If you are living in Delhi and you are an avid traveller you cannot spend a long weekend sitting back at home doing nothing . We rather choose a ” Do nothing ” vacation. So don’t expect my blog to provide you info about nearby Interesting places or what to shop …kind of stuff. Its ….Do nothing…just drive in to your stay….enjoy the local food….wake up to the chirping of birds…see the landscape when the first ray of the sun touches it….watch carefully how the butterfly sucks the nectar on a bright sunny day…see the birds busy finding its favorite food.
This Ram Navami we had a long weekend and on the dinner table when my hubby declared that it will be a holiday for him too …we took no time to decide Chakrata, a small quaint village in the lap of Himalayas as our destination.
Chakrata has a long history…No…I am not talking about the history of the place …I am talking about the history of our failed vacation plans at Chakrata. The plan took shape with apprehension whether Our mission Chakrata will be a success this time.
Finally the day came and our fantastic five were all set to enjoy our next vacation.
We set off at 6:30 in the morning. The challenge was to cross the border before 8 because of the ongoing odd even scheme . Bade bade saharon main aise choti choti challange atirahti hain .
I think many people on vacation spree took up the same challenge as a result there was quite a lot of traffic on the road. Crossing the Delhi border was uneventful and with the usual attention that our car gets. We are used to the gaze and attention that we get…. All thanks to Lassy and Chocos…. Lassy acts like a celebrity and doesnot even bother to look towards the people whereas Chocos gives a smile ( yes…dogs do that ) and waves his tail at them.Crossing the border, we thought of satisfying our grumbling stomach… we took a breakfast stop. We had chicken burgers packed with us. Seeing the number of people buzzing infront of all the dhabas, we patted our back for the decision of carrying food along with us.
Now about the route we followed. On taking experts opinion we knew that this route is fastest.
Delhi – Karnal – Indri – Ladwa – Yamuna nagar – Paonta Sahib – Chakrata.
Just after crossing the ITI flyover of Karnal, continue driving approx 4 kms. , You will have to leave the NH1 and take a right turn towards Indri/ Yamunanagar.
The road is a joy to drive on….with green fields on both the sides. It is a two lane SH.
After about 1 hour from Yamunanagar the green cover by the road started to get denser. Sometimes ignorance leads to wonderful surprises we did not know that the road moves thro’ the outskirts of Kaleswar national park of Haryana.
We didnot miss the photo op……got down from our car and took some photographs…
Needless to say, we didnot encounter any wild animals …only monkeys in large groups were ruling the road…
Other than slow traffic while crossing the towns the drive was enjoyable and the road condition was good.
At sahiya , instead of taking the road towards chakrata, take the road towards Yamunotri to reach Ramtal resort.
The road towards Ramtal is quite narrow. Driving on this road you will lose count of the number of curves….the surface of the road was excellent throught. While we were ascending the mountain it appeared we are the only inhabitant of the land…. No people were to be seen…. Few mud houses were scattered over the mountains far from each other….. our car moved through the dense forest of pines, deodars and rhododendrons. The valley was claded in red as the rhododendrons were in its full blossom.
We reached the resort at 3.30….
It was Navratri, so the otherwise quaint place of Ramtal was beaming with people. The small ongoing fair had created ripple in the otherwise quite life of the locals .
Ramtal resort….consists of just 5 swiss tents….very neat with attached bathrooms. Its usp is its location. All the tents faces the valley
For urbanites …like us… Such places are just out of our dreams…..
The tents are set up on a ground carpeted with white daisies …. Overlooking the valley…. Mountains surrounding it . As you step outside the resort premises there is a ground which is flat surrounded by rolling hill slopes…. it appears as if nature has created a stadium….
This post was originally published on '1travelbuff'.