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justwravel-blog · 7 years

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Road Trip to Bir Billing It is often said that good ideas strike your mind while you’re under the shower or you’re lying on your bed. It was one of those Sunday afternoons when I was on my bed and was thinking how to celebrate the birthday of fellow wraveler Harman. And then I was enlightened by this idea of why not do something which is loved the most by us? TRAVEL AND EXPLORE! So I discussed the same with him, and he was more than happy to hear it. He had his birthday on 18th of April. So, I and seven other wravelers left for a road trip to Bir-Billing on 16th April. We had planned to do paragliding in Bir-Billing which is paragliding capital of India and then visit a remote village called Lohardi in Barot Valley Day 1: We hired a taxi and started our road trip to Bir-Billing. Bir is around 200 km from Jalandhar. We headed towards Hoshiarpur and then towards Mata Chintapurni. In between, we had our first stop on a very famous place called Bombay Picnic Spot, had our breakfast and got refreshed for the journey ahead. Few of the wravelers including me utilized this time to have some fun rides and swings. [caption id="attachment_1138" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Six of the eight wravelers posing for a photograph in Bombay Picnic Spot[/caption] We resumed our journey towards Kangra district, and the beautiful Dhauladhar ranges followed us everywhere. When we reached Kangra, we could see those beautiful snow-capped mountains of Dhauladhar ranges right in front of us. Few of the wravelers were trying to locate the Triund Hill. Mesmerized by the beauty of nature everyone got into a good mood that soon everyone started murmuring the song that was being played on the stereo. And later everyone started singing loudly, enjoying the lovely view that kept following us. We reached Baijnath, a small town in Kangra district and is home to world famous Shiv temple. It was built 5000 years ago in a single night, as told by the locals. Interestingly, a day lasted for six months and so did the night, when it was built. [caption id="attachment_1139" align="aligncenter" width="640"] View from Baijnath temple[/caption] We continued our road trip to Bir-Billing and took a left turn to reach Bir; it is around 14 km from Baijnath. While we were on this road, we could see many gliders in the sky, and it gave that amazing and a little anxious feeling to everyone. On reaching our destination, we had lunch, and everyone went to relax in the rooms and freshened up for the trek. After around 40 minutes, everyone was geared up for the trek. We had taken the important things required for trek such as torches, water bottles. We were running out of time to complete 10 km trek from Bir to Billing, so the guide asked us to cover a little distance by car and then hike so that we could reach Billing by sunset. [caption id="attachment_1140" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Wravelers ready to trek.[/caption] Distance from Bir to Billing by road is around 16 km. But if you trek from Bir to Billing it is cut short to 10 km. As advised by the guide we covered the initial few km by car and then we got down near a small gate, which marked the beginning of our trek. Trekking distance from there was around 3-4 km. It was already 5:30 pm, everyone clicked photos and started their trek towards Billing. [caption id="attachment_1141" align="aligncenter" width="576"] Gate where we began our trek.[/caption] The initial path of the trek was all covered with dry leaves which made the way look breath-taking. The trail was steep and rocky. Wravelers kept relaxing after every 20-30 mins and never missed a chance of clicking photographs at every beautiful view. According to me, the more altitude you are at more is the probability of finding those breath-taking views. It was already dusk, and we still had to cover a lot of distance to reach Billing. Many gliders were seen paragliding from Billing to Bir around sunset time. I am sure that is time best time to take the flight. Soon we had to use our torches to keep walking as the sunlight slowly faded away. Everyone was trying to capture the terrific scenes in their cameras, but I preferred capturing the same in my memory. It was completely dark by then. We kept walking ahead slowly. I could hear those melodious voices which were a feast for our ears. It started getting cold there. It was