A view of the road cutting towards Bhowali village done in 2012
A panoramic view of the new road cutting on the bye pass to Kainchi Dham from Bhowali Sanatorium as on June, 2026
Every
year I visit my home in Ranikhet region of Uttarakhand during the summers.Accordingly, this year too I planned my visit
in June, 2026 but due some official pre-engagement, I had to shift my visit to
second week of June, 2026 and to be precise, I planned my visit on 13th June,
2026.There is a very famous shrine of
Baba Neem Karoli Baba en-route Ranikhet from Haldwani/Kathgodam and even during
normal weekends it is packed with pilgrims and vehicles.This shrine has a special significance for
15th of June every year, as it is the foundation day of the shrine.There is so high influx of pilgrims and
tourists that the Government has to impose restrictions for visit during the
said days.I had presumed that the
restrictions would kick in only a day earlier than the scheduled mela/fair as
per the usual practice and had accordingly planned and purchased ticket for
early morning Shatabdi train for 13th June, 2026 that would reach Kathgodam by
mid-day of the same date and thereafter, travel for about 90 Kms. or so by taxi
to my home.
Panoramic view of Bhowali village in 2012
Panoramic view of Bhowali village in June, 2026
I
reached New Delhi Railway station early in the morning well in time and boarded
the train.I had a fixed driver who
usually ferried me from Kathgodam to my home in Ranikhet region and I had
already informed him beforehand and he had also acknowledged the same.By the time I reached Haldwani, I rang him up
to inform him about my imminent arrival in Kathgodam, but his phone god disengaged
every time I tried to dial his number.Since, I had another number, I rang up with it and his phone rang but he
did not respond and thereafter, switched off his mobile.It can be appreciated that a person may get
pre-occupied with some other work, but courtesy requires that he informed me
about it beforehand.So I had to talk to
another person from my village, who operates his own taxis and he provided me
with an alternate number of another driver and he willingly agreed to pick me
up from Haldwani itself.Having tied up
with the new driver, I alighted from the train at Haldwani station itself and
got onto his taxi for our onward journey to Ranikhet.The driver informed me that he stays in
Ranikhet and hence it was his regular route.However, on the way he informed me that this year the road restrictions
on Kainchi Dham route had kicked in two days in advance rather than usual one
day in advance.Although the usual choke
point of Nainital entry point was normal and we got past it without much ado,
however, just as we reached Bhowali sanatorium region, there as a traffic jam,
as the traffic was being diverted and we took the chance of going through the
newly constructed bye-pass to Kainchi dham rather than the circuitous route
through Mukteshwar-Almora-Ranikhet route that had been decided by the
authorities.
Panoramic view from Chorsa village in 2012 when it was not connected by road
View of Chorsa village in June, 2026 as the road passes through it
The
usual distance from Bhowali to Kainchi Dham through the regular route is about
8-9 Kms., however, the length of newly constructed bye-pass from Bhowali
sanatorium is about 18 Kms.The first
twelve kilometers of this new route was properly paved, but beyond that the
road is unpaved and uneven, a little rain can severely constrict movement
across this road.I had last traversed
through this road way back in 2012, when we were offered a piece of land in a
place called Chorsa village on this route, but as the road had not been
constructed properly by then, the bunch of friends had decided to traverse this
kuchha road of about 8-10 Kms. by foot and we had sent out taxi to Garam Pani
to wait for our descent.The condition
of the road then was so atrocious that we had called off the plan to buy land
in Chorsa village as we did not want to get struck with no means of transport
to the village and it is only recently that the road has been developed.I have some old photographs and hence have
posted them as then and now photos.Beyond the initial paved 12 Kilometers stretch, the road was so bad that
the remaining six odd kilometers took almost one and a half hours to
traverse.I have placed a link to a
short video for the viewers to evaluate the conditions themselves.The remainder of the journey was without any
further hiccups and we reached my home well in time.
