I know, I know, it’s a far cry from when I started this tour, however 31 km really does feel like a walk in the park these days. We all feel capable of moving mountains – thankfully we don’t have to cycle over another one of them! This is our last cycle day, and we are heading to Madhogarh Fort for the night. There was one final thigh-busting climb to get to our destination, but also a lot of jubilation to realise we didn’t ever have to do this again.

Madhogarh Fort is open for business as a hotel, and I highly recommend staying here if you have room in your itinerary. It’s currently being renovated, with rooms ranging from fairly basic to jaw-dropping. Just make sure to keep your windows closed—we’re pretty sure monkeys stole bananas from our room! While the toilets were a low point, the food was definitely a high point. Having dinner on the tower overlooking the village was magnificent.

Our final stop was Agra. You can’t come to India and not visit the Taj Mahal, right? It was every bit as impressive as it looks in photos—more so, in fact. Our guide told us that Agra is famous for two things: marble and carpets. I wasn’t going to bring any marble back in my luggage, but I couldn’t resist the carpets. It takes two people over a year to create these masterpieces. I’m looking at it as an investment—something to be passed down from generation to generation. My kids can fight over it after I’m gone 🤣

We had time for one farewell dinner in Delhi before everyone went their separate ways. It was a little emotional, but it’s so nice to be going home.  No, wait – we’re not coming home yet. Stay tuned for further action…

I never thought I’d say this, but a 45 km ride to our next location, Bundi, almost seems too easy now 😂  I’d like to say that even the enormous hill was easy, but that would be a lie.  I really wasn’t sure at the start of this trip whether or would I be able to make these distances. I guess it’s just a testament to what you can accomplish when you put your mind to something – and it has indeed been mental fortitude that has got me over the line when the body is failing.

From Bundi, where nothing much happened, we had another 61 km ride. This was the last big one of our trip and we were going to Ranthambore for a tiger safari. Spoiler: We did not see a tiger.  Fortunately nobody else did either, so we can live with that. We did see a sloth bear ambling along that more than made up for it. Supposedly, sloth bears are even rarer to see than tigers, so we celebrate in frozen jubilation.

More wildlife awaited at the hotel. In spite of the staff’s best efforts to run them out of town, a troop of monkeys scaled the balcony and walked right over our makeshift laundry, then chased each other over the roof. This is a vaguely terrifying sound to awake to in the middle of the night.

We were delighted to find a bottle shop right next to the hotel and bought out their supply of Jacob’s Creek. It is a wine I have gotten surprisingly fond of.  Given it’s the only Australian wine on offer, perhaps not so surprising, but it is shockingly expensive over here, so if you can bring a good quality wine over or two I highly recommend you do so!

Today was the big one – an 80 km ride. If this doesn’t break me, nothing will. Our path took us to the actual Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which is still in business. Although the gates were shut, a bit of sweet talking from our guide got us inside the grounds.

It’s wonderful to experience these unexpected discoveries as we cycle through small villages and busy roads. Children and adults continue to wave as we fly by. “Fly” is probably overstating it – we’re not breaking any land speed records here!

Fortunately, we’re not doing the entire 80 km straight! After 55 km, we took a break on the bus until we were dropped off at the top of a massive hill. The less said about hills, the better. Somehow, I managed to finish the remaining 25 km. The others inexplicably wanted more pain and rode the whole way to the camp. My knees and me said NO and took the bus.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. We were camping! okay, glamping 🙂 The camp itself is amazing, and the food is the best we’ve tasted on our trip. I thoroughly recommend this stop, even though it’s off the beaten path of your typical itinerary. We scored an upgrade to the cottages situated on the lake. There’s no sound around us other than bird song and chipmunks clattering up the side of the cottage, which can be rather disturbing late at night the first time you hear it!

The best part? We don’t have to cycle the next day, so we can relax and recover, resting our aching bodies.

https://www.heritagehotelsofindia.com/rajasthan/ravla-khempur.html

As if a 65 km ride wasn’t enough we backed it up with a 68 km ride the next day. I thought I hurt before but have now reached new levels. It was a lovely start to the ride though, from the hotel in Pushktar.  We stopped just before we left town to feed the cows, which is supposed to bring good karma on us. Speaking of cows, there are a lot on the road to dodge.  Negotiating a path through a herd of cows is very precarious but a lot of fun – so long as they don’t veer unexpectedly in your direction.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to ride the entire way to Udaipur and we now get to spend two days in this romantic city. Udaipur truly lives up to its nickname, the Venice of the East, with its picturesque lakes. It’s also a hotspot for film enthusiasts. Scenes from the James Bond movie Octopussy were shot here, and we even dined at the restaurant featured in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

On our wanders around the city, we came across a small celebrations with couple of Indians dancing. Naturally I joined in while everybody around us started filming.  I’m probably on YouTube somewhere. I’m sure I impressed them with my Australian dance style. I even threw a bit of kangaroo a la Raygun in there for good measure.

