We both slept much better – nothing to do with 85km cycled the day before of course, but welcome nonetheless. Porridge with bananas and coffee set us up for the day and we were on the road by 7.30. The traffic was just as busy as on a weekday. As we crossed the bridge from the sleepy old centre of Ayutthaya where all the tourists stay (like us), we found there was a thriving modern city of the same name. We battled our way through the traffic and had our first encounter of the trip with a Thai motorway.

Thai motorways are similar to their European cousins but have a number of key differences. First, there is always a relief road at the side of the motorway – so with 4 main lanes each way there are another 2 or 3 lanes of the relief road running alongside the main carriageway, with a hard shoulder on the edge of the relief road. Secondly, there are no restrictions for bicycles – but we stayed on the relief road rather than venturing onto the main carriageway. See we do have some residual sense left. Thirdly, the hard shoulder is effectively 2 way – in that if you go in the direction of the traffic, you keep meeting motorbikes going in the other direction. Thirdly, there are only a few junctions but the occasional “U Turn” space in the middle for those who wish to cash in their life insurance. Finally, there are lots of trucks, pushing out lots of fumes and so the air is pretty horrid. Having said that, there has been some impressive investment to create a network of roads that carry a vast amount of freight around the country.

The first motorway we encountered was outside the modern, busy Ayutthaya and was impossible for us to cross. So we had to do a 20km diversion before we finally got onto quiet roads. Then we left the main roads and suddenly the air was clean, there was less noise and we were ambling through paddy fields. It was all flat in this part of Thailand and rice seemed the staple (if not nearly the only) crop.

The landscape was criss-crossed with canals to provide water for the fields, with little pumps constantly at work to draw the water out of the channels to irrigate the fields. It was idyllic cycling, albeit we had to stop frequently to check the map (thanks Mr Google) to make sure we were moving in the right direction.

We stopped for a brew about 11, having covered about 45km. It was easy going apart from the irritating but not strong headwind. People looked on as we passed, generally without initiating any contact. However if we smiled, waved or made any small gesture which indicated we were friendly, smiles would break on the faces of men and women and they waved, called and encouraged us on. Rural folk appear to be quite reserved at first, but very friendly if we made the first move.

A few km outside Saraburi we stumbled across a lovely Buddhist temple, which was clearly a cherished part of the local community. It looked stunning in the late morning watery sunshine.

After 60km we reached the town of Saraburi and so hit the inevitable traffic jam. We stopped for a quick lunch at a cafe and then found a bike shop to replace the tyre lever we had misplaced in Bangkok – a boring story which is best left untold.

After Saraburi we knew that we had a tedious afternoon making a close acquaintance with the “2” motorway as it was the one road going where we wanted to go. The hills started and this was the road – the only road – so it was the “2” or nothing. We clung to the hard shoulder – mostly with a relief road but sometimes not – for about 35km. It was noisy, polluted and not much fun. But eventually we climbed our way into the mountains and found the exit we needed. It even had a road under the motorway and so we didn’t need to take our life in our hands with the exits.

The road climbed up to 250M with climbs of about 5% at worst. However, even at that gradient, we found ourselves going about the same speed as some of the larger trucks. Not that we were going fast of course, but they were working hard to go at 10kph and pushing out vast quantities of fumes just to show how hard they were working. So not ideal cycling!

Then all changed in an instant. We were off the motorway and into a joint venture area between Denmark and Thailand involving a model dairy farm which was set up for “agro-tourism”. Black and white cows replaced trucks as our scenery. The road suddenly deteriorated and I nearly rode into the cow dip which was in the middle of the road. We then found the road deteriorated further, and we found ourselves cycling along a dirt track which was a new road under construction.

Eventually we found the main road again and reached our “Home stay”. All very confusing with owners, using google-translate to try to say “yes we have booked” – looking at emails on the phone and eventually reaching a consensus. 105km was more than we wanted to do today as we are not yet fully fit, but feel like we might be getting there. Our lives in the UK already seem to belong to a different life. Cycle touring is totally mind absorbing – because if one loses concentration for a moment, there will be a motorbike coming towards one on the wrong side of the road and expecting us to move!

