Should I follow Avinash’s advice and head up into the hills on highway 9 or that of the Indian immigration officer advising against that route? I chose the hills and it is an impressive mountain road in the beginning. It must have been a wicked monsoon up here. There had been massive landslides in many places. You have to wonder if adequate attention had been paid to this possibility when this road was built (and very recently).
The repair work is going full steam unlike in Nepal where there is nothing going on.
Then in the afternoon the road was blocked for an hour by a controlled landslide. How I would have liked to find a lodge/hotel anytime along the way. There were none so I had to push on to Champawat. It turned dark with about 10 kms. to go- not quite enough to get me to stop and rifle through my bag to get out my (unzippable) jacket or my headlamp that I am carrying for just such occassions since the Thorung La. I made it, very very cold to the first place I saw which was a Oyo place. Oyo’s are usually very good and I like staying in them; this one though was substandard.
This was really a long day with a lot of climbing. I think strava’s elevation gain for the day is probably not far off
