Wake to the sounds of the houses out behind the hotel coming to life in the morning. Oh and the baby gecko that resides outside the window next to the balcony. The luxury of the balcony and the styling has meant that we can leave the balcony door open every night and have no concerns with security. It is a great feeling to be able to leave the door open and listen to the summer storms with the fan on and under a mosquito net. Gradually get all the gear down to the courtyard from the room. The previously free storage of gear by the lodge has changed to 20 rup per day which is annoying and sneaky, but we already have the bike bags out and have no desire of putting the 3.5 kg back in. Will need to assess other lodge / hotel options on returning to Siliguri after Sikkim. Out onto the morning streets which are already flowing with traffic.
Cycle out along Hill Cart Rd, the same street that we came in and head back up onto highway 31 before turning across the traffic onto highway 55. (still known as Hillcart Rd). Initially passing through outer suburban areas before surroundings become more spread. Keep our eyes peeled for a dhaba and spot one with a bright new red two door Tata out the front. All the family appear to be involved as we are introduced to the daughter, son and husband. Family are Christians, suprising as the frequency of encounters has increased since Nepal.
The sky dark when we left the Lodge this morning has opened whilst enjoying our chiya and now it is spitting. As we leave houses behind we enter first a plantation forest and then lush green tea plantations. In the other direction on the road we are passed by three couples on bikes with the passenger sitting on the pannier rack holding an umbrella open over both. With tea buses in the background it is quite memorable.
The road is shadowed by the toy train line (completed 1881) which runs all the way up to Darleeling. It is almost like a tram line it sits so close. The odd house is again quite english era with ripple iron roof as is the first train station we pass before starting to climb through the forest. The rain is now quite light through the tree cover but the wind is increasing. Good bitumen and gradual inclines makes the road very ridable. The train tracks are 61cm wide but thankfully sunken as it switch backs across the road, still need to take bob at the angle lest the smaller trailer tire gets caught in the process.
Lite mist is combining with the denser foliage in this tree protected West Bengali reserve reducing visibility slightly but adding to ambiance. Still waiting for the traffic to increase and a toy train to pass. Apparently the trains take their time up the hill so maybe we are in front and it won't catch up, still their should also be a diesel service coming the other way and heading to NJP train station.
The view across the plain below is starting to slowly get better as we stop for a tea in Sukna. Dogs are in noticeably higher numbers per population up here. Just below town on some of the hillsides the forest has been semi cleared for tea plantations retaining the green running along the slopes. Interspersed large trees retain the feeling of the prior canopy and tea workers with wicker baskets are at work either pruning or picking, not sure which.
Larger villages sometimes feel like two as the long gradual switchbacks return you through the same village just higher on the slope. Thanks to thick mist higher on the slope it is difficult to assess where the road leads.
Flowers cut the foliage intermittently with whites, purples and yellows. Tea bushes up further appear younger as they are yet to merge into a green carpet. Soph questions the risk of landslide with some of the higher slopes being aggressively cleared for plantations. Stop for veg momos and tea at Tindharia. The village has a distinct feeling of calm and the small restaurant mirrors this, with young daughter and father making momos together for the lunch crowd later in the day.
Pass a young boy who post asking where we are heading identifies that we will have to turn back as the road is closed. Uncertain of whether he is speaking with certainty or not we continue on as the odd land cruiser and small truck continue to pass us. The mist is really becoming quite thick now sitting on the hillside. We pull in at a small village to confirm the road status and get no definite feedback. Meet a young indian couple on a Royal Enfield who have just come down through the fog. They identify that they turned around as they could not see anything, no identification of anything more serious however.
We turn on our led brake lights and enter the thicker fog, five minutes further up we meet a line of vehicles pulled over including the small coaster bus that past us in the last village. Soph holds the bikes as I walk further up along the road which is clearly undergoing road works including bank reinforcement work. No sounds of falling rocks and a couple of people wandering around so continue and find some massive boulders that have come down and squeezed the road to a single trail through. A couple of lite peebles fall but nothing significant. No vehicles are moving through. On the far side talk with the road work supervisor who believes it will not be a problem to get the bikes through. Run back down to Soph and then we ride the bikes through as quickly as possible.
The next five km are fantastic as we have the road to ourselves, unfortunately the mist still obscures any significant view of the valley below or the climb above. Pass through two more villages along the railway before we enter lower Kurseong where the deviated traffic rejoined Hill cart Rd. As a result Kurseong at first felt like one big traffic jam as the flow would be constricted normally thanks to quite pokey streets but intensified due to drivers keen to get somewhere, generally share jeeps or vans.
We cycled up past the locomotive workshop, station and then latter the fire station searching for hotels and lodges but only finding schools. The place is infested with schools and as a result children who all appeared to be on the streets though it was only 2.30pm all in very smart school uniforms. I have given up trying to understand whether schools are in or out on holiday or not. Soph every now and then inquires with the more street savvy kid that we meet as we are cycling along, more from the aspect of shouldn't you be somewhere else.
Have a look at the Kurseong Tourist lodge but it's starting rooms are a little pricey. Back down into town than on a one way higher street which deposited us back at the station. Have been looking for the Hill Top lodge a recommendation from our momo chef earlier. Finally spot it right where it is supposed to be, next to the Indian oil petrol pumps. Rooms though not fancy satisfy our general requirements and we out the bikes in the oversized room, bob on the balcony. Dinner mainly of Chinese options downstairs at the restaurant before inspecting the indian sweets at Unique on the main rd.
