Day 31: Ayodhya - Darbhanga (24th Sept 2014)

Woke up at 5:30 am. Had a very disturbed sleep owing to the frequent power cuts. The cheap cooler which was placed in my room blasted cold air towards me throughout the night which had made my throat sore.

I started my ride by 7 am. The destination was Muzzaffapur in Bihar (not UP). It turned out to be a cold day to ride so I had to put on my leather Jacket.

After riding for 63 kms, my speedo cable snapped. Without it, I could not know my speed and the distance that I had covered. About 8 kms later I came across a milestone which indicated that Muzzaffapur was 310 kms away.

There was no decent dhaba on the highway, so I continued riding without my breakfast. The highway from Ayodhya to the Bihar border was a smooth one with a divider on it. I entered Bihar by 11:15 am and as soon as I entered Bihar, NH 28 turned horrible. I could also figure out that the place had rainfall recently. I could see pockets of monsoon clouds. The rain paranoia strikes back.

Entering Bihar

NH 28

The average speed dropped to about 20kms/hr. The road condition remained unchanged for the next 10 kms. After this bumpy ride of 10 kms, the highway started looking smoother. I encountered occasional light drizzle but not serious enough to pull out my rain cover.

As I had started early, by 1 pm I was only 70 kms shorter of Muzzaffapur. Since I had good hours of daylight left, I decided to stop at Darbanga, which frankly speaking I didn't even know existed till it showed in my phone GPS. Darbanga was 63 kms further from Muzzaffapur. When I checked on my phone internet, it showed some decent hotels in Darbanga, so it was a well-calculated decision.

I was so hungry by that time that I could have eaten a horse. I had dropped my search criteria of decent dhaba and decided to stop by any place that sells food, and which does not have too many people. At 1:30 pm I saw one dhaba where there were no people and dashed towards it. I specially chose such dhaba because I didn't want any special attention drawn to me. I ordered for few rotis, dal fry, egg bhurji, and karela fry.

FOOD !!!

While I was eating, I observed there were few lorry drivers who were watching a movie on TV. The movie went into the commercial break. Some telebrand commercials selling fortune changing locket was playing. As a media planner, I had always wondered who buys into such scams. Just then I saw one of the lorry drivers noting the number flashing on the screen. I was answered. This trip was enhancing my professional understanding as well.

The commercial which was playing :)

I reached Darbanga at around 4 pm and as soon as I reached Darbanga, the weather cleared. I was about 60 kms closer home from my initial target. I could sense my Darjeeling behind those monsoon clouds on the horizon. I checked into hotel Govind palace. The hotel was still under construction and only 18 rooms were operational. As the rooms were new, they were very clean and it was a relatively safer place to stay.

Darbhanga

After I checked in, I took a much-needed shower to take the dirt off me.

The dusty outer Vs the original colour of the inner

I took Chitti to Mirzapur chock to fix the speedo cable. There is only one shop in Dharbhanga which stocks Enfield spare parts and everyone knows about it.

Fixing the speedo cable

Once I was back from there, I called Linda and home to let them know about my place of stay. My mother informed me that the Navratri would start from the next day. This planted a thought in my mind. My initial plan for the following day was to reach Siliguri and take a rest there for a night before heading home the following day because the road to Darjeeling involved some serious hill riding skills. Definitely not advisable under fatigue. However, when my mother told me the Navratri would start the following day, I thought it would be a good day to reach home. Besides, it would have been exactly one month since the day I had started the ride.

I was almost asleep by 11 pm when the guy in charge advised me to park Chitti inside the staff compound for safety. I did as he told me to do.

By the end of the last night on the road for this trip, I had travelled a distance of 450 kms. Another 400 kms to take me home.

(Do read the other days chronicle listed on the same page)

#Royalenfield  #trip #leh #bikeride #adventure #ladakh #travel