Day 10, October 10 2007: Pathankot – Amritsar – Faridkot – Bathinda – Patiala – Ambala – Panchkula

Again an early start as we lost another day to breakdowns. Itinerary changed and we were to hit Bikaner tonight. Finally after so long, we found good roads but within a couple of hours of riding on NH15 through Batala, Amritsar and Taran Taran we realized that the heat was getting unbearable. Took a call, changed the itinerary and decided to head westwards to Uttaranchal. Enroute we would meet up with my relatives for lunch at Bathinda and carry on to Patiala through Sangrur and Barnala on NH71 and NH64 to meet NH1 at Rajpura. Hyper cool relatives in Bathinda were sporty enough to host our filthy bodies as if they expected us be no better. As we hit Ambala we’d planned to check in and head out towards Dehradun on NH72 in the morning. But with all Hotels packed here, we backtracked all the way to Panchkula where my sister-in-law’s brother (Aditya) lived. Organised the night stay at his place and met him at 2300 hrs. Scampered through to find dinner and found yummy Butter Chicken at this place called Hot Feast in the Sector 16 market. Next day would be to Narayangarh and then to Dehradun and Rishikesh through Poanta Sahib and Herbertpur. Amidst utter confusions on the routes to be taken called up Hits and Saurabh back in Delhi. Luckily Aditya, working with an IT company had an Internet enabled place. Checked up the route online and decided to buy a Road Atlas first thing. I think I forgot to mention earlier that we had lost our maps on the third day morning when we tumbled up before Baralacha La and the sliding trucks. By now we decided to meet up Rohon’s friends who were headed to Rishikesh for a Rafting weekend. We’d lurk around Garhwal and meet them in Rishikesh on Saturday afternoon.

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