Sunday, March 6
Davangere to Lakkahalli (Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary) – 120 K
I LOVE riding in the mornings here! The temperature hover in the mid to upper 60s when we set out on our daily adventure at 6:30-ish am. This morning was no exception – the air was cool and the views were lovely… once we were out of town.
The towns where we’ve stayed lately are dirty towns. I’m not sure if it is because we are in a more industrial area or not, or maybe as we head southward it is just drier. No matter the reason, the dirt & dust are in the air and on the paved roads… along with smoke from individual burn piles at the road’s edge. Every day we pass small fires along the road – people burning yesterday’s garbage I assume. We passed a garbage truck this morning – it’s the first one I’ve seen here. Just after passing the garbage truck we passed 200 feet of accumulated trash on the road’s edge… Maybe the trash collectors only gather up the trash from businesses in town – again that’s only my guess at the situation. India is a developing nation and it is good to see signs of improving sanitation even though they have a long way yet to go.
Early on we rode along the shores of a relatively small lake – the ladies were doing their laundry and even the cow was getting a bath – notice the decorations on the ends of his horns. Many of the cows in this area have tassles, bells or a number of other ornaments on their horns… and MANY have their horns painted one color or another. Yesterday I saw a purple cow – purple horns and purple dyed areas all over its body. It was the most unique cow I’ve seen so far!
When I stopped to take the picture above a young boy asked if I would take his picture too. Many of the kids ask me to take their picture – and without fail, it is a MUST to show them the picture once they have posed so nicely. This fellow was no exception.
Did you notice the dirt road in the picture above? Today, this would be considered a very nice road. The roads today were horrendous with the exceptions of about 6 sections lasting only about half a kilometer each – and these short sections were brand new, smooth pavement. Go figure!? There was no road equipment suggesting that they were working on the roads – it just went from broken pavement with HUGE potholes and rocks to perfectly smooth, brand new pavement and then suddenly back to mountain bike like riding. The picture above was a detour that we took for a road that was closed – it wasn’t bad at all.
But like I said in the beginning, the scenery was lovely and when it was safe to take my eyes off the road which I was so carefully maneuvering, I was exhilarated by the beauty that surrounded me. Here’s a shady spot where I stopped just because I wanted to… it was very peaceful.
The fields where they grow rice glisten in the morning sun! They are SO very green and catch my eye every time! Here is one from today:
I’m not ashamed to admit that when we arrived at lunch, neither Jan nor I wanted to continue on these roads during the heat of the day. We stayed with the lunch vehicle until it was loaded with riders, bikes and all the supplies then we rode in it to the hotel – another 60 kilometers. After traveling in the van on the afternoon roads, I was absolutely thrilled that I made that decision. It would’ve been a LONG, LONG ride on more terrible roads.
Our hotel is in a wildlife preserve and it is a wonderful spot! Who would’ve known…? We followed the men who carried our bags and showed us to our room… which was a nifty walk from the reception area. We descended stone stairs, walked along a dirt path, crossed a wooden foot bridge to an island, climbed more stone steps, then climbed a narrow “shortcut” trail up to another stone path, down more stone steps and to our door. Here’s the wooden bridge that leads to our little cottage on the island.
The lake that surrounds us is actually a reservoir and it is BEAUTIFUL!!! Our room is very nice and has a balcony that overlooks the water below. The view is unbelievable and I’m sitting here now typing my daily journal, listening to the occasional songbird…. Ahhhhhh! Soon the sun will set and I’m going to sit here until it does… the down-time is much needed!
The sunset was lovely:
