January 17, 2011
Ganpatipule
more Western Ghats
Ratnagiri is busy and the internet place across the road from my 'deluxe' room doesn't have a connection as there's no electricity as usual on Monday, so I freewheel back down the sloping road and make my way out of town.
I make a wrong left turn and see the old fort high on a headland and look at it from about a kilometer or less for a few moments, then decide that's enough and turn around and get on the right track north - a quiet route by the sea.
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The road takes a while to get to the Arabian, but when it does it's a wonderful sight - clear and blue. There's a bridge that I cross and I can see the road winding up a headland and before long that's what I'm climbing and I stop near the top bend to take another self-timed photo. A super view.
After rounding the curving top bend there's a stall by the side selling icy drinks made with coloured flavourings and I decide to stop yet again and have one and once I do I take another self-timed snap and the young vendor gets in on the act, posing with a gesture of 'one' with a finger when I get my hand on a bottle of water. We laugh about the performance.
The road offers sea views for a while with sand stretching right along the coast and the tarmac climbs again and more photos are taken. I'm in no hurry
It's hot now.
It's quite early in the afternoon when my wheels roll into Ganpatipule and it takes me by surprise a bit.
I make a left and follow the small road down towards the shore and see a few places to stay, but look around some more. One place is full, but the second has a room for 450 and I take it.
The local cyber cafe doesn't have an Internet connection, so I can't email or surf the net so I wander down the one village street to the beach and come across lots of teenage school children enjoying themselves - it seems they've spent their money on snazzy sunglasses.
Their teacher tells me they've come a long way and I ask where from, but the place name is meaningless to me and he says it's around 10- or 15-hours' drive away. What a nightmare.
There's a homeless man sat nearby and I take his portrait and show it to him on the LCD and he looks at himself for a while, staring at the small image. It seems he can't quite recognize the sad, bearded face looking back at him. Who knows how he came to be like this, what events took their toll or what fate opted to deal him.
Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 3,320 km (2,062 miles)
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