Day 1 – And off we go! (Kavellosim to Palolem Beach)
Today is designed to break us all in gently, this rally sees us tackle a beautiful and demanding stretch of the Western Ghat mountain range on our way to Palolem, our first night’s destination. Palolem is one of India’s most beautiful beach resorts. During the riding we encountered mountains every bit as spectacular as the Himalayas, jus with lots and lots of forest and no snow peaks, due to the reduced altitude.
Having watched the sun rise while floating in the most fantastically warm Adriatic sea, Adele and I were ready to rumble. Bearing in mind that Adele only passed her bike test 3 weeks ago, nobody could blame her for being nervous. However, in true style, she pulled out the bike lot with the 150 of us flawlessly, and has been riding like a champion ever since!
Today we rode 180km in 8 hours. For the first 2 hours, we were negotiating Indian traffic for the first time. There seem to be no traffic rules here. All you need to know in order to pass your driving test is how to use your horn! Seriously though, without a horn, I would have been in an accident within 10 minutes of hitting the road!
Here are some IDEAS about what to expect in Indian traffic. Around any corner could be one of a few possible options:
- Car overtaking car overtaking lorry
- Lorry overtaking car overtaking tuk-tuk
- Lorry overtaking cow overtaking goat lying in middle of road
- Tuk-Tuk overtaking dog avoiding bullfight in middle of road
- Motorcyclist overtaking lorry overtaking Tuk-tuk overtaking car which has stalled in middle of road
- Herd of goats/sheep/cows/dogs/people/procession or festival of some sort
- Lorry overtaking lorry overtaking lorry overtaking lorry etc. (you get the picture)
- Combination of any of the above – i.e. use your imagination
The day’s ride was a ‘gentle’ introduction to Indian roads with the odd dirt road section. The Indian roads are in terrible condition with potholes everywhere. In my mind, even riding on the tar roads here qualifies as offroad riding…
The day ended with a spectacular surprise as we pulled in Palolem Beach, where we spent the night in a beach hut. Mindblowingly beautiful. We spent the evening getting to know just some of the enormous legendary characters on the trip: Kev, Alex, Toby, Dave, Tim, Rachel, Joe, Colin, Vicky etc…
Tagged with: enduro india
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