Feeling relatively trashed a combination of the 51km climb up, though taken very easily and the Kingfisher beer with dinner.
Cycle out along Hill Cart Rd, the same street that we came in and head back up onto highway 31 before turning across the traffic onto highway 55. (still known as Hillcart Rd). Initially passing through outer suburban areas before surroundings become more spread. Keep our eyes peeled for a dhaba and spot one with a bright new red two door Tata out the front. All the family appear to be involved as we are introduced to the daughter, son and husband. Family are Christians, suprising as the frequency of encounters has increased since Nepal.
The sky dark when we left the Lodge this morning has opened whilst enjoying our chiya and now it is spitting. As we leave houses behind we enter first a plantation forest and then lush green tea plantations. In the other direction on the road we are passed by three couples on bikes with the passenger sitting on the pannier rack holding an umbrella open over both. With tea buses in the background it is quite memorable.
The road is shadowed by the toy train line (completed 1881) which runs all the way up to Darleeling. It is almost like a tram line it sits so close. The odd house is again quite english era with ripple iron roof as is the first train station we pass before starting to climb through the forest. The rain is now quite light through the tree cover but the wind is increasing. Good bitumen and gradual inclines makes the road very ridable. The train tracks are 61cm wide but thankfully sunken as it switch backs across the road, still need to take bob at the angle lest the smaller trailer tire gets caught in the process.
Lite mist is combining with the denser foliage in this tree protected West Bengali reserve reducing visibility slightly but adding to ambiance. Still waiting for the traffic to increase and a toy train to pass. Apparently the trains take their time up the hill so maybe we are in front and it won't catch up, still their should also be a diesel service coming the other way and heading to NJP train station.
The view across the plain below is starting to slowly get better as we stop for a tea in Sukna. Dogs are in noticeably higher numbers per population up here. Just below town on some of the hillsides the forest has been semi cleared for tea plantations retaining the green running along the slopes. Interspersed large trees retain the feeling of the prior canopy and tea workers with wicker baskets are at work either pruning or picking, not sure which.
Larger villages sometimes feel like two as the long gradual switchbacks return you through the same village just higher on the slope. Thanks to thick mist higher on the slope it is difficult to assess where the road leads.
Flowers cut the foliage intermittently with whites, purples and yellows. Tea bushes up further appear younger as they are yet to merge into a green carpet. Soph questions the risk of landslide with some of the higher slopes being aggressively cleared for plantations. Stop for veg momos and tea at Tindharia. The village has a distinct feeling of calm and the small restaurant mirrors this, with young daughter and father making momos together for the lunch crowd later in the day.
Pass a young boy who post asking where we are heading identifies that we will have to turn back as the road is closed. Uncertain of whether he is speaking with certainty or not we continue on as the odd land cruiser and small truck continue to pass us. The mist is really becoming quite thick now sitting on the hillside. We pull in at a small village to confirm the road status and get no definite feedback. Meet a young indian couple on a Royal Enfield who have just come down through the fog. They identify that they turned around as they could not see anything, no identification of anything more serious however.
We turn on our led brake lights and enter the thicker fog, five minutes further up we meet a line of vehicles pulled over including the small coaster bus that past us in the last village. Soph holds the bikes as I walk further up along the road which is clearly undergoing road works including bank reinforcement work. No sounds of falling rocks and a couple of people wandering around so continue and find some massive boulders that have come down and squeezed the road to a single trail through. A couple of lite peebles fall but nothing significant. No vehicles are moving through. On the far side talk with the road work supervisor who believes it will not be a problem to get the bikes through. Run back down to Soph and then we ride the bikes through as quickly as possible.
The next five km are fantastic as we have the road to ourselves, unfortunately the mist still obscures any significant view of the valley below or the climb above. Pass through two more villages along the railway before we enter lower Kurseong where the deviated traffic rejoined Hill cart Rd. As a result Kurseong at first felt like one big traffic jam as the flow would be constricted normally thanks to quite pokey streets but intensified due to drivers keen to get somewhere, generally share jeeps or vans.
We cycled up past the locomotive workshop, station and then latter the fire station searching for hotels and lodges but only finding schools. The place is infested with schools and as a result children who all appeared to be on the streets though it was only 2.30pm all in very smart school uniforms. I have given up trying to understand whether schools are in or out on holiday or not. Soph every now and then inquires with the more street savvy kid that we meet as we are cycling along, more from the aspect of shouldn't you be somewhere else.
Have a look at the Kurseong Tourist lodge but it's starting rooms are a little pricey. Back down into town than on a one way higher street which deposited us back at the station. Have been looking for the Hill Top lodge a recommendation from our momo chef earlier. Finally spot it right where it is supposed to be, next to the Indian oil petrol pumps. Rooms though not fancy satisfy our general requirements and we out the bikes in the oversized room, bob on the balcony. Dinner mainly of Chinese options downstairs at the restaurant before inspecting the indian sweets at Unique on the main rd.
Feeling relatively trashed a combination of the 51km climb up, though taken very easily and the Kingfisher beer with dinner.
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| Siriguli to Darjeeling, India. April 2011 |
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