A two day trip to Rudrapur for ShikshaDaan’s work gave us a nice little break from everyday routine !! The road leading to Rudrapur has been completed a couple of years back and what a lovely drive. Even if it was a short trip, we learnt and re-learnt some travel lessons, the hard way. Actually the trip should have been longer as we had planned to visit Kabir’s place near Bhimtal but rains played spoilsport and we decided to get back home.
Gurgaon to Rudrapur
We started early, leaving at 5.50 am. Since the road is well laid and a national highway, we expected the trip to be about 5 hours with a half hour breakfast break on the way. We fondly remembered our stop at Bikanerwala, Gajraula from the 2018 trip. Gajraula is about a 100 kms away. Rudrapur is 270 kms from home.
We re-learnt our first travel lesson just after Garh Mukhteshwar…. NEVER TRAVEL WITHOUT FOOD.
While the road is world class, our traditions are ancient. Shravan month is the Kanwar Yatra month and Monday is Mahadev’s day. We totally forgot about this. Only when we were diverted to the opposite lane (oncoming traffic), did we realise that the Yatra was still on. We saw several Kanwariyas doing their Yatra.
The traffic was not much so we didn’t have any delay, but none of the restaurants were open!! We hadn’t packed any food because we were dreaming of eating at Bikanerwala :):). Finally all of us munched on some snacks that we had packed and just half hour before Rudrapur, we stopped at Gurudev Dhaba to have our brunch.
Gurudev Dhaba was a find !! Simply outstanding food. The Parathas and Dal Makhni were both superb. The washrooms were clean as well.
Finally we reached the hotel around 11.30 am.
We had a pleasant stay at Hotel Radisson Blu. The rooms are spacious and the breakfast buffet is excellent. There are several trainees and some of them don’t understand customer service at all … but overall it’s a good hotel for a short stay.
The second lesson is to always carry a 5 lit water can. Hotels end up using 1 litre or half a litre plastic bottles and all of that just goes to the landfill and stays forever. 🙁
The Return Trip
On our way back the drive was a real breeze because both sides were open and traffic was moving at a good pace. Right after we left the hotel, we refuelled at the Bharat Petroleum Company Owned Company Operated fuel station.
Since we had already eaten a good breakfast at Radisson Blu, we stopped just after Garh Mukhteshwar to have a cup of tea at Mama Yadav Shiva Dhaba. Please note that you will find a dozen or more Shiva Dhabas on this route. But the recommended one is Mama Yadav’s Shiva Dhaba, no other.
Again the washrooms are clean in this place and the plate of pakoras that we had was tasty.
We started at 11 am and were home by 4.30 pm with a half hour snack break at Mama Yadav Shiva Dhaba.
A nice short break from the routine.