Another first – we cooked for ourselves. A single pot meal of noodles, tuna, carrot and cashew nuts. Anything tastes fantastic when we have cycled for over 100km in the humidity of the day.

(Bernie) Our level on the cycling madness scale probably escalated today with our decision to cycle out of Bangkok. We had considered other options, like getting a train to the outskirts, but we have always found that loading the bikes and panniers on to trains or buses is even more anxiety provoking than braving the traffic, so we opted for an early start. Armed with a street map of Bangkok we just decided to go for it.
So we found ourselves breakfasting in the dark at 6 and setting off at first light, at around 6.30. Our bike boxes were safely stowed at the hotel with a booking to return before our flight at the end of February. A young doorman seemed to take personal responsibility for looking after them for us and gave us a cheery farewell.

The doomsayers who predicted death and destruction to anyone who cycled in Bangkok had probably never been on a bicycle. True there was a fair amount of traffic even at that time of the morning, but we found the Thai drivers to be incredibly courteous. Even as the traffic built up and we were often in narrow lanes, the cars and vans hung back until they could overtake us safely. We got cheery thumbs up from traffic policeman and just about struggled with the pollution. There was no hooting or tooting as that would be seen as far too disrespectful for the average Thai person….such a contrast to India.

Altogether it was probably easier than cycling in London and compared to Istanbul or Mumbai it was a walk in the park!! Having said that – it was city cycling so the pollution was pretty horrible and our concentration was super-charged, especially for David as he was navigating as well (I just pedalled along behind!). About 20km in, as we got to the edge of the Greater Bangkok map, we stopped for a cup of coffee feeling mighty relieved.

Soon after got going again we reached one of those navigating conundrums where the left turn we wanted to take turned out to be an elevated expressway high above us! As we paused to consider our options (or seemingly lack of options) a friendly man on a motor cycle came up and asked where we wanted to go. ‘Follow me – short cut’ he said as he turned back the way he had come to direct us. Along a track by the railway, down a back alley and over a footbridge of a large canal and we were exactly where we wanted to be! It reminded me why I so love our cycling trips as so often we meet small acts of kindness that renew one’s faith that most people in the world are good people.

The next section was a long straight road along a canal. We were definitely out in the countryside now with banana trees and paddy fields. Small canal side shacks were interspersed with the occasional amazingly ornate Buddhist temple. Flat was good for getting our legs going for our first cycling day. Inevitably not as fit as we would have liked after uninviting December weather and a busy Christmas. Unfortunately the bain of flat lands is wind and inevitably it was against us!

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t 11.30am we were tiring….but then realised we had been cycling for 5 hours (getting out of Bangkok was certainly slow). We stopped at a roadside eatery that was full of people and had delicious fried chicken wings in a sesame batter, rice and 2 bowls of a steaming veg soup each. We of course we clueless how it all work as people piled up their plates but an older woman who seemed to be supervising the cooking took us under her wing and in spite of not a single common word between us other than ‘fried chicken’ she made herself understood! We must try and brush up our Thai! The meal cost us about $2.50, so was more than worth it.

Renewed we had 25km to go. Our legs were beginning to suffer but knew we had to go through these first few days of physical endurance to build up some fitness. We were relieved to roll into Ayuttaya, the old capital of Thailand, around 2pm. Even though we found we were not booked into the guest house we thought we were (that sinking feeling when they said they did not have our reservation) it turned out we had booked into the sister guesthouse down the road and we were soon in our simple but spacious room glorying in a hot shower.

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lthough we were feeling pretty exhausted, we forced ourselves out to do some sightseeing. After all we had cycled all the way here to see the temples that had been the glory of the old Thai capital until it was ransacked by the Burmese in about the 1750s. Seeing the Grand Palace in Bangkok the previous day gave us a good clue at how the place must have looked in its heyday. The core of the old city was in a big loop of a series of rivers and so was, in effect, an island. The river island had been home to no less than 6 temple complexes.

