A Himalayan cycling adventure ties in remarkably well with a spiritual pilgrimage to the source of the holy river Ganges on our Garhwal Cycling Tour to Gangotri and beyond.
The circuitous journey of the Ganges from the glacial heights of the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean at Bay of Bengal is a voyage through a diverse and ever-changing landscape. High mountains, verdant valleys, deep gorges and pretty plains – the river cuts through it all and, while doing so, takes on a whole host of moods and personalities, ranging from turbulent, roily, muddy to placid and glassy clean. Pilgrims often trace the river’s journey in reverse direction to its source in the Himalayas of Uttarakhand in North India.
Uttarakhand is the setting of our cycling expedition to Gangotri. It is a hilly state lying cheek by jowl with Nepal in North India, but our starting point is Rishikesh where a traveller coming up from south leaves the plains and enters the Shivalik mountain range. The Ganges flow wide and lively here and the holy town is chockfull of temples, ghats, ashrams, yoga centres, and meditation retreats. It’s here The Beatles came looking for spiritual epiphany in late 1960s and discovered transcendental meditation at a guru’s ashram. A brief sojourn here is very rejuvenating and primes us for the Himalayan mountain biking adventure ahead.
Pushing north from Rishikesh, we enter the Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. The route winds along the river Bhagirathi, which is considered the most important source stream for the Ganges. The origin of Bhagirathi is the origin of the Ganges at Gangotri, but that’s a long way off at this point of our Garhwal biking tour.
Driving and biking the long distance of 76 km from Rishikesh (372m) to the town of New Tehri (1750m), we gain a lot of elevation. The landscape is gorgeous. Green hills rise up one after the other, making for an excellent workout for our legs. In the midst of this verdant setting, a huge Tehri dam appears, which, along with the artificial lake, makes for quite a sight from the vantage of a high road. A night’s stay at New Tehri charges us up for the ride to the town called Dharasu, an important stopover in our Gangotri biking adventure, because here, at a junction called Dharasu bend, the road forks into two – one goes eastward towards Gangotri, the other westward towards Yamunotri, the source of the river Yamuna.
We Cycling In India obviously take the road going east to the holy town of Uttarkashi, about a 30-km from Dharasu. Here, we leave Tehri Garhwal behind and enter the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. The landscape is dotted with temples and ashrams. We are now well and truly into ‘Devbhumi’ (land of gods) as Uttarakhand is popularly called.
Uttarkashi (Northern Kashi) is named thus because of the many similarities it shares with Kashi (Varanasi) in Uttar Pradesh. It is situated on the banks of the Bhagirathi, which becomes the Ganges in the lower plains. Not far from Uttarkashi is the hill Varunavat, which marks the confluence of two rivers Varuna and Assi. Varanasi, too, is situated at the confluence of Varuna and Assi and derives its name from these two rivers. Like Varanasi, Uttarkashi too has the famous Vishwanath Temple (The Lord of the World Temple) dedicated to Lord Shiva. Our Uttarakhand biking adventure reaches its half-way mark in this holy town.
At Uttarkashi, we are still three days of bike ride away from Gangotri. The first day’s ride is to the sylvan town of Bhatwari, which affords stunning sights of the surrounding Himalayan mountains and is located right opposite the gorgeous Shankh Dhara waterfall. The second day’s cycle ride takes us to Harsil, a hill station often called the ‘mini Switzerland’ of India.
The Bhagirathi river, which is usually very turbulent, flows calm at Harsil. According to a local legend, the rivers Bhagirathi and Jalandhari once had a heated argument over their significance and superiority. They invoked the Lord Vishnu, also known as Hari, to intervene and settle the dispute. The Lord, however, did something ingenious. He transformed himself into a big rock (Hari Shila) to absorb their anger. Since then, the Bhagirathi has flown calmly here. Cyclists on our Gangotri biking holiday may also be surprised to find apple orchards in Harsil. They were introduced in these parts long ago by a British traveller.
The third day’s ride ends at Gangotri, one of the four holy pilgrimage sites in the Chota Char Dham circuit. The river Ganges originates here at a place called Gaumukh, which literally means a cow’s mouth and is named thus because of a cavernous mouth at the foot of the mountain from which the river flows. According to Hindu mythology, the Goddess Ganga descended here from Lord Shiva’s locks.
The town has the Gangotri Temple and Bhagirath Shila, where King Bhagirath is believed to have meditated and prayed to Lord Shiva. A short trek here leads to a cave called Pandava Gufa where the Pandava brothers (from the Mahabharata) are believed to have rested on their journey to Mount Kailash. There’s a lot of legend and lore to relish during our stay at Gangotri on the ninth day of the 16-day biking tour of Uttarakhand.
At Gangotri, we begin our return journey to Dharasu with overnight stays at Gangnani and Uttarkashi, before taking the westward road at Dharasu bend and heading to the town of Brahmakhal. Here onwards, we enter the Dehradun district of Uttarakhand and stopover at the towns of Barkot and Nainbagh, before concluding the north Indian Himalayan biking tour at the hill station of Mussoorie.
On the final day, we slip into the holiday mood and visit Mussoorie’s famous Kempty Falls and explore the town, do souvenir shopping, check out the eateries and soak in the celebratory spirit of this tourist hotspot. Mussoorie’s high location throws up breath-taking views of the Himalayas to the northeast and the Doon valley to the south. The spectacle is best enjoyed from Gun Hill, the second highest point of Mussoorie accessed by a cable car.
The view is of the Great Himalayan range to the north – high snow-capped peaks grazing the sky and the rolling mountains with winding roads and trails which we’ve crossed on our bikes, all the way from Rishikesh to Gangotri and then to Mussoorie.
GARHWAL CYCLING TRIP IS AN ADVENTURE WITH ITS HARDSHIPS AND FUN MOMENTS. IT’S AN EXPERIENCE YOU WON’T FORGET FOR A LONG TIME.
