Q.George Everest Peak in the New Ford Endeavour

[USER="6"]Roshun[/USER], [USER="20"]NikilSJ[/USER], [USER="21"]JijoMalayil[/USER] and I had been planning on getting away from the sweltering Delhi heat for a while now and somehow it was not working out. But as soon as we a call from Ford India about the Endeavour 2.2 6-speed auto being available to review for few days, we decided that it was a good ideas to drive to the hills.The plan was simple - to go to a place where the air was cleaner and temperatures were cooler. But, we had to make sure the trip was not too long, as the car was suppose to be with us for only 2 days and all had to be done in that time. Given this fact, [USER="20"]NikilSJ[/USER] started looking for places which were not more than 6 to 8 hours away. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10640[/ATTACH] After a gazillion back and forth discussions as to where we were headed, the decision was made to drive to the beautiful state of Uttarakhand and find some a good place to get some pictures of the endeavour and yet stay away from the weekend madness in Mussoorie. The choice of wheels would be the Endeavour 2.2 along with the Mahindra KUV100 diesel, the latter being driven by [USER="21"]JijoMalayil[/USER] [USER="18"]MotuSid[/USER], [USER="40"]Praveen[/USER], [USER="20"]NikilSJ[/USER] and Shebin arrived at my house in Noida at 3 am, friday night/saturday morning - packed and ready to munch some miles in the new Ford Endeavour. [USER="21"]JijoMalayil[/USER] was not able to make it due his love for his sleep and hence the plan was changed to going ahead with just the Endeavour. So here are some things you should know about this Ford 'Truck' - this was the '2.2Liter 4x2 Automatic Titanium' variant. It took in all our luggage in very comfortably even with the 3rd row of seats still in place. The six-speed auto gearbox was a little slushy to change gears, but it was a much better unit than the one on the last generation Endeavour. The front seats were nicely cushioned and extremely supportive - a must for road trips. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10641[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10642[/ATTACH] We finally started off from Noida at exactly 4:02 am, taking the ring road to exit Delhi via Kashmere Gate ISBT. During the wee hours of the morning, the roads are more or less empty, except for those couple of unruly truckers who do not understand the concept of lane driving. Overtaking them was a task as the gearbox was not so proactive at downshifting as you floored the throttle, you had to engage it yourself through the manual selector. Another issue pointed out by [USER="20"]NikilSJ[/USER] and [USER="40"]Praveen[/USER] was the fact that the rear seats were slightly stiffer and they could feel all the bumps and vibrations of the road. I think this was also due to the high tire pressure recommended by Ford, especially for the rear tires. The slight open stretch right after the Delhi border gave me the opportunity to see what the Endeavour was made of and it way better than I expected it to be. The 2.2-Liter diesel motor makes a healthy 156 bhp at 3200 rpm, after which there is a bit of a flat spot. It is quite eager, given its massive weight and relatively ok torque figures of 390Nm. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10648[/ATTACH] The usual route to go towards Uttarakhand is via Ghaziabad, Meerut, Roorkee and onto Dehradun, but we were told by a some people that the roads were not that great and chances of traffic jams was also high on this route. Keeping this in mind, we decided to take the Grand Trunk road til Karnal and then get onto the Karnal-Poanta Sahib highway and then towards Mussoorie. Exiting Delhi was a breeze, unlike what we expected, probably because it was 5 am on a Saturday morning. The Azadpur flyover was empty and getting onto GT Karnal road took us only and hour from Noida. Once we were on the highway, it was a smooth cruise. We were making good time, keeping at an average speed of about 90 kmph, and the car felt in it's element while keeping the occupants comfortable. We crossed the dhabas at Murthal at around 6 am but did not make the 'customary stop' for breakfast as we were more than satisfied with the sandwiches and rolls made by my mother for the trip. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10649[/ATTACH] By the time we reached Panipat, it was past 6 30 am and everyone in the car was snoring, apart from Shebin who was playing the music and in charge of driver entertainment. Finally, we decided that it's a good idea to stop before Karnal at one of the 'Punjabi' dhabas to grab some tea and do a driver change. We had covered close to 170 km in two and a half hours. [USER="18"]MotuSid[/USER] had his little nap by then, and was ready to take over the wheel. We stopped at Guru Kripa Punjabi Dhaba and out came the munchie box, put together by my mother earlier that morning. Some chai and a couple of cigarettes with it had us recharged for the 250-km odd journey that lie ahead of us. The tea-break lasted 45 mins and soon as the sandwiches got over, we were back on the open road. