Destinations
Barot valley
A valley built around a hydroelectric scheme from 1932 and largely left alone since. The Uhl runs through the middle of it, there is a trout hatchery, and almost nobody has heard of it.
Suits — fishing, cycling, people who want somewhere with no itinerary
Read the full descriptionClose the description
Barot is in Mandi district, two hours off the Pathankot–Manali road, and it is there because of a power station.
In the 1920s the Shanan project needed material moved from Jogindernagar up to the catchment, so the engineers built a haulage trolley — a cable railway running almost straight up two thousand metres of hillside — and cut a road along the Uhl to reach the works. The scheme was commissioned in 1932 and is still generating. Everything else in the valley followed the infrastructure.
What that leaves is a settlement of a few hundred people along a river, a hatchery, some fields, and a great deal of forest with nothing built on it. There is no market, no viewpoint with a railing, and no shop selling shawls.
People come here to fish, to cycle the valley road, and to walk up into Nargu. In the last few years it has started appearing on lists of undiscovered places, which it is in the process of ceasing to be, but on a weekday in May you can still have the riverbank to yourself.
The road in is the thing to be realistic about. From Ghatasani it is forty kilometres of single track with a lot of hairpins and no barrier, and two hours is an honest estimate rather than a cautious one.
- Altitude
- About 1,900m
- From Jogindernagar
- 40km, roughly 2 hours on a narrow road
- From Dharamshala
- 3.5–4 hours
- Roads
- Single track much of the way from Ghatasani, with hairpins
- Give it
- Two nights. There is no reason to rush and nowhere to rush to
- Best months
- April to June and September to November. The road in is not one to take in heavy rain.
Worth your time
What to actually go and see
The haulage trolley
A funicular built in the 1920s to carry material up from Jogindernagar for the Shanan power project, climbing about 2,000m on a straight line up the hillside. It is still maintained by the electricity board. Public rides have come and gone, so treat it as a thing to look at rather than book.
The Shanan project
Commissioned in 1932 and one of the earliest hydro schemes in India, which is the reason there is a road into this valley at all. The reservoir and the water-carrying works are what shaped the settlement.
The trout hatchery
A government hatchery on the Uhl, open to look round for a nominal ticket, and the reason the river below it fishes as well as it does. Angling permits come from the same office.
Nargu Wildlife Sanctuary
Oak and deodar on the slopes above the valley, with monal, koklass and a reasonable chance of ghoral. Walking in is straightforward from Lohardi.
Lohardi and the villages
Slate roofs, wooden balconies, and hillsides of terraced fields. Lohardi is the usual base for walks up towards the sanctuary and is about as far as vehicles comfortably go.
Keep reading