Day 14: Jadavpur to Udaipur
I finally left from Jadavpur earlier than normal. Stoked about my progress, I thought my day was going to go superbly.
Little did I know that when I left early, no shops had opened. After riding for a bit, I finally found an open dhaba, but there was nothing to eat. Since the cook had not yet woken up! I had to make do with chai and fafda.
As soon as I crossed the border in Rajasthan, I stopped for food and tucked in a couple of plates of anda bhurji. It was welcome after all the vegetarian food I had in Gujarat.
It wasn’t just the food that was more succulent, the people also were much friendlier. Of course, the first signboard you see when exiting Gujarat is that of the liquor store. Dry states are so pointless.
After many days I finally got a tiny climb. It was fantastic to be back in the Aravallis. Even those small hills were a welcome distraction in comparison to the pancake flat land of Gujarat.
The tiniest bit of climbing, is better than no climbing
Thanks to the fear factor of the Covid-19 virus, I stayed 10 km outside the town of Udaipur. From the hotel I walked down the road to the nearest booze shop. Not for the alcohol, but for the food. Watering holes are generally good places to get non-vegetarian food and the chicken curry was a tad spicy, but great under the circumstances.
I was beginning to love Rajasthan after Gujarat.
Udaipur was also the first time that a member of the public mentioned the Corona virus and showed fear of the same.
At that point of time it dawned on me, that I needed to get home fast. The road ahead was not going to be one of dillydallying and enjoying sights like a tourer, but riding hell bent for leather, endurance style!
Check out the full route on Strava.