then I realized that this is the place I belong. I like everything about that environment. I was very thankful to God who gave me a chance to be here and somehow saved me from scorching conditions down there in Punjab. Soon we reached Billing. To fill our hungry stomach, we found a small tea shop which also served Maggi, omelet and other necessary items. Everyone ordered for Maggi and omelet. While Maggi was getting prepared, all the wravelers wore their warmers. I started staring at the galaxy of stars which looked way too beautiful. I was kind of jealous of the locals who saw it daily. Soon the Maggi and omelet were served to everyone, and without a doubt, it was delicious. We all headed towards our tents. We put our bags in the tents and then came out to sit around the bonfire arranged by the guides. Every wraveler had a great time during the bonfire. We met with another group from Delhi. Everyone introduced themselves and then had some good laugh together. As few of them were also Punjabi, we couldn’t have missed this opportunity, and soon everyone started doing Bhangra. There was no light, no water there in Billing. It was that kind of evening which I have always dreamt of. There were hardly any networks there, so I switched off my phone so that I could enjoy this evening to the fullest. After some time we were called for dinner. Well, I never expected to be served with chicken at an altitude of around 8000 ft. We were served with rajma chawal and dal. The food was delicious, and then we walked around the area for a while. We called the night early as we had long schedule the following day. Everyone went into their dome tents and had some good sleep dreaming about their first paragliding experience the next day. Day 2: Billing is the take-off site and is located at an altitude of 2430 m (almost 8000 ft). There is only one village ahead of Billing. Locals also told us that many treks start from that village. We all woke up early and had a little walk around the hill. All the wravelers got freshened up and sat together for tea. Having meals in hills is always fun when you’re on such location. An average food also tastes so good. Well, that was the best tea I ever had. How would it feel sipping the hot tea with spectacular views of Himalayas right in front of you, with your favorite music playing in your ears? We were served with Maggi. Guide over there told that light food is necessary before taking the flight. After having Maggi, me and few other wravelers saw guides packing the dome tents. We were keen to know as to how to pack and set those tents. So we spent next half an hour doing the same. All the people were polite and helpful. Wravelers then started walking towards the take-off site in Bir-Billing from the camping site. We took few photographs on the way. After we were there, we keenly watched the gliders. I was a bit nervous initially, but I knew I could do it because everyone else was already doing it. Well, that was just a way to console me. But it takes a lot of guts to jump from 8000 ft, although it’s quite safe. Soon the pilots arrived, and all the wravelers got ready for paragliding at Billing, but we all were a little nervous. I then met Rajiv bhaiya, the one who was to accompany me as a pilot during my paragliding flight. He assured me that I would do well so I should stop worrying. He guided me with the necessary information and soon there I was positioned to take off. The glider caught the right winds, and I could feel it over my head, and then Rajiv asked me to run. I tried hard and took two steps and jumped. I had put my feet in the air and then had no idea as to what happened for next two minutes. The next moment I found myself flying around the mountains like a bird. I was flying around the Dhauladhar ranges, and I could see those snow-capped mountains so close to me. Rajiv then asked me if I was okay? Although I had a fast heart beat and was bit nervous but I didn’t want him to know that because as I wanted to fly anyhow. I didn’t want him to reduce the time of my flight. He then performed a stunt called ‘Acrobatic,' in which the landing time is reduced rapidly. In this act, the glider gets tilted and starts rotating in a circular motion in a downward direction. While all this I wanted to speak, but I couldn’t. I could only feel my heart rate increasing. Finally, we landed safely. I felt so relieved when I was on the ground. I spent next 15 minutes wondering as to what exactly I witnessed. It was one hell of an experience.

