October 21: Underway at 9:30 am, well breakfasted. Felt like Sunday traffic on NH60 – a few more private vehicles and fewer aggressive trucks. Two lanes and untwinned, so I still had to keep my eyes open for behemoths overtaking directly at me, but it was relatively stress-free. And the road surface was most un-NH-like: …
I left Dhulian with neither regrets nor breakfast and rode back out to the highway at around 8:30. The road was as expected – lumpy, bumpy and pot-holed – and difficult to make any speed on. There were a few sections that had been resurfaced in anticipation of twinning the highway and they were much …
I checked out of the hotel for the second time in two days, hoping that I wouldn’t be back again tonight (which would prompt a name change – from Hotel Kalinga to Hotel California), and joined the traffic heading out of Malda on NH34. At the Gour turnoff, I decided to have another go at …
I spent a couple of days at the Golden Park Hotel and Resort. On the first day, I got a lift into town and bought a new data plan for my modem since my old one had almost run out. The staff at the Airtel office wanted me to come back when I had about …
Added some photo galleries recently: Pictures in and around Mirik Pictures from the ride down from Mirik to Siliguri Pictures of the first three days of riding on the West Bengal plain, from Siliguri to Islampur, Islampur to Raiganj and Raiganj to Malda Pictures in and around Malda
10th October: It was good that I didn’t pass the first lodge in search of something more comfortable; I didn’t see any other signs of lodging as I left Islampur. Maybe the Monalisa is the only one. In fact, I was pretty quickly out of Islampur and back on the NH31. I hadn’t even found …
I woke to rain at 7:30 and riding today began to look doubtful. The weather forecast showed rain in the morning, afternoon and evening. But there wasn’t much that made me want to spend the day in Siliguri (although I could have spent the day trying to sort out why my 3G account with Reliance …
I felt much more enthusiastic and energetic this morning so the day of procrastination was worthwhile. Hardly a crack of dawn start but after breakfast and checking out of Hotel Mhelung (700 Rs for a double room). I was on the road by 10:30. I walked out of town, up the hill and was ready …
I had planned to spend one or two days in Mirik, but on the morning of the third I didn’t feel ready to leave. Not that there was anything special I wanted to do, just relax and enjoy the quietness of this small hill resort. I’m not in Mirik proper, but in a place called …
Today’s the day – time to get riding. 7:00 am. Hi Bev, Getting going. Will text during the day. Up at a fairly leisurely 7:00 for the final packing of the panniers. Then loaded the bike and pushed it through the pedestrian-only streets to Sonam’s Kitchen for a good-bye breakfast. Too much stuff – the …
(If you just want the pictures, no descriptions, you can go here.) I went for a walk today: to Ghum along the quiet road, to check it out for my cycling debut cum exit from Darjeeling, and then back along the main road, National Highway 55, beside the tracks. Most good days start with a …
I took the toy train down to Kurseong and back yesterday. What a fun excursion! I travelled first class, for the princely sum of one dollar per hour, although the carriage was, er, well-worn. If I were to do it again, second-class looks comfortable enough (padded benches) for one-fifth of the price. It was a …