Day Six Sun 29th Oct Rishikesh - Delhi 250km

We were allowed a lie in 'til 8am! A few people had a quick dip in the Ganges before breakfast but it looked pretty chilly to me. It's supposed to unpolluted here and only gets dirty after Rishikesh, but we weren't taking any chances and just paddled, so at least our feet are blessed! Also, we'd seen how the villagers in the Himalayas disposed of their rubbish and 'human waste' so I reckon that the word 'clean' when applied to the Ganges is relative. We've seen lots of monkeys during the week and one finally wandered into the camp when we had the camera out. I was less thrilled to hear that leopards sometimes come down to the water during the night - I'd have been a bit more hesitant at tripping off to the loo in the middle of the night if I'd known!

I tried to let everyone else charge ahead today - after my afternoon of glory yesterday. The journey today was just a long hard slog. Although it wasn't the longest run we did, it was very tiring. The traffic was very heavy almost from the beginning and as we got closer to Delhi it became worse and the driving more aggressive. Instead of forging ahead overtaking things, if we found a bit of road with nothing in front of us and nothing close behind we'd try to ride in that gap for as long as possible just to have a rest. The road surfaces in some areas were just appalling, considering we were on a main road. We dropped into some potholes and wondered if we'd ever come out, or feared that we'd buckled the wheel, but the plucky little Enfields coped with everything. There were dead lorries in the middle of the road, plus lorries that had shed their loads of bricks and pieces of rubble, the size of your fist, that we had to pick our way through - very carefully.

One stretch was dual carriage way, but that doesn't stop someone driving towards you in your lane! Neil was trying to overtake a bus that was in front of the pair of us and after a few unsuccessful sorties he decided to have a look up the inside to undertake instead (no-one minds that in India) but found a car coming towards him! Roadworks suddenly appeared on the opposite lane of the dual carriageway and, without warning, on-coming traffic was directed into our path!

Have I mentioned that we were having to concentrate the whole time we were on the bikes? There was never any possibility of letting your guard down because there was too much going on: the road surface would suddenly change; on a mountain road you risked driving over the edge (which almost happened to 2 of our group as they stole a quick look at the scenery!); animals would wander across the road - goats, pack horses, dogs, cows; pedestrians were as bad; and of course the other erratic road-users - especially motor rickshaws, buses and trucks, oh and cars, bicycles and motorbikes, and bullock carts and tractors - well, just about everything was a menace really! So you were concentrating hard for 3-4 hours at a stretch - something that I bet none of us do regularly in our daily lives (and certainly not at work!) - and we were doing it for up to 12 hours a day for 6 days straight. No wonder we were tired!

The dust and pollution had been ever-present all week and our clothes were always filthy at the end of each day. But today it was awful. The smog over Delhi was so thick that particles caught the flash of my camera and made it look as if it was raining. We could feel ourselves breathing in the fumes and dust and our chests tightening - we were getting hoarser by the hour. There were a few near-misses and riders taking to the dirt at the side of the road - in Ian's case the dirt on the opposite side of the road! We were knackered by the time we stopped for lunch and there was still another 4 - 5 hours of riding ahead of us! I don't think anyone enjoyed their riding today.

Which explains why no-one looks particularly chipper in the photos of lunch at the "Moolchand Resorts" veggie restaurant and garden centre. Another good veggie chow mein!

As we got closer to Delhi we regrouped and followed the jeep into Delhi in convoy - which I enjoyed enormously! We saw our first elephants by the side of the road. It was dark by the time we got into Delhi and we made for the India Gate, where the police allowed us to line up for the photo-call and we drew a great crowd. Then a quick ride up the hill to ride past Luytens' neo-classical government buildings, which looked fantastic lit up above the city. Then on to a department store for 45mins shopping before it closed!

There followed a short but hair-raising ride through Delhi to our hotel. After a well-deserved shower we went for dinner at a lovely restaurant. There Matt presented us with medals from Global Adventure Challenges, which was a lovely gesture we thought.

Bev