Chandelao to Ranakpur 180kms

Thurs 7th February 2019

Chandelao to Ranakpur 180kms

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A 9am start and immediately we were into small back roads, remote and certainly non touristy.. this turned out to be our best riding day so far 👍😎

Our first stop was a dried up lake, we rode across what would have been the lake bed throwing up clouds of dust. This was our first taste of off roading on a Royal Enfield and included some sand, which we coped with well and a built up mound which we had fun riding up and over.. it was bigger than it looks here 😊

There was some water left in a corner of the lake which had attracted a flock of large birds; they soon took off as we scared them with our noisy exhausts. 

We got back onto the road which was a narrow band of tarmac, a mix of straights and bends. We thundered through remote villages with people staring at us like aliens. Cows, dogs and pigs were in the road, as well as camels; this really was the real India. Broken road surface, clouds of dust, poor people working hard, especially women of all ages in colourful saris. Old ladies carrying large bundles of sticks on their heads, younger women mixing cement for building and women & children working at road works; it’s a tough life here. Makes you realise what a cosseted and sanitised life we have back home!

We saw young children waving and smiling at us as we made our noisy way through their villages. On one stretch of road with hedges either side a large animal suddenly decided to bolt across the road straight at Narendra; luckily it decided to turn back as he swerved to avoid it. This was a big powerful creature which turned out to be an antelope; had hit him he wouldn’t have stood a chance.. lucky escape!

We entered a larger town and had fun dicing with the locals. We are getting quiet good at riding the “Indian Way” and enjoying over taking on either side, pushing our way through and basically behaving badly by our standards, but in India anything goes 🤪

We stopped for petrol and we were invited into the managers office to have Chai; seems they don’t see too many Brits and Americans so we were quiet a novelty..all people are very friendly towards us. Our driver offeref round his small cheroots to smoke with the chai.. some of us gave them a try😆

We made good progress on these remote back roads; no tourists.. motorbike is definitely the way to see the real India 👍

As we neared the end of our day’s ride the landscape had changed dramatically; no longer the flat arid desert terrain, instead we are into mountains and trees.

We entered the Ranakpur Nature Reserve, a beautiful area up in the hills and mountains; we pulled up at The Ranakpur Safari hotel, a very impressive looking place. We went straight to a sun terrace and ordered Kingfisher beers 👍

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After a shower, which took at least 20mins for the water to run hot, Bo and I decided to go for a walk. We turned out of the hotel and started walking, not knowing where we were going. One of the boys from the hotel came running after us and said we have to come to the Dam..why not? As we walked we caught up with the restaurant manager from the hotel and one of his staff. We talked as we walked along a paved track leading deeper into the countryside.We passed a remote village and shook hands with a goatherd in a field 😊 Finally we reached the big dam which holds water in place in a lake that serves as reservoir; apparently when the monsoons come the water rises sharply and is channeled into s currently dry river bed.

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We took some pics and then walked back along a narrow path used by the locals and met 2 women carrying large bundles of hay on their heads. We picked our way down the hillside and finally across the dry river bed and up onto the road and back to the hotel. It was a great way to spend an hour or more 👍

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We ate in the restaurant that night and were well looked after.. food is tasty and the service is always polite and good in India.

The next morning we would ride deeper into the nature reserve up into the mountains on great twisty roads. 👍