North west through Uttar Pradesh

Considering Goa as first part and Nepal as second moving north west through Indias Uttar Pradesh state is the beginning of the third part of this trip. Roads are good and headwind has calmed down. Like on last years ride through Rajasthan I once again felt that the Indian Highways are good cycle ground. They are moderately populated and have good infrastructure with restaurants and petrol stations which offer free filtered water, toilets and most of the time you can have a shower there. You immediately miss all that when you try to take a short cut on smaller roads. 

Camping brought the usual surprises in that sense that you only realize after you pinched up your tent that the spot you considered descrete is spotted shortly after. Once I camped close to a small village on a field two people recommeded me. After an hour around fourty people stood around me and as night felt in I had my food in shine of several mobile phone torches. When I opened the zipper of my tent in the morning I had a group of twenty people around me and it was clear some already had spent the night close to my tent to be the first ones to see the stranger in the morning. They were so kind and had tea and samosas with them and its so sad no communication was possible due to me not beeing able to speak Hindi and they not speaking English. 

The area is pretty much intensive cultivated farmland with very few distraction for the eyes. Temperatures went up daily in the late thirties and on half of the 900 km stretch to my first milestone Rishikesh I catched a diarrea which was likely not only caused by food but also by the intense heat and the ongoing dehydration which you barely can avoid when cycling for days in a baking oven. 

So I was really longing for reaching the city of Haridwar where the Ganges flows out from the Himalayas as I was told it will bring some relief from the heat. And it really did! I was just deeply happy to see the massive flow of water and went to one of the Ghats to have a bath. The water had a massive flow and the bathing areas had been gated to avoid people beeing flushed away. It was amazing cold so it took a bit of time until I could fully immerse and feel the deep cooling this had on my heat wounded body. The Ganges is considered as the most holy river, still pure when it streams out from the mountains and bathing in there is supposed to clean from all evels. On this day I went swimming several times so lets hope all sins are flushed away. 

Cycling in Nepal – not for Sissies

Like last year I approached Kathmandu valley from the western side. You need to climb up for around 1200 height meters. Not a big deal would most fellow cyclists say but the main door to Kathmandu is a building site for many years. So you rumble up for hours between hauling lorries, crazy busdrivers and an abundant amount of tourist vans each looking for their space on a surface which would be even uncomfortable for walking before you reach the pass and can comfortably roll down into the valley. 

I spent two weeks in the central part of Kathamandu called Thamel which feels like a second home after so many weeks I already lived there. As some of you might now I have helped out the operator of  my hotel  in the lock down crisis and it was time now to regulate our affairs and step out of my moderate investment which took some time to be legally completed.

For leaving I opted to take a route south on F120 which was a brilliant decision as the way down in the lowlands was a sparsley frequented road meandering up and down the hills to reach the lower areas of Nepal called the Terai. 

I got really pissed when flowing into another of those eternal road development sites. This time you could really see that the first thing they do is to remove the existing termac and then they start with the layout of the 2nd line instead of keeping the old road operational as long as possible. The contractor is China State Construction and you can guess that they dont worry about broken suspensions, eroded tyres and frustrated commuters on this 120km long hell ride. 

My plan was to ride until Nepali west border. As I got mixed feedback about the possibility to cross the border from Nepal to Uttarakhand in India I decided to travel to Sonauli checkpoint which is about half way and ask there. Directly at the border they could not answer but with some negotiation they did let me touch Indian ground without visa activation to reach their 1km inbound department of immigration. Sadly there is only two checkpoints where tourist can enter from Nepal into India. One is in the east into Bihar and the other is at my place around midway into Uttar Pradesh. 

Smashed from the hell ride which was garnished with a constant head wind I decided to take minimum one full rest day at the border village in Nepal before entering India for the long ride in western direction as my physical preparation for the final venture on this trip. 

Gorkha town and Baseri

Guess everybody has a bit of association with the Gorkha territory. Their soldiers are renowned by the British for their loyalty, professionalism and bravery and even now some of them do their duty on either side of the Ukrainian war. All Nepal tourists know Gorkha anyway as the most selling beer uses their name. Gorkha town itself is a 25km detour from Pokhara to Kathmandu Highway in northern direction up in the hills. 

The city was nice to see but for me it was just a waypoint in the direction to a village called Baseri where many people from my usually visited hotel in Kathmandu come from. My navigation App told me 50km to go but on this day I learned again how painful even small distances can be in Nepal. The road went up and down and the surface was once again gravel with big stones which slowed me down to walking speed on many sections. Luckily on the final climb I got a lift from a tractor where I could put my bicycle on the trailer but still – I did arrive only well after sunset at my friends homestay.

A bit scary ride in Nepal

“You can’t sleep here” a farmer told me when I was setting up my tent on a terraced field a bit above Nepals HW 10. I asked him why and he said “because of the tiger”. Obviously you consider many dangers on a cycle trip from crashing because of a pothole on Nepals underfinanced streets or getting involved in a traffic accident or any other nuisances. In India I was already warned not to camp under palmtrees because of coconuts falling down so I did plan for that. But I never thought about tigers in Nepal.

