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When I plan for a trip, I tend to do a meticulous amount of research about the route (just ask Killaine) - stuff like the terrain, the climbs, the state of the road - all that kind of stuff. I even chatted with a few folks via the Lonely Planet and India Mike websites. However, none of the information I had gathered even hinted at the possibility that I'd be cycling through about 30km of a hydroelectric mega-project ...
The day started off great - I got an early start from Sarahan, and enjoyed the fully in-control cycle back down into the valley back to Jeori. Past hotel hell, then back along the road, following again the Sutlej river upstream. The road continued to be spectacular - blasted into the side of sheer cliffs, hundreds of metres above the Sutlej. Fantastic views, great cycling.
I came upon a couple of tragic accidents in short order, however. The first was a head-on between a bus & a truck - I'd heard about this one the day before from some German folks (who past it on a different bus). Not pretty. Shortly afterwards, while cycling along another sheer section, a truckload of police drove up, stopped, and looked over the edge. I stopped and asked them what they were looking at - apparently a truck went off the road the night before (which explained the broken railing). I asked how many were killed - they didn't know yet. I have no idea how they'd get down to the river to recover the bodies - it was a long way down.
Continuing on, the road dropped right down to the river, and deteriorated as I entered some kind of construction zone. Little did I know that this was the start of a new Sutlej river hydroelectricity mega-project. In some senses, cycling through a third-world project of that nature was certainly eye-opening. People crushing rocks (by hand - with hammers) on the side of the road, armies of people digging roads - and many camps where the workers lived in very desperate conditions. Dams under construction, massive tunnels being built into the mountainside for diverting the river flow - fascinating stuff, from an engineering perspective. From a cycling perspective, however, it was 30km of unpaved, rocky & muddy road. At one point I said to myself, "at least it's not raining" ... it started to rain a short time later.
Anyway, exhausting work. Finally reached paved road eventually, and took shelter in a police checkpoint hut (folks are very friendly - did I mention that before?). Continued on to the turn-off to Recong Peo, and then just another 300m of climbing and I pulled in at about 4:30pm - after having started cycling at 6:30am. 92km and 1300m of climbing altogether.
Got the "best room" at the Rindang Hotel, overlooking the busy bazaar. Noisy, but spent a fascinating hour or more just watching the folks going about their business. Really cool just to watch - things slowly start to reveal themselves - the cows wandering the streets do get fed by the vegetable vendors as they sort out the less good produce. The porters ready at a moments notice to unload vehicles. All sorts of folks - tough to describe the whole thing.
After such an exhausting day yesterday, I took a rest day today. I also had to get an "inner line permit" (i.e. permission to cycle close to the border with Tibet) - it was easy to get, but a good excuse to take the day off. Went to the Aru car wash and mechanic to wash the layers of mud off my bike, but in true Indian fashion, a fellow washed my bike up for me - making it cleaner than when I left Canada! A bit of oil on the chain, and good to go.
BTW, also super impressed that my fancy tires & Killaine's wheels held up to the rigours of yesterday.
Onwards tomorrow to the village of "Pooh", then up to Nako at 3600m and then finally the descent into trans-himalayan valley of Spiti. Not sure when the next Internet access thingy will be.
Summary of the trip to date ... fascinating & challenging!
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Ok, I'd better make this quick 'cause the power is somewhat unreliable up here ...! Yesterday morning, I left Narkanda nice and early - a nice sunny day, and what a way to start with a 2000m vertical downhill into the Sutlej river valley. The descent went nicely - stopping every 200 vertical meters to let my wheel rims cool, then putting on the sunscreen, then putting on the insect repellent as I descended down into the malarial zone. Finally, "hit" the valley bottom at 800m where it was very, very hot. I had about 30km to do along the valley to Rampur. Slowly the heat sucked the energy right out of me, and my water bottles were drained quickly. I pulled into Rampur - a neat little town clinging to the valley edge above the river. I pushed my bike down into the bazaar - a maze of shops and services - looking for a hotel. Unfortunately, the one I was looking for was full, and the alternative didn't look too appealing, so back up to the road, and back the way I came a short distance to the nice Himachal Tourist Department's hotel. Another cyclist (!) was also staying at the hotel, although we didn't meet up until this morning. He was lamenting the weight of his load - it turns out that he was carrying, among other things, a laptop and a big SLR camera (and I had a serious debate with myself as to whether I would take my ipod). But, his bigger issue was that he tore the sidewall of his tire on his second day out. He had a spare, but of a much lower quality. This was a bit of a concern for me, 'cause in the interest of saving weight, I decided not to bring a spare tire! Oh well, I guess I'll need to be careful ... Today's plan was to cycle a short 22km to Jeori. A nice, short day, considering the heat from yesterday. However, I wasn't really looking forward to the hotel in Jeori, which was described in one of my books as "fetid". Now, there is an alternative to staying in Jeori, and that would be to cycle an additional 17km ... and 700m vertical, up to the village of Sarahan, where there is a popular hindu temple. Obviously, I wasn't keen to do that in the heat. I pulled into Jeori, and found that the hotel was even worse than I could imagine! Now, I've stayed in some bad places in Pakistan & Tibet, but this place was bad - comically so. The fellow showed me the room - there was an empty whiskey bottle on the floor, along with the cigarette butts and other trash. Don't ask what the bed looked like. The view across the river valley was brilliant, at least. I tried to "make the most of it", but then slowly realized that the only thing separating me from a decent hotel was a short bus ride. So, I grabbed the next bus, and 45 absolutely terrifying minutes later, I was in Sarahan and in a much, much better hotel. (the bus ride up was scary - the road was narrow and with a huge precipitous drop down to the valley - I remembered again why I chose to cycle over here - it's safer!) So, I'm in Sarahan now. It's pouring outside - a monsoonal day. If all goes according to plan tomorrow, I'll cycle back down to Jeori (all downhill!), then 74km to Recong Peo. It'll be a long day, but should be cooler as the road in the valley goes from about 1500m up to ~2200m in Recong Peo). Final notes - the people are super friendly, virtually every car/truck/bus that goes by honks merrily and people wave. Scenery is spectacular. Big hydro projects under development. Clouds still obscuring the highest peaks. Stomach is holding together nicely. Kickstand on bike has broken, and I lost my cycling gloves in Rampur!
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Well, I'm in Narkanda, after my first day of cycling in India! Where to begin ...the flight getting here went well - Jet Airways is actually quite nice. Picked up at the airport by a guy from my hotel, and the hotel in Delhi was "ok". Next morning, to the bus station for the 10 hour ride to Shimla. It was a comfy air conditioned bus (temp. when I landed in Delhi was +29, at 9:30 at night!). Fascinating bus ride through the Indian countryside, with the final few hours spent climbing up improbable roads on the side of steep, green hills up to Shimla. Shimla is a beautiful city, perched on both sides of a ridge at 2150m. Much, much cooler and pleasant than Delhi. Good hotel, finally unpacked the bike (it survived the journey unscathed). Next morning, waited for the rain to ease, then started cycling to Narkanda. Although the hills were initially steep, and it started raining again, both eased and it was a great bike ride along the roads. Green forests, steep drops and not too much traffic. Goats, cows & monkeys along the road. Caught up to and passed a Swiss tour group - made it here to Narkanda (2650m)in about 5 hours, finally giving me most of an afternoon to finally relax. "Should" be an easier ride tomorrow down to Rampur, but the 2000m drop will put me back into the heat, so not looking forward to that! |
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