Friday 30th November:

Friday 30th November:

Start:                23,864

Finish:    24,045

Distance:             181

Route:     Hampi – Hospet – Koppal – Gadag – Hubli

Hotel:               Naveen Lakeside Hotel

Today:

It had been a pretty arduous night, as Johnny English and his partner shared the same bed, yet again. It was a basic (very basic) establishment, but very hospitable people who have organized themselves to service the budget traveler needs.

However, if the cooling fan was on, then it was too noisy (but defused the dogs barking & the goats bleating) or it was was off and it therefore reversed the previous comment and became a bit steamy !!  So the ‘restful’ night alternated between the preference of whoever was getting up and requiring a pee !

We started the day with breakfast at the Mango Tree, a well organized family business run by Ranji, who was very ‘switched on’ to the visitor market and also spoke excellent English. Although, even he was lamenting at the fall in visitor numbers this year

A gentle ride around some of the accessible locations within the complex and some pics from this extraordinary site. It was huge and must have been such an imposing centre for the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire dating to the 14^th century.

Then the ride back through Hospete and on towards Hubli, some 160km to the west and back towards Goa.

There were long stretches of well laid road, regularly interspersed with the ‘dreaded diversions’. Driver impatience was at a new level……. (was it POETS Day …. Piss off early, because tomorrows Friday ?)( I think you mean, tomorrows Saturday, unless amonst all the other things the indians are dyslexis GJK) 

Amongst all this were some great innovations in Indian distribution. We were obviously in a grain producing region and this was harvest time. Heavily laden trucks were disgorging loads of grain onto large tarpaulins on the roadside. These loads (and there were kilometres of them) were being spread out at one end, presumably to dry and smaller trucks, trailers and carts were loading grain that had been delivered earlier….again presumably to take back to stores or villages in outer areas. It is genius, using public roads to co-ordinate the collection and distribution, with unfettered access.

Much of the transportation within this region is still provided by two bullocks and cart…..anything that needs shifting on the cart !

Unusually, there were several water points to be traversed. The ground had been churned up by the incessant truck movements, creating water filled trenches and potholes that could be a few inches to a few feet deep, plus all the mud and slime that goes with it.  At least it settled the dust.

On several occasions, one saw lone men and women walking kilometers from the nearest town alongside new road constructions…. some were collecting discarded iron bars whilst others looked as though were searching for remnant wood for cooking-fires, that had uprooted during the construction process….that is tough work !

We also had the experience of seeing poultry rearing and distribution at work. There was a large multi-story shed running parallel to the road, holding what must have been thousands of chickens in metal racks and guys with multi-tiered wicker baskets strapped to their scooters, one assumes to deliver to outer lying destinations.

This type of experience did not stop on reaching Hubli. This is a sprawling city with a population of around 1million people where in the main street (which is part of the National Highway) the traffic was forced to navigate round at least a dozen water buffalo being herded to somewhere….who knows where.

By the time we arrived at Hubli, to be greeted by the now common place congestion (even without the buffalo), I think TB and I were both admitting the gloss of the challenges provided by Indian roads and Indian drivers, was beginning to lose it’s shine !! It was a welcome site to be able to drive straight to the hotel and freshen up.

Even the idea of forgoing a bite to eat so as to browse around the city, had appeal for less than half an hour. It was back to the hotel, a beer, some catch-up notes and an early dinner.

We now have some 750km to complete by Monday. Not a big ask, but we do not want to leave ourselves with too much to do next week, ‘just in case’ !!