Contributed by: Guneet Singh Manktala

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For travel related queries, group tours, road trips, trekking tours, outstation cab booking, bike rentals, Hotel reservations; Kindly contact us at https://justwravel.com/contact or call +91-92057 25727

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toughgirlchallenges · 7 years

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Part 3 - 7 Women - 7 Challenges 2017

At the start of 2017 after feedback from the Tough Girl Tribe. I started 7 Women - 7 Challenges.

Throughout the year I will be interviewing 7 women as we follow them on their journey of going after their own personal challenges. We will learn what really has to happen for people to achieve their goals, we will hear about their frustrations, disappointments, set backs, as well as their successes and achievements.

It is real stories, from real women, living real lives.

This is part 3*

Timings

Jen Dxyhorron - 4 mins

Jo Jo Rogers - 33 mins

Georgie Akin-Smith - 1.07

Gemma Smith - 1.35

Rachel Wise - 2.09

Laura Try - 2.47

*We will be catching up with Rae Red in Part 4

Show notes

Jen Dykxhoorn

Visiting friends and family in Canada

How our last conversation reinvigorated her training plan

Signing up for 1 month gym membership and doing 20 classes

Feeling strong, powerful and feeling even more energised

Moving back to Sweden for 3 - 6 months

Update on her everyday magic goals - from reading more books to flossing her teeth everyday

Being inspired by the adventurous women from the Tough Girl Podcast

Being inspired by the book “Wild Women”

Cultivating good habits

Champagne Goals - are in progress and her first goal will be checked off soon when she moves back to Sweden

The planning and preparation for her August cycle ride - LEJOG

Working with her sister to plan the trip in more detail

The power of lists

Sorting out the route and accommodation

How her PHD has helped her to plan for her adventures

Using permanent lists

Her city break to Poland and taking a break from life and being able to switch off

The 3 Ps - Packing - Planning - PHD

Her end of month check in - “Structured Reflection”

Feeling good about the progress she’s made in both her training and her PHD

The Passion Planner - Why she loves it and has used it religiously for the past 2 years

Filling that space when you’ve finished your goal

Her focus for the next few weeks

Thinking about an ultra marathon!

Looking for an ultra marathon race in July somewhere in Europe - Any ideas!

Continuing the, Year of the Mighty Thigh!

Sunning 6k to get to wifi!

Why she’s also going to focus on strength training as a use for injury prevention

Her Sister - Karen Dykxhoorn - Follow on Instagram @hopefulgoat & twitter @hopefulgoat

Jo Jo Rogers

What’s been happening since we last spoke

The snowshoe races!

The World Snowshoe Championships… with no snow!

Getting ready to race when the course conditions were so terrible

What the route was like and being fearful of getting hurt

Finishing 3rd in the world for women aged between 50 - 59

How she celebrated

The National Snowshoe Championships… 10 ft of snow!

Her race strategy

Watching her daughter race

How she deals with nerves before a race

Travelling next year to Spain for the World Championships with her daughter

Mother daughter bonding

Her next race in Texas

Starting to pick up training again

Training for snowshoeing in the dirt and the grass

Mixing up her training

The challenges she is dealing with at the moment - sleep, nutrition,

Weekly millage… 130

Junk miles?

Running easy miles

Overtraining and how she knows

Happiness

Speed work and how she does it - her favourite is progression training

Sleep habits

What she’s learnt from the races so far

Feeling selfish, because she’s doing what she loves

Living the life she wants to

Georgia Akin-Smith

2 of her challenges have been completed!

How she was feeling before her duathlon in Windsor

Getting to the venue super early

What the course was like

10k run - 40k bike - 5k run

What was going through her head on the start line

Trying to remember to run her own race

Her race strategy

What she learned from the experience

Why being prepared helped her

Her “oh no” moments

Her final transition and what her legs were like

Trying to fit another duathlon into her schedule for this year!

Her 2nd challenge

The Cross Country Ski Marathon in Switzerland!

Training for the Ski Marathon in Hyde Park!

Not being able to get into her rhythm

The downhill and why it was harder

Her next challenge - The London Marathon

Suffering with a hip injury

Why you have to listen to your body

120 mile cycle ride, 10 hours in the saddle with few stops

What she was eating on her cycle ride

Going for a Bike Fit

Feeling nervous about her next cycle challenges

Her current fears about the upcoming races

Mantras and visualisation to help with her challenges

Learn more about Georgia and her future challenges www.gwhodares.com

Twitter @GWhoDares & Instagram @GwhoDares

Gemma Smith

What Gemma has been up to since we last spoke

Working hard, making the most of her weekends and spending time in Chamonix

Skiing, climbing and heading up North in the UK to head into Snowdonia in Wales

Some low level hiking just below the snow line

Enjoying ice climbing and leaning new skills to help in the mountains

Heading over to Italy to climb and being one of the few girls out there

Practicing screwing in ice screws and different ways of belaying on ice

What good ice should look like

Thinking about the long term and why she’s learning these skills now

Having the aim to be skilled and fit enough to face any challenge on the mountain

Working with her personal trainer

“Hurricanes” a new fun way of training!

