Before the historic Lockdown 2020!(Dalhousie,Bir billing, Barot valley)

This trip was planned way in advance with my dear friend ,until a day before the trip she canceled and I was rather left with no choice than to travel alone. Yes this was my first solo Trip(cheers to the dedication)I started my journey from karmali station(Goa) which headed to Ahmadabad and within few hours of my arrival to the station,I had a another train (Jammu tawi) to board till Pathankot which took about 30-32hours to reach Pathankot further which I took a bus from nearest bus stand till Banikhet (Himachal Pradesh) which roughly took me 5-6hours  to reach. Mind me if you are person who has travel sickness carry some pills  as this is going to  give you a big time roller coaster ride!! While in the bus, i book a hotel (Hotel Nest)near to Dalhousie  cantt where I reached around 9pm in the evening, the staff there was quite polite and helpful enough to wait until my arrival as I had not compelted my payment process,but that's all of it. All the tiredness vanished as I looked out of the window,surrounding's were beautifully covered white with snow .

Early morning view looked quite stunning, gazed far across and just saw pine tree's dressed in white(I could stay here forever if it wasn't that cold 0 to-2degrees  )After a heavy breakfast I decided to walk around because cab drivers here would loot all your savings at once,so I started my walk from the hotel till Gandhi chowk stopping at numerous point to have the Pahado wali Maggie and clicked hundreds of Instagram  worthy picture's and interecting with people,I have a habbit of collecting fridge magnet's as a souvenir so I did that in Gandhi chowk and enquired if anyone was ready to take me to khajjiar and Kalatop  after which i decided to head back to the hotel before the temperatures dropped but due to my tired body and slow walk the sun went down and temperatures dropped and I slipped and fell many times on the frozen ice and till I reached my hotel room.

People were quite helpful but not helpful enough to find me cab that could sustain my budget, So I sat all night and voila I changed my mind and decided to head to Bir billing,(i know that was a quick change of mind) checked out of the hotel took a cab straight to banikhet and hopped on to a bus to palampur via nurpur and kangra. It took me a lot of time and patience until I reached palmpur around 7pm and had no buses to further carry on, so I decided to take a cab from palampur to Bir which cost me 600INR, as soon as we reached Bir as one of my friend had suggested me, i went on  hunting for this cafe in middle of greens The Northern Cafe! Trust me this cafe has amazingly drooling food run by a local Maya,after some full filling food went straight to Go stops (Hostel)where i stayed for 3 nights,there are numerous options for hostel around the area but I opted for Go stops.

I'm not a morning person as I arrived late in the evening the previous day,the excitment to see Bir in Day light was too much to handle.I woke up early dressed up and headed over to the Northern cafe yet again because I couldn't wait to try more food from the menu,and believe me she has some magic in her hand's the food was heavenly, i had pancakes and smoothie for breakfast which were 100 on 100. While at the cafe I could enjoy the view and hear many paragliders scream while they were mid air, which made me think twice whether I should give it a try or not! And Yes i was brave enough and decided to go for it, and it was second best decision I ever took, definitely traveling solo remains the first.
Where to find the pilot?
When you walk around you'll find trained pilot in dozen's, which charges 2000INR in which they take you from bir in a private vehicle and drop off at billing, which was about a 12-14km of travelling. World's second highest paragliding point,which includes take off from billing at the attitude of 8000 feet above sea level and landing at bir at about 4300 feet above sea level,normal flight is about 20-25mins  up in the air.

Day 2 in Bir the night was absolutely chilling and morning was windy,though managed to click some pictures from the gallery the view was astonishing, the spreads of green field and black clouds in the sky gave me an idea it would snow,but unlucky me it didn't snow but the temperatures dropped and it started pouring. I love such day's! I waited till the rain's conclude but it had diffrent palns,after sometime when the rain reduced a bit I covered myself in 2-3 layers of woolen clothes and made way to have my breakfast at silver linings cafe and on way I made some furry friends. Dog's Here are very friendly. Upon reaching the cafe as it was freezing outside, I decided to gulp upon hot chocolate and some rosemary potato wedges and they were delicious and simultaneously the weather outside was super good like some romantic Karan johar Film.

Last day in Bir! Hostel is convenient for bag packers or solo travelers like me as it gives one company and meet fellow hostelers then to stay up in a hotel room alone,so like the other day I woke up early and headed for my breakfast at Northern cafe. After a bit of conversation with Maya (owner of the cafe)and playing with BUDDY her pet dog,I got myself a cab to go to Barrot valley keeping in mind all the tip's I had just recieved from maya ,i had heard so much about this beautiful valley over that past 2-3days,but  my visuals didn't do justice to the actual beauty it was delightful and treat to the eye's,when entered in Barot valley,my driver took me across river just around where it was covered with snow,I played around with dog's,clicked pictures and driver helped me find a place to stay overnight, Barot is known for trout fish farming so for a reason I knew i would eat a plenty of Fish,as I belong from Goa,my love for fish is insane and I'm a Foodie too but as it was auspicious day of Lohri most of the places were shut so, I had limit to only eating hotel food as I was staying here for just a day I didn't get much to explore around ,but I'd suggest if you plan on to visit Barot, at least plan for a minimum of 3days so you could do camping and go fishing and enjoy the nature beauty it's peaceful and away from the city rush and cellular network isn't available so be prepared to live life off phone.

My estimate expenditure for the trip was around 14000-15000INR for 10days including my food,stay and travel by train from Goa to pathankot and back.

Nearest Airport to Dalhousie is pathankot which is about 84km
Nearest railway station to Dalhousie  is Pathankot which is about 81- 86km depending on the route you take, bus from either Airport or railway station is Only way to reach Dalhousie, unless your traveling from Delhi or around in a private car one can always opt for better options.

It was 10days trip
6day's of above mentioned itinerary and 4days of traveling back and forth.

Hope you enjoyed reading this and it provided the information you were looking for.