DAY 1

Row, my housemate, dropped me of at Heathrow. I seemed to be talking all the way and then realised that whilst I was incredibly excited, I was also apprehensive, maybe even nervous. It was certainly a feeling I had not had for a long time.

As I flew from Heathrow, Ian flew from Manchester and we caught up with each other in Helsinki where we had time for a few beers before our flight to Delhi. Interestingly, Ian had the same feelings as I had earlier. We really didn’t know what we had let ourselves in for!

On our arrival in Delhi at 4am (approximately midnight in the UK), we were met by our guide, Ankur and our driver. Ankur is 23 and recently completed his degree in Tourism. Ankur and our driver loaded the car and we set off to Pathankot. Pathankot is a 281 mile drive and will take about 11 hours. Our driver turns out to be very good. It really is just all the others! The motorways are an experience as we dodge potholes and then suddenly find ourselves on dirt roads. On motorways and in towns, the driving is the same. Everything and everybody on every mode of transport comes from every angle possible! Seriously! Cars, rickshaws, scooters, horse and carriages, people, wondering cows and loose dogs come across the roads from all angles. It’s rather crazy, though the constant sound of horns let’s everyone know that someone is there!

To stay in the back of a car for 11 hours sounds like hell. In an incredibly strange way, it was the best way to have travelled. We witnessed the changes from Delhi to Pathankot, from town to country and into the northern most city, Punjab.

After arriving in Pathankot, we drop our bags into the room and wander the streets. Our guide joined us as we weaved through a maze of people, cows, rickshaws, scooters, cars and market stalls. We hired a moto-rickshaw and sped off darting through the streets. How no one gets hit, I do not know. Anywhere else there would be carnage yet here it works as horns blast constantly.

It’s been an amazing first day. Tomorrow we are up early to start mountain biking. We have 60kms of riding, though we have no idea of the terrain! I’ll let you know. 

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Locals and their modes of transport

This entry was posted on 21/09/2009 at 02:57 pm and is filed under Cycling India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.