Uttarakhand - Woodhouse farm - Ramgarh

I visited the sacred temple of Sri Badarinath some 10 years back. That was my

first experience with the hill roads of Uttarakhand and I had decided that it would

be the last. I loved the place. The steep cliff on one side, the deep gorge on the

other side with the rushing river at the bottom and the view of the snow capped

hills. But I hated the roads. Winding narrow roads battered by landslides and

feeling like they were made entirely of loose mud and gravel. You keep moving

with difficulty fearing a landslide or loose boulders falling from the top. You witness

vehicles ahead of you getting crushed/pushed into the gorge by falling boulders.

And there is no chance to turn back ! We managed to complete our trip without

disasters and I decided not to go there again. 

But my family zeroed upon Uttarakhand for a short holiday and my son assured

me that it involves just about two hours of road travel. And that this terrain was

not as threatening as the ‘Chardham’ roads.  We were to take a flight to Delhi

and then travel by train to a small city named Khatgodam. From there, the village

Satoli, where we were expected to stay, was about two hours by road - if you

knew the exact location of your hotel. Add half an hour if you were depending

entirely on Google. Because, google urges you to take some interior road which

is barely 5-6 feet wide and you have to (as I did) get down and walk ahead to

confirm that it leads somewhere and that there is a provision to turn back,

if required. 

Anyway, the flight to Delhi and the journey by Shatabdhi express to Khatgodam

were fine, if you overlooked our stupidity of getting into compartment C1 instead

of E1 and the struggle of getting out of C1 when others were trying to get in ! 

Our destination ‘Wood house farm’  in satoli village was a cosy cottage of four

rooms, out of which we occupied three and one remained empty. We spent two

days there and shifted to the Neemrana Hotel at Ramgarh for the next two days.

An old British bungalow having four rooms, located on top of a hillock. No sight

seeing trips, no shopping and no other activity. Weather was splendid, surroundings

beautiful and service good. Best suited for lazing and reading and that is what we

did. As is my practice, I am maintaining an account of our trip on my blog through

pictures and captions. www.dentaldiaries.blogspot.com if you have patience for more. 

It is a pain to arrange pictures in order while posting on the blog and hence I have

left them in the random order that they appeared. I liked the shape of pine trees

and their effect on the landscape and hence there are a lot of pictures. Kindly bear.

Difficult to find level land in the hilly terrain. One such place, a clearing, next to my walking path at Satoli.  

The cottage at Satoli had a wonderful selection of books. Many, to my liking. Found, started and finished a book by one of my favourite authors Ruskin Bond. 

 Our group at Khatgodam station. 

Sitting and breakfast area - front of cottage at Ramgarh

Example of the Interior roads

Entrance to the cottage at Ramgarh

The looping road, photographed from a higher

point during my walk.

The common space at Wood house cottage 

My favourite corner for reading. One of my best reading experiences. 

The Cottage at Satoli 

One of the many 'hill view' pictures 

Took pictures of anything that looked good to me. Pine trees on a slope.

One of the many more !

Caption not required 

Ramgarh. The building with green roof was the place where we stayed. 

Warm morning sun and my chair, facing the Himalayas at a distance. 

The Himalayan Range, as seen from the cottage at Satoli

Picture taken from a height. Gives an idea of the terrain in general, at Ramgarh