This is the (final) part III of the ride story to Chopta and the trek to Chandrashilla-Deoria Tal.
This morning I had to wake up early in order to catch a flimpse of the sunrise from over the Mount Chaukhamba. It was 5:30am and thankfully the sleeping bag I was provided with was warm enough. The view from my tent of new day at this beautiful place:
Now morning business is very difficult to do when there is no toilet around. I have a habit of drinking good amount of water because it helps in clearing my bowels but today I avoided it because otherwise I would end up in a difficult situation. Well I got ready to walk to the lake so that I can capture some good pics of the sunrise and its reflection on the lake water. But since the sky was very cloudy I wondered if we will get a chance to witness that. Still I went to the lake and waited there trying to click some pics. At one point of time the sun did show itself for a while which filled the sky with wonderful colours, gave a golden tint to the peaks and the golden gradient to the patch of clouds. This was quiet a beautiful sight. Check out the pics
So after waiting and clicking pics for
around 45 mins I decided to head back. The guy who provided you tent and
sleeping bag will take care of it and you just need to head back. My legs were
still kinda sore with pain but thinking that at least I am not climbing up, I
decided to walk down without any help as I was already feeling bad for not
doing so in my onward trek. While you are climbing down, be prepared to answer
the 'how far is it?' 'how much more to go?' questions multiple times from the
people who are climbing up to the lake. So I had started on my way back at
7:30am and reached the base at 8:45am, this was at a moderate speed.
First thing I did was to use bathroom and my guy even provided me with a room for 1-2 hours offering me to use the bathroom. Breakfast options are limited, maggi, bread, paratha. Well it didn't matter to me what was for breakfast, because the view which came with it was too good to think about what I was eating
Sitting here sipping a glass of tea, gave me time to think of the starry night it had been.
I still had time so I sat in the shop and talked to one old man for sometime. He talked about the weather in this village and how people are very welcoming to tourists which I felt for sure was true. Another interesting thing I noticed that for the time I sat in the shop making my notes, I didn't see any shopkeeper here. Point being people are honest and don't take advantage of situations like these. Well I also used this time to charge my phone at the shop.
Even though the road till Sari is in great condition, if your body is giving up it will get difficult to ride no matter how good the roads are. And today it was that kind of day. For sure I could not and I didn't want to cover the distance to Gurgaon in a single day. Good for me I had 2 days to ride back. So I decided to make Devprayag has the destination for the day.
The ride from Sari to Devprayag was kinda tough only because it was getting very hot on the road which made me take frequent breaks. Rudraprayag was where I stopped for lunch at around and reached Devprayag at around 3pm. You see it was jus 125km of distance done today but it felt like I had been riding for the longest time. My friend had suggested this Hotel Uma which offered a good view from the balcony:
First thing I did after checkin-in the room was...sleep! Slept straight for 4 hours and it was then I felt I can ride again tomorrow. I came out to see that all the shops are already closed and there were hardly any places to eat. I continued to walk down towards the confluence point and found there was no evening prayer either.
But I really enjoyed sitting here for sometime listening to the sound of strong flow of the river. Once I left the place I felt as if the sound of the river has cleared my head somehow. I came back to the hotel to eat simple dinner of roti-dal and hit the bed again.
Next day I started my ride at 8am and it was already hot! I made my first stop at Byasi for breakfast after dealing with some notorious truck drivers who wanted to race with me on the hills. Riding further to Roorkee, the traffic jams here always gets on your mind. Anyways staying hydrated is important and do enjoy the local specialities of lemon shikanji.
The ride back to home is always the longest. Its when all the elements which keep you together start falling apart. As soon as I entered Delhi I was almost hit by a car and I told myself, Welcome to the city. However I have never felt like dead tired whenever I reached home after a ride. Managed to reach home safely at around 5. So far this has been the best ride of the year for me. I have enjoyed it as much as the Bir Billing ride but the trek has given it a special place in my list. This is a very late post and as I write this one, I am already thinking of my next ride+trek incoming in few days. Stay tuned!
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