We weren’t up to looking at all 6 but strolled round 2 of them. Although now ruins, the place was peaceful and evocative with leaning stupa’s and crumbling Prangs (Pagodas) with occasional glimpses of the carvings than must had adorned the whole place and one or two fully preserved Buddha’s with their enigmatic faces. We walked off the aching in our legs and really enjoyed it.

A day that started feeling anxious turned out to be a great start to the trip.

We started out with a bike ride to check the bikes had survived the journey. The traffic was pretty heavy and the surfaces not too reliable, with big gratings at the side of the tarmac. Good to catch tropical rainwater but not so brilliant for cyclists. We found a large park with a cycle route in the middle, but then got stopped by the police because it was no cycling until 10am. The runners and walkers had exclusive use until then.

The air quality in downtown Bangkok is legendary – and was as bad as we have ever experienced. It felt choking to do any exercise, and there were the occasional (or not so occasional) overwhelming smell of drains. So a short ride but at least we found the both US and UK embassies! The US one was much bigger and proudly boasted on a poster of a long friendship between the USA and Thailand. The UK embassy was more modest – but I suppose that is inevitable.

Then breakfast and a trip on the Skytrain to the river, followed by a riverboat ride along the Mae Nam Chao Phraya, the major river running through the centre of the city. The major hotels are on the river in huge skyscrapers, demonstrating that the Sheriden and the like have a major presence in the city. It was very polluted and we watched as small boats sucked up the green weeds that grew in the water. There were also groups of the largest barges I have ever seen being tugged along at a snail’s pace by a single small boat. I have no idea what was in the barges but this was a grade-A commercial super-highway.

We got off at Chang Ferry Pier and worked out way with the hordes of other tourists to the Grand Palace. Bangkok was founded in the C17th when the Thai King abandoned the old capital, founding a new city nearer the sea. Every king needs a palace with royal chapels to show his devotion to Buddhism, so the original palace buildings gradually developed over the next 200 years with every King adding his mark to the complex. But first we had to buy suitable clothing – hippy trousers for David and a Sarong for Bernie. Good business at the side of the palace but we were going to get these at some point anyway. My bright orange pants were suitable here but I suspect I might get some resistance from the children if I ever wear them at home!

The temple area of the palace hugely impressive in parts but overall was a bit of a hotpotch of wonderful buildings, statutes, murals and temples, all in a very small area.

We were one of thousands looking at these marvellous sights – but the pictures tell the story far better than any words can.

After that we wandered through the city to China Town and experienced the organised chaos of any major city in a developing country. Tiny stores selling gems, generators, offering Thai massage and food, food and more food – often cooked right in front of us. After a couple of hours of having all our senses assaulted, we headed for the metro and back to the hotel. We rested and planned the next couple of days.

We were not so lucky with the restaurant we found for a meal in the evening – an indifferent curry – but tomorrow the real adventure begins.

(David) We have just spent 2 days in Bangkok and, with the greatest respect to those who love this city and acknowledging that we have only scratched the surface, we are keen to get out. After a hearty but indifferent breakfast, Wednesday morning was spend re-building the bikes. They came through transit remarkably well and, a couple of hours after I started, I had 2 empty boxes, a large pile of bubblewrap and 2 more or less functioning bikes. Bernie’s dynamo took a little adjusting but otherwise it was all straightforward.

We had both missed a night’s sleep (more or less) and so dozed, went for a swim in the pool on the 9th (and top) floor of the hotel and then I used the gym for a workout. I got the impression that visitors used the Bar and the pool more than the gym. We ventured out to find phones and provisions for the road. We were 2kg overweight coming over (but not charged) but brought no provisions with us at all. We needed tea, coffee, milk powder and a few things to keep us going. We found a supermarket in a shopping centre. This was one of hundreds of shopping plazas across the city. Mr Google told us that there is 25 sq km of shopping plazas indowntown Bangkok. This appears to be true.
Then we battled to find Sim cards and the old Apple phone I brought from home turned out to be SO old that it would not accept a modern Sim card. That will teach me to be parsimonious!
We then found a little Thai restaurant down an alley that had an excellent ambiance and great food. We then ambled back to the hotel whereupon I fell straight asleep – waking at half-past midnight, still tired but with part of my brain telling me to wake even though the other half was saying “don’t do it – you need SLEEP!!” So the tussle went on until the sleep part of the brain won and morning came too quickly.

