Posted by Shivam Singh
On 21st Feb, 2021
***Kinnaur Roadtrip***
Date: 25th November 2020
We were full of energy after yesterday’s dream trip to Chitkul, and were looking for more and more adventure to make our entire trip a memorable one. Since locals asked us not to leave Sangla today due to slippery roads, we decided to spend time in visiting local places.
The very first thing me and Sharad decided was to head towards Baspa river bank visible far away from our hotel terrace and prepare maggie on camping stove there.
Prabal preferred to take rest at hotel room due to super chilly weather outside. It was too cloudy outside and snowfall was very likely anytime.
Temple-
For reaching the river bank, we parked our car in the market and from there it was a 1 km steep downhill trek. While trekking down slowly on slippery path, we were more concerned about coming back up which seemed very difficult.
As we covered almost half distance crossing old wooden colorful houses which looked fascinating, we reached a very beautiful temple named: “Shree Bering Nag Temple”. This temple is dedicated to Lord Jagas, a form of Lord Shiva, whom the local people worship for the wellbeing of the village and its inhabitant.
The premises of the temple have three major buildings: a Hindu temple, a Monastery, and a beautifully crafted store house.
Due to Covid restrictions, main temple room where the deity resides was closed and we were the only one inside temple premises. Temple and its surroundings were so beautiful, both Sharad and me spent almost 45 mins here.
Baspa River-
We moved further, river bank was still nowhere in sight, we walked and walked for another kilometer. Finally reached an iron bridge on the river from where the view of the surroundings was majestic and soon located a river-bank spot with the help of a local where we could fulfil our desire.
With the musical sound of the river flowing next to us, we arranged the butane gas stove and fixed the tripod on a rock to capture the entire moment in a video. Veg Maggie was getting ready and we were discussing about the experiences so far. Prabal definitely missed the fun, although we gave him the glimpse on a video call.
We could have easily spent around 2 hours over there, but left after 1 hour or so as the time was 12:30 PM and our next destination was waiting.
Now the difficult uphill trek started and wait……….guess whom we met enroute!!! PRABAL….. 🙂 who was sitting in the hotel room far away, till few minutes back. But one video call changed his entire mood.
We couldn’t go back to the river bank but he visited the temple.
Soon we were moving towards our next spot: Kamru Fort.
Kamru Fort-
GPS was giving confusing directions to the fort. Asked some locals who pointed towards a steep uphill single lane road but warned us about possible snow (as black ice) on the road.
Thinking for a while, I took the car on that road. Bit scared but reached the plane road soon without much trouble. Parked the car till the point where it could go, from where we had to once again trek uphill for almost 2 km through narrow lanes.
Enroute you will see the old part of Sanlga with wonderful old wooden houses, stonewalls, apple tress and snow clad mountains in the background making the picture perfect scene.
Kamru Fort, which is now a Hindu Temple, stands on top of the hill at an altitude of 2600 meter above sea-level.
This fort has a graceful wooden balcony and at the top is an idol of Kamakhya Devi. There is also a Badrinath Temple in the Fort area, which dates back to the 15th century and serves as the venue of a fair, held once every three years in the honor of the deity.
Once we reached the Badrinath temple, locals told us that the main fort is still 500 meters uphill. Looking at our tired faces, they gave us some motivation by telling the importance of the temple.
As we reached the main fort, unfortunately we were denied entry by the temple guards despite our repeated requests as their was some construction work going-on which we could feel by looking at the debris lying there.
With sad feeling, we started trekking down although we were somewhat satisfied as we could see the fort building clearly from the sides. Time was 4:30 by now, we went straight to the market for a meal.
ShivaLingam-
Yesterday while going towards Chitkul, we saw a beautiful spot dedicated to Lord Shiva, just 1 km ahead from our hotel.
Clock was ticking 5 PM and still there was some time left before it goes dark. Snowfall also started by now and road conditions on this side were not looking very favorable but still, we thought of giving this try and reached safely there.
This place located on the main Sangla-Chitkul road, has a Shiva-Lingam next to a small water stream coming from the mountains.
After spending nearly 45 minutes here and at a nearby view point, we returned to our base in Sangla-“Madhu Hotel” to end the day.
Snowfall was heavy now which was a cause of worry for us, as tomorrow we had to leave Sangla and head towards our nest spot- Sarahan.
See you in the next blog, till then Happy Travelling.
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5 Comments
Sharad · February 21, 2021 at 10:58 pm
Love the line me and Sharad got ready for river bank side. You being the most lazy person of our trip was just gazing at the weather
Shivam Singh · February 22, 2021 at 12:32 am
And after gazing, I only drove you to the market. At least give me a place above Prabal…. 🙂
Sharad · February 21, 2021 at 10:56 pm
Maggi near river bank was just awesome experience
Shivam Singh · February 22, 2021 at 12:30 am
Really an out-of-the-world experience…
Sharad · February 21, 2021 at 10:56 pm
Awesome local trip for Sangla