A few firsts

A day of many firsts. My first day of riding a Royal Enfield. My first time navigating through Delhi. My first Indian Highway. My first glimpse of the HImalayas. My first fall. My first accident.

My alarm didn't wake me at 5. After staying up late watching Harry Potter, I had scary dreams of being chased by Voldemort. I awoke with a start at about 5.45.

Even at 6am, there were still quite a few people crowded round to see me off. Carmen really didn't want to wake up. I kick started, decompressed and kick started, but with no luck. In the end, one of the onlookers took pity on me, borrowed the tools and stripped the spark plug out and fired her up.

A few people had advised me to hire a tuktuk driver to take me to the Karnal bypass, the start of the highway. The staff at the hotel though insisted it was really easy, so I set off without a guide. I kind of knew the general direction, but of course ended up in a street jammed with trucks doing early morning deliveries. No way forward and no way back. I had to drive along the pavement, scattering people to get onto the road again.

Had to ask directions a few times, and the Delhi suburbs seemed to go on forever, but eventually found the bypass, and the start of National Highway 1, the route north.

The first 150K, was really easy. I started to feel really comfortable on the bike, and the road was mostly clear.

The next 100, were diversions and roadblocks, so speed went down from 80 to about 60.

I was planning to stop at Chandrigah, about 300k from Delhi, but got there before 1pm. I decided to push on for Shimla, only another 100k down the road, and the start of the Himalayas.

To be honest, the plains were getting me down. The dirt and poverty seemed endless and I just couldn't see any point in staying longer. The mountains were where I aimed to get too after all.

Of course, the road soon started to narrow, go through towns choked with traffic, and wind its way up the foothills of the mountains. Speed dramatically slowed. In a small town called Kalka I had my first accident. A truck slowed suddenly, I swerved, the bike skidded and I came off. Not at speed, and the bike and I were fine. I was helped up by friendly people, put the bike to rights, got back in the saddle and hit the road again.

I was kind of glad to get my first fall over and done with. I was not expecting to survive the whole trip unscathed, and this was harmless. It could have shaken me up, but I remember the advice given to goalies - if you have a shocker of a game, its important to get right back in there and face the next shot.

The views were getting more impressive all the time, and road becoming really stunning. I stopped about 3.30 for a coke, and realised the shadows were lengthening. I still had over 50km to do before I got to Shimla, and at the current speed, that could take a couple of hours.

The next 30km were the best of the day. The road was good, and twisted and turned through steeply wooded banks, the occasional view appearing through the haze. I had the road pretty much to myself and I was really getting the hang of the bike.

20k away, the sky started to darken. It wasn't night though, large raindrops started coming down, and soon I was drenched.

The last 5k were really hard. I was wet and cold, and I was beginning to ache after about 10 hours of driving.

Shimla crept up on me. Houses started appearing on either side, and the traffic got progressively worse. I didn't have a good map, and not really planned anywhere to stay, so spent 40 minutes looking for Sars Lodge.

Its up a really steep hill at the back of the town. It took 3 attempts to get up it, only worked when I started at the bottom, backed up, accelerated and went up at about 40.

And then had my first accident, A scooter was parked precariously at the side of the road. As I was dismounting, I nudged it, it rolled over, and then down the slope. Fortunately it only went about 6 foot before it hit a tree. Got it back up, but had a feeling that there would be more to come of this,

Sure enough as I was showering in my room, the receptionist came down to tell me I was wanted. The owner of the bike came in wanting 15000 Rupees (about £200). The thought of getting caught up in a dispute like this had my blood running cold.

A crowd of people gathered round, all offering different advice and opinions. It felt quite threatening - we couldn't really understand each other well and I felt really out of my depth.

The manager of the hotel arrived, who had good English, and was able to translate. He also seemed to not to want to put up with any nonsense from the bike owner - I think he is too protective of his guests to let them be stung like this.

Eventually an agreement of 1000 Rps was made. I felt happy with this, and we all went away best of friends.

As I was eating my dinner, an Indian family came in and sat down. They spoke in English which is something I have not heard before, and discussed many things from travel, to knowing Sachin Tendulkar, to politics. The matriarch eventually looked round and said this place reminded her of an english b&b. I kind of agree although it feels more like a ski chalet from the 70's to me. Very nice, Baboons fighting on the roof outside.

So a day of firsts. Hopefully the first of many such days.