inter-village footpaths in North?

roamingbaldy · Feb 11th, 2007, 03:40

I wanted to see if anyone had any advice for a medium-far-flung foot trekking idea.

Several years ago I had a great experience on the so-called Lycian trail on the Turkish coast. It's what's left of the ancient Lycian trade route and winds from small village to small village where you camp out with grannies and eat raunchy goat cheese and olives. Another toned-down version, same idea, are the foot paths in the Cottswalds, England.

Anyone know of a North-Indian analog? I've seen that the old footpath pilgrimage routes (e.g. up to Gangotri) seem to run next to the road - yuck. The basic fantasy would be to find some quality footpaths connecting villages in a pradesh where you'd feel okay walking about (probably not Bihar, for example).

I'm sure one solution would be to pick up geographic survey maps in Delhi and just head off to any area - that is, any - that might be interesting. But I wanted to see if anyone had actually done something like this. (I had in mind doing some walking in central plains agrarian area and then heading up to the NE... but let me know if you've got experience doing this anywhere).

Thanks for any input.

Peace -

roamingbaldy

cyberhippie · Feb 11th, 2007, 14:48

The Himalaya contrary to what you may imagine is fairly densly populated. As such paths abound, as do villages and hamlets. Getting around would be quite easy using inter village paths!!

vir · Feb 11th, 2007, 15:03

I know there are few people who do Narmada pradakshina (Narmada is a river in Central India). People do it as a pilgrimage. It easily takes few months.

They stop from village to village during that and stay at other devotee's houses, dharamshalas and even sleep outside in open. You can probably google that and get more information. I am sure there are more pad yatra's of similar nature all around India.

The advantage of doing a pad yatra (Pilgrimage on foot) is that you know that many people have already done that route.

steven_ber · Feb 11th, 2007, 17:06

Is there a purpose to the walk?

That may sound like I'm having a go, I'm not.

Gandhi went on many walks and many train journeys, I've always thought it would be interesting to follow some of those routes, I'm sure most of Gandhi's walks were village to village.

Does anyone know how to get details of Gandhi's walks and train trips?

ranjan154 · Feb 11th, 2007, 19:17

Quote:

Does anyone know how to get details of Gandhi's walks and train trips?

Some interesting incidences of his train journey are mentioned in his auto biography "My experiments with truth".. the way he has described III class compartments i can imagine the situation is no gud now.. but i must say you must have lots of patience and gud sense of humour to travel in that.. I too have some incidences to narrate

cyberhippie · Feb 11th, 2007, 19:22

Quote:

he way he has described III class compartments i can imagine the situation is no gud now.. but i must say you must have lots of patience and gud sense of humour to travel in that.. I too have some incidences to narrate

Me too like the time we took third class on a pasenger train from Katni to Jabalpur, Christmas day in fact, blazing hot and what should have been a couple of hours turned into 10, as we watched all the priority trains speed past us parked in our little siding!!

Long day but with us all being stuck on the same boat, so to speak the other passengers made life just about bearable!! Quite a day!

cyberhippie · Feb 11th, 2007, 19:38

Steven here's a link to a route itinerary for the Dandi Yatra. This is now has National Heritage Status and roughly Follows NH 288 from Ahmedabad to Dandi.

This was the route Gandhi followed to make sea salt at Dandi to protest the opppresive British salt tax!!

steven_ber · Feb 11th, 2007, 20:10

Thanks CH, I read a great book about the Salt Tax, the great hedge was the name of the book I think, I'm sure I done a thread about it.

Very clever idea by the British, but ruthlesly collected and surely one of the worst examples set by the British.

cyberhippie · Feb 11th, 2007, 20:13

Yeah I know the book but haven't managed to find it yet, also want The Great Arc!

