Day 41 - Udhampur to Dharamsala

From Udhampur, I had originally planned to visit Amritsar but the temperatures didn't look very inviting for riding into a big city, just yet. One of the majors at the base gave me a nice route to avoid riding through Jammu and getting into Himachal Pradesh and heading to Dharamsala. I headed east through lots of small towns and found curvy roads through pine and eucalyptus forests. Now, that's more my kind of riding, instead of overtaking on busy roads.

I gained some elevation but anything below 5,000 ft was just feeling hot like the plains and I told myself to get used to it as I would be exiting the Himalayas soon. I passed by the Ranjit Sagar Dam near Dhar and then headed east for Dharamsala.

Once there, I thought it would be a good idea to climb up to McLeod Ganj and enjoy one last night at a hill station before descending to the plains. But this was peak tourist season and it was too crowded for me, so I just found a small hotel down in Dharamsala and enjoyed a quiet meal of thukpa. I hoped that being near His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, would be a good blessing for the end of my journey. 

Watch the video postcard from Dharamsala:

PREVIOUS:Day 40 - Srinagar to Udhampur  |  NEXT:Day 42 - Dharamsala to Chandigarh