Category: Odd Photos

Bike-Ride To Australia Wednesday 21st-December 2011 Barkote to Kenonjhar. 70 miles. I left the hotel this morning with a fully charged phone. The electricity had come on at some point in the night. I also left with a big crowd of onlookers, intrigued by my bike and me! It’s starting to cool down a bit now, especially when I set off first thing in the morning. I might have to put a layer on!

Tough cycling today, there’s been a lot of hills, and the asphalt has been intermittent! Considering this is the main road from Mumbai to Calcutta, I would have thought it would have been better. But it is what it is! One minute it’s nice smooth asphalt. The next minute the road resembled something like the moon! Then the tarmac would come back, and I’d think that was the end of the moonscape. But then, around the next corner, the asphalt had disappeared again! In the end, I gave up trying to see if there wasn’t asphalt or not; instead, I relied on the many trucks that came past me. If they weren’t bouncing about all over the road, I knew it would be easy riding, but if the lorry was rocking from side to side, I knew I was in for a tough patch!

I had intended to push on a bit further today, but the road deteriorated once again two miles out of Kenonjhar. As there were plenty of hotels in Kenonjar and I’d had enough of the road today, I decided to turn around. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a hotel with the internet, which seems to be one of my requirements these days!

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Bike-Ride To Australia Tuesday 20th-December 2011 Sambalpur to Barkote 77 miles. As predicted, I didn’t get much sleep last night, that bloody lift and air conditioning! When I went down to get my bike and set off for the day, I got a pleasant surprise! The hotel porter had washed my bike! That should make things a bit lighter! Although, by the end of today, you wouldn’t have known any difference!

I found myself cycling past the Badrama Wildlife Sanctuary today. I was hoping to see some elephants after passing a sign saying elephants crossing ahead. But alas and not surprising, there were none in sight! I saw plenty of monkeys again, which are still cool!

When I went to the chemists tonight to stock up on pain killers and anti-malaria tablets, the chemist told me the pills I’ve been taking for malaria aren’t for malaria at all! I’m pretty sure they are, but I decided just to keep quiet. I know their main function isn’t anti-malarial, but all the research I carried out said they guarded against malaria! Because of the different countries that I’ll pass through, malaria varies by country and the tablets I’m taking cover all of them. I hope!

Tonight’s hotel doesn’t have any electricity, which isn’t too much of a surprise! I often wake up to find the electricity has cut out! But at least I was given a candle! How romantic, I must go and get a bottle of wine! Hopefully, the electricity will come on overnight to charge my phone.

I went out for dinner with a local doctor tonight, who also said the tablets I’ve been taking aren’t anti-malarial! He was telling me about the truck drivers and how young they are. Many of them are only 13 or 14! And there is a big problem with drunk driving amongst the lorry drivers, especially at night. He’s regularly called out to attend road accidents at night because of drinking.

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Bike-Ride To Australia Monday 19th-December 2011 Sarapali to Sambalpur. 77 miles. My fame knows no bounds! Another TV crew wanted to interview me! At this rate, I’ll need an agent! This time it was along the side of the road. They’d pulled up alongside me on a scooter and interviewed me there, one asking the questions the other holding the camera. I found it quite hard to understand what he was asking me! So I just said my own thing and hoped for the best! After a while, a large crowd had gathered to watch and listen to the famous cyclist!!! Which was causing a bit of a traffic jam!

Some of the signs along the roadside are pretty amusing! “No hurry, no worry” or “control your nerves on curves!” “Drink and drive; you won’t survive!” But my favourite so far has been “happiness is the journey, not the destination.” I can relate to that one!

Yay, An Early Finish

I finished nice and early tonight and even found a hotel with the internet! Although it’s very slow and seems to time out before I can do anything! My room is also rather noisy! The air con sounds like a hamster running on its wheel! Perhaps there is. It is India, after all! And as for any cold air coming out, I think I’m better off opening the window! But then I’ll end up with a room full of mosquitoes!

And on top of that, I’m right next to the lift! Which has an annoying alarm if the doors are left open for more than two seconds! I think it may be a long night.

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Bike-Ride To Australia Sunday 18th-December 2011 Raipur to Sarapali. 96 miles. It’s been a hard ride today. The roads have been awful; the roads were so bad that the dirt verge was an easier option! It was certainly smoother!

Although it’s been a hard ride, it’s been an uneventful day! No television or press interviews, just people asking for my autograph! And a photograph with me! God knows why? Had they seen me on the television? Unfortunately, I’ll never know. None of them spoke enough English for me to find out. Maybe I could start charging for a photo? It’ll help fund my ride! Perhaps they’ll be groupies outside my door next!?

I’ve seen plenty of monkeys today. One village I rode through seemed to have been overrun by them! They were everywhere, running across the roofs and along the walls. There have also been plenty of signs warning of tigers. There was even one warning of leopards! Despite the signs, I’ve still not seen any!

I like these cheap hotels. I can usually get a room for under a fiver! Okay, they don’t have hot water or a proper toilet! But it’s better than camping out in the jungle, especially with all these tigers and monkeys around! My eating companion at supper tonight was a young “officer trainee-seeds!” Whatever that is! He told me that he earned £131 a month and had a wife and baby to support!

A Late Night

What was I saying about groupies? I was just about to post today’s update when there was a knock on my hotel door. Who’s that at 11.30 at night? When I opened the door, two men were standing there! They’d seen me cycle into town earlier and were keen to find out where I’d come from and where I was going! I’m not too sure if they believed what I said or not! But it was pleasant talking to them, despite the late hour! They left after about an hour! Not quite the groupies I was expecting but hey ho!

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