Jasmin · Feb 11th, 2007, 21:49

Footpaths between villages? Sounds like a great idea.

vistet · Feb 11th, 2007, 23:28

Another social themed walk : the starting point for Chipko Andolan, the original tree huuging movement, was a long walk along the Himalayan foothills by Sunderlal Bahaguna. The Chipko movement also organised walks between villages as a way to agitate for protection of communal forests.

roamingbaldy · Feb 12th, 2007, 01:54

I think the Dandi Yatra is a fantastic idea. It had crossed my mind last time I was in India. I suppose one disadvantage is that there might be very little infrastructure on the route (whether or not that really ends up mattering) in terms of dharamsalas or what have you.

I guess the obvious answer would be - as many of you have suggested - to simply head off to any pilgrimage route that seemed like it might have the right combo of... whatever one's looking for.

My intuition is that probably any area of the country with a reasonable population density - yes, cyerhippie, I know people live in Himalaya country - would probably have a network of walking paths. The trick will just be finding a place where one could navigate to the degree necessary.

cyberhippie · Feb 12th, 2007, 02:00

It can be done Baldy, I remember a thread here or on the TT about a guy who had walked from Kathmandu to Varanasi. He simply bedded down where he could!! And asked directions as he went!

As far as navigation is concerned IF you can get your hands on the India Survey maps, they are more than sufficient to get you from place to place. Have you been to the Himalaya before!!

You might find this guide useful!

roamingbaldy · Feb 12th, 2007, 03:08

Cyberhippie -

I've been up into HP a couple of times and Gangotri last year. I wasn't equipped for trekking, or in the mood to buy/rent new stuff (although this morning I was wearing some crappy, itchy wool gloves I bought there).

Do you know if it's a pain to get Survey maps? The official website is pretty bad, but I thought the Geological Survey had something like a storefront location in Delhi where one could buy the maps. No? Maybe something of poorer quality would be okay on a well-trodden route, but a good topo seems desirable.

Wazen · Feb 13th, 2007, 15:26

Upper India is known for village to village style traveling... Such as in Parvati valley. You just travel from village to village. Sometimes you catch a bus down a dirt road. Some times you walk up a steep foot path.
There are villages with many guest houses, but no guide book speaks of them. You have to meet other travelers as you go along, and gather information from word of mouth.

The trecks in Nepal may be exactly what you are looking for aswell. Check out the Annapurna, its a great village to village experience.

Feb 11th, 2007, 03:40	#1
roamingbaldy Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Lincoln, NE (USA) Posts: 6	inter-village footpaths in North? I wanted to see if anyone had any advice for a medium-far-flung foot trekking idea. Several years ago I had a great experience on the so-called Lycian trail on the Turkish coast. It's what's left of the ancient Lycian trade route and winds from small village to small village where you camp out with grannies and eat raunchy goat cheese and olives. Another toned-down version, same idea, are the foot paths in the Cottswalds, England. Anyone know of a North-Indian analog? I've seen that the old footpath pilgrimage routes (e.g. up to Gangotri) seem to run next to the road - yuck. The basic fantasy would be to find some quality footpaths connecting villages in a pradesh where you'd feel okay walking about (probably not Bihar, for example). I'm sure one solution would be to pick up geographic survey maps in Delhi and just head off to any area - that is, any - that might be interesting. But I wanted to see if anyone had actually done something like this. (I had in mind doing some walking in central plains agrarian area and then heading up to the NE... but let me know if you've got experience doing this anywhere). Thanks for any input. Peace - roamingbaldy

Feb 11th, 2007, 17:06	#4
steven_ber Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: London, England. Posts: 9,195	Is there a purpose to the walk? That may sound like I'm having a go, I'm not. Gandhi went on many walks and many train journeys, I've always thought it would be interesting to follow some of those routes, I'm sure most of Gandhi's walks were village to village. Does anyone know how to get details of Gandhi's walks and train trips? __________________ . How to get helpful replies to your transport/Itinerary questions. Train information.

Feb 11th, 2007, 21:49	#10
Jasmin Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 167	Footpaths between villages? Sounds like a great idea. __________________ 'Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome' - S. Johnson

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Feb 11th, 2007, 14:48	#2
cyberhippie Account Closed by User's Request Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: the Netherlands Posts: 6,012	The Himalaya contrary to what you may imagine is fairly densly populated. As such paths abound, as do villages and hamlets. Getting around would be quite easy using inter village paths!!

