We left Paonta Sahib to head to Rishikesh. After our detour yesterday that ended up landing us in Paonta Sahib we reckoned we only had about a 2 hour drive along the national highway. We knew that before long we would have to stop for petrol but we wanted to give the bike a good run first to let it warm up. It takes a fair amount of time to get the bike started in the morning, and Colin has groin strain with all the kick starting that he has to do, so the last thing that we wanted was to stop too early and then not get going again.
Well, I thought that was the last thing we wanted but worse can happen. We hadn't gone that far when the bike lost power and came to a halt. We had ran out of petrol. Luckily we carry a spare litre of fuel so we put it in the tank and set off again. About 1km down the road we lost power again. We were both stood at the roadside just looking at the bike with not a clue between us. An Indian guy came over to help. He wiggled a few things and the bike started again. When we asked him what he had done he said that he didn't know. So much for a tutorial.
Off we set just to lose power again 1km later. We were just outside a petrol garage and at least filled up with petrol - at least we know how to do that! We asked where the nearest mechanic shop was and Colin set off to find it. When he got to where he was told to go there was no mechanic shop and he was told to go somewhere else. When he got there, there was no mechanic shop. After a few similar episodes he gave up and came back to the bike. It miraculously started again only to lose power again, this time on a hairpin bend with vehicles all over the place. Once again we got it started and decided to keep going until we spotted a mechanics. Colin then realised that the choke was out and that the engine was constantly flooding. In future we won't forget to put the choke back in after we start the bike in the morning.
On route we passed through the city of Dehradun, the capitol city in the state of Uttarakhand. It has a population of about half a million and is the biggest city we have driven through so far. It was mental driving and the road bore no resemblance to what was on the map. The map showed one road that ran the length of the city but in actual fact there was major junction after major junction. We had to shout out to people at every junction to find our way, while still driving. Often we just rode up beside someone else on a bike and shouted over to them. We were very relieved and pleased to leave Dehradun behind and take the mountain road the last 14 miles to Rishikesh.
We hadn't gone far when we came across a road sign 'DANGER, BEWARE OF WILD DANGEROUS ELEPHANTS' and a picture showed a car being overturned in the road by a huge elephant. We thought it was quite funny until we kept seeing the same sign every couple of hundred metres. That was all we needed - death by elephant. Fortunately we didn't encounter one but the road was potentially lethal as there scores of monkeys all over the place - tiny little ones and rather large ones!
On route we also passed an Emu Farm and we never knew these existed in India. It ended up taking us 4 hours instead of 2 hours to reach Rishikesh. It only has an altitude of 372m and was really hot. We had shed a few layers of clothing. I had started off the journey with thermal top and long johns, a t-shirt, a lightweight fleece and a heavy weight fleece jacket, trousers and big woolly socks and gloves.
We found a really nice guest house in the Lakshman Jhula side of Rishikesh in Nigah Tourist home with a balcony overlooking the River Ganges.
Well, I thought that was the last thing we wanted but worse can happen. We hadn't gone that far when the bike lost power and came to a halt. We had ran out of petrol. Luckily we carry a spare litre of fuel so we put it in the tank and set off again. About 1km down the road we lost power again. We were both stood at the roadside just looking at the bike with not a clue between us. An Indian guy came over to help. He wiggled a few things and the bike started again. When we asked him what he had done he said that he didn't know. So much for a tutorial.
Off we set just to lose power again 1km later. We were just outside a petrol garage and at least filled up with petrol - at least we know how to do that! We asked where the nearest mechanic shop was and Colin set off to find it. When he got to where he was told to go there was no mechanic shop and he was told to go somewhere else. When he got there, there was no mechanic shop. After a few similar episodes he gave up and came back to the bike. It miraculously started again only to lose power again, this time on a hairpin bend with vehicles all over the place. Once again we got it started and decided to keep going until we spotted a mechanics. Colin then realised that the choke was out and that the engine was constantly flooding. In future we won't forget to put the choke back in after we start the bike in the morning.
On route we passed through the city of Dehradun, the capitol city in the state of Uttarakhand. It has a population of about half a million and is the biggest city we have driven through so far. It was mental driving and the road bore no resemblance to what was on the map. The map showed one road that ran the length of the city but in actual fact there was major junction after major junction. We had to shout out to people at every junction to find our way, while still driving. Often we just rode up beside someone else on a bike and shouted over to them. We were very relieved and pleased to leave Dehradun behind and take the mountain road the last 14 miles to Rishikesh.
We hadn't gone far when we came across a road sign 'DANGER, BEWARE OF WILD DANGEROUS ELEPHANTS' and a picture showed a car being overturned in the road by a huge elephant. We thought it was quite funny until we kept seeing the same sign every couple of hundred metres. That was all we needed - death by elephant. Fortunately we didn't encounter one but the road was potentially lethal as there scores of monkeys all over the place - tiny little ones and rather large ones!
On route we also passed an Emu Farm and we never knew these existed in India. It ended up taking us 4 hours instead of 2 hours to reach Rishikesh. It only has an altitude of 372m and was really hot. We had shed a few layers of clothing. I had started off the journey with thermal top and long johns, a t-shirt, a lightweight fleece and a heavy weight fleece jacket, trousers and big woolly socks and gloves.
We found a really nice guest house in the Lakshman Jhula side of Rishikesh in Nigah Tourist home with a balcony overlooking the River Ganges.
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