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Out of Agra, we found the cycling over the next few days hard work. The nice tarmac dual carriageway that we had been cycling on since Pakistan disappeared, replaced by a single lane road with no hard shoulder, full of potholes and angry truck and bus drivers. Roadworks of a soon to be constructed extra lane meant we had to keep switching sides every few kms, often forcing us in the way of lorries and buses who were blowing their horns madly at anyone in their way !! Curb-crawlers (drivers in flashy cars pulling by the side of the road, forcing us to overtake them so they can stare at us/say hello/take a picture), who are an annoyance at the best of times, became a positive danger on the single lane roads forcing us in the way of oncoming traffic. Our misery was compounded by the fact that all the road-side dhabas and other refreshments and amenities before Agra disappeared – at times we feared we would not even have enough water to last the day!! We are definitely now entering into the poorer regions of India.
We had to stay in some VERY run-down hotels (the best available in the small towns we had to break our journey in), in the 100 rupee mark (just over a pound!), with no bathroom or electricity. The lack of electricity was probably not a bad thing with hindsight since it meant we didn’t have to see the filthy state of the bed and the room!! On two nights we also got little sleep because of local celebrations – a children’s party in the function room next to ours one evening, and the next evening a city band (dressed like toy soldiers) playing bad music outside our hotel until 3am!!!!
Being mobbed by locals wherever we stopped and having no privacy (even being stared at by 50 people as we were hastily gulping down our lunch) made us more and more irritable towards anyone (and each other!) – Nic started even telling people flippantly that he came from Greenland, that he was a religious guru on a holy pilgrimage and Sedef was his disciple and concubine, or that he worked for the Army Intelligence and was a hitman in the Assassin Corps, as he radioed his (imaginary) commander on his walkie talkie to report the locals hassling us (hoping that it would scare them off – it didn’t).
Probably the worst incident we had on the journey to date happened just before Kanpur city, where we were aiming to get to for New Year’s Eve. Some local lads in an auto rickshaw pulled up alongside us, and one of them started to run alongside for about a km. All in good friendly spirit we laughed along with them too. Unfortunately the situation turned ugly 2 kms down when they came back with a larger band and they pulled Nic off his bike, and another one tried to sexually assault Sedef whilst she was still riding (though thankfully she was not hurt and managed to get away on the bicycle). A heated argument ensued – to all appearances they were not trying to mug us, but wanted to have a go on the bikes. Sedef kept away from the scene, watching the situation from a hundred meters down the road, and Nic in the meantime was held back by the thugs who kept pulling him off the bike or taking items from his bags to stop him from leaving. The whole situation got rather nasty, with Nic getting ready to punch the ringleader firmly on the nose, who was subsequently restrained by the locals, allowing Nic to cycle off. Fortunately unharmed, but clearly shaken by the experience, we quickly cycled off from the scene.
A few hours later we arrived in Kanpur – tired and weary from the difficult cycling and lack of sleep. We were shaken but our resolve was not stirred.
