Honda BR-V Travelogue – Trip To Uttarakhand

Honda BR-V Travelogue

Total Kms: 1713 kms
Fuel Consumed: 109.1-liters
Overall Mileage: 15.7 km/l

Traveling, exploring, visiting different places is a drug of choice, an addiction which leads to inner peace

Uttarakhand is referred as Devbhumi due to the number of Hindu temples and pilgrimage centres found throughout the state. The 13 districts of Uttarakhand are so vivid that every district has a different landscape and a completely new experience. The trip to Uttarakhand was planned because one of my colleagues always praised about the beauty of the mountain ranges, he showed us the various pictures of the place. This time he was getting married there and it was nothing but a reason to go and visit Devbhumi. Based in Mumbai, we flew down to Delhi and got ourselves the Honda BR-V as our travelogue companion.

The moment I got the car it was spick, clean and bright white. I knew the car was a 7-seater MPV so I did not expect it to have a good boot space and just dumped the suitcases in the third row and we got moving. We dropped the person who handed over the car to us and started our journey towards Dehradun, our first destination. It was a 300 kms drive and I was told to be aware of the traffic until I reach Dehradun. The roads post Ghaziabad opened up and the Honda BR-V would cruise nicely at 80 km/hr. While crossing Meerut, it was lunch time and we stopped to grab a bite. The suitcases in the third-row were dancing here and there so I decided to move at least one bag to the boot. To my surprise, the boot was huge enough to fit both our suitcases.

The roads were really good until we reached the Uttarakhand border. They narrowed to two lanes and our pace reduced drastically. We were almost reaching Dehradun and we hit our first set of twisties and I wanted to know the car in and out. I pushed a little and could feel the BR-V sticking to the road and handling like a gem. But, the slight extra weight and just 100 BHP on the pedal felt the vehicle to be slower while taking on the inclines of the so called ‘Pahadi’ roads. I knew there were hundreds of kms of twisties awaiting us as we reached our first stop at Dehradun. The colleague’s family was staying there and gave us a room for the night.

The second day was pretty much sorted as my colleague’s father had made us a route plan so that we could enjoy some parts of Uttarakhand while we reach for the wedding too. Day 2 destination was Srinagar via Mussoorie, Dhanolti and Tehri. As we left Dehradun early morning, there were clear signs for the roads leading to various places. Once you have crossed an intersection, there are no splits as such for a minimum of 50 kms. We started the climb for Mussorie and the mountain ranges started coming along. I enjoyed two things while driving here, the twisties and the scenery. Every corner there is a backdrop but only few chances that you can stop and enjoy the mesmerising view. We drove all the way to Mussoorie with just a single break and the Honda BR-V didn’t break a sweat.

A bit of sightseeing in and around Mussoorie, we also visited Kampty falls for a cold water bath and headed towards Dhanolti. The quality of the roads degraded a bit. At one point, the Honda BR-V was under-steering in the corners and we had to lower the pace. The road to Srinagar goes via Dhanolti and Tehri, while most of the time the Mussorie-Dhanolti-Tehri stretch is filled with snow, it was clear for us yet we could see patches of ice lying around. It was the weight of the Honda BR-V and grip from the Pirelli rubber that made it stick and we got through Dhanolti safely. As Dhanolti is a high ground area, we could spot a few ice-tops of the Himalayas from the road. We got down and passed the new Tehri Dam. This place has history as the old dam and the Tehri city was swept away in the Uttarakhand floods.

We couldn’t stop for long so we kept moving and enjoying the road as we reached Srinagar. Srinagar is more of a checkpoint for people travelling to Badrinath, Kedarnath or some similar holy place as the roads connect and pass via Srinagar. Another free stay was arranged for us by a friend and we had the cheapest and the tastiest dinner ever in a local Dhaba. We had a good sleep, breakfast at the same Dhaba and our next destination was Joshimath. This time, the major intersections were ‘Prayags’. Places like Rudraprayag, Karanprayag, Nandprayag are the municipal boards from the Panchprayag list. These Prayags are the places where two or more rivers meet and flow into a new river. These sightings were just as beautiful as it could get. Also these were the only places where a car as good as the Honda BR-V could have been spotted.

The stretch to Joshimath was amazing and the Honda BR-V was just flying, taking corners and going really fast on the straights. We reached almost an hour earlier than the estimated time by Google Maps. We had our stay at a government guest house as that was the only place with good parking but getting into that parking area was a task as the long length of the BR-V made me worry. The main purpose to visit Joshimath was to visit Auli, a place which goes above 3000 meters above sea level and there’s a good amount of snow from the month of November to February. Though it has snowed less, we did enjoy playing and also learnt some skiing there. The next day were the Uttarakhand elections and no one was allowed to move out or drive around for the day so we wrapped up our plans and moved towards Dewal, a small village on the way to Roopkund lake.

The loose soil mountains are the reason Uttarakhand gets such a beautiful landscape everywhere you see

This journey was back to two of the Prayags that split towards the north-east. The roads till Karanprayag were beautiful but as we split to a different route, the roads worsened out. The Uttarakhand road widening project led to almost 20 kms of loose soil road with a bit of tarmac patches in between. This time we went rally mode for about 2 kms and the BR-V took all the beating without any issues and I could hear the engine roaring for more fun. But as driving fast on unknown as well as bad roads is risky, we took a tea break at a landslide before us. After the gruelling 20 kms, the last stretch of 35 kms was full of blind twisties and a single lane nicely laid tarmac road going through various villages. Yet again we reached our destination Dewal at sunset, about 45 minutes earlier than the estimated time.

We were welcomed at our colleague’s house and he had worked out a parking space especially for this Japanese car. The next three days we spent in Dewal for our colleague’s wedding. We did visit a drop off place called Wan which is the base camp for Roopkund lake trek which goes on for five days. During the wedding, the Honda BR-V was the best car of the lot and without any doubt it was the car that the Dulha (our colleague – the Bridegroom) would arrive in and take the Bride back home. After the three days of enjoyment, the final travel destination was Nainital. This was the slowest and the longest time we travelled as we didn’t drive for almost three days and we had to get sweets and collectives on the way back for home. We reached Nainital pretty late and I noticed our beautiful white Honda BR-V had turned dusty brown with slush and mud all along.

The amount of bad roads, the numerous gradients and the tight corners, there was never a spot where I got scared that the car would lose control. Even after being an MPV, it felt and drove like a hatchback except for the weight, it was sorted all the time. The time we reached Nainital, we had missed about four routes and we got really late. There are various lakes called as ‘Tals’ near Nainital which led to the confusion. Within Nainital, we drove around the Mall road, had our dinner, chilled out at the lake and got down to a hotel for our night stay. The hotels were so clumsy and gladly the BR-V was just wide enough to enter the tight entrance and the small but secured parking space. If we had any bigger vehicle, we would have had to park outside. This was the last hill-station on our list and the next day we had a flight back from Delhi.

The roads to Delhi from Nainital go via Haldwani-Rampur-Ghaziabad. There is downhill till Haldwani post which a long highway till Rampur. Post Rampur we were flying on the Delhi-Rampur highway and the Honda BR-V was sitting tight at 140 km/hr without a hick-up. This was the time where the steering stayed straight for a long time and we did engage it into top gear. In no time we were crossing Ghaziabad with a happy face yet a sad heart as we were going to miss Uttarakhand and the amazing people that make the place worth visiting. This trip to Uttarakhand was a mixture of planned-unplanned trip. We did reach Uttarakhand but visiting and travelling places within was spot-on and it was an amazing driving experience with the capable Honda BR-V.