Blog 2019
1st January 2019. Arriving in Bangkok.

New Year passed us by somewhat in the merge of time zones on our flight but by the time we arrived in Dubai it was definitely 1st January, the beginning of a new year and a new adventure.

The 4 hour transit in Dubai allowed the first concentrated planning – always so difficult until the reality hits. The next leg of the flight tedious was but uneventful. A few snatched cat naps to keep us going through our missed night’s sleep, then here we were in Bangkok. Smoothly through passport control, 2 bikes and 4 panniers all present and correct in baggage reclaim and our name ready and waiting for our transfer to the hotel (a whole minivan to ourselves to make sure we could get the bike boxes in!).

Then out of the air conditioning of the airport and into the balmy 28C (10.30pm) and it suddenly felt we were here! We had booked a standard modern ‘Best Western’ for our first nights outside the city centre – characterless but functional and reliable. Although we were exhausted we ventured out for a quick drink and a first taste of Bangkok.

A 5 minute stroll took us into a classic tourist street . Bars liberally scattered with Thai women in tight dresses and an over abundance of middle aged white men…although plenty of couples too. We managed to avoid both the Ladyboy Bar and another bar called Spankers – no subtlety here. We watched the passing crowds as we sipped a beer in a garish orangy-pinky light. All a bit bizarre and not our natural milleur and would be depressing if spent too long there; but a taste of being another world and ready for what the next couple of months will bring before the final bliss of being horizontal.

This blog is written as we wait for boarding at Birmingham Airport, listening to snatches of conversations in languages I understand, half understand or cannot recognise. Lots of families travelling over New Year as, I assume, like us they are seeking to avoid the expensive days either side.

We are flying to Bangkok, via Dubai. It will be late evening on 1 January when we arrive, and so we will miss the New Year’s celebrations with friends and family for the second time after many years of seeing the New Year in with people we know and love. So Happy New Year to you all. Last New Year’s Eve we were in Knayakumari, and we started our cycling trip through India on New Year’s day. It has been quite year since then professionally – with the usual ups and downs. But I am really looking forward to exploring Thailand by bike, shedding a few pounds and reading some interesting books. It should be a fascinating next 2 months. We will try to blog when we can, but that is all dependent on getting access to internet. It was not a problem in IT-saavy India but not sure about rural Thailand. We will just have to see what happens.

We are planning to start cycling on Friday but have 48 hours to explore Bangkok before then – as well as the small matter of rebuilding the bikes. So we will post again when we have something interesting to report.

In the meantime, Happy New Year and I hope you have a more enjoyable time than being stuck in a large cigar holder with wings as it travels to Dubai!

Well the next leg of our trip will start 2 weeks today, on new Year’s Eve, when we fly to Thailand.  The aim is to cycle in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos over the coming 8 weeks.  I have been busy sorting out the bikes for the next trip, fitting new tyres and making sure all the spares are complete.  we have been out for some training rides in the cold and damp of teh English winter but nothing will prepare us for the heat and humidity of Indochina.  We have started to read up on the areas we are visiting, and this year have invested in a photography course so we might improve the quality of the photos on the site as we take you with us.

Meanwhile there is the little matter of Christmas to navigate.  We have the delight of Damian and Tina coming over from Rwanda, so the house will be filled with joy as Sachia and Gracie enjoy Christmas – and we enjoy Sachia and Gacie enjoying Christmas.  we have a collection of Bernie’s family on Boxing Day – 28 at last count.

So Happy Christmas and we’ll resume the blog when we touch down in Bangkok on 1 January.

