Uttar Mahayatra

Bird's eye view: The morning dawned dim, but the day was anything but. Till date, this drive of Almora to Ranikhet was perhaps the most beautiful one. It was not a long distance, perhaps 55 km, but I really did not feel like driving fast. We left at 8.45 am and reached at 12.45 pm, with a Kosi river crossing and a mystery stop in between. The weather remained cloudy and cool, the perfect climate to wander around the countryside. We were dropping 600 ft below Mukteswar, so the weather became a little warmer. Leaving Almora (8.45 am): Like other days in the recent past, we had decided that we will leave after breakfast. Panna, in particular, was particularly enamoured of the alu paratha, so an early departure was out of the question. We peered out at a gloomy sky. Did it look like rain? Not really. We did not mind a little gloom in the hills; it gave the feeling that a couple of murders may have happened in this ancient KMVN heap, particularly in their super-delux-luxury...

KMVN: I somehow have a weakness for KMVN properties in Uttarakhand (or GMVN in the Garhwal part). It has a level of assured inefficiency, that can be depended upon. Which means, while booking blind, we can safely say: “It cannot be lower than this.” Location and Spaciousness will be excellent , Room quality moderate , Food good and Service unpredictable . On the other hand, for a random hotel booked online, everything will be unpredictable .  The Almora property is one of the better ones, though quite old, which is not surprising given that the city is as old as Henry the Eighth. Big rooms, running empty right now, standing next to the radio station and the stadium. Having woken up early anyways, and having checked that the early sunlight was not shining on any peeking peaks, we lazed in bed (excellent bed, linen and quilt), had bed-tea, and bed-breakfast of egg sandwich (I) and alu paratha (Panna), before completing our ablutions and considering what to do with this beautiful day...

Bird’s eye view: We have now started a period of short drives in the Kumaon region, where we are hanging around and enjoying nature in different places (viz Mukteswar, Almora, Ranikhet, Kausani etc), rather than rushing from point to point. After having chilled at Mukteswar at our friend’s beautiful house for two full days, today we travelled to Almora, less than 50 kms away, where we will spend two nights. Almora is at 5,500 ft, slightly lower than Mukteswar. We left in a relaxed mode at 9.30 am and clocked in at 12.30 pm. The route was half village roads and half highways, the weather clear, though hazy. Last two days at Mukteswar: I had not blogged separately, since we were not travelling the last two days. As mentioned earlier, this school friend of mine has a beautiful house in a village in Mukteswar. Although his wife was away at an unexpected conference, he played super-host and super-chef all on his own, and we spent hours talking about everything on earth. Having s...