Finally reached my home - view of my garden
Panoramic view of valley with Ranikhet in view across the valley from my home
View of Soni village - shot from a view point about 700 meters from my residence
Here is a short video of the
road from Bhowali sanatorium-
*Note - all the recent photographs have been shot using my mobile phone camera and hence the quality may lag a little.
Ranikhet – during
monsoon in August, 2025 (A photo blog)
There
are a plethora of blogs on my link describing the various facets of the quaint
little hill station of Ranikhet, as I keep visiting the destination to oversee
the maintenance work related to my pad in a village called Timila that is
situated in Tarikhet Block of Ranikhet Tehsil.Therefore, I am not describing any details regarding the journey from
Delhi to Timila village, but briefly to state, we took the early morning
Shatabdi upto Kathgodam and after reaching their around Noon, we proceeded
further in hired Taxi.Being peak
monsoon season, we had a blast eating local fire grilled maize and I found to
my dismay that many of the sellers were pushing maize from plains as one from
the hills, the latter is costlier and have a distinct sweet & soft texture.
However, this time around, having
visited after quite a long time, I had not anticipated that the Kainchi Dham
would be packed, however the entire stretch was and as we were already late for
lunch, but we kept our tryst with the ‘Highway Inn’ run by KMVN at Khairna for
our lunch.
My
wife had not travelled to any of the hill stations during monsoon, so it was
first time for her and the scenic beauty of the hills totally mesmerized her
and describing it in words would be futile, so I chose to post a photo blog
this time around.Here goes the
photographs with brief descriptions –
Miaze being grilled on local wood
Wild Begonia flowers blooming around the hillside during monsoon
After days of dark cloud cover - the Himalayan ranges gave us a rare glimpse
Panoramic view of Baba Haira Khan temple in Chilyanaula, Ranikhet during monsoon season
Panoramic view of Ranikhet township during monsoon from road leading to Majhkhali
The cloud covered with a green top golf ground of Ranikhet
View of the valley below from Naini Village enroute of Majhkhali from Ranikhet
Umbrella Liverwort growing during monsoon season in Ranikhet region
Chetnuts growing on tree in Chaubatia Garden in Ranikhet
Panoramic view from Chaubatia Garden in Ranikhet
As the clouds envelope the Pine trees of forest in Ranikhet region
Panoramic view of Timila village in Ranikhet Tehsil
As the cloud cover moves in - view from Timila village during monsoon
As the tufts of clouds drift along the valley - view from Timila village in Ranikhet Tehsil
A wide angle view from my Timila village home in Ranikhet Tehsil during monsoons
Just after a bout of rains - view from village Timila in Ranikhet Tehsil of Uttarakhand
Just after brief bout of rain - rainwater on Colocasia (Arbi in Hindi) leaves - shot in Timila village in Ranikhet Tehsil of Uttarakhand
Rose of Sharon (locally called Kaner or Gular in Hindi) - after rains - shot in village Timila in Ranikhet Tehsil of Uttarakhand
The year 2024
is almost drawing to a close and we are in the last month of the year.But due to several issues, I could not
compose my blogs and decided that at least for the sake of records, I should
conclude the year with some of my blogs in respect of places visited during the
year.After visiting Puducherry for some
admission related work of my daughter, we decided for a short visit to Ranikhet
during July, 2024.
Panoramic view of Binsar Mahadev temple
A view of 'Dolia Pahadi' restuarant in Ranikhet
As my car was
due to complete its 15 years life time tenure in September, 2024 we decided to
make a last trip in my car to Ranikhet.Usually, I refrain from visiting the hills during the rainy season, but
this time around as the rains were scanty and there was no other time available
for the visit, we decided to take a chance.It was hot and humid as we proceeded for the journey from Delhi and
remained so till we reached the hills.We had two short breaks for B’fast, around Gajraula and for lunch at
Bhimtal (having driven via Haldwani) and on the way to Bhimtal, tried some fire
grilled Maize (Bhutta in Hindi), but due to lack of rains, the taste was not as
good as we were used to having during our past visits.Having started at 6.30 A.M sharp from Delhi,