Working in a hypoxic way

Trying to maintain everything she’s doing

Heading back to Chamonix in Easter

Getting everything ready for her trip in August

Getting her accommodation all booked for August - staying in mountain huts on the way

Dealing with Raynaud’ s while out in the cold

The £200 pair of gloves…

Starting to blog - Adventures of a novice mountaineer

Why she’s going to start upping things now

Trying to do more ridge walks to get as much exposure as possible

Her next challenge in Chamonix and planning another trip to Scotland

Finding a good guide through - Adventure Base

Tips from her guide - John

The challenges over the past few weeks, especially trying to balance work

How she keeps her motivation going especially day to day

Collecting local art work and reminding herself why she’s doing it

Why music helps to keep her motivated as well as talking to people

Why you have to be a little bit crazy to pursue what you love

Nutrition for mountain days

The Sandstone Trail in Cheshire - potential training walk for me!

Keeping updated with Gemma via Instagram, twitter and her blog!

Rachel Wise

A reflection on how she was feeling a few months ago

Turning a corner

The website is now live, and she’s up and running on twitter and Instagram

Air BNB is starting to make money which is great going into the savings account

Speaking with their landlord about being able to sublease the house while they were away

Being able to come back to the same house in Switzerland once they finish travelling

Paying for the flights and being all booked up as far as they can with regards to flights

Planning the budget per day for each place they visit

Progress regarding the girls education

The focus for the coming weeks

Trying to figure out what to do with their dog!

Feeling more organised and getting on top of things

Documenting the journey through the website and via social media

Not getting twitter, and not seeing how it can work for her

Enjoying Instagram and finding it fun

Feeling more positive about everything

Training for the Geneva Marathon

What’s she learned so far

Telling work…..

Blog post - “Are we who we say we are?”

Ignore the haters and the negative comments

Feeling proud of the website, and crossing of items on her to do list

Applying to be a house sitter for July

What else she’s be working on in the coming weeks - from running the Geneva Marathon to sorting out accommodation for their trip, and planning the US road trip

Visit the website - www.slowtravelfamily.com and follow on twitter @SlowTravelFam and Instagram @slowtravelfamily

Laura Try

Life is tough

Formulating a plan

New members of the LT Support Crew

The issue of raising funds for the challenge

The struggle of getting in front of the right people

£6k raised and another £15K needed to reach her target in 9 weeks or else she will be kicked off the team

New strategies every week e.g. last week cold calling

How’s she's handling the pressure

Having a melt down a few weeks ago

Not being able to rest, if she rests, then nothing else happens

Trying to remain positive

Waking up at 6 am - working all day and then back on the laptop working (every day)

What the options are?

Feeling embarrassed if she doesn’t do it

Focus on the positives

Being featured by Health & Fitness Magazine!

New videos being made

Making progress

Speaking with Lauren Morton

Connecting with local business people

The £150 club!

Speaking to Jamie Sparks

Cold calling!!

Learning new skills!!

Making changes to sponsorship brochure

No time for training

Having to sacrifice; food, sleep and training to focus on sponsorship and funding

Mental health

Feeling on the edge

How its become an obsession

The focus for the next few weeks

Wishing she done crowdfunding first

Debt?

Creating a video for the - Road Rower!

Being proactive

What she’s learned from the past few weeks

Not being able to think straight

How to connect with Laura - Facebook, twitter, Youtube, and visit her website

Check out this episode!

#podcast #women #sports #health #motivation #challenges #change #adventure #active #wellness #explore #grow #support #encourage #running #swimming #triathlon #exercise #weights

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