During the British rule, the most popular route to Kullu from Shimla was via the Jalori pass. Among the many British who trekked on this route, it was Penelope Chetwode who immortalized it in her famous book, ‘Kulu, The end of the habitable world’
Penelope Chetwode was the daughter of field marshal lord Chetwode the Commander- in- Chief of the Indian army (1930-35)and wife of the famous Poet Laureat John Betjeman. She first trekked from Shimla to Kullu with her mother in 1932. About 30 years later in 1963, she returned to the Himalayas to organise her own mule trek along the same route and vividly described it in her travelogue. Her amazing adventure took her north from Shimla to Narkanda, and across the Satluj river to Ani and up to Khanag. After crossing the Jalori pass (3135m) she continuing through Banjar and Aut along the Tirthan river before passing through Kullu, Manali and eventually reaching the Rohtang pass. On her way back she explored the Parvati valley and reached Rampur via the Bishloi pass.
She returned to the Seraj area of Kullu district again and again in the following years. She was obsessed not only with the scenic beauty but also the wooden temples of the area. She wrote several articles on the wooden temples of the western Himalayas and became a leading authority on the temple architecture of the region. In April 1986 she set off on another trek but passed away near the village of Khanag. A stone memorial placed by her grand daughter at Khanag can still be seen here today.
Much has changed since Penelope Chetwode trekked on this route. What took her months to accomplish can be covered in a couple of days in a vehicle today. Signs of development and modernization are visible everywhere along the entire route. Towns and villages have grown in size dwarfing the humble rest houses where Chatwode had stayed and written her notes, slate roofs have given way to corrugated tin roofs, forests have dwindled and traditional crops like barley, corn, wheat and paddy have given way to fruit trees.
But most of the hill temples described by her still retain their original charm. Starting from the amazing wooden temple at Behna along the Satluj river, to the temples in the Tirthan valley and finally the stone temples at Bajaura and Dashal and the unique pagoda style temples at Naggar and Manali in the Beas valley, there is perhaps no other route in the western Himalaya that offers such a rich and diverse glimpse of the cultural heritage of the region.