My Drive off to Shiv Khori temple.

It was one fine sunday morning ,feeling lazy as i woke up from sleep............ temps.have dropped to mere13c,just didnt wish to leave my quilt,when my husband served me a cup of green tea,triggering that its time that i should leave my bed. I asked him his plan for the day but found him very very confused............... then on i decided that we 'll go out somewhere; undecided of any place we quickly had our breakfast and packed our bags and cameras and off we go....
 As my husband started his car, he decided to drive towards Akhnoor side of Jammu .....After crossing the chenab bridge , we continued our drive onto Bhamla.....

Onto BHAMLA.

Driving thru' BHAMLA.

 At Bhamla , we took a break for a hot cup of tea & pakoras, & then decided to drive off to Shiv Khori .................. I searched for the distance & route on google maps  & onto our drive thru' Pouni & Ramsoo ,we reached ShivKhori by almost 1.40pm..... We didnt feel like stopping for lunch as its a long 4kms trek one way to the temple..... Though, pony option was there but we opted to walk as it will give me a better option to film the route....
But the climb was too steep, thank God we didnt have food before started on for the trek.

POUNI VALLEY.

RAMSOO VILLAGE.

THE TREK ROUTE TO SHIV KHORI CAVES.

On our trek to Shiv Khori Caves.

SHIV KHORI CAVES.

Myself, on my first darshan of Shiv Khori.

The steep trek across the high mountains at Shiv Khori.

After almost a tiring trek , it was time for climbing some odd 100 steps to the enterance of the cave. No cameras & mobile phones are allowed inside the cave. Its lit up but the passage is very very narrow & tough to pass thru'... & then the main podium of Lord Shiv'.... We stood , all in his praise.... Nama Shivaay" ...After Darshan , it was time to return back. The natural rock formation inside the cave was worth seeing... Lord Vishnu in nidra position, Shesh naag guarding, the Shankh pouring down water on the Shivling, The Trishul....... Just Wonder!!!! what a creation of Almighty. I bow down in His respect.
It was setting dark & we had to run thru' the down hill...covered 4kms downhill in just 40mins...as we were worried the bad roads at Ramsoo & Pouni would make our journey a difficult one if we dont pass thru' the region before it becomes totally dark.... My husband drove off very fast almost at 80km/hr speed to touch down Akhnoor by 7pm... By the time we reached home , it was almost 8pm.
 Just had an unexpectedly great day.... Its offcourse, Lord asked us to visit him on the day orelse, when we started from home , we never thought to be visiting Shiv Khori Shrine.

Beautiful Bhamla.

  

A Sunday drive off to BILLAWAR.

It was a sunday morning, we woke up from sleep & with a cup of hot tea as the weather in Jammu City has started Chilling,  I &my husband just thought to go off for a long drive....Though, we were not able to decide in which direction we'll go,as RSPura side ,its constant firing from pak side, so better be safe than feel sorry for misadventure, Cann't think of taking NH1A as the traffic is so mismanaged that its getting stalled by Udhampur& ahead traffic....So it was either Akhnoor side to Shiv Khori orelse towards Basoli in Kathua distt................... Its long time ,after the massive floods on 5thsept 2014in J&K, we could hardly go out toplaces across. So much bogged down with overload of work pressure, we both were looking out to escape out even forhalf a day. Within minutes we both decided to drive off towards Basoli side'; Hardly had some 15mins to get ready & hit the road....& off we go...........................
    Took the Jammu- pathankot road,After crossing Vijaypur- Sambha-& nearing Hiranagar, I told my husband that the google map on my mobile is showing a narrow cut soon after hiranagar across mountains towards Dhar road to Billawar-Basoli..... We both got a bit adventurous & took the wrongroute into the high mountains ....It was simply our GPRS on our mobile to guide us thru'.................though, offcourse time had been a factor, incase to had to drive upto Lakhanpur & drive to Basoli, its pretty long time................
    Though , the Challa- Dayalchak road turned out to be real adventures drive. The road at various patches were really very very bad condition.... Now no looking back, we kept driving thru small villages & high mountains , towards Galak & ultimately hit the DHAR-UDHAMPUR Road.

We now started driving towards BILLAWAR town.......... after all those hill climb , we were now driving a height but onto a comfortable drive.... Billawar ,is a beautiful town nestled inbetween the high Dhauladhar range. The Sukrala Devi shrine brings huge crowds here. The town looked cute & serene from top of the high Dhar road...

After few breaks on the way , we kept driving onthe dhar road ....... Soon , we got to know that ,my husband had to rush back to office, so its asured that we can't make it to BANI-BASOLI instead have to get back to Lakhanpur & later rush back towards JAMMU.... Anyways, No regret....thats part of our life......
    Soon we got the first glance of Ranjit Sagar Lake; It looked awesome from such height on Dhar Road....Now , as we kept driving , its the huge lake that kept was awestruck by its beauty....

The onto Dharamkot...- Parnala- Mahanpur-Thein-Basantpur- Lakhanpur..................... It was really a long drive-------------- But I loved it... Couldnot make it to Basoli.Maybe next time.
Now we were in a hurry to drive back to Jammu & at 140km/hr speed on high on Sunday afternoon....it was really Adventurous.