| Day |
Itinerary Detail |
Day 1
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The Group will gather in Delhi. You will collected from the airport and accompanied to our hotel. It's a time to meet each other, re-pack our luggage into motorcycle panniers and holdalls - your travel luggage can be left at the hotel for collection after the Tour. We all transfer via the highway south to the Bharatpur, where our cool refreshing hotel lies at the edge of town. Taking a little while to familiarise ourselves with the Bullet and some of its odd mechanisms, we are ready for a short ride out of town on country roads. Bharatpur plays host to the Keoladeo National Park, one of India’s best know bird sanctuaries. We can visit the sanctuary after our short ride. We night stop in Bharatpur. |
| Day 2 |
Our first day of serious riding we kick-off westward with about 250kms to cover. Soon cutting south to hilly country, we get to know each other’s pace we begin to settle into the Tour. We’re riding with panniers and the 500’s pull nicely.
Cruising country roads through Rajasthani villages in the west of Rajasthan to the Ranthambhore National Park and small town of Sawai Madhopur we arrive at our hotel; set in cool gardens and close to Ranthambore National Park. The first serious day’s ride is under your belt. Cool drinks, dinner and a little local exploring, is probably enough. We night stop here. |
| Day 3 |
It’s day one of the “Tigers” part of the Tour. We’ll take a safari in the Ranthambhore National Park. With the option to go (again) in the evening so any sightings of tigers during the day can be explored.
In January 2009 in Delhi airport, I spoke with English Tourists returning to London who told me they had seen tigers twice in their stay at Ranthambhore. We night stop in the same hotel. |
| Day 4 |
Back on the Bullets, we’re heading for Jhansi. Our hotel built in the Britisher times - a little worn at the edges, echoeing a lifestyle past and lost. We ride through Shivpuri, a small town, laudable for its Madhav National Park and some rather special Mogul buildings. Our destination is just for the stop-over, home to the Jhansi Fort famous for the lost battle the Queen of Jhansi fought to hold off the British.
We start early to arrive early, drop our bags at the hotel and ride on a few kilometers to the famous town of Orchha. The town itself is small with a population of about 9,000, was built by a chieftain of the region, Rudra Pratap Singh in 1501. He made himself the King of Orchha, but died in a bizarre accident saving a cow from a lion!
Orchha has a strangeness about it, exacerbated by the many temples and Mogul castle-like residences built by past royalty. We get a chance to explore what are said to be some of the finest examples of Hindu temple architecture anywhere in India. Chhatris, at funereal sites - monuments to the dead are spread along the banks of the Betwa river.
We will return to Jhansi and night stop at our hotel.
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| Day 5 |
Back in the saddle again, we're riding to Khajuraho. A temple site once surrounded by dry desert scrubland though now somewhat tamed and tended by the Archaeological Survey of India. Out of over 80 original temples only 25 now survive in reasonable condition. Built during the 10th and 11th centuries, Muslim invaders between the 12th and 16th centuries did their best to destroy them.
What remains are possibly the best examples of an Indian architectural style that has grown in popularity. Could it be due to its explicit displays of sex medieval-style. We night stop in a comfotable hotel close to the Temple complex.
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| Day 6 |
Today is an option day, choose to stay and explore the temples at Khajuraho further or set off early for a ride through the nearby Panna National Park on a local Touring day to the forts at Ajaigarh and Kalinjar, whose ruling Chief was until 1971 granted a privy purse and allowed to retain and use his title.
If we do ride, we’ll ride back to our night stop at Khajuraho. |
| Day 7 |
Today’s agenda: A long ride south. We’re heading for Bandhavgarh, another of India’s great National Parks covers an area of over 650 sq. Kms, including its buffer zone. But first we must ride across the Vindhychal range, low hills and the Murwara basin, approximately 250 kms.
We settle into our hotel and prepare for tigers and panthers and the 2000 year old Bandhavgarh fortress, last inhabited in 1935. We night stop in the jungle. |
| Day 8 |
The bikes will be due for some maintenance, oil levels, springs, tyres and a good wash.
Rocky hill ranges, grassy swampland and forested valleys – we’re in Bandhavgarh National Park Tiger safari day and with the possibility of some fortress exploring-cum-picnic activities.
...did that sound like a packed lunch? We night stop in Bandhavgarh in the jungle. |
| Day 9 |
With the bikes ready for a long ride head we can face the day’s 250km with confidence. We’ve been on the road for some days already, you’ve slipped into the groove, you should be prepared for 'anything'.
A gentle climb to the Maikala plateau and down the Narmada river. Dry barren land and the possibility of lines of Adivasi or ‘original’ people on the move in their simple ox carts.
These Tribal people have been displaced by numerous dam, irrigation and forest clearance projects all the way to the west coast down the Narmada river valley, their lifestyle eroded by commercial forestry and mining. The Narmada river is largest river in MP and over 1300kms long.
Our target is the huge Kanha National Park, it’s also the closest we get to the source of the Narmada river, about 100kms to the east. We night stop close to Kanha National Park. |
| Day 10 |
If we haven’t seen them yet, this will be our last chance. The tiger population in 2006 was reported to be around 130, though other wild life is abundant, including leopards, Barasingha or swamp deer, wild boar, sloth bears, langur, sambar and wild dogs, foxes otters and badgers.
Kanha is a place where streams meader through open meadows, lush sal jungle, bamboo and deep ravines all provided Rudyard Kipling with the inspiration for his ‘Jungle Book’. We night stop in camp, near Kanha National Park. |
| Day 11 |
We take a short ride today, direction Jabalpur, at the geometric centre of India, with a population of 1.25million it ranks as India’s 27th largest city! In 1904 it was established as an ordinance factory for India’s military. We stay here not so much for the city as its extraordinary white marble waterfall.
