Shimla, Chandigar, Delhi, Agra, 24th April 2006

I left my friends in Shimla as they were getting a car to Hardiwar to visit the home of Raj’s Grandma. I stayed on a couple of days extra in Shimla and I’d love to say that the weather was glorious, but although it did improve (didn’t rain), it was still bloody cold wandering about. I normally leave about 07:00 when I’m moving out of a town, but due to the cold, I didn’t get on the road until 09:00. I took the route I knew into town as it was only a two minute ride and saved a 10km detour, unfortunately, an alert soldier, spotted me taking the shortcut and sent me around the 10k way! The roads up around Shimla are fantastic biking roads (although they would be a lot more enjoyable if it wasn’t for all the mad drivers on the road), with lots of twists, turns and switchbacks, although I would have preferred to take the two minute route, rather than the half hour route that I had to go on. Half a bloody hour, instead of two-minutes. Ok, so the two-minute route had bollards at the end of it, but I could fit through the gap, so he should have let me go.

I wasn’t sure where I was heading though. I had wanted to go north into Kashmir and the mountains proper, but it was still too cold for that and I had thought about going to Amritsar and from there back to Delhi. But god, how I hate Delhi. The traffic, the touts and the bouts of Delhi Belhi.

I ended back in Delhi for a couple of days, did fcuk all, watched TV, worked on a couple of photographs, watched Liverpool beat Chelski to reach the FA Cup Final for the 13th time (unlucky for West Ham, me hopes!). I also managed to win a lunch from one of the women in work; it’s like taking candy from a baby, betting on Liverpool to beat Chelski in a major cup game!

After doing a bit of research on the Internet, I’ve decided to meander to Sikkim. Sikkim is in the North East corner of India and is relatively unspoiled (so I hear) and the best time to go is March to May. I’m going to visit a couple of cities on the way that I’ve heard good things about from other travellers, these include Gwalior, Jhansi, Orchha, Khajuraho and a few others whose names don’t spring to mind.

I ended up in Agra for a night as it was on the way to Gwalior and visited the Doc again. Before I went in I applied a dressing to my hand and put on a hat, when I walked in I held my head down and my hand up and started complaining that my hand was injured. He looked up at me, but I couldn’t keep a straight face and started laughing, he jumped up and gave me a big hug. From then on it was the auld routine and I gave him a ride on my bike to his other surgery and then we went back and had dinner at his house.

Speaking of my bike, I think it needs a service. I’ve travelled nearly 2500 km’s in the last month and she’s feeling a little tired and won’t tick over at the traffic lights, which means that the bike cuts out at the worst time and I’m left red faced and sweating trying to kick start the bike with half of India behind me beeping their horns. Maybe I’ll book myself in to an Ashram for a few days and book the bike in for a service at the same time. I’m thinking of going to an Ashram and doing a week of meditation soon and where better than Bodarwar, which is where Buddha is said to have found enlightenment, so you never know, some of it could rub off on me!