“You must be mad” was the usual response when we told people that we were planning to spend 2 months cycling in India.  “What about the traffic, the heat, the dust, the hassle, the begging, malaria, ‘Delhi belly’…….and what about your age?”.  It is true that we are at the  north end of our 50s and we didn’t really have a plan other than to set off from Kanyakumari, the most southern tip of India, on New Year’s Day and head north. It would also be true to  say that we had some of those same underlying anxieties, but that did not deter us from flying off on a wintry December day and landing some time zones later in the soft enveloping  subtropical warmth of South India. Continue reading What is it really like cycling in India? →

After 24 hours after we arrived in Jaipur it was clear that my muscles needed a few days to recover from the bruising of the fall, and so we decided to end the cycling here. We only planned a further 3 days on the bikes to reach Agra, but that can wait until the next trip. So we are holed up, reading and recovering at the wonderful Ashok Club and will head off by car to our friends in Delhi tomorrow.

This morning we visited the amazingly beautiful Amber Palace, just under 30 years after we visited together in 1988 (when we also stayed at the Ashok Club). It was still stunning and impressive, but also reminded us just how much opulence one person (or perhaps more accurately a series of individual rulers) can create with limitless wealth and no social conscience about making the poor pay for the follies of the rich. The place was a honey pot, full of tourists from every developed country in the world and has been described in numerous guides, blogs and advertorials. So there seems little point in adding our superficial views to those of others who are far more informed. It seems better to use this last blog to reflect on what we have experienced, learned and endured over the last 2 months.

First, we have had a really enjoyable time. My injury over the last few days do not, in any way, affect our overwhelmingly positive view of India and Indians. But we have realised that the idea of “India” is comparatively modern. It is arguable that the idea that there was a country called India was a creation of the British Raj because before the domination of the British, there was no “India” as such. There were a series of local fiefdoms, ruled over by maharajahs and their families, exercising power over areas that shifted depending on the outcome of a battle with a neighbouring fiefdom or, more occasionally, an external intruder like the Mohguls. When the Europeans came in the 18^th Century, various local war lords saw their chance to get one up on their rivals by aligning themselves with the Dutch, the French or the British, often coming to rue the day they ever got into bed with the Europeans. For a long time, it was unclear which European nation was best placed to exploit the opportunity of these vast lands. However the East India Company gradually came out on top and then, in the mid-C19th, the British government effectively took over from a private company which had maintained its own private army to keep the local rulers under control and hence protect its commercial interests.

The maharajahs continued to hold and exercise real administrative power (jointly with the British) until 1947 when there was the botched “Freedom at Midnight”, which led to the creation of Pakistan and ultimately to the terrible loss of life in sectarian conflicts as Muslims moved to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs went the other way.

A single India only came into being after 1947 when skilled and ruthless Indian government ministers strong-armed the local rulers to give up their power and surrender to the single India. Goa remained a Portuguese colony until 1961 and the status of Kashmir remains fluid.

So perhaps we have come to realise that, despite different religions, wide-ranging communal histories and multiple languages, India functioning as a single, democratic country is a significant achievement for Indians. There were few amongst the British who left India in 1947 that would have predicted that this vast country would build itself as a successful state and remain as a single country. The credit for that goes to countless Indian politicians, government officials and those who hold or have held office in this amazing country.

Secondly, we should celebrate that one half of everyone on the planet who lives in a democracy lives in India, where democracy seems to be woven into the way people think and live. No democracy is perfect of course and India is no different in that respect, but that does not stop this being a country where the will of the people can and does change the government.

Thirdly, India is fantastically diverse. Cornwall is different from London, which is, in turn, different from the Highlands of Scotland. But the UK is (mostly) bound together by a common language. India has 26 official languages and thousands of dialects. The shape of people’s faces, the colour of their skin and the outlook on life moulded by a religion tradition differs markedly from one part of the country to another. The jungles of the south differ from the deserts of Rajasthan or the mountains of the Himalaya, with different climates, food and outlooks.

Although there is some commonality, in that about 80% of India is Hindu, that is like saying that all Europe is Christian without considering the different strands within each religion. There are different practices within different forms of Hinduism, and the demise of the divisions caused by the caste system is proving far more intractable to eradicate than Nehru hoped. And the 15% “minority” Muslim population is still more than 3 times the size of the whole UK population.

We have greatly enjoyed the diversity as it means nowhere is the same as the previous place. Temples vary greatly, art is different in different regions and the landscape influences everything.

