Day 67 - Chasing Trucks

Jeremy left very early for his taxi and ultimately successfully made it home carrying 15kg of our combined gear! Feels awesome to be rid of it and back to the slick setup (plus two terracotta tea cups that wouldn't fit in the home bag). We decided it was too early though and went back to sleep before the usual morning and planning breakfast. The main topic of discussion was which roads would have better waves, sorry I mean, trucks, to ride and it was 11 before we'd decided our route and got going. Getting out of Varanasi was slow, winding through the dirty, crowded streets, but we weren't worried because we were both fresh and ready for some lorry surfing. (Actually my legs were exhausted after a day of walking, so I was looking forward to a relaxing 200+km day on the bike!)

Some days you see a great wind forecast the next morning so you phone around to find friends, throw the windsurfing gear on the roof of the car at midnight and then get up a few hours later to drive to the beach expecting an awesome day, only to arrive and find that there is no wind and you can barely go out on the water, let alone have that blasting session. Today was much like that. We'd plotted a route on nice dual carriageways, arrived excited to get to Nepal quickly, but the weather just wasn't with us. So I will add an important addendum to my earlier lorry drafting manual (Day 64 for those who missed it).

The Lorry Rider's Handbook Vol 2.

1. You require a lorry.
2. a) The lorry must be moving...
   b) ...in your direction! (note this does not mean forward or on your side of the road in India).

There were just no lorries. We were desperately resorting to anything bigger than a moped that came past, including heavily loaded motorbikes, but it's just not the same. We had to do the majority of the cycling ourselves would you believe it!? We eventually caught a few rides later in the day after a couple of major cities, and a good ride for the expressway right at the end, but it was too little too late and we arrived in the dark in a choking thick smog, many times the recommended safe limit, where even the masks were not keeping us from coughing.

The fact that there were only lorries on the expressway prompted Emma to ask "why lorries only grow on black tarmac" and not the concrete roads we had been riding before so I gave her a quick refresher on lorry biology.

A quick refresher on lorry biology

1) Lorries thrive only on smooth black tarmac. While the amateur lorry-watcher may expect them anywhere there are two lanes and few towns this is, in fact, a common misconception. The size of the road nor number of buildings doesn't matter - it's the tarmac. Think of it like this, a blue whale cannot swim in shallow water, only the deep, but in the deep it can look at reefs or the open sea, the same is true of lorries and black tarmac.

2) Lorries typically migrate long distances in small to large herds, meaning where's there's one there are usually more.

3) Lorries have loud but often tuneful calls which they use to communicate within and between the larger groups

4) Most lorries who have reached adulthood will have as many as 70% bare or damaged tires

When we'd eventually located the guesthouse we'd booked for the evening (about 15mins prior) and been shown in by the very friendly host, we were happy to be out of the smog and noise and people. It was very basic, and we definitely wanted to use liners on the bed, but for 8 euros, the experience we had been planning for this half of the trip. The shower only ran cold so we had to embrace the bucket washing custom here with different necessity (I don't mind a cold shower, but did enjoy tipping a bucket of hot water over my head for a brief, but powerful, shower - not how you're supposed to do it though I don't suspect!).

Then it was onto Swiggy (see Day 65)! If it was good in Varnasi, when we were in a guesthouse with no restaurant surrounded by thick smog, carnage and noise outside, it was positively heavenly! A few decisions and 14mins later, a supermarket shop of snacks for the following day, and massive bag of takeaway arrived. Since Emma needed a longer night as she was starting to get sick, we scoffed it quickly, saved loads for lunch the next day, and fell asleep.

Food spend today: 31.64 euros

Tea consumption: 8