Breakfast in our Chandigarh hotel proved that things can be accomplished in a professional and efficient manner and the chef was a very friendly man indeed. A very good breakfast altogether crowned with a personal visit from the hotel’s GM and a small entourage to apologise profusely for their hotel. Yikes. That dealt with, we were back on the coach and an hour or so later arrived at Kalka Railway Station. It is becoming apparent that it is a physical impossibility to spend any less than an hour on the coach at any given time.

We reached Kalka station around 2 hours sooner than we needed to and inspected the narrow gauge Himalayan Queen toy train which was scheduled to take us to Shimla. The railway itself was built between 1898 and 1903 to connect Shimla, the summer capital of India during the British Raj, with the rest of the Indian rail system. Shimla became the summer capital in 1864 and was also the headquarters of the Indian Army. This meant moving the entire government from Calcutta to Shimla twice a year with the use of nothing more than horse and ox drawn carts - clearly there had to be a better way, and so the railway was born.

According to the Guinness Records Book of ‘Rail Facts and Feats’, the Kalka to Shimla railway is ‘The greatest narrow gauge engineering feat in India’. The 96 km journey takes 5 hours, winds around 917 curves, through 20 stations and five level crossings. Whilst we weren’t hell bent on counting them all, there were to be 102 tunnels and 988 bridges and crossings - including several amazing multi-arched gallery bridges - like Roman aqueducts. And lots and lots of scenery.

By the by, there were originally 107 tunnels - but due to landslips only 102 are now in use. Glad we found that out after the trip. We also read the following little story about Tunnel 33. The construction of that tunnel was entrusted to a Colonel Barog who wanted to save time and presumably be efficient. He decided to dig both ends of his tunnel at once, but due to a miscalculation of the monumental kind, his tunnels did not meet in the middle. He was fined a symbolic single rupiah for wasting govement money but, distraught and humiliated, he ended up committing suicide and is now buried near his failed tunnel. The final and successful Tunnel 33 (also known as the Barog tunnel) is now the longest tunnel on the line at 1,143 m.

With time on our hands, nothing better to do and having inspected the train, we had some fruitful discussions with the tour company and our guide (that word was getting looser by the minute) and ended up sitting in the two perfectly comfortable and adequate ‘First Class’ / FC carriages - albeit James was in one and I was in the other. We therefore survived and positively enjoyed the 5 hour trip which, had we remained in the Chair Class/CC carriage, we certainly would not have. We wouldn’t sit on a bus stop or park bench for 5 hours and had no intention of doing so on a train for that length of time. We’re pretty sure the ‘CC’ also stands for crap class or cattle class... but as a dear friend says... not our problem. The steep climb, stunning scenery and amazing viaducts/arched gallery bridges were just incredible and we arrived into the hustle and bustle of Shimla station at around 5.20 pm, as the sun was setting into the Himalayas and the mercury was dropping - fast.

Shimla, sitting in the Himalayan foothills was a wonderful surprise. Chilly and crisp and very high at 7,116 ft (2,169 m), we both fell immediately in love with this town where all forms of smoking and smoking materials are banned in public places - roads, shops, parks, cafes, everywhere. Fresh air is literally ‘king’. Also banned are spitting and plastic - including carrying plastic bags you may already own. Wow. And clean, so clean - probably as a direct result of the lack of smoking detritus, plastic and phlegm on the pavements. We weren’t expecting the cold weather but unlike a great many travellers, we were prepared and we whipped out our winter clothes for a very pleasant stroll around town in the early evening (and in about 6 degrees).

The hotel in Shimla (Hotel Willow Banks) was superb! After the disaster that was Chandigarh we were ecstatic to be staying in this amazing spot with glorious views across the twinkling lights and coloured rooftops of Shimla. Having had our stroll and stocking up on chocolate cake for dessert and some local ginger wine, we ended up eating dinner at the luxurious-feeling hotel restaurant. We retired to our room relatively early for a coffee and chocolate cake and had a good laugh at the sign on the door leading to the balcony “Please Keep the Door Closed to Guard Against Mosquitoes & Monkeys”. Truly - loads of monkeys swinging from powerlines in these parts and capering all through the town. Thankfully a bit too cold for mosquitoes.

Tomorrow? A half day sightseeing jaunt around the highlights of Shimla... and, WOW!, another night at our wonderful hotel.