Wander through India : NORTHERN EXPEDITION 2014 : DAY IV ..and finally we approach Manali on the National Highway 21

# DAY IV: Anandpur sahib –Manali sector

#21. We woke up to a great new day which was supposed to see us through to Manali , anyways we did not have a very early start as envisaged but eventually by 0630 hrs we were on our way and soon we were welcomed into Dev Bhoomi Himachal . The border between Punjab and Himachal comes immediately as one crosses Anandpur Sahib and soon we were crossing Swarghat followed by Bilaspur in quick succession.

#22. The NH 21; a 323 KM long highway which connects Chandigarh with Manali ,has deteriorated since the last time that I had travelled on this route and I don’t see any immediate repair action or plan in sight, the vehicles trudge as per their capability suffering the abuse that the deteriorated road heaps on them and in return the road deteriorates even further , it is a vicious cycle .Progress was slow but we continued on for we wanted to reach Manali as early as possible to look around the city which was a part of the initial agenda. Sundarnagar was passed at around 1135 hrs and Mandi was reached by around noon covering a distance of just 124 km sincle morning. We payed our respects to Hanogi Mata Mandir and then we were on our way towards the Aut tunnel , a three km long road tunnel built right through the mountain ranges , definitely a feat of engineering. The Buntur airport is just 15 km after Aut. The Beas River which by now had become our constant companion gurgled and flowed merrily all the while and is synomonous with NH 21. I could not have a look at the Pandoh Dam properly as by now we were more interested in reaching our final destination for the road conditions had somehow eroded our patience and we wanted to just relax a bit after completing the drive for the day.

#23. Soon we crossed the bypass of Kullu town and finally decided to stop for lunch rather than try to push for Manali. I am not sure but I found almost all the restaurants were shut in the afternoon , is it that they close for some hours after around two , am not sure but the coincidence was too much to miss. We reached Naggar by 1540 after covering a distance of 221 Kms and Manali was reached by 1630 hours.

#24. Our stay was booked at Ride Inn which was on the outskirts of Manali Town on the way to Rohtang , but we were not in a hurry to reach there and instead decided to spend some time in Mall Road soaking up the ambience after the ride of the day . The next couple of hours were spent just drifting in Mall road; the car had already been parked in the common car parking. We did sample some Momos at Chopsticks And also visited few of the underground markets, stocked up the famous apple pickle and basically chilled the time away.

#25. By around seven thirty in the evening we were ready to leave for Ride Inn which is located in Shenang Village and it is a cozy set up which has been lovingly put up by Godwin d’cruz who incidentally is from Mumbai . The ambience of the place deserves thumbs up but the approach to his place is quite narrow for four wheelers.ODO for the day stood at 74444.