Bumpy Trail Bicyclists: Himalayan Biking

day 1: bhimtal - naukuchiyatal - bhowali

22 april 2011:
drove overnight from iitk on 21st, leaving 9:30pm. an hour later, Joydeep realizes he has left his tool bag behind - which means he isn't carrying a spare tube... there will be consequences to this...

we reach kathgodam at 0530; by 0615 we are at bhimtal (1370m). kmvn guest house is full, but the dormitory is available. we book the entire dormitory with ten beds for 1.5K.

binoy-am-jd at the bhimtAl KMVN tourist cottage - we set off for a circuit within minutes of our 06:15 AM arrival; island in the bhimtal lake; apparently it's an aquarium;

amit helping the functionary lift a sluice gate...

right after arrival, we do a circuit of bhimtAl lake before sleeping. jd and binoy have bkfst, i skip that too. we wake at 12 noon. lunch at a new thatched-hut restaurant called jontymonty...

jonty-monty-lunch; grey-bushchat;

we then do a circuit of the "nine-cornered lake" naukuchiyatal (1280m). keeping lake to the left, we reach a dead end but enter a narrow path through a gate - leads into the lake resort complex, bring bicycles up through restaurant onto main road.

back at bhimtal, we rest at mallital gazebo - i fix front tire then rear tire at gh - we then do the solid climb to bhowali (1760m) - joydeep is against this since it's boring. road has many gravel and pothole stretches, and much traffic - fruitage juices -

we get back by car and have dinner at restaurant called fishfolk, owned by army lady who is a harry potter fan (induced by her daughter).

total cycling for the day 37km.

kids from a kanpur family; gabbar-singh; girls dressing-up in lehenga-choli

two hanumans? large hanuman statue are de rigeur at many rama temples ; binoy posing above naukuchiya-tal; amit on road above the lake;

map for day 1 rides: bhimtal - naukuchiyatal - bhowali

* [ day 2: bhimtal-nainital-sat-tal-bhimtal]
* [ day 3: bhimtal-ramgarh-mukteswar]
* [ day 4: mukteswar-bhimtal-kathgodam]
* [ tour homepage ]

[bumpy trails bicyclists homepage]

amitabha mukerjee for the bumpy trail bicyclists. sep 2011. feedback: mukerjee [at] gmail