Thirdly, the common thread we have experienced is kindness. India is a place overflowing with kind and generous people. We have had nothing stolen and never been the subject of a scam. Only 1 small hotel tried to overcharge us, and quickly backed down. The odd incident of hostility towards us from passing youths (usually trying to impress their mates, as they are wont to do the world over) stands out as so different from the invariable reaction of welcoming strangers. People here are proud of their country and want visitors to think well of India and the Indians – and we do.

Fourthly, this is still a young country with many, many children. In 1988, when we last visited, it had a population of 800M. The population is now over 50% higher at 1,345M. It continues to grow at about 1.17% per year with a 2.41 fertility rate. Millions of children could mean a great future, but it also heralds serious climatic and environmental challenges.

Lastly, it is a country with vast economic and environmental challenges, with the latter perhaps worrying us most during our stay. There is far less obvious and abject poverty, even along railway tracks, than when we were last here, but it is a country of vast inequality – but then that is the same the world over. But economic progress has come at a heavy cost to the environment. To give just one example, air pollution is a very serious challenge ,as well as eliminating waste, especially plastics. There are signs that the government is focused on these issues but there is a huge environmental mountain to climb.

Bernie: David has really summed up some of our thoughts about India. My lasting impressions of India will be the kindness, vibrancy, colour, noise and richness of wildlife and culture. So we end the first part of our cycling trip in India with great memories. We hope you have enjoyed this blog.   Many thanks to those who have donated to our chosen charity Walk for Life. If you have note yet donated but have enjoyed reading the blog then please consider doing so -there is a “Donate” button on the task bar.

Signing off now for the 2018 tour – hope to resume next year (or possibly earlier).

Today the short version is we cycled 146km (which is about 92m). It was the longest day on our several trips, as ever loaded with panniers. As I write this there is only one word – Exhausted!

The longer version is not much longer as almost all we did today was cycle, cycle, cycle across the mainly flattish desert of Rajasthan. Continue reading Day 46: Sawai Madopur to Jaipur. 146km. 400m climbing. →

We are still in Ranthambhore because we took 2 days off the bikes. The main event today was visiting Ranthambhore Fort. This fort, along with 5 other forts of Rajasthan, are UNESCO World Heritage Site under the group Hill Forts of Rajasthan.

That includes Kumbhalgarh which we saw last week. Inside the fort there are three Hindu temples dedicated to Ganesh, Shiva and Ramlalaji constructed in 12th and 13th centuries from red Karauli stone. There is also a Jain temple of Lord Sumatinath (5th Jain Tirthankar) and Lord Sambhavanath.

The fort was about 12km from the hotel, so we cycled and I got another rear tyre puncture. I suspect the outer tyre is decaying so we swopped it for the front one and went on our way. The front has less pressure on it – but its only a temporary fix.

The route to the fort took us up a cobbled road – so not quite Paris-Roubaix but you get the idea. The road was full of jeeps, motor bikes, cars and the occasional minibus taking people up to the Fort. The vast, vast majority were Hindus coming to visit the temples; described to us by one chap we met as a “very holy place”. This made the whole thing intensely colourful and chaotic.  There were also more monkeys in one site than we had ever seen in one place before – maybe intrinsic to the holiness of the site.

I could describe the fort – but the pictures do it better. However what struck us most was that all of India was represented in the car park.   The road was steep and narrow. It flattened out at the top but was still really narrow. That was where the trouble started – because there was totally insufficient parking and so everyone was jockeying for position to try to get into the small area, to get out or to turn around. If there was a small gap between 2 cars, 15 motor bikes would try to get through. All engines were kept going all the time, so the air was heavy with diesel and horns were blown continually and at random. People got out, walked around in the road at chatting at random and so left even less space for traffic to pass.

Despite this scene, good humour prevailed, no one lost their temper, no one shouted and the traffic just about moved so that everyone got to see the fort – but goodness knows how. It looked total chaos but it was not.

