Adventures in The Lost World 9 - The longest distance

Isphal to Silchar, in the guide as the furthest distance to cover. 266 km.

Well we were ready to leave by 9. Paul and I had, as usual, had our first brew with the dawn.

We were first down to breakfast and caught a glimpse of Michael standing regally on his balcony surveying his domain. We let him know what we thought of his once he came down.

There were strange and delicious dishes at breakfast, including a nutty flavoured paste, that went really well with the dumplings.

As we gathered Will mentioned his bad back and Alex stretched him out.

This was going to be a long day, with a stretch of 50 in where we should not stop. It was bandit country.

We set off out of town, the driving was pretty crazy.

We stayed close as a group, even when the countryside opened up and the traffic eased. Some 30km later Alex pulled over and spoke to Abhi. We all waited for the van and there was a general consultation. We had taken the wrong road and would have to go back.

It was only some 20 km later that I realised we had gone wrong almost at the beginning of the ride and 266 km was going to be more like 330km. This was double what we had done before. We could only hope the roads were better.

On the way back we were keepi a fair pace but overtaking had its moments. I hung back as a bus pulled out and tilted alarmingly as the left side of the road was almost two feet higher than the right.

We then came across a trio of maniacs with egos as a white car wanted to overtake a pick up which wanted to overtake a truck which belched alternating white and black smoke.

A couple of times I had a look at overtaking, but realised these guys would be merciless, so we just had to hang back till they sorted themselves out. The truck had its horn blaring and with the black then white smoke I wondered if his engine was on fire, or brakes had failed.

It was only when he pulled over in a village that we dared overtake. Going into Imphal the drivers got crazier and remained that way as we came out again. Lewis and I both had narrow escapes as drivers roared out of side roads or cut across our lanes.

Fairly soon after leaving town I was at the back again and came to a truck queue. Hundreds of trucks parked on the left. Kilometres of them. Instead of being able to make up some time I was held back by a truck overtaking them all and blocking the entire road. Abhi and I had to wait a couple of kilometres before we got the chance to overtake.

The queue was for a checkpoint before entering bandit country.

All our papers were checked.

With a final briefing from Alex we set off. Within a couple of minutes Paul had stopped to take a photo, then Lewis. I went past both with Will and Michael.

The road was good and we kept a good pace. Wide with big bends we we getting into a bikers rhythym of slowing, leaning left, accelerating, slowing, leaning right, accelerating through the bend, and so on. A wavy motion as we wound up and down and over and round.

One patrol was being trailed by a civilian with a hunting rifle being carried loosely. It seemed almost a statement that the army could walk where they wanted but the land belonged to the locals.

The 50 km was over fairly quickly and soon after we passed the sign that said
'Thank you for your visit. The Head Hunters' I caught up with the group at a chai stop.

 just to show we got the bikes dirty...

 at the end of the village was a market selling stuff we couldn't recognise, Will had this Vietnam vet thing going for a while...

but did not replace his Messi pants

Just to give an idea of the lumbering trucks, and how little space there was if one was overtaking the other coming your way, here luckily I could follow one of them... 

Soon the road got rougher.

I got tired and the chai stops were a bit too far apart for my comfort. I was conscious of riding slower than the rest and that with the mornings warm up we may finish in the dark.

There was a lot of dust, frequent landslides had left temporary dirt tracks winding around and up and down the mountains. This would be lethal, or at least extremely tricky in the wet.

It rained. Soon after a chai stop I caught up with the group donning rain gear.

We all got covered up as the rain started.

The rain got rid of the dust but turned the dirt to mud.

Upright and straight and in first gear I puttered slowly through the slippy stuff. Just after a bridge I caught up with the group who were pleasantly surprised I'd stayed on. There were spots where the mud was packed, then it turned into a morass of slushy sloppy gloop. These photos were taken by Paul, my hands spent the day glued to the handlebars, superglued to the handlebars.

Catching up with the group again I saw Michael walking his bike up a slope, with Paul helping. It was not easy stuff, Lewis waved me on, which I was happy to do, knowing that we had a long way to go, I would only slow everything down and Michael was up and OK. I would just take the crap later about not helping a mate.

Lewis overtook a few minutes later followed by Paul and Michael when the road had dried out. I puttered and pottered along.

I stalled a few times but stayed. Abhi got me to stay in the centre ruts, however bad they looked. These were the paths more trodden, so the underlying base is more compacted. It was a lot easier and the stalling eased off.

