"You don't need to post it to prove it!"

Although we've seen some crazy driving, it wasn't until we headed off towards Burhanpur on the main road from Jalgaon that we came across the first serious accident. The road was as busy as you could imagine. Truck after truck flew by leaving us little room to escape their draft. When we've found ourselves in this position before we tuck in together, heads down and push the peddles to get to a safer place as soon as possible. We knew we had 20km to endure and we felt pretty vulnerable but with 10km left to go the trucks on our side of the road all came to a slow grinding halt. As the smallest vehicle on the road, we were able to weave through the building que of lorries. As the waiting traffic became more impatient, bus drivers (often the worst) started to pull out and overtake the que of vehicles with no consideration for anyone but themselves and their timetable. This resulted in a tangled gridlocked mess. We were amazed that an ambulance sailed passed but it must have been the last thing to get through for hours. With the motorbikes we wove our way through 10km of diesel fumes and blaring Hindi music, as drivers and passengers milled on the side of the road. After an hour of very slow progress we were both desperate for a wee! The roadside offered little shelter so all I could do was cross my legs while Ed braved the onlooking crowds, lent his bike against an oil tanker and had a wonderful, if a little high pressured, wee! Eventually we came to a bridge and the source of the incident that had led to the tailback. Two huge, colourfully decorated TATA trucks had collided head on in the middle of the narrow bridge, which was now both impassable and surely overloaded well past its structural capacity. We crunched through the debris trying to avoid looking at the wreckage but I noticed a comb amongst the broken glass and twisted metal and couldn't help thinking of the poorly equipped ambulance and the young men we normally see driving these big trucks. 

Being the smallest vehicles on the road we were able to pass through gaps others found impassable and finally reached the other side of the bridge and the empty road beyond with a huge sigh of relief, especially as I found a quiet wee stop! The remaining 70km was beautifully peaceful and we sailed through the banana plantations Burhanpur is famous for in time to reach our next couch surfer, Abbas, for lunch.

Abbas rescued us from another crowd of raucous children in tight twisting old city streets. One cheeky little scamp with slight fingers nearly ran off with Kat's back light!

Abbas turned out to be a handsome young entreprennur with a very shiny powerful Royal Enfield. But there was much more to this young man than just his motorbike. He immediately took us into his aunties house, our hostess, and sat us down for another beautifully cooked meal which started with a huge slab of ice cream! We ate in his Musilm families tradition, sharing from a central plate filled with home cooked delights while sat on the floor.

After finishing lunch, we then crossed the road to meet his fantastic family. Everyone was round! His mother had made her signature dish, a 'custard' like treat you've never tried before and needless to say we went back for thirds! One of Abbas' most interesting relatives was his Uncle. We were promptly sat down and then introduced to not one but three interpretations of the Mona Lisa! 

What followed is quite difficult to put into words. His work ranged from an image of India made from a single growing plant with a multitude of different flowers to symbolise the diversity that stems from one common root, to a 'Daliesq 'Last Supper' scene where aliens from each of the planets were devouring the remains of mankind after humans successfully bought about the destruction of earth! The meaning and symbolism of each piece was beautifully described by Abbas' cousin, with interjections from the artist himself. We hope one day his wish comes true and his work is exhibited in a London gallery so you can all appreciate his masterpieces!

Family photos followed before Abbas and his childhood friend, both members of the Royal Enfield Club, whisked us off for a motorbike tour of historical Burhanpur which started with chai behind his favourite haunt. There we met a local celebrity, Rock Star Neal and his director! Sadly, we missed the opportunity to feature in his next music video which they were shooting the next day. Sitting in a smokey chai stall talking about 2001 Space Odessey with a director incredibly passionate about the work of Steven Spielberg was a little surreal! 

We soon discovered, whilst whizzing through Burhanpur's twisted medieval streets, narrowly avoiding tongas (small horse drawn carts) and the usual array of human and animal life that 18.02km/hour (our average speed) is a rather sedate pace! That's not to say that flying along on motorbikes, wind in our hair with the setting Sun disappearing over the dusty horizon wasn't a good feeling!