The huge Narmada river is squeezed through a white marble gorge 10 metres wide, producing a spectacular waterfall that runs through a 3km gorge. We night stop in Jabalpur at a cool calm place near to town. |
| Day 12 |
This is the longest ride day of the Tour. We’ll ride for over 330kms west across this central region of Madhya Pradesh. We’re heading for Sanchi and the road promises dry hot dusty sections, until we reach the peace of Sanchi’s UNESCO World Heritage site.
Dating from around the 3rdC BC, there are now about 50 structures at the site and three main stupas. We will night stop at Sanchi in a simple government run tourist establisment. |
| Day 13 |
The longest day of the Tour faces us 265km north westwards crossing back into Rajasthan. We're heading for a small town with a spectacular fortress. Jhalawar - The Gagron Fort stands majestically on the crest of a hill at the confluence of the Kalisind and the Ahurivers, whose hillside surrounds it from three sides providing an unsurpassable barrier.
Accommodation is limited so we night stop in a simple family run Haveli, stone houses built to counter the feirce heat of Rajasthani summers.
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| Day 14 |
Staying here a whole day will give us time to enjoy the Gagron valley, a full three miles wide, with green and picturesque scenery. The forests on each side of the river echoed with calls of peacock, partridge and jungle cocks and particularly the parrots of Gagron which are famous all over Rajasthan.
The fort of Gagron lies in such beautiful nature it is widely regarded as one of the most important forts of Rajasthan. Constructed by the Dod Rajputs in whose possession it remained up to the 12th century. A pecularity of the fort is its natural defence comprising hilly forrested ranges.
The Mosque of Mithashah, oddly enough built in a Hindu style of contains an inscription in Persian. We night stop at the same local Haveli.
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| Day 15 |
Today is a short ride further north west to the ancient town of Bundi. Remarkable again for its town centre Fortress-Palace, it offers us the chance to stay in a typical Rajasthani town built out of cool stone sandstone buildings and breaks the long journey to Pushkar. A little local exploring of markets and an old Rajasthani town. We night stop in Bundi. |
| Day 16 |
Saddled up again we're heading for a dessert resort in the famous town of Pushkar, whose major religeous attraction is the Brahma Temple, the only one of its kind in all India. Set beside a typical lake, fringed with steps for devotees to bathe in its waters.
Absolution can be obtained from the many (if unauthentic) Brahmins who ply their salvation on ethe shores of the lake. But absoloution doesn't come free; the unwary can expect to be fleeced!
Being such a holy place, marks it as one of the only towns in India where no meat nor liquor will be served. We will night stop in a resort on the edge of the Great Thar desert.
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| Day 17 |
Deserts and camels slipping away behind us we're heading north east. The Pink City in our sights. It's not a long ride so we can take time to visit what for me was a memorable and beautiful historic monument to devotion beside the Jain Temple in Ajmer. A depiction of the Jain vision of Nirvana, set in a huge glass cabinet. Then we press on for Jaipur.
We night stop in a friendly family run hotel whose rooftop restaurant overlooks the ancient city centre fortress.
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| Day 18 |
Painted Pink on the orders of the then Maharaja of Jaipur to spruce-up the city for the impending visit of The King of England. We can take time to visit some Jaipur's most special jewels. The Hawa Mahal or Palace of Winds.
The Amber Fort a few kilometers out of town. The Jantor Mantor - a visionary 14th century development in the measurement of heavenly bodies.
Shopping for Jaipur Silk and a chance to see the age-old gem cutters of Jaipur at work (whose finger-tips never heal due to the rubbing of the grindstones).
Again we night stop in Jaipur.
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| Day 19 |
Jaipur and its environs seen and explored we kick-off for the last serious day's riding. Back east to close the circle we're heading for Bharatpur again. We'll take the side roads and catch another fortress en-route. It's a short day so we can take our time. We'll get the chance to visit the Keoladeo National Park, whose bird and wildlife are amoungst India's most colourful.
We night stop in our initial hotel in Bharatpur and rest for the day to come.
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| Day 20 |
It’s a day to explore Agra. We’ll leave the bikes behind and not have to face the traffic in Agra. From our car we'll hop into auto-rickshaws and buzz to the sights. In no particular order The Taj Mahal and later The Red Fort. Morning views of the Taj from the Fort are excellent, but everyone else knows that too! We will aim for an early start, though you may not want to stop and sponsor the keepers of tethered black bears on the highway.
The Taj Mahal. UNESCO World Heritage listed. A last resting place for the second wife of Shah Jehan, whose beauty and love inspired him to build her a monumental mausoleum. Taking some 21 years to build and completed in 1653, it was reputed the Shah had the hands of its craftsmen cut-off to prevent them ever building such a beautiful edifice again. “...it’s completely beautiful, your best pictures will barely capture its fineness and beauty!”
And The Red Fort, also UNESCO WH listed, records point to its as far back as 1080. Inside its mighty red sandstone walls it accommodates 3 mosques, 2 palaces, 2 audience halls, gardens and pavilions. We night stop in Bharatpur.
On our way home, we'll halt at Fatepur Sikri. Built by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the memory of the Sufi Saint Salim Chishti in 1570 serving as the regional capital for 15 years. The mosque and other surrounding building are well preserved and we are sure to be well guided, after all it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ride will about 50kms.
We're closing the circle. We’ve ridden over 2,500km. and its back to our last night stop in Bharatpur.
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| Day 21 |
The Tour is over, farewell to your Bullets. You rode the distance and explored the heart of India. It’s time to make our way back to Delhi, say our farewells and prepare for your flight home. |