Well I continued my campsite there beeing without much options this night but even my Nepali friend was seriously concerned about the tiger thing and I felt more alerted as usual this night on any noise around my tent. I also did avoid to go for peeing during the night beeing afraid of getting a tiger’s hunting deer. 

I did some web research and the numbers are varying from 10 per year up to 104 casualties due to tigers in the year 2022 in Nepal. I consider this as an enourmous number and I would tend to say – its not acceptable.

Highway number 10 called the Siddharta Highway leads from the border of India up north to Nepals touristic focal point Pokhara nestled beside the serene Phewa Lake and surrounded by the Annapurna mountain range. With its diverse topography its a challanging route for cyclists but a true delight to ride up its winding ascents. You see construction going on to prepare the road for the future but at this point in time the road is still with sparse traffic. You have lots of opportunities to look into houses and gardens of the people who allways greet you with a friendly Namaste and a bright smile when they see you working up along their road.

I must say my lazy weeks on Goan beaches has drained a bit on my fitness and I am a bit grateful that on the day of my planned departure from Pokhara it is raining which gives me a perfect excuse to have an additional day of rest before starting the next venture into the Gorkha region. In no way you want to cycle on Nepali roads when its raining but the coming week is again forecasted with 23 deg C and sunny weather so good to go!

Making friends

On half way to Goa and four nights beach camping I allowed myself a two days hotel break close to Ratnagiri. My navigator showed it close to the city but it was quite remote at the end of a street a bit up on a hill immersed in lush greenery. I got a really nice and well furnished bungalow with all amenities and access to the swimming pool. I was the only guest at that time.

What I learned there is that Indians have a great concern about their digestion. When I went for dinner with my own fork and spoon combination knowing that sometimes you get just unuseful tools when you ask for it, I was told not to use it as god gave us hands to take the food and its the only way for well disgestion. I did follow the advise but really gave a miserable image when eating my rice and curry with fingers. After the dinner I should have pan which is a green leave where they put in several spicy creams and sugar candies and fold it to a package to be eaten as a big bite. Its also meant to greatly enhance digestion. Despite all the rules my food lay like a stone in the stomach this night and to my believe my dear hosts have not yet understood that it helps tremendously for digestion to take the food not after nine pm so you go from dinner straight to bed but rather a bit earlier! I did not say anything in this regard knowing that it is hard to change an Indians preception when it comes to food and habits.

Next day the resort was full of people which came here for a alumni meeting thirty years after finishing college and it would not be India if this would not be celebrated with all afternoon loud music. The people had been very decent though and showed lots of interest for my cycling. Even more I was impressed as nobody did smoke and no alcohole was involved knowing that such come togethers in my country usually end with everybody completely drunk.

Well recovered I started the second leg of my Goa ride knowing that it will be less intense as there should be less ups and downs. On one day in the morning I bumped into a polish cyclist called Nagz. He purchased a gearless cycle in Mumbai aiming to ride down the complete western coast towars Thiruvananthapuram. We cycled in different pace mainly because his bike was two sizes too small for him and he had to push the bike up the climbs. Though we met again several times on that day and I enjoyed to have his company. In the evening we ended up at different beaches and agreed to meet again in Goa. This concept of getting a bicycle local and selling it at the end gives indeed lots of freedom. Though I think I am too much used to bicycle perfection so I might not enjoy to ride a bike which is not fully tailored to my needs. 

On the last day before reaching Goa I had again an intriguing encounter with a dog. Dogs are not the natural friend for cyclists. It was already late and I found a decent spot to setup my tent and got slightly touched on the legs. As a natural reaction I pushed the dog away as you dont known whats his plan. Like I had it already at the Goderzi Pass in Georgia, this dog had found me and soon after it became clear that he is up to protect me when he was heavily grovling at other dogs who approached. When I went for swimming he did follow me and did lay down at my shoes which I put a bit above the water line. Of course I shared my fried noodles with him and gave him water. He then did lay down with phsical contact to my tent and I knew this night I will be free from any other dogs strolling around. 

Next morning he was following my ride but as I was passing by hostile territory for him he was more occupied with defending himself so soon after he fell behind and likely went back to his own territory.

Mumbai – Goa 2024

Once again I opted for this wonderful route along the Maharashtra coast. As soon as you enter the boat from busy Mumbai’s Gate of India to cross the bay you forget the mindbreaking traffic of the mega city and immerse in India village and countryside. The route becomes popular also in India and its not the first time that I met guided tours of cyclists with luggage, mechanic and even medical support vehicle.

Around hundred kilometer south of Mumbai the route starts ondulating up hill and down to the rivers streaming out from Maharasta Westghats towards the Arabian sea. Partly you can cross them by bridges but several times ferries bring you over the estuaries. As mobile signal fades the beaches become more remote and I enjoy very much camping there. It would not be India though if your good nights sleep gets broken eventually by blasting music regardless how remote the place looked to you in the beginning.

By now I reached more than half way to Goa and stopped for a weekend break in Ratnagiri. After 4 days camping its just nice to enjoy the luxury of a fulll board resort with shower and swimming pool. Funny enough each time I do this stretch it takes me a day longer. This is actually not because I am riding slower but more due to the fact that I make more and longer breaks in between the cycling to explore sights and beaches I may have left aside on the last trip.