However we got about 4km down, going very slowly because of the cobbles, before any four wheeled vehicle overtook us. There had been a total logjam at the top (which we wheeled our bikes around) and could not see how it could possible be solved. It felt like one of those children’s puzzles where each piece had to be moved before another could move – and who was going to move first. But obviously it was solved and eventually the traffic moved again.

Oh – and by the way – the fort was magnificent.

David was still feeling under the weather so we had a quiet restful morning. Breakfast was good, we were upgraded to a much nicer room and the morning cloud gradually burnt away so that improved our mood.

The machinations of booking a safari in Ranthambhore Tiger reserve, about 10km from the town, were immensely complicated when we had tried to book something in advance. The safaris can be done in a ‘Gypsy’ jeep, that seats 6, or a ‘Cantor’ that seats 20. We had been told that all the jeep safaris were fully booked (only official government vehicles are allowed into the reserve and the numbers are strictly regulated) but we coughed up money to our hotel the evening before and we were assured we had a trip booked in a Gypsy and we would be picked up between 2-2.30pm. At just after 2.30 our jeep turned up with guide and driver, which we shared with 4 German people.

The Tiger reserve is divided into 10 zones. The drivers are allocated a zone randomly each day, so when you book you do not know what zone you will be in. Zones 1-6 are meant to be best for Tiger spotting. We were allocated zone 7.

We drove the 10km to the entry to our zone and were soon bumping along sandy tracks.

We were then taken on a real white knuckle roller coaster ride up and down a ridge. No Cantors here – how the jeep got up and down what seemed like near vertical tracks to me was incredible. We were hanging on for dear life!

The scenery was spectacular but little sign of any animal life. Our guide told us there were few animals in Zone 7 but it was one of only 2 zones that was not flat. We saw several large Samber deer and a few small antelope in the distance but that looked like it would be the sum total of wildlife for the day.

Earlier we had passed some tiger footprints alongside the track. We were told they had not been there that morning but we were sceptical to say the least.

Towards the end of the safari as the sun was going down we stopped for about half an hour at a waterhole and at least saw some varied bird life coming to drink.

‘Tiger is coming’ our guide said, but we were still sceptical. Several more jeeps turned up and everyone was hanging around. After the sun dipped behind the hills some of the jeeps gave up and headed off. ‘Tiger is coming’ said our guide.

Suddenly there was a whoop from another jeep. Within a few seconds our driver had done the most incredible 180 degree turn which almost tossed us out of the jeep and careered into the bushes…and there, sitting under a tree as calm as you like, was the most beautiful, magnificent large tiger just about 10m away from us. We were staggered.

All the other jeeps piled in and he just stood up and strolled away. We saw him for perhaps just 10-20 seconds but an image that will be forever imprinted in the memory – and David had the where-with-all to take a fantastic photograph. The 3 and a half hour safari was worth it just for those few seconds (and we really enjoyed the rest of it too).

Our guide and driver were ecstatic! “So lucky, so lucky” they kept saying. The driver then put his foot down and took the track out of the park at incredible speed. We weren’t sure what the frantic hurry was, but our guide was on the phone clearly relaying the news to someone. The pace picked up even more for the 10km back to town. All the jeeps from all the zones were heading back as darkness came and they seemed determined to overtake them all, shouting out their success! We were all smiling and laughing. The chances of actually seeing a tiger seemed so small but it was definitely our lucky day.

Touring cycling has its actual as well as metaphorical ups and downs, and this was perhaps an example of mainly the latter. I had developed a sore throat at Bundi and felt pretty crap, and yet we had a 120km cycle day to undertake. Some things just have to be done. Continue reading Day 43: Bundi to Sawal Madhopur: 122km and 300m of climbing →

We liked the pleasant town of Deoli but were glad to leave the hotel, which had been unhelpful and the first place to overtly try and overcharge us for the room. I guess this was not a town tourists would come to and therefore the hotel does not live or die by its booking.com (or equivalent) reviews.

We only had a short hop today to Bundi and 48km of flat on a main road were done by mid morning. As we turned into a small range of hills and rounded a corner we could see the spectacular palace emerging from the rock face. We settled into our simple guest house then went to explore.

