Exploring Garh mukteshwar…River Ganga

It was the month of Aug 2016 when I was planning to visit tirthan valley in Himachal Pradesh, but monsoon was holding me back. I really wanted to be on roads as my last trip was three months before I was discussing about my trips with my colleague on 12 aug 2016 when suddenly i asked him if not a long road trip lets plan a day bike ride as I planned it with bhargav. My colleague Abhineet also owns a bullet. But he never did a road trip outside delhi., When I suggested him to accompany me for a day trip he agreed to join. I decided to visit Garhmukteshwar as it was already in my To Do List and can easily be done in a day.

 Finally we decided that we will do our ride one day before Independence Day so it was 14 aug 2016 when we decided to do our ride. We asked another friend Arun who is our lunch partner to join us, he immediately confirmed his presence. I was glad that this time I convinced couple of my friends to join a ride with me. We Three decided to start by 0600 in the morning.

A day before our trip Arun called me up to inform me that  one more colleague Sridhar also got ready for this one day ride. Me, Arun and Sridhar decided to meet outside our office at bhikaji cama place. Abhineet decided to join us at Akshardham.

A night before our trip I had dinner by 2000 hrs and went off to sleep by 10 pm. I had a sound sleep and was dreaming about our journey when my alarm started shouted at 0500 hr. I quickly stopped the alarm and stepped out of bed. I messaged on the what’s app group that was temporary created for this trip and quickly got a reply from Sridhar that I am awake and Ganesh (one of our colleague) will also join us and will be a pillion of Sridhar . So now we were 5 of us for this ride.

I got ready and went downstairs when my mom offered me tea and i simply said yes. After having tea I started my Bike and hit the road. By 0615, I reached IOCL petrol pump in front of bhikaji cama place and fueled up my bull.  I was waiting for sridhar and arun when at 0630 Arun messaged “Guys Sorry I just woke up” Seeing his messaged I realized that he is late and. on the other side abhineet was waiting for us at Akshardham. While all these thoughts were going in my mind I got a call from  sridhar and told me that he and arun will join us at INA.

I reached INA and within few minutes sridhar and ganesh joined me. We were waiting for arun and our wait ended by 0720. As soon our bikes hit the barapula flyover towards Akshardham God blessed showers on us. It was great morning with heavy rain as we completely got drenched till we meet Abhineet who was already waiting for us from past one hour. Finally our group was together and we decided to ride at a speed of 70 kms towards Garhmukteshwar. Before starting our journey further we decided to have a group photograph.

We were thundering at a speed of 70 Kmph along with natural thunders. It was raining all the way. It was early morning and being Sunday we didn’t got any traffic hurdles to cross Ghaziabad on NH-24 and leaving NCR. We were enjoying our ride and awesome weather. The clouds were dark and continuous rain assured that we remain completely drenched.

Arun was leading us…and I was really enjoying my ride when suddenly I saw that arun was stopping his bike near tea stall somewhere on NH-24.. We all three followed and stopped ..The following pictures were taken at that place.

After having a cup of tea we decided to move further. This place was 15 kms from Hapur Bypass We decided to stop at a Dhaba after crossing hapur by pass for breakfast. We started our bulls and again were riding on NH-24…speeding at a speed of 70 kmph and were enjoying our group ride. We crossed hapur by pass and headed towards Garhmukteshwar on NH-24. We stopped at shiva tourist dhabha (there were many with the same name) we stopped at shiva dhabha at our side. We parked our bikes and headed towards the eating zone.

We ordered paranthas and enjoyed our breakfast while interacting with dhaba staff who inquired about our bikes. The following pics were taken there.

After having breakfast we again started our bullets and decided to stop directly at Brijghat as it was just 25-30 kms away. We started riding and soon crossed the toll and on the left side we saw around 4-5 boggies of Indian railways laying in toppled fashion along the railway track. This reminded us of the news on May 1 2016 that “Eight coaches of Delhi-Faizabad Express derail near Hapur” .Yes the debris was from that accident. After crossing that site we saw a board signaling Garhmukteshwar 3 kms on left side. There was a road on left side that was leading to the town, we stopped and enquired from some locals who said if you guys wish to take holy dip in river ganga you go three kms straight further on NH-24 and reach brijghat to witness river Ganga. We followed the instructions and reached brijghat and parked our bikes in the Parking Area.

The scene at Brijghat was awesome on one side there was a clock tower and one side it was river Ganga flowing at its full speed. The power of the holy river attracted me to take a dip. The water was cold and refreshing, we enjoyed in river Ganga for about 20 minutes.

After a refreshing holy dip we again got charged up to ride and explore the town. We started our bikes and soon entered the town.  It started raining and we reached Nakka kuan under the blessings of nature. We inquired about the significance of  Nakka Kuan when locals told us that  once a bulluck cart dropped in this well and it was recovered from river ganga, so there is a link between this well and river Ganga. I really don’t know about the truth behind their story but it’s always nice to listen stories from the locals.

We were enjoying the peace at the place when I remember that before entering the gate I have seen a hawker selling some food. While my friends were roaming around nakka kuan, i went outside and inquired about the hawker and came to know that he was selling veg biryani..I ordered one and it was just for Rs 20 /plate. I had it and believe me it was so awesome, nicely cooked rice with soya chap served with tomato chutney and onions.. It realy satisfied my taste buds.

After having the biryani I explored nakka kuan, it’s really a peaceful place with few temples. We interacted with sadhu’s who told us that they plant there vegetables and fruits inside the campus of Nakka kuan only and cook them fresh.

After having great and peaceful time at nakka kuan, we decided to visit Ganga temple before returning back to delhi.

All my colleagues had the veg biryani from the same hawker outside nakka kuan and there review was also the same.

We started our bikes and travelled through the narrow village roads, witnessing children playing in rain, waiving and following us to Ganga Temple.

Ganga Temple is one of the famous tourist places. It is an ancient Ganga temple which used to have almost 101 steps leading down to the river. From those 101 steps, 81 steps are still intact at present. There is a white stone idol of Lord Brahma according to locals. We didn’t saw the idol as the temple was closed. One more interesting thing about this temple is a special echo. When someone steps up or stamps down fast there is a sound similar to the one as someone throws stones in river. Believe me we all witnessed the sound and really it was a special echo.

I really recommend a visit to this Holy Town as this is the closest place to witness River Ganga from delhi.

And now was the worst part of our trip…returning back home. But as someone quoted ” Every Exit is an Entry somewhere Else”. We kick started our bullets and started our return journey with few stops inside village and a stop for lunch at the same Dhaba where we had breakfast. The food was really awesome so as our day trip. Our bullets ensured that  all of us reach safely to our respective Homes by 1900 Hours.

Signing off to write about my next road trip……