Day 6
This was the last day of the journey. So I was less organised. I woke up late, packed my stuff late and started the journey late. Instead of starting at 5am, I started around 6-6:30am.
Initially the weather was good. A thin fog was covering the jungle. I paddled through the empty road and enjoying the last bit of sal jungle. After this there will be no jungle. Within an hour I reached subarnarekha river. The newly constructed bridge on the river was glowing in the morning sun. The river was looking beautiful from the bridge. From this time the i was feeling that temperature would be high that day. After crossing the bridge I stopped at a tea shop.
This day’s ride would be the longest, approximately 120km. I have ridden this route previously once with two friends in reverse direction. So I paddled on. From kesiary i took a turn towards belda town. Road was good until this. Weather was heating up. It was a sunny day with clear sky. Heat was giving trouble but not too much. At belda I took the NH 16. At this junction I found a lassi shop and drank a glass of lassi there. It was very delicious. Little I know that from there the real hardship would start.
NH 16 had concrete surface. I found riding on this surface most difficult. Tyre adhere to this surface too much so it is very hard to paddle and maintain speed. Also there were many cracks on the road. It was not dangerous for cars or bikes but having a tyre width of only 23mm it was dangerous for me. If my tyre struck in a crack I would crash very badly, and my bike would be wreaked. So i had to be careful. Highways have very little tree cover. I was struggling in the scorching sun. And was looking for the junction to enter the state way towards pingla.
Finally the junction came and i was riding in state way towards pingla. It was a little relief from the sun as there were plenty of tree cover. But another headache had started. There were numerous speed breakers in every locality. At the noon time the heat was intense! I was literally panting. As I was eager to reach home I was neglecting food that day. This effected my energy level. I had to stop for a bit longer in the shed of a closed shop to recover a bit. I was really hoping for rain.
Then came the rain but it was the worst place to have it. I was riding along the road beside the huge size fish ponds in Mayna area. The road were all muddy and rain made the situation worse. Even after riding five and a half day, my cycle and myself was more or less clean. This half hour rain in that muddy road fully covered me and my cycle in mud. Also this short spell of rain only had worsen the situation. The huge humidity made riding more difficult. But home was not very far away. That gave me the strength to push for the last bit. And in due time I finally reached home. This multiday journey finally ended.
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