Abbas had planned a historical tour of the often overlooked sights Burhanpur has to offer. Even our trusted guidebook failed to mention that the Queen, for whom the Taj Mahal was eventually built as a tomb, was in fact initially burried in Burhanpur. Unfortunately, the quality of the local white marble just wasn't up to scratch and so the plans for laying her to rest in the city were scrapped and her body was exhumed and transferred to Agra where the Taj Mahal now stands today. That meant no visit from Princess Diana as we've often been told and Burhanpur disappeared from the tourist route, it's once famous connections forgotten. 

Unfortunately, our attempts to see many of the relics were thwarted. That included a failed attemp to sneak into the princesses baths on the river side and being denied admission to the world famous pilgrimage site, the Dargah-e-Hakini (tomb complex including Mosque and gardens) after arriving five minutes after Sun down. Seeing the transformation when Abbas and his friend changed out of their casual t-shirt and jeans into crisp white beautifully embroidered kurtas, pyjama trousers and koofi was well worth the failed visit.

We managed to avoid the cocktail party at the local bar (claiming old age and weary legs) and spent a happy evening in the company of Abbas and his family. Conversation flitted from religion to marriage, business to demonitarisation, scientology and social media. It was very refreshing to hear someone else bemoaning the constant use of technology. His favourite quote being "you don't need to post it to prove it!" His mum however really stole the show and the hug and kiss Kat received on the morning of our departure said it all. It had been another incredible couch surf and we definitely count Abbas as a new friend.

Although we're quick to criticise overuse of technology, we have to hold our hands up and say that googlemaps has been our saviour, guiding us faithfully every day to our next destination. There has been the odd disappearing bridge or dead end track but that's all just part of the adventure. What Google, our GPS and our dodgy Indian map fail to show us is the finer details. As we set off each mourning we have no idea what the day will bring and that was the case as we peddled off to our next stop Khandwa. We quickly left Burhanpur's streets behind and were soon climbing slowly up through a barren landscape. The road twisted between dry rocky outcrops and scattered parched trees. We reached a pass and found ourselves on a desolate plateau. Up there, a few collections of simple mud huts clung together and the lined faces of the villagers we saw on the road pointed to a hard existence. Although we were only at an altitude of 400m it felt as if we were passing through the Hindu Kush. 

Normal chai stop!! 

Travelling by bicycle certainly brings you up close and personal with your surroundings. Of course there's the amazing wildlife and beautiful views that we've bored you  with so much but there's also a slightly grubbier side to life on a bicycle in India! Aside from the decaying dead dogs and other squashed animals that litter the roadside, amongst heaps of smoking rubbish, there is often other things lurking on the verge. Starring back at you are bright eyes and a line of bare bottoms belonging to children taking their morning poo with their stainless steel beaker of water at the ready! You can't help but smile when a few hundred metres down the road you see that same boy, 70 years later, squatting down, arse to the wind, weathered face to the road still going through the same morning routine! Old habits die hard!

Friendliest chai wallah you've ever met!

The road was smooth and free of traffic and soon we rolled into Khandwa. We swapped our usual gawdy concrete lodge for an atmospheric hotel in a restored 19th Century colonial British Army barracks. We planned on pottering into town to go to the market but we were spared the walk by two friendly engineers who offered us a lift. One of them thought he may have read an article about our trip in the local paper (Our new found fame was later confirmed with a text from our former host Pooja)!

Proof we're famous... Although no idea what it says!

Thinking nothing about jumping in the back of the car we set off down town. While we trundled along they started laughing and went on to explain how honoured they felt that we, after a chance meeting, had enough trust to hop in their car. We admitted it hadn't really crossed our minds, anything to spare tired legs, but in the same situation back home we explained we would probably be much more cautious. Fortunately, our trust was well founded and they led us to the most famous chai stall in Khandwa!

When conditions are good the kilometres seem to slide by pretty fast and with over 3000km in our legs, the Brooks saddles are finally softening! We're actually planning our route and entry point into Nepal which seems a little hard to imagine after 58 days on the road and 164 hours on the bikes!

