Bicycle Touring to Australia: India, Raipur to Sarapali

My latest bicycle touring to Australia update: cycling through India, 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!

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

• Photos: See my photos on Flickr
• The route: View my journey around the world
• Videos: Check out my YouTube videos

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Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page.