I was particularly proud of scaling a muddy side slope when we had to get round a digger blocking one level of the road.

Getting the angle, the acceleration and the deceleration right I stayed on the bike and we pottered on.

We crossed pontoon bridges, apparently built by the British in the war and still in service. Ahead of the second bridge a truck had got stuck and the lorries were backed up for about a kilometre, in the mud. How the van would get through, I had no idea. It would take a miracle, or Lovely and Doc.
Sometimes the road was blocked as they cleared a landslide. Rearranging the mud.

It was tiring and an hour or so later I had to stop for a break. It was about 2 pm, we were still some 100 km from our destination and it would be dark about 5 pm. So we would be finishing in the dark, a rest was more important than an extra 15 minutes of riding in the dark.

Abhi and I parked the bikes and walked back into the small village.

The van turned up. Lovely was hungry so he and the driver popped in the back of the chai shop, chatted with the lady and they started cooking. Absolutely delicious fresh beans with onions and chilli, and hot, freshly cooked bread. We all ate well. I grabbed a smoke and tried to pay, but Lovely insisted and on we went. We caught up with the others, who as usual had stopped some 15 minutes beyond my limit.

Off we set yet again, we had better roads with almost all of it tarmac, but there were potholes and traffic, there was also a lot of downhill and it was either damp, or wet so I was riding at a steady to slow pace.

Around 5 pm the sun was close to setting. We caught up with the group who were still completing the exit process from the danger area. So I had not held anyone up. That was a comforting thought.

I went into the registration hut where Paul and Alex also had to fill in a form with the usual information and sign a blank line in a journal. There is a strange fixation in Indian bureaucracy with Fathers Name. I guess many, many people have the same name so it is an additional way of identifying an individual. With the new ID process in India maybe this will disappear.

The admin completed we set off in convoy. There was still some 40km to go. We covered about half in the dusk and individually chose when to put on our headlight. I also had to take off my sunglasses, which did make everything a lot clearer. I hoped the rain had reduced the dust and the insects. I still had my eyes screwed up, ensuring better quality crows feet. 

My light was on full beam and it took some hand signals from Michael for me to realise and turn it off completely, with the switch on the right hand side of the bike. About five minutes later I found the normal to high beam switch on the left side of the bike, so could turn the headlight on without it being on full beam and damaging retinae.

The last 40 minutes or so got to be a test of faith, or karma. Lots of the oncoming traffic had their headlights on, but not all. Silchar spreads out for miles in each direction and the rain had added an additional hazard, mud.

The huge number of headlights reflected off the water, the drivers were aggressive and unpredictable, cows, cyclists and pedestrians did not have lights and we were in mud. It was challenging.

I just kept Michael, a Will and Lewis's tail lights in view and followed them. Assuming that they would find a sensible line and avoid potholes, because I had no idea what I was riding on. If there were a big pothole, or a ditch I was going in it. As long as their lights were reasonably steady I should be OK.

Cars were sliding on the mud, which added a dash of interest and close to the centre we had wet tarmac, which was more predictable, but still dangerous to brake hard on.

We were all very tired. Some 330km including a lot of rough riding and we reached the hotel that had phoned Alex to recommend we didn't stay there.

In the dark it looked badly in need of the renovations it was undergoing.

The lobby was a concrete shell. Reception was a table in the restaurant and the rooms were basic.

Paul was stopped from banging his case step by step to the second floor. Someone had kidnapped my bag and was carrying it on his back. I came across Paul's abandoned bag on the first floor. So I carried it to the second where a guy forcibly took it off me to take it the last ten paces to the room. He needed that tip.

There was hot water, the beds were hard but manageable and there was a kettle, so Paul and I were OK. 

But we had dragged in a lot of mud from the road. Taking our boots off and getting undressed meant more mud, which we tried to sweep under the bed with our stockinged feet, but it was not a perfect job.

A brew and a hot shower made life seem a lot better.

We gathered on the steps of the hotel for a couple of beers and tales of the road, and life.

Supper was good and very welcome. So far the curries and the roadside food have been excellent and have not had a major negative effect on anyone.

The hotel seemed to turn off the wifi for our stay. Paul got a signal when we arrived but it disappeared within ten minutes and reappeared ten minutes before we left. So there were no internet distractions.

The next day was a 9am start so we had plenty of time to enjoy a good nights sleep.