After a night's rest at the peaceful riverside ghats in Hoshangerbad, we set off to face our biggest city yet, Bhopal (population 1.8 million). After an unexpectedly steep climb, that left lorries littering the road, unable to pull their load up the incline, the approach to Bhopal began. The quiet countryside was replaced by the rush of traffic into the city. We've found our response to heavy traffic differs considerably. I lapse into silent, focused concentration  whereas Ed follows every near miss with a near endless string of expletives and hand gestures as the offending vehicle races off oblivious (it seems to make him feel better....each to their own!). As we were losing all hope, the lorries were diverted on to the ring road and we sailed into the city on a comparatively empty highway to meet Vinod and Shirin, our next hosts. 

We eventually found their beautiful home in a peaceful suburb of Bhopal. Vinod, a retired bank manager, was ready and waiting with his two energetic dogs Inchie and Elsie. We were immediately welcomed and promptly sat down for chai and before we knew it, we were setting the world to rights with Vinod's interesting take on Indian politics at large as well as the fiasco of demonitarisation. He is incredibly well read and his knowledge of world affairs put us to shame. Later, when retelling a story of calving a heifer with David and Howard one Christmas Eve, he and Shirin explained that they were huge James Herriot fans! Not the sort of literature we were expecting!

That evenjng we sat down in their softly lit sitting room filled with antiques and artwork. from their travels with a whiskey and soda listening to Jonny Cash. It certainly didn't feel like we'd only met that morning. We chatted so much we sailed passed our normal 9 o'clock bedtime... getting up at 5am every morning takes its toll!

Vinod openly admitted to having very little involvement in household matters! He was certainly a loveable rogue! Finding the tea leaves in his own kitchen was hard enough let alone switching on the washing machine! However, if you have a specialist list of items on your shopping list (handle bar tape, contact lens solution, factor 50 Lotus suncream and 43mm polarizing UV filter) Vinod is your man! We were schoffeured around in luxury and having found everything, even made it home in time for another incredible home cooked meal.

On our second night, he had arranged our first real Indian dinner party with his sister and her husband Colonel Samuel, who came brandishing a bottle of London Dry Gin and Bitter straight from his army days. This made a bit of a mockery of our second Indian medical consultation with Vinod before dinner. At Shirin's request we interpreted numerous blood tests and then started the good cop bad cop routine about a few lifestyle modifications! It was difficult to be too severe on someone who brings the best out of everyone around him. We sat together, drank, ate and laughed like we were with old mates. It was very tempting to accept their offers of a longer stay but with slightly sore heads we packed our bags and with Colonel Samuel escorting us to our route on his morning paseo, we headed off to escape Bhopal's rush hour at dawn the next day. 

A quick and peaceful cycle led us to Sanchi, where there is a collection of Bhuddist monuments and Stupas dating back to 262 B.C. Pure luck meant our visit coincided with the annual festival and we explored the beautiful monuments at dawn with a few hundred bhuddist monks dressed in their saffron robes and an assortment of wolly hats to guard against the cold.

We plan our routes trying to keep to the smaller roads  (sometimes they end up a little too small - 40km today on roads better suited to a full suspension mountain bike than our steel framed tourers!). 

Some of the rural backwaters and dusty industrial towns, dominated by very noisy trains (thank God for earplugs!) that we end up in are certainly not on the tourist trail but this means occasionally you peddle across a hidden gem. Chanderi was one such chance find. We spent a happy afternoon getting lost in its bustling ancient bazaars, crumbling elegant palaces and its deserted otherworldly 15th century mosque. We made it up to the fort, from where you could see the mix of crumbling courtyards, towers and trelliced balconies below. From there we watched the sun disappear over the hills before a family of monkeys took up their positions on the battlements.

We're now 81km away from Orchha where we're going to rest weary legs for 3 whole nights before the real push to Nepal begins. 

Lots of love,

Ed and Kat

Xxxx