dugadda-Lansdwone (NH-58 and NH-119)
How to reach?
With well laid tarmac and with available of all amenities through out the way driving or riding is a sure fun. The last gas station is in Kotdwar so don’t forget to get your car/bike’s tummy full from here though I found some boards selling Diesel in black, but better to keep the LUCK aside.
NH-58 and NH-119 are to be followed to reach Lansdowne.
You need to take a right at Dugadda on NH-119 and I’ll suggest not to return via same route but to ask for the other route which meets NH-119 some 10-12 kilometers ahead of Dugadda, it will increase the distance by 5-6 kilometers but I bet you will love the surreal nature and superb twisties that you will find on your way.
With other options one can find UPRTC bus service from
Still, train is the most preferable way to travel to Kotdwar in the opinion of local people and to hire a taxi or something to Lansdowne. And daily service of Mussoorie Express may solve your problem.
Where to stay?
There are few very good options available to stay and explore this non-commercialized little hill station. GMVN (Garhwal Mandal Vikash Nigam) is always preferred in Uttarakhand for their proper service and all. Except it there are also few other private guest houses for the pleasant stay.
Winter is already here and I was yet to see some snow topping over the
So a quick ride to the Garhwal hills which lasted only for a day but not to mention about the experience of those awesome twisties and the nostalgia of riding the same old stretch of NH-58 which leads to
Pauri and Lansdwone were the places where I wanted to ride since long. And Satpuli is the another place in-between.
I missed Lansdwone because of a flat tyre some 15-20 kilometers before it which killed 2 precious hours. It was already dark then and I was in a hurry to reach
PAURI-GARHWAL
Best Time to Visit: April to June and September to mid-November
Route: Hardwar-Rishikesh-Devprayag-Pauri-Satpuli-Dogadda-Kotdwar-Kiratpur-Bijnor-Meerut-Ghaziabad-Delhi
Distance: 470+ Kilometers
And a special thanks to ‘Kunjal’ for his company.
Somewhere after Rishikesh
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 &
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 –
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
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 ‘
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.
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
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.
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