15^th October  Amritsar, India to Kotputli, India

I got up at 5.00 am. Over the next few days I will riding alone again. My aim for the day was to ride past and beyond Dehli. I had heard that the roads heading toward Dehli were “under construction” and that the road beyond Dehli was wonderfull.

I set out in darkness, the air crisp and cool. The road I was following was the NH1 (national highway 1)  Fundamentally this road used to be a single carriageway construction. India is home to more than a billion people and single carriage way roads do not meet the nations needs. The Indian government have decided to convert it into a 4/6 lane highway…… project planning….. there is an absence of. What they have achieved is a series of stretches of decent road punctuated every few kilometres by a diversion. Today I road through 70-80 diversions. The diversions re-route traffic onto the former single carriageway, bypassing the tricky / ambitious constructions… like aerial roads, that are yet to be completed.

I eventually reached the outskirts of Dehli. My SatNav told me to head onto an SH (state highway)… Oh wise SaNav! Local knowledge had advised that Dehli mid afternoon is easy and that I would save time by getting onto the marvellous NH8 sooner rather than later. Let me tell you this:

Dehli is: A furnace, never quiet, never still, a maze, enormous, poorly signposted. My SatNav rescued the day saving me from an eternity trapped within this vast metropolis. At one point I found myself on a road where I covered 100 metres in 20 minutes…. Nuff sed.

I finally exited the city… and ploughed on. The marvellous NH8… is not a wonder of the civil engineering world. It is beset with the exact same project planning issues of its northern brother the NH1.

I settled for a roadside hotel. The Triputi Hotel *** deluxe. I made a good choice it is lovely. ... serves beer, has limited internet… and is metres away from rejoining the highway tomorrow morning.

Sites and sounds of the day… Beep beep beep. I am now desensitized and use my horn vigorously too. When in Rome! 

I spy elephant, camel and monkey on India's roads.

Kotputli mileometer 24392