Feb 11th, 2007, 15:03	#3
vir Indori Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 239	I know there are few people who do Narmada pradakshina (Narmada is a river in Central India). People do it as a pilgrimage. It easily takes few months. They stop from village to village during that and stay at other devotee's houses, dharamshalas and even sleep outside in open. You can probably google that and get more information. I am sure there are more pad yatra's of similar nature all around India. The advantage of doing a pad yatra (Pilgrimage on foot) is that you know that many people have already done that route.

Feb 11th, 2007, 19:38	#7
cyberhippie Account Closed by User's Request Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: the Netherlands Posts: 6,012	Steven here's a link to a route itinerary for the Dandi Yatra. This is now has National Heritage Status and roughly Follows NH 288 from Ahmedabad to Dandi. This was the route Gandhi followed to make sea salt at Dandi to protest the opppresive British salt tax!!

Feb 11th, 2007, 20:10	#8
steven_ber Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: London, England. Posts: 9,195	Thanks CH, I read a great book about the Salt Tax, the great hedge was the name of the book I think, I'm sure I done a thread about it. Very clever idea by the British, but ruthlesly collected and surely one of the worst examples set by the British.

Feb 11th, 2007, 20:13	#9
cyberhippie Account Closed by User's Request Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: the Netherlands Posts: 6,012	Yeah I know the book but haven't managed to find it yet, also want The Great Arc!

Feb 11th, 2007, 23:28	#11
vistet Maha Guru Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Umeå , Sweden Posts: 1,733	Another social themed walk : the starting point for Chipko Andolan, the original tree huuging movement, was a long walk along the Himalayan foothills by Sunderlal Bahaguna. The Chipko movement also organised walks between villages as a way to agitate for protection of communal forests.

Feb 12th, 2007, 01:54	#12
roamingbaldy Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Lincoln, NE (USA) Posts: 6	I think the Dandi Yatra is a fantastic idea. It had crossed my mind last time I was in India. I suppose one disadvantage is that there might be very little infrastructure on the route (whether or not that really ends up mattering) in terms of dharamsalas or what have you. I guess the obvious answer would be - as many of you have suggested - to simply head off to any pilgrimage route that seemed like it might have the right combo of... whatever one's looking for. My intuition is that probably any area of the country with a reasonable population density - yes, cyerhippie, I know people live in Himalaya country - would probably have a network of walking paths. The trick will just be finding a place where one could navigate to the degree necessary.

Feb 12th, 2007, 02:00	#13
cyberhippie Account Closed by User's Request Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: the Netherlands Posts: 6,012	It can be done Baldy, I remember a thread here or on the TT about a guy who had walked from Kathmandu to Varanasi. He simply bedded down where he could!! And asked directions as he went! As far as navigation is concerned IF you can get your hands on the India Survey maps, they are more than sufficient to get you from place to place. Have you been to the Himalaya before!! You might find this guide useful!

Feb 12th, 2007, 03:08	#14
roamingbaldy Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Lincoln, NE (USA) Posts: 6	Cyberhippie - I've been up into HP a couple of times and Gangotri last year. I wasn't equipped for trekking, or in the mood to buy/rent new stuff (although this morning I was wearing some crappy, itchy wool gloves I bought there). Do you know if it's a pain to get Survey maps? The official website is pretty bad, but I thought the Geological Survey had something like a storefront location in Delhi where one could buy the maps. No? Maybe something of poorer quality would be okay on a well-trodden route, but a good topo seems desirable.

Feb 13th, 2007, 15:26	#15
Wazen Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Wahiawa, Hawaii Posts: 264	Upper India is known for village to village style traveling... Such as in Parvati valley. You just travel from village to village. Sometimes you catch a bus down a dirt road. Some times you walk up a steep foot path. There are villages with many guest houses, but no guide book speaks of them. You have to meet other travelers as you go along, and gather information from word of mouth. The trecks in Nepal may be exactly what you are looking for aswell. Check out the Annapurna, its a great village to village experience.

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