The adventure
bone of Britishers made them to discover many places in the world. In 1823, Capt. Young and Mr Shore, while on a
hunting trip went up the hills north of Dehradun and reached a place where from
beautiful view of Himalaya mountains were at display. Capt. Young mesmerized by the views and seeing the
hunting possibilities put up his Hunting
Cottage there and thus Mussoorie was born. Soon the town was established and
people started coming here to escape from the heat and dust of plains in
summer. Mussoorie’s salubrious climate was making Britishers feel at
‘Home’. It was cool, it was green, it
was quiet, it was comfortable, it was chock-a-block with fellow countrymen and
it was relaxing. To commute and carry goods a bridle path was developed from
Rajpur to Mussoorie via Jharipani, Barlowgunj and Bala Hissar. The total
distance is 12 kms. There were three
ways of getting from Rajpur to Mussoorie: walking, riding on horseback or being
carried in a jampan or a dandy. To use
the bridle path to go to gates of paradise as represented by a cool and bracing
climate, a toll tax used to be levied. From 1823 to 1940s, the bridle path was
very much in use. Just think of all chandeliers,
big pianos, power generating machines (Mussoorie was the first town of North
India which was electrified in 1909), pipes, bricks etc have gone up thru this
bridle path. In November last year my
explorer bone discovered this bridle path and soon it became my favorite weekly
morning trek. I have planned a trek to Nag Tibba on 4t/5th April’15.
My dear nieces Ela and Ena also wished to join in this trek. They came here to
Dehradun 2 days in advance. On 2nd
April, on the spur of the moment me and Ela decided to do the Rajpur-Barlowgunj
trek and we left at 1.30 PM on our dear companion bullet 4161 for Rajpur. I will explain this trek for those who intend
to do it on their own.
At 1.45 PM we reached Rajpur and after crossing the post
office and upward ascent of Rajpur reached Shahanshahi chowk. There is a chai
shop on left side. We parked our bike there. There is board there showing
Rajpur’s historical past and road from Ghas Mandi to Shahanshahi. Essentials to carry are water, camera,
binocular and a bird book if you are an avid bird watcher. There are lots of birds to site during this
trek.
We start our
trek from here. It will take us up n up the famous ‘panch kainchi’ (five
scissor like zig zags on the steep hill side) till Jharipani. In five minutes
we reach old chungi (toll tax point)...people used to pay toll tax here and the
receipt used to get checked at another toll gate at Jharipani, just before Oak
Grove School.
We see on left side 2 blue
boards and 2 red boards erected in 1920s...still intact with paint...showing
the rate of taxation to use the bridle path to Mussoorie. Carry on....on
left we cross a small temple...then the road gets forked...taking left one,
we move on a vertical ascent. After some
time we see a tunnel and then we come close to it.
This tunnel was constructed
in around 1910s for an Electric tram service between Rajpur and Mussoorie. But
because of many reasons the project was shelved.. However the tunnel is still
there with iron bars intact for running electric wires as a historic reminder.
After crossing the tunnel and near vertical climb (here I remember a friend of
mine said....nahin aur nahin chala jata mujhse in one of our earlier treks..) we reach a point where from a
beautiful panoramic view of doon valley is seen.
Below at the back is Shikhar
fall. From here we encounter a proper cemented road. After 15 minutes we see a
Forest deptt board showing Jharipani 2 kms
....move on. After 10 minutes we see
on our left side.. view of Dehradun and the road below. Famous Shiv temple is
also seen from here. Now it is somewhat level walk. After 5 minutes we see
Saiyad baba mazar on right side. After 45 minutes , we reach a point where from
Mussoorie is visible and we come on a cement block road. Taking right and going
up and up we reach the bitumen tarmac road where boards of various hotels are
on display with distances from here. It is a mid way point between Rajpur and
Mussoorie. We have reached the yesteryear's famous ‘Halfway House’ on left and Oak Grove School on right.
Britishers and elite Indians used to take rest and refreshments with beer,
whiskey, rum and enjoy the cool air. Oak Grove School was put up for the
children of those British employees of Punjab and Sind railways who could not
afford to send their wards to England for education. It was established in
1888. An old post office of 1888 is there at the gate of Oak Grove School and
opposite Halfway House, still running in old building. Five minutes from here
we cross the Jharipani bazaar. And then we see beautiful green cone shaped turrets of Kamal Cottages.
This place used to be Fairlawn Palace of the deposed king of Nepal. The
Palace’s ruins are still there. Moving
on further we see a “Cross” on the hill...it is in St George College,
Barlowgunj. Further on we see an Aero plane tugged in the hill...
it is also in
St George College...and it shows military connections of St George College. We
also see imposing and beautiful structure of Jaypee Residency Manor hotel on
the left side. Where Jaypee hotel is there now, it used to have Whytebank Castle
which was with St George College for a long time. Some teachers and moneyed
students used to stay in the castle. We also see a suspension bridge connecting
Jaypee hotel to St George which was erected for the students and teachers to
come to the college.
And we have reached Barlowgunj bazaar. There is an old
mile stone here
showing distances to Landour, Mussoorie, Dehradun, Roorkee,
Meerut etc...Take a photograph with the mile stone....have bun omelet and take
rest.
Trek of 6.5 kms is completed and a
vertical rise of 3000’ is achieved. Relax...and start back. We completed the
upward trek in 2 hours and return in 1 hour with a rest of half an hour.
