From Bhrigu’s Forest to British Homes: A 136-Year-Old Journey

The mountains give peace and also make us feel it within us. When we come home, we feel like going to the mountains and after reaching the mountains, we feel like staying here. The air, trees, snow and the environment of the mountains are soothing, peaceful and above all, they make us feel alive. Today, I am writing all these things not out of emotion but because whenever the cold air of the mountains touches my face, I feel that on one end there is life and on the other end there are the fingers of the mountains, touching which is patience for me.

From today onwards, the trekking journey will begin, in which we will walk on the 136-year-old trail on which the British used to walk. India became free from British rule in 1947. The British ruled India for 200 years and during this time, they looted India a lot. In 1888, the British came to Manali and got lost in the beauty of this place. While living here, they explored the mountains and started cutting the deodar forests present here.

The British cut wood from the mountain near Bhrigu Lake and took it to the plains to lay on houses and railway tracks. Anyway, history has been very cruel to India, so let's return to the present and continue our journey. Tomorrow we reached Mori Dug campsite after an 8 km hike, where today we will go to the British Bridge above Kothi village and from there we will end our walking journey in Solang Valley.

A trail has been made among the tall grass, on which sunlight is coming at some places and not at others. The trees have changed their direction according to the sunlight, all types of vegetation are growing towards the east. It is October, so due to the cold, there are flowers in the forest but very few. The sun is above the head and while walking at 3000 meters, it feels cold and whenever the sunlight is filtering through the trees and caressing the earth, then the sunlight falling on the body and face feels very pleasant.

There are many streams between Mori Dug and British Bridge, due to which we did not face any shortage of water. Being and walking in the Himalayan forest is a pleasant experience in itself. From some places on the left side of the mountain, we can see snow-clad mountains. Hanuman Tibba, Friendship Peak and Ladakhi Peak, buried under light snow, are standing far away as if they want to call us by waving their hands.

After about 6 km, we reach British Bridge, which is situated at an altitude of 2800 meters. Nowadays, a new bridge is being built over the old bridge here because the British era bridge is no longer usable. We carefully cross the bridge by walking on the iron structure. When we talk to the engineer working here, we come to know that this bridge will be ready after Diwali. This means that now runners will be able to cross this bridge by running for the race next year.

Kothi village comes after another 3 km from British Bridge, from where we reach Solang Valley by walking along the road. We complete the walking journey which started in the afternoon at 4 in the evening. After reaching the hotel, I take a hot bath and treat myself by eating hot food. That's all for today. We will meet again tomorrow with another new Himalayan place.

Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from POCO F1 android smartphone and edited in deskstop software adobe lightroom. Thumbnail created in canva app.