Long Road Trip - From Dehradun to Himachal Pradesh with Friends

Hello Hiver, Today I will talk about my long drive journey, which I did from Dehradun to Delhi and from Delhi to Himachal. With my four friends.

When we four used to live in Delhi, we used to go running together. Then in the last five years we relocated. One friend went to Australia, one to Noida, one to Coimbatore and I to Uttarakhand. Finally one of our friends registered for a running event which was in Himachal in the month of October. And at the same time our friend from Australia came to Delhi. So on Friday morning I went to Delhi from Dehradun by road which is about 270 kms. And by leaving from here in the morning, I reached Delhi during lunch time. Then we had planned to meet because one of our friend was going back to Australia that night. Since he wasn't going to join us for the running event, we met him in Delhi.

Then I stayed at my mother's house in Delhi for two days. On Monday, two of us picked up our friend from Coimbatore and since we had already booked a car, we picked him up and headed straight to Himachal. We were going to Solang Valley in Himachal, which is 12 kilometers from Manali. Solang is approximately 511 kilometers from Delhi.

We encountered a lot of traffic jam while leaving Delhi and reached Chandigarh in 7 hours, which we should have covered in 5 hours. We stopped for dinner in Chandigarh at 8 pm. On the way there is a place called Haveli which is quite famous for food. We used the food and rest room there for 40 minutes. The driver took some rest and then proceeded for the rest of the journey. The hilly road was about to start soon and we knew that we would have to travel slowly because after the rain the roads in Himachal were quite slushy. From Himachal to Manali and then from Manali to Solang we took 3 breaks for tea and the driver also got tea and moreover. Meanwhile we made many calls to our hotel which was booked a month ago on the three numbers given by them. But no one picked up our phone. Light rain, snowfall time, cold and on top of that no one picking up the phone from the hotel made me a bit nervous. Still we had this thought that whatever happens, happens and we will see what we can do. Some of our companions were already in Solang, so we called them after getting tired and they made sure that they had spoken to the hotel people and we would find someone in the hotel.

To reach Solang, we had to make a few changes in our route as the road was broken and Google was also giving wrong directions. Google was either telling us to climb the mountain or go to the river. Since we have experience of walking in the mountains, we knew that Google would not be of any use at this time and we waited for the bus to arrive. We followed the bus and reached Manali. The route from Manali to Solang was absolutely fine and we knew it. Finally, we completed the entire journey in 17 hours.

After coming here, we rested the first day, this was also our plan, it was raining the whole day and it was quite cold, so our decision was absolutely right. Also, our friend who was going to run in the running event here, his body also had to be prepared according to the altitude here so that he could complete the race safely on the day of the race.

On the second day we went to Anjani Mahadeven, about which I have already written in a blog. Previous blog link for Anjani Mahadevan

Solang is a valley with beautiful treks, views, and peaks. This route also goes to Ladakh via the Manali Highway. From Solang Valley, trekkers can summit Hanuman Tibba, Friendship Peak, Patalsu Peak or go to Lady Legs after seeing the Vyas Kund. This is a very beautiful place where snow falls a lot, so much so that after a time, it is even possible to ski here in winter. Nearby Manali is a beautiful place where people come for a lot of walks on New Year or to enjoy the fresh snowfall. Paragliding is also available at two places here. And tourists come here throughout the year to see the beautiful valley.

I have already written about Solang, we went till Palchani, half of the journey we covered by taxi and then went to the bike paddle and enjoyed the fresh snow.
Previous blog link-

My friend ran 30 kms and did not come in the finisher category as he could not finish his run within the cut off time. Running in the mountains, especially at high altitude, is done, if someone comes from the plains then they should do altitude training for better results.

The entire event ended on Sunday, during this we also did a little volunteering in the running event. Then the same Sunday we took a taxi for return. I got off at Chandigarh and from there took a Volvo to Dehradun. My two friends went to Delhi. It took us 17 hours going from Delhi to Himachal and 9 hours returning from Himachal to Delhi.