To complete my cultural immersion I went to see a palmist/astrologist who told my past and future.  He was surprisingly accurate – at least about my past. Apparently I have to give sweets to the poor on Saturday to improve my lot in life. Will see how that turns out 🙂

Eat: https://udaigarhudaipur.in/

I’m not sure if I’m creating an urban legend here, but I swear I was told this by a guide as we visited the Amber Fort in Jaipur. This is a must visit on any travel itinerary as it’s a stunning mix of sandstone, marble and mosaics, but the history is even more fascinating.   Legend has it that one of the kings built a maze underneath the apartments so that when he wanted a bit of hanky panky with one of his wives (he had 12),  he would let them all loose in the maze and the first one to find him would get his attention for one night. Now that is a lot of effort to get a leg over!

But the highlight of the stay would have to be going out for Natasha‘s birthday. The tour guide had arranged to surprise her with a cake but then we were all surprised with a fireworks display above the rooftop restaurant. It was amazing and has set a pretty high bar for future birthday endeavours.

But that was the end of the good vibes as the next day we had a 65 km ride to get to our next destination.  To say there were tears would’ve been an understatement, but I made it. Haven’t hurt in so many places for a very long time. But what a way to see the country. One of my favourite parts of the ride was cycling past kids who would come out to say hi. I feel like the queen on a tour. I try to wave without falling off my bike I think attempting namaste would end badly, but I can manage a wave for now 🙂

We went for our first cycle in Delhi at the ungodly hour of 6 am this morning. It needed to be that early because otherwise we would’ve been riding for our lives. Cycling in Delhi is sheer bedlam. But in chaos there is order, and once you find the rhythm you find yourself slipping in and out of traffic with ease.  It’s actually exhilarating,  and not a little freaky.

You also get to see another side of India.  If you bother to look you start to notice the respect, the care, the pride, and a different side of India emerges. We stop by the side of the road to see some men bring bananas to some monkeys because it’s good karma. It’s not their job, they just do it. Imagine loading your car up with food and taking it upon yourself to do that?

We’re feeling a little like rockstars here though, as everywhere we go, people want to take photos of us. I thought that was very strange but apparently a lot of Indians are tourists themselves, so having a photo with somebody who’s white and who they would never normally see is a big thing. I made the mistake of posing with a young man with a handshake and next thing you know, everyone wanted a photo shaking hands with me! It’s weird, but who doesn’t like to be adored 🙂

A five hour train ride puts us in Jaipur late at night. Tasha and I decided to be impulsive and go for a hot balloon ride in the morning which meant a very early 5 am start to get up so we could see sunrise over the hills. I am a little sleep deprived, but this was an impulse worth giving in to. 

It’s been five years? Really? Well, COVID really derailed my travel plans for a while there… and house renovations swallowed the rest. But I’m finally back, and what better way to get back in the metaphorical saddle than to get back in the literal saddle with a cycle tour of India 😬

Serendipity by way of my friend Shad, sent me to Cycle Rajasthan, and before I knew it I’d signed myself and my sister Natasha up and we were raring to go. Imagine my surprise when I saw a 100 km cycle day on the itinerary 🫢. Imagine my dismay when I injured my knee six weeks out from said tour 😢 But “intrepid” is not my word of the year for nothing, so I’ve going to have a crack and see what happens 🤣

My first impressions of Delhi were underwhelming. From the haze of pollution to the unkempt houses in our neighbourhood, I was seriously questioning my decision to come here. That may have been the sleep deprivation talking, so after a short snooze we became fixated on finding a McDonalds or Starbucks. Don’t ask me why. I would not go to either back in Australia, but it seemed a small achievement to be able to navigate around.  We were the only white people chowing down at maccas in our ‘hood, I’ll give you the tip.

Our evening was spent meeting the rest of the people and learning that our 100km day was now only a 70km day. Jubilation ensued. Reality awaits.