Day 4

Day 4 - Excursions and treks to Tip 'n' Top- Bhulla Lake - St. Mary's Church - St. George's Church - Kaali Mandir - The Cemetery

Since I had the whole day to explore Lansdowne extensively, I was all excited and charged up. And the excitement was worth it. Lansdowne is so quite and relaxing that you can virtually sit anywhere and get detatched from the world... Its serene and peaceful... Its lovely and mystic... And specifically because it has so many off-roading tracks and so many trekking trails that you just dont feel like coming out of the exploring activity. The first place that I visited was the Tip 'n'Top which is kind of a 'view point'...It had some good views and off-roading fun involved...Ventured into a jungle trail and came back as a satisfied trekker...nice flora...nice trails...


Then rode towards the Bhulla Lake and relaxed there for quite sometime...listening to music and reading 'The Prophet' by Khalil Gibran, that made the philosophical mind go wild. Next was the St. Mary's church where they show you a 20-minute movie on the Bravery of Garhwal Rifles... The Army Museum was somehow closed that day, so came back to the hotel after clicking a few shots of the War Memorial. After lunch it was time for some real trekking-stuff. First was the English Cemetery... Its located at one corner of the town... After the road ends you got to take a foot-road to reach the place...I somehow got confused as there were 3 different tracks... One said Army shooting range, so i thought it was better to give it a miss. I took another track and actually forced the bike on it...It turned out to be a little too risky and dangerous as i reached a place where i could not turn the bike and I was on a 4-foot track with valley on one side. Luckily saw an Army man and called him to help...After a real difficult 'U-Turn', the Army man told me to take the shooting range trail to the cemetery...This place is called Bhoot Bangla as it has abandoned Army Barracks and schools... One thing that I learned...Trekking can be so difficult and confusing without a map, a direction magnet and a partener... I again took a wrong trek and kept descending till the trees started becoming dense and i felt i was entering a jungle...! So I climbed back on to the starting point and took the 3rd and the final trail which took me to the Cemetery...woof...finally...!! But you know... You ejoy all these things so much... Because this is what called you in here....


I was tired by this time, so before taking another trekking-trail to the Kaali Mandir, relaxed for sometime in the St. George's Church... And then after praying to goddess Kaali... became a heavenly lucky spectator to a heavenly beautiful sunset at a place which might virtually be called Land's End....


Trip Meter: 815 km