we reached my pad in village Timila in Ranikhet Tehsil in the evening at around
4.00 P.M.
Hydrangea (Guldasta in Hindi) in bloom
We settled in
for a few days in the peace and tranquility of the hills, although it was not
very hot, but lack of rains had made an impact all around and the hills were
not as green as they are during monsoons in the hills.During this stay, we visited the famed
‘Binsar Mahadev Temple’ that is about 2.5 Kms. from my village home.We also visited Ranikhet main market also
during the said visit and headed for lunch in a restaurant that boasts about
its cuisine etc. named ‘Dolia Pahadi’.It had started drizzling by the time we could locate the restaurant
entrance, which is about 100 odd meters away from the road head and finding a
parking space is also a challenge.But
apart from the ambience, the food was not at all to our satisfaction,
especially the chapattis were smelling, as if made from stale atta (flour) and
despite asking them the replace, the second serving was also the same.So despite having high hopes of having a
sumptuous lunch, we had to retrace our steps back, simply dissatisfied with the
outing.The only silver lining was that
we could get half a plate of famed mutton chap from Prakash dhaba in Ranikhet
market for my daughter on our way back.As it had started raining, we simply retraced our way back to our pad in
the village.
A Khalij pheasant (male) in jungle adjoining my house in village Timila
After having
settled for a few days in our pad, simply enjoying the tranquil enviorn, we
started back for Delhi.However, this
time around we decided to travel from Ramnagar side, as it is shorter distance as
compared to coming back via Haldwani.But I rued my decision , as after crossing Kashipur the road heads
across a short bridge built over a small rivulet and therefrom the entire road
was splattered with huge potholes and a journey of about 40 odd kilometers took
3 hours to complete and the experience was atrocious.We reached Delhi late in the evening and
thus, completed my first visit to Ranikhet for the year.
Road along Shipra River - from Kainchi Dham towards Khairna
On the way towards 'Binsar Mahadev temple'
Himalayan ranges at sunset - as seen from my pad in village Timila
A panoramic view of the Himalayan ranges as seen from village Timila
The second
visit to my pad in village Timila in Ranikhet Tehsil was undertaken by me with
a family friend of mine in November, 2024.Since my vehicle had been scrapped on completion of the tenure, we had
no other option but to travel by train.We boarded the Kathgodam Shatabdi from New Delhi Railway station at 6.20
A.M in the morning, after having had an altercation with the Taxi Driver, who
dropped us on the road on Paharganj side, without completing the journey citing
jam and we had to trudge about 500 odd meters to reach the station.However, the train journey was smooth and we
got down at Kathgodam at around 12.00 Noon and therefrom commenced on our
journey towards Ranikhet via Jeolikote side by local Taxi driven by my long
standing trusted driver Mr.Amit (Monu being his nickname).On the way we had a sumptuous lunch of Mutton
and rice at a road side eatery (dhabha), but were struck in a mild jams
starting from entrance to Nainital till the time we crossed Kainchi dham.Although my friend was inclined to visit
Kainchi Dham, I insisted that he undertakes the visit during his return
journey, which was scheduled earlier than my departure.We reached my pad in village Timila in
Ranikhet Tehsil at around 3.45 P.M and it was quite cold in the evening, as the
winters had started setting in, I had asked my caretaker to prepare a fire wood
stove (Angithi in Hindi) to ward for the extreme dampness and cold faced during
first day due to the fact that the house remains closed for months
together.During my friend’s very short
visit, we went to Binsar Mahadev temple one day and rested for the remaining
days.I continued for some more time and
spent my time cooking and washing utensils etc. and enjoying the environs of
the village to soothe my strained nerves, away from the hustle and bustle of
the city life.I returned back following
the same route, but after collecting and purchasing some local vegetables, ginger
and kidney beans from village home.Thus,
ended my second visit to Ranikhet region for the year.
