Cycling in 4 states on single gear cycle 16: Repanpally to Ashti (81 kms)

✪ Ride through dense forests
✪ Most challenging road of the tour
✪ Warmth of the people
✪ Interactions with military jawans
✪ Dialogue with Ashram School students
✪ 1196 kms completed in 15 days

Hello. 15th day of the expedition, 8th October 2022. Yesterday I had stayed in Repanpally village. Another wonderful experience in this dream-like tour! When I am leaving Repanpally early in the morning, the weather is awesome. Fog is there. Today’s ride will take me through dense forests and when I will reach Ashti, I will reach on that side of the forest. The road must be good one, I think. But many times what we think does not happen!

 

Started the ride in wonderful weather. The road is like okay for cycling. Easily continued. Wonderful forests everywhere! The visibility was just okay when I started. Gradually it is increasing. Very few vehicles on the road. Mesmerizing nature everywhere. There are very few houses and hamlets near the road. When I was passing through one such hamlet, some jawans from one side called me and told me to stop. I immediately stopped and greeted them with Jai Hind. Then they inquired about me, what I was doing there and all. As this district is a sensitive district due to naxalism, they inquired about me and soon I satisfied them. I also told names of officers whom I had met in Sironcha. Initially they asked me why my cycle banner also had Telugu language. Then I told them that I started the ride from Maharashtra- Goa- Karnataka- Telangana and now again I am riding in Maharashtra. They smiled and wished me for my journey. Shortly I stopped for breakfast at one hotel. Here also there were many jawans in their uniform. They also inquired about me and later on they became so happy to know about my ride. I then ate tea and snacks with them. At the same time, one teacher from an Ashramschool (school for tribal students) of that village. He interacted with me and told to visit the school. So I quickly went there and interacted with the students. In brief I told about my journey and also asked them some questions. I asked them whether they knew that some students from this region had climbed Mount Everest. Short but wonderful meeting it was. Then continued my ride towards Alapalli.

In Alapalli also I had interactions with many persons. My friend’s friend Shrinivas ji met me there. Also many RSS workers met me. In fact, a small gathering took place where I shared my thoughts. The people expressed their satisfaction that I choose this route for the ride. In this part of Maharashtra, cyclists do tour. But very few and very rarely. Here also, one person wished to contribute for my cause and he too forced to take his contribution. 60 kms from Alapalli, there is one great organization in Hemalkasa. But its direction was opposite to my further journey. So for going there, 2 days were needed. So I skipped that and left Alapalli for Ashti. Here I was warned about the road- this part of the road is totally dusty due to heavy traffic of trucks!

And it was just like that. Due to Surjagarh ore mine, this particular part has plenty of heavy vehicle traffic. There is continuous dust on the road and also there are several potholes. Apart from that, slow going trucks also hamper space on the road. This made journey from Alapalli towards Ashti very slow and painful. The road later on was so difficult that I reckoned it to be the most difficult track on this entire tour. There was no respite from the trucks and the dust. Recently, there was some tension too as one truck had killed one person on the road and the people had burned many trucks after that.

The forest is slowly starting to become thin. Before Ashti, there was one small hill and last part of dense forest. I throughly enjoyed this last forest section and then bid adieu to it. When the hill and the forest was crossed, finally the road became broad enough. Ashti town! It is almost 2 pm in the afternoon. This looks like end of the dense forest region. Here onwards I will have proper highway, very thin forest and again small towns and cities. But today’s ride was the most unique. And wonderful meetings also.

In Ashti, I stayed as arranged by Shri. Bharat Pandey ji. In the evening interacted with a few persons and also roamed in the village. Today I saw Marathi speaking people after many days! Although earlier two halts were in Maharashtra, the language spoken over there was similar to Telugu. Now just 3 days are remaining. It is going to end too soon now, I am afraid. And hours remaining to meet my daughter Adu are just around 88 as she is going to meet me in Nagpur! But what a dream like stuff this has been!

Next: Cycling in 4 states on single gear cycle 17: Ashti to Gadchiroli (76 kms)

(Thanks for reading! You can enjoy the photos on the blog link given above. You can also read about my experiences of trekking, cycling, running, meditation, sky watching etc. there. If you wish to get updates of such activities, you can contact me. Niranjan Welankar 09422108376)