Ah, the Himalayas. Magnificent and cool, they’re just where you’d want to be when the weather gods dial up the oven to slow roast. Except, everyone and their uncle has the same idea. A driving holiday to the hills, then, may be an escape from the heat but not quite from the madness that is Indian traffic.
“Ah” to “aargh”? Not so soon. Because there’s buzz of a new road near Shimla in Himachal Pradesh. One that’s said to be free from holiday-goers. Free from potholes. And importantly, free from too many long, straight stretches. Could this… could this be the promised land? The driver’s holiday route? The perfect hill road? We just had to investigate.
For the exploratory mission, we summoned the services of a certain big B — the Bentley Flying Spur. Who said a drive of discovery can’t be done in first-class comfort? Ours is the one with the ‘I own oil fields’ W12 engine. Yes, the 6-litre twin-turbo power station whose vital stats read 616bhp and 81.6kgm. Unverified sources claim NASA studied this engine for use on its next space mission. But let’s not get into that.
Chandigarh is base camp for us. Traffic here, as always, is orderly and allows for a stately exit out onto the well-surfaced Himalayan Expressway. It’s NH22 post that, with the climb starting in earnest at Parwanoo. Unfortunately, as the altitude increases, road discipline drops, at least when talking of boisterous SUV drivers. Their urgency has me convinced they’re practicing for Pikes Peak glory. Perhaps they have more use for the Bentley’s calming massage seats than I do. Anyway, I let them through. Soon enough we reach, scratch that, ‘arrive’ at the small but bustling town of Kumarhatti. If the treasure maps are accurate, this is where we are to break off from the main highway that leads to Shimla, and point the Flying Spur’s regal nose onto SH2 towards a town called Nahan. Fingers crossed.
In the first kilometre or so, nothing stands out. There’s the usual melee of shops and haphazardly parked cars. But as we journey on further away from civilisation, things begin to get vastly better. The vehicle count reduces, the vistas extend a lot further and the scenery-corrupting electric wires overhead all but disappear. As for the road, it seems smooth, wide enough and well protected. The guard rails and barriers along the route will be my last line of protection should I make a monumental error at the wheel. I really don’t want to test this Spur’s ability to fly. Off mountains, that is.
