Well here i am. It's sad when good intentions go out the window, which is what has happened to me. My aim was to return from my trip to India and immediately do a blog on it. However, i came back and went down with a heavy cold and 'Rajasthan Revenge' - far worse than 'Dehli Belly' and to make it worse straight into a hectic diary. I came home from various engagements totally shattered. So it has continued - but today i am feeling a bit better and able to face 'The Blogg'!
India trip
We all met at Heathrow T4 and had a good flight to Dehli - as we arrived at the arrival area we were met and flower garlands were hung around our necks. We transfered to our hotel and next morning took the train to where ouir bikes were. After spening a few hours looking at the Taj Mahal (i had a bad habit in India of being forgetful, i kept leaving various bits of Christian literature in their language all over the place), in the various hotels i left Luke Gospels behind.Me looking serious sat where Princess Diana sat...
Soon we started our cycling through the villages. As it was off the beaten track we saw sights that were not normally seen by tourists. Their road usage has no rules - we saw lorries driving on the wrong side of dual carrageways, traffic lights and junctions are ignored. We had to stop at a level crossing where two fast trains were to go through, as you can see the barriers are down but it means nothing - look at this video i took:
Many of the roads were rough, covered in pot holes and often just dirt tracks. The bik
es were very basic and you felt every bump. Each evening we stayed in a hotel (one night under canvas) they certainly varied... some were old palaces but have deteriorated a lot since their haydays! The black belching smoke from the lorries miggled with the constant roadside fires which mingled with the dust... it wasn't one of the best riding areas. Thankfully it was quite flat (which became boring after a few days). I had some good opportunities to share my faith with various folks which i was pleased with. I managed well with the riding, being told off once by the main guy for riding too fast and leaving the others behind. The food was really good, curry in various guises but not as hot as ours and much spicier - really nice. I saw tigers, crocodile, monkeys, Boa Constrictor, lots of birds and other animals in the wild. I guess they all said they saw Pete Hodge!
Thankfully my tummy held up until the last day. After getting back i went down with 'Rajasthan Revenge' (so did a lot of others!).
Good trip but great to be back home. I have raised nearly £4000 for CLIC so that's great.
Gun (Famous chippy in Cardiff) for fish and chips to take away for tea. Then off for the first family 'bash'. Stephen and Naomi will be joining us on Boxing Day so it will be a lovely time.
