142 km.
Should I have taken the train?
It was awfully foggy when I left Allahabad this morning. Dense fog is very common in North India in the winter. I have had several flights cancelled or delayed out of Delhi between December and February due to fog. This morning it did not lift until the sun managed to burn a hole through around 11 o'clock.
The road was fine until the National Highways split some 25 kms South of Allahabad. There I left #27 and shifted over to #76 heading due West. Very soon the road surface became much worse. For more than an hour I questioned whether it may have been a huge mistake taking this road in the first place. But then it became better and better. This road seems to have been an ordinary State Highway that has simply been renamed a National one. It is not particularly wide or anything, and passes straight through tiny villages, of which there were not many. Traffic soon petered out to rather light.
I am now in the far South of Uttar Pradesh, still a bit East of the Indian centre line. It is very rural here, mostly farming landscape, slightly rolling, and very beautiful. Once the fog is gone the temperature is pleasant for cycling, about 25 Centrigrades, like Scandinavian summer.
When I stop by the roadside to rest my butt for a few minutes, a couple of policemen on a motorcycle stop and ask where I am going and if I need any help. They tell me that Karwi is still about 100 km away. I can see on my map that there are no towns this side of Karwi and I know I am in for a long day. In the small villages I can often get tea and Samosas but there are certainly no hotels or guest houses.
Some 20 km before Karwi a young couple on a motorcycle ride up next to me to ask the ususal questions. They speak very good English, a rarity out here. They tell me that Karwi, were they live, has several hotels, and that Chitrakoot has many more.
Only a few km before Karwi I am held up for almost half an hour at a railway crossing. When I finally ride in to Karwi it is already after 5 PM and the sun sets. I ask for a room at several different hotels, but they are all full. People tell me that I should ride on to Chitrakoot. I don't like it since it is really getting dark, but have no choice.
As soon as I enter Chitrakoot I spot a sign for the UP Tourist Bungalow, and pull in. Since many years now I rarely bother with the Tourist Bungalows anymore in India. They are generally overpriced for what you get, and have that socialist atmosphere of lifetime employees who do not try very hard. It seems to be the same here. There is no one at the reception and it takes quite a while, involving other guests, to find the man who should have been at the reception. He tells me that they are fully booked. He suggests I should go on and will find other hotels within a km.
There are a few, but they too are all full. Several suggest I must go to the MP Tourist Bungalow further on. Chitrakoot sits right on the border between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the town being half in each state. Along the way I spot other hotels that are also full. It is really dark now, and that menacing fog is again descending over the area. My ass is very sore and it is far from comfortable still being out here on a bicycle.
Eventually though I find the MP Tourist Bungalow. And they have rooms! The reception is a model of efficiency and friendliness. I can have my bike inside the reception, and get a large and very nice room for a decent price. The entire place is the cleanest I have seen so far on this trip. If this is any indication of Madhya Pradesh overall then my plan to cycle through this state is off to a good start. I'll have another rest day here.
It is in Chitrakoot that the Hindu Gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are believed to have been "born" and taken on their incarnations, which makes this town a very popular Hindu pilgrimage place. There are loads of Sadhus and Babas in town.
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. Chitrakoot is a very good place to explore in India.
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