Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in India on Wednesday, 26th-October-2016. Lalipur to Jhansi. 65 miles. Nice breakfast at the hotel this morning, a cup of tea and some dry bread! Still, it’s more than I normally get. I usually have to get something on the street on the way out of town, which is usually puffed rice and is always tasty!
Nice breakfast!
Every day, I get asked to stop for a cup of chai, and usually, I decline because if I stopped every time somebody asked me, I’d never get anywhere! But sometimes I do, and today I did just because I was bored!
Doing the washing
It was one of those occasions where the man didn’t really want to make conversation. He probably finds it as tough going as I do! He’s just pleased to have you in his place drinking tea.
Nearly ended up cycling straight past Jhansi today. I was just following the road, thinking that there would be a turn-off soon. But there wasn’t, well there was, but it was a bit inconspicuous and not signed. But luckily, I spotted it or rather not, and had to cycle back to find it.
Taking the goats for a walk
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Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in India on Tuesday, 25th-October-2016. Sagar to Lalipur. 67 miles. Nice surprise on the food front last night: roast chicken and french fries, and it wasn’t spicy at all! It tasted divine and made a nice change to the spicy food I’ve been eating!
I saw loads of monkeys again today and plenty of parakeets. The roads have also been particularly quiet, considering I’m back on one of the main highways again!
Monkeys
Had a bit of a close call tonight; I was nearly mugged! I was out looking for somewhere to get a shave and also some beer, neither of which I found, so I had to settle for my normal bottle of coke.
Busy roads today
As I was walking along with my coke and some crisps in a bag, all of a sudden I felt something pulling at my bag. I turned around swiftly already to defend myself only to realise it was a bloody cow tugging at my bag!
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Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in India on Monday, 24th-October-2016. Panjh to Sagar. 48 miles. Much earlier start to the day; I was woken up at about 5.30. The call to prayer, which I tend to hear most mornings. So I’ve gotten used to it. Was followed by a load of women chanting just outside my door! I don’t think it was me that they were chanting at, but you never know!
Probably just as well I found that guesthouse last night as after that village, it was a jungle, and there were loads of monkeys. And as much as I like monkeys, spending the night with them is not high on my list of things to do! It was cool to see them this morning, though.
Monkeys on the road
Short ride today I just didn’t fancy another late night. And looking at the map, it didn’t look as if there would be much chance of finding somewhere for a long time after Sagar. Thinking I’d found a nice hotel with wifi, I was wrong! The hotel itself was okay, but as for the wifi, forget it!
On the ride into Sagar, I got pulled over by a man on a motorcycle. He asked me to come to his school and meet his students. To which I was obviously more than happy; it was only about 400 yards back down the road.
Happy children at the school today
Back To School For Garry
It was only a small school with about 130 pupils aged between 7 and 11. At first, they were very nervous. But after a while, they came out of their shells, and I was completely surrounded by pupils wanting to shake my hand. Their English wasn’t that good, and the only real question they asked was what was my name?
I got the impression that it was more of an ego trip for the headmaster or whatever he was than an educational thing for the children. But hey, I enjoyed it, and so did the children, I think!
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Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in India on Sunday, 23rd-October-2016. Sehore to Panjh. 85 miles. Frustrating start to the day I couldn’t check out of the hotel as nobody was around! And I couldn’t just leave even if I wanted to because they had my passport. And I couldn’t get out of the grounds as the gate was locked!
Normally there’s a security guard present, and he’ll get somebody to help you check out. But unfortunately, there was nobody! So I just had to sit around take deep breaths and wait! I eventually managed to leave at about 8.30! After my late start, the day just went from bad to worse, really!
The mosque in Bhopal, the largest in India, apparently
I got lost in Bhopal and couldn’t find my way out. And I was there for a couple of hours. Eventually after finding my way out I decided that I would stop at the next hotel I found as I could tell that it was going to be one of those days! I really should learn and follow my own rules!
The number one rule is to always stop at the first place you come across! Like an idiot, I didn’t! I was all set to stop at a hotel when a car pulled up, and the occupant got out to say hello, which is the norm. After we’d spoken for a while, he said that I was better off pushing onto the next town of Vidasha. As there was a good hotel there. And if that wasn’t any good, there were plenty of others.
Crossing the tropic of cancer today
Big Mistake
With his advice and to my better judgement I continued on towards Vidisha, passing several other hotels on the way! When I arrived at Vidisha I couldn’t find the hotel that I’d been told to go to so I looked around for another hotel. The streets were manic, and it was hard to spot a hotel and also keep an eye on the road!
I stopped at a couple, and they were all full. So I thought balls to this, I was getting bored of this now, so I just did what I do best cycled out of town in the hope that I may find something down the road!
After a couple of hours cycling it was starting to get dark. I started to prepare myself for a night of sleeping rough and stopped off at one of the many stalls that litter the side of the road to get something to eat. After filling up on samosas and tea, I started to head off. As I was leaving, I asked if there were any guesthouses nearby, and somebody said 5km down the road. Although I’m always a bit sceptical when it comes to asking people distances as half the time when they say 10km it’s usually about 20 or 30!
Cycling into the night
A Sign Of Life
But hey, it was a good sign that somebody even said that there was one on this road. I set off with renewed vigour that somewhere along this road. Hopefully not too far away would be a guest house! I was further geed up when I saw a sign. I don’t know what it said but something was 5km away. Perhaps a town or village with maybe a guesthouse?
After arriving in Panjh and stopping and asking countless people where the guest house was (just so I didn’t miss it). I eventually found it, but there was nobody there! I decided that I wasn’t going to go any further and I’d sleep on the steps if necessary. So I just sat on the steps until somebody arrived, which they eventually did after about an hour!
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