Bumpy Trail Bicyclists: Himalayan Biking

day 3: bhimtal-bhowali-mukteshwar (24 apr)

finally, the day of the big climb to mukteswar, 45km away, and at 2300m, a full 1000m above bhimtal.

binoy and am leave for bhowali at 0615, jd drives up to bhowali before joining us.

bhowali-gagar-ramgarh-dudhkhanedar:
bhowali to gagar is mostly climbing - not too steep except just near gagar. at gagar a long downhill starts continuing past ramgarh.

approaching ramgarh, binay is going behind a small truck when it suddenly brakes and bicycle brakes are never good enough so he slams into it. he reaches ramgarh fine, but has bruises on his left hand, and is quite shaken. some dull pain in that hand. he continues for the next portion, but soon gets into the car for some rest.

on the climb to mukteshwar: binoy; am

joydeep; manoj posing-w-bike

am-jd-binoy kashyalay-overlook

as the road turns uphill, JD winds up also, but i decide to continue. but a little before kasiyalekh, i too join them in the car for a few km. at bhataliya, i put my bike down and ride the last 4-5 km to mukteswar, past bunches of kids attempting to play cricket on some the slopes, past the temple - a major shiva deity in these regions - and finally into the kmvn compound, where we have a booking for a triple room. my total for the day: 41km

in the evening we walk up to the temple with spectacular views of the sunset.

bikes - not too common at the mukteswar KMVN ; binoy-fixing brakes; manoj-driver

joydeep and amit at mukteshwar temple ;

amit and binoy on balcony of mukteswar kmvn; binoy practicing macro-photography

binoy's ouput: yellow and blue flowers. given two mathematicians in the team, we note that both the flowers have petal counts that are fibonacci numbers (34 and 5 - go ahead and count them! ).

road-to-chauli-ka-jaali_cliff-retreat; mukteswar-view; british-period house... we speculated if this was where corbett may have stayed during his muktesar tiger hunt...

birds of mukteshwar

verditer flycatcher; unidentified species - sat for a long time at mukteshwar kmvn;

verditer-flycatcher at mukteswar

streaked-laughingthrush ; ladybug

map for day 3 ride: bhimtal - bhowali - ramgarh - mukteshwar (route in yellow)

* [ day 1: bhimtal-naukuchiyatal-bhowali]
* [ day 2: bhimtal-nainital-sat-tal-bhimtal]
* [ day 4: mukteswar-bhimtal-kathgodam]
* [ tour homepage ]

[bumpy trails bicyclists homepage]

amitabha mukerjee for the bumpy trail bicyclists. sep 2011. feedback: mukerjee [at] gmail