Bhimtal has always been a destination which spells magic. This easily approachable hill station is small lakeside town which presents a peaceful and yet involving aura. Its just 22 km from Nainital and approximately 25 km from the nearest railway station Kathgodam.

We planned a ride to Bhimtal with riders from Royal Riders, Agra in the month of April. Summer was just starting to pick up force and thus it was not really too hot in the plains. We started off early in the morning, taking the route via Agra, Bareilly, Badaun, Haldwani to Bhimtal. This route present a good mix of road surfaces. We came across great four laners, great 2 laners, not so great 2 laners, bad roads, under-construction ones and a bit of non-existent ones, to finally lead us to the mountain twisties.

We had our breakfast in Agra and then head off straight to Haldwani, which we reached in the evening. When there we scouted for a good place to eat and ended up at place called Woodpecker. This restaurant was on the highway, right between Haldwani and Kathgodam. And because we all agreed that this was an awesome place to eat and relax at, I am sharing the link to its G places link, so that others can pay a visit too. Its really awesome.

https://plus.google.com/114694114244421166430/about?gl=in&hl=en

We comfortably reached Bhimtal till around 8pm. We stayed at a private guesthouse which was a lakeside property. It was amazingly peaceful and made all the efforts made during the day disappear. One could just sit outside, watch the moonlight glittering on the surface of the lake and feel like just being there for a long time.

We head out next morning, rode to Sat tal, which is a cluster of 7 lakes, or should I say, is supposed to be a cluster of 7 lakes but has only 2. But don’t underestimate this destination. It has its own special charm, with the lakes nested deep in the forest, one of them being absolutely clean and remote.

Once done with our breakfast in Sat tal, we rode to a place called Dhanachuli, which is supposed to have an awesome view of the Himalayas. Sadly we found none. The locals said that mountains come in the winters. Thats odd, but that’s probably the case. However, we did have a great time riding to Dhanachuli, the first photo in the gallery below is of Dhanachuli. Stunning view indeed.

We head off then, to Nainital, we spent our evening, with great lunch+dinner, after which we rode back to Nainital to prepare for our ride back the next day.

I would say, it was a great trip. A two nighter, which was enough to satisfy us for a month. And yes, we did stop by at the banks of Ganga on our way back. We took a break from the heat and had a dip. Spent a good 30 minutes in the water. This really was an icing on the cake, a great end to an amazing trip.