The forecast for today is 38 degrees. That sums up today: hot. All our kit was still soaked, not having dried overnight as there was no breeze. But for the first part of the ride the cooling effect is pleasant; as the day progresses, yesterday's rain wet is replaced by sticky sweat wet. I prefer the former.
Inevitably we stop start until we find the right road. Even though it's only around 9am, I'm seeking shade at every stop. A school bus passes and we wave to the kids packed-in with some sitting on others laps. There's no way that coach is air conditioned so it must be a very unpleasant journey.
Shortly after, we lose Gerard; or should that be, he's lost us? He's using satnav, so at least one of us is going to sleep in a comfy bed this evening! As it happens, we catch him up later, half way up a mountain; he has the route, he knows where he's going. (A few of us have at times sailed passed the main group when it has stopped to regroup, the mass of local bikes and the surprisingly common colours we're wearing means it's easily done. I had to race off after Glenn at one stop in town today as he fixated on getting through the traffic.) Gerard says he was taking it very easy as a solo rider with no support following him to pick up the pieces. Moral of the story: GPS rocks! (Or at least it and the maps used with it do).
We stop for chai after an another amazing windy route up the mountain side with views over the valley and more drops to the sides. And Martin drops off, or rather his exhaust does. Hanging on by the barest wire this morning, it finally gives up on the bumpy terrain. He has it strapped to his bike's panniers as he pulls up. It doesn't sound that much louder. We speculate whether the toothbrushes and toothpaste wedged into the chai shop's rafters are for hire.....
Alex races ahead with his wife Vidhya as pillion, he's told us to follow the main road or go straight on, but at several junctions it's not so obvious which is "main"; we guess. For a while we are pushing-on blind, we've not seen him for so long he must have taken a different route? But 'we know' we're going the right way so we carry on. It turns out our route is his too, as we meet him at a stop much later.
Getting to that point we cross a dried up river bed, but it's not quite dry and there's a large stretch of what we assume is shallow water to negotiate and we work out the road comes out the other side, even if we can't see the river exit. We splash through, only to find other further on. Great picture opportunities and we gather around the water hole ready for someone to fall in. I think nobody does (that I know about). Mick remarks that seeing cameras at the ready is a sure fire way to know there's difficult riding ahead. Once again my boots are soaked inside.
After the water splashes and pseudo lunch stop we push on to find our next obstacles, mud and deep muddy puddles. With our bike's road tyres it's like meeting black ice. Don't try to do anything, just go straight ahead and keep your momentum. Mud on a corner requires special care and can only be handled by adapting your line into the corner. Alternatively look for the locals' route (see Zeman's advice in the Cambodia blog entries from 2011). Chris takes the opposite approach and decides to take the path of most resistance. This results in him caking himself and the side of the bike in mud; definitely one to be reported to Alex.
By this time it really does feel like 38, if not more. We're all sweating profusely so have to keep up the water intake. I get through two litres and a coke on the road, which is unusual for me. We've now decided to initiate our own corner man routine as there are just too many opportunities for errors and getting lost. At one corner, I top up with water from a local shop and at another I chat to a group of locals, who practice their English with me. One man tells me he is a driver, and I asked how he learnt English, he tells me from books and the internet. Once again I'm impressed that Nepal has such good connections in remote areas. Apart from last night, I've pretty much had good signal everywhere on this trip. Before leaving my corner, I pose for a couple of group photos with them.
It's another 60km or so to our destination and the first 30 is spent going through small villages that always have three things in common, endless school kids in uniforms, random chickens and speed bumps (or the neck snapping speed dips). The thought of a local official having an opening ceremony for the village speed bumps runs through my mind; it's been a long day.
The dirt turns to tarmac and back again as various landslides do their thing. The tarmac is well pot-holed and in one spot there's a half metre circle at the edge of road with a drop away to infinity (I wish I'd stopped to take a piccy), now THAT was a pothole.
Eventually the tarmac becomes more reliable and smooth so I think I must be on the right path. I've not seen anyone else for an hour now and am wondering what happened to them all. I know I'm on the right route, Google and the locals tell me so. I meet Swiss Martin and Jamie at some point which confirms that hypothesis. Shortly afterwards, I hit the highway and a policeman points the way.
A quick blast on the blacktop, sweeping corners and overtaking trucks and I finally catch the main group stopped just before we reach Tansen. Alex and Vidhya wait for the others while we head to the hotel, now relying on our satnavs to lead the way. A few hiccups pointing to alleyways and one-way streets, but otherwise it's quite reliable.
The Hotel Shrinagar is five stories high and we get a room on the fifth floor. Excellent view over Tansen, but a bit of a haul for the luggage. We pay a few rupees to have the bags taken up; worth it after an exhausting day. I hear a "Woh!" from the bathroom and Gerard's found a large spider. We catch and release, but not before showing our resident naturist Steve. Naturist, naturalist, same difference. He's impressed, with the spider too. Although large, it had an amazing capacity to cling to glass upside down.
For the first time, I'm really tired after the riding. I did drink during the day, but probably not enough. I start writing the blog, but because I'm tired, it's going to be short. Maybe I'm wrong - once the fingers start tapping....
So much happened today, I've probably forgotten some good stuff. It was another really hard ride, only 210km but mostly difficult terrain, justifying the 10+ hours on the road.
Report from the morning briefing. Today, Danny is a Dick (only today?...), Gerard has Spirit and Jamie (who I spotted yesterday) is Skidmark.
Sent from my trusty rusty BlackBerry
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