Sunday 14 February 2016

Climb every mountain...

A very early start again today,


and once again we witnessed the sun rising.  Always a beautiful sight.


Which is more than can be said for the cautionary signage at the bottom of today's climb.  Not a long ride today but it's a 13 km hill climb up 36 hairpin bends gaining 1251m ( climbing from 926m to 2202m)


We 4 hadn't planned on riding up, just to the start of the climb.  On a road bike maybe I'd give it a go, but on a cross bike I knew there was no chance I'd make it to the top this side of Christmas.  So the bikes were popped into the back of the van and we had a 'stroll' up.  It was still tough, given that I was wearing off-road shoes and cleates, and it turned out to be a very hot day.


Once we'd got the hand of reading from the bottom to the top the road art was quite amusing 


and we entertained ourselves chatting, laughing and photographing our way up.


The views were breathtaking, but we kept seeing huge piles of elephant dung, which was a bit worrying !


The higher we climbed the scenery started to change and soon we were seeing the tea plantations.


There was also plenty of entertainment on hand too...


The flora was bright and colourful -


But so were the signs.


Joseph met us at the halfway tea shop.  The dahl fritters were tasty and the newspaper interesting, but the tea was sweet.


Only 15 more bends to go and we can't tell if this sign is joking or not.  But we are grateful that we decided not to ride.  Very hot now.


Indian electricity is somewhat primitive at times, but an excellent recycling project all the same.


There are still small settlements up at this hight,


although I am left wondering how clean the laundry will be after it has dried stretched out in the fields!


Many trucks, scooters and even tuctucks pass us on the way up.


and the road to the top seems very long.


but thankfully the bends are counting down until


we reach the summit  and a Mexican wave from those cyclists who got to the top before us!


And to celebrate? - Indian style coconut cake!

It was only a short hop to Ooty and the next hotel where a welcome shower and lunch awaited.  But so cold!  We needed to put the heater on, now I can see why the colonial families came here to escape the summer heat.












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