Bundi could best be described as shabby but had a charm of its own. There were some tourists but not many and no stalls of tourist tat lining the streets. The palace dated from around 1620 and had clearly been spectacular in its time but had fallen into ramshackle ruin.

Some renovation had been done and gave a flavour of what it was like, including some fabulous murals, but all the upper floors were shut to the public. The views were amazing and showed a number of dilapidated buildings in the old town.

Now that we are connoisseurs of Rajasthani palaces and forts we could recognise the steep cobbled approach with sharp twists as being a deliberate defence to elephant charges.

High above the place was a even more dilapidated fort, which presumably the royal family retreated to if the defences were breached. The place certainly had atmosphere with bats hanging in the corners!

One day someone may be able to invest a very significant sum to restore the site to glory, when it will certainly rival those we have seen in Udaipur and Jodhpur. There the deposed maharajas reinvented themselves after independence to become custodians of local culture and set up Trusts to convert their fading buildings into national monuments and museums. What happened to the Bundi royal family is not known to us.

We strolled the old town and saw the active market and did our ‘jobs’ (cleaning our stove, getting money, buying provisions, recharging our Indian SIM card). At our now very relaxed pace this took most of the rest of the day and recharged our legs a bit in preparation for a longer cycling day again tomorrow.

Today was the ultimate A to B day – so, in the absence of exciting things to describe, its time for some stats. To date, we have done 2,824km in India. If we had left Kanyakumari and driven directly to Delhi on the shortest route, we would have arrived in Delhi today (as the distance is 2,810km, which is slightly less than we have cycled so far in India).

The distance by air from Bewdley, England to Hobart, Australia (our projected final destination) is 17,652km. Since we left home in 2014, we have covered 10,138km. That means that, in 4 years – 40% of our “decade” – we have covered about 57.4% of our goal, which is to cycle the distance (as the crow flies) between our home and my brother’s home in Hobart. Mind you, it would be one hell of a crow! But it does mean we are on target to achieve our goal and may even end up covering a few extra km along the way.

All those numbers make up for the fact that today was about 100km on a virtually straight road, slightly downhill in places, with scenery that was virtually unchanged all day.

Ajmer was a great city but the air pollution – as with all of India’s cities – is a major issue for cyclists (and for everyone else of course).   Factories, fires burning in the countryside, lorries, tuktuks and motorbikes give off huge quantities of noxious fumes which are slow to clear. It is a major challenge. India has a low per capita emissions of greenhouse gases but, with a large population, the country as a whole is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States. A 2013 study on non-smokers has found that Indians have 30% lower lung function compared to Europeans.

We gradually cleared the city and the air improved slowly. Then it was head down and 23km an hour steadily over the plain, but with a good road surface. This was cultivated countryside, with big fields and occasional tractors. These are often fitted with 2 large speakers (on each side of the tractor driver), blasting out Indian pop music to keep the workers happy. We cannot tell the difference between the songs (yet), but bounce along to the music.

After about 80km we got to Kekri, and bought some fruit (which I then left on the stall). Clearly my brain is deteriorating with the fumes! We pressed on with the main road going off to the south. We should have stuck to the main road and done the extra 10km. Instead we followed the straight road which had a much worse surface. We bounced from one pothole to another, and in places the road had no tarmac at all.

We crossed the vast Bharatpur Reservoir, which provides irrigation water for a vast area, and eventually reached the little town of Deoli where we had booked a hotel.

A little “contra-ton” followed as we insisted the bikes should be locked inside and the hotel staff could not understand why we could not lock them up outside. The staff were astonished we stood our ground (and we would never have done so a month ago), and then they compromised and found a place for the bikes inside. It is really hard to explain that our bikes are not only worth thousands of pounds, but that all the parts are nearly irreplaceable in India and so any small theft of a saddle or wheel may bring our tour to an end. However I think they finally understood and accepted that these really strange westerners have to be accommodated with their unusual requests.

We ambled around this lovely small town, confident in the knowledge that we were the only Europeans here (and getting strange looks from those who had the courage to stare). But we also had an excellent vegetarian meal and so felt pretty good about the whole place. Only 60km to Bundi tomorrow.