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10660[/ATTACH] After driving 10 kms on the highway, Google baba told us it was time to get off the national highway and take a right onto State Highway 11 towards Sahranpur. This road was not like the 6 lane highway we were on, rather was a 2 lane road through some paddy fields of Haryana. We had to carry on this road for about 70 odd kms. Our pace dropped considerably, as Motu was keeping the ride smooth for the sake of our back seat passengers whilst trying to overtake slower traffic on that rural stretch. The most irritating thing about this road was that we were crossing small villages at every 7-8 kms and we were greeted by badly-made speed bumps to slow down and allow for livestock movement. This further slowed us down and we took almost and hour and a half to cover this patch. As we reached Saharanpur, we relied on the maps again to take us through a bypass of the city and onto the Paonta Sahib road. Never should you trust technology too much - the maps lead us to a railway crossing close to the Saharanpur Railway Station. We stood there for a good 20 mins before realising that its been a while and the crossing did not seem to be opening anytime soon. I got off the car and walked into the control room and enquired about how long it would take. The reply, in a reluctant fashion, was that it could take 10 mins or 6 hours. Gosh. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10645[/ATTACH] [USER="18"]MotuSid[/USER] and I decided to turn back from there and take and alternate route towards the by-pass. Although it was 20 kms longer, it would work out much faster and better than waiting at that crossing for an unknown period of time. The road thereon improved considerably and before we knew it, we were in low-lying areas of Himachal Pradesh. At a distance, the silhouette of the Himalayas gave us a soothing satisfaction and the belief that good weather wasn't too far away. Paonta Sahib is the small town in Himachal, along the river Yamuna. This is also where the massive Hydro-Electric power plant is located. The road starts to wind as you pass over the bridge and into Uttarakhand. There is a sudden temperature drop as the two lane is surrounded by dense forests on both sides. By this time, it was past 11 am and we decided that taking a snack break would be a good idea. We stopped at 'New Shera Punjabi Dhaba'. What was suppose to be a snack, turned to a full meal as soon as [USER="18"]MotuSid[/USER] realised that there were paranthas available. Ended up being there for over an hour, before our stomachs couldn't take no more. The food was really good and pocket friendly. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10646[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10647[/ATTACH] At about 12:30p, we set on the road again and I took over the wheel again. Dehradun was 25 kms away and distance to Landour was 81 kms. The roads in Uttarakhand seemed to be freshly paved and had spectacular views. We were following Google maps for directions now, and it took us from some internal roads of Dehradun which avoid all the day traffic and we came right onto Rajpur road, from where Landour was just 35 kms. Now this is where the ascent actually started. I was lucky that [USER="18"]MotuSid[/USER] was comfortably seated in the last row and snoring, this sort of balanced the weight of the car evenly, allowing for good grip in corners. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10650[/ATTACH] We got a full tank of diesel at the bottom of the hills just to be on the safer side, after which I reset the FE meter. It managed to give 11.1 kmpl in the flat region. By the time we reached Landour, it had fallen to 8.6 kmpl, which was also pretty good considering the car was laden and I was using manual shifting to overtake. [USER="6"]Roshun[/USER] 's prediction was true - it did not take well to the uphill drive in 'D', the manual shifter had to be used. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10651[/ATTACH] The reason for going towards Landour were these small shops near Lal Tibba, called Chardukkan. They have been around for years and are famous for serving some scrumptious pancakes and waffles. The only problem - the roads were barely as wide as the massive truck. Negotiating blind turns and two-way traffic was tough, but the Endeavour pleasantly surprised everybody with it's maneuverability. The pictures below should give you some idea as to what all we faced. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10653[/ATTACH] This is a list of what all we ordered at Chardukkan. Quite the King's meal we had. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10659[/ATTACH] Waiting for the food, sipping on some great cold coffee. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10656[/ATTACH] After all of this, it was well beyond 2 pm and it was time to decide on what were we would be staying for the night. We contemplated going back to Delhi, but it wasn't a very smart idea so we decided otherwise. Shebin recommended we go to the George Everest Peak in Hathipaon and have a look at the tents over the flat mountain. It was about 20 kms from Landour and the route was via Mall Road, Mussoorie. Btw - 20 kms in the city translates to a maximum of 45 mins of driving, but in the hills of Mussoorie, on a Saturday, we were stuck for a good hour and a half before we reached Hathipaon. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10657[/ATTACH] The way to the peak is via a semi-broken road which was again as narrow as the Endeavour. It was about 6 kms from the main road, and the drive up was quite exciting. And the views were just breath-taking. Bits of the road were missing but the beautiful suspension geometry of this car kept it planted and climb on, without a single hiccup. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n10658[/ATTACH]