Day 5 Into the Capital "Dilwalon Ki Dilli"

I woke up early morning, happy and excited since I covered almost 2500 km in just 4 days. The thought of the last 4 days journey was good enough to encourage me to get out of the bed and I was ready to leave. My next destination for the day, Panipat, was 450 km from Gwalior. The city is congested and it took lot of time to get out of the city. It was a hot sunny morning and I was already drenched in sweat. Carrying bad cold and fever made my situation even worse.

Soon I was on the highway to Agra, leaving behind the hustle and bustle of the city. Agra is 120 km from Gwalior. I crossed Murena, a small town which is considered unsafe to travel after 6 in the evening. Cattle, cycles and tongas crossing the road make the route even worse. 

One needs to be really careful while riding on this route. Before entering Agra city after two hours of ride, I took a long break, called my parents and was excited as I was very near to my hometown. As always my parents were eager to talk to me and I desperately hoped I could go to my home. It was difficult to ride bike with bad cold so I took a halt for 2 hours and spent that those hours to figure out my way to Delhi. I could either take Taj Express way or Yamuna Express way. I was not sure whether bikes are allowed on Yamuna expressway and a quick check with the locals confirmed that bikes are indeed allowed. I chose Yamuna expressway and the moment I drove into the expressway all I could see vast 6-lane beautiful highway (who says India doesn't have good highways?). I rode at   speed of 110 km and that was the maximum speed I could grill from my avenger.

There are around 3-4 stopovers on the expressway with a nice restaurant, place to relax and clean restrooms. I took a short halt at one of the stop over and pulled out the route map from my tank bag. I could see curious looks and stares from strangers who were certainly in a shock to see me on the bike. I had a good conversation with a bunch of children and women who couldn't control their curiosity and started conversation with me. This is how it went, in the local dialect :) :

Lady: kahan se a rahi hai lalli

I: Aunty Kanyakumari se

Lady: akeli?

I: Han aunty akele hi hun, 4 din pehle Kanyakumari se shuru kiya tha

Lady:  Ari maiya ya chori ne to had hi krdi. Tereko dar na lago..badi himmat hai.

I: smiled and bid goodbye.

After a short break of 30 min I was headed to Panipat. I was happy and relieved to see people following lane discipline on the expressway. Rightmost lane is meant only for over taking, and I don’t remember any instance when a vehicle broke the rule. Leftmost lane was for slow speed riders or drivers though I could hardly see any bikers. After 2 hrs of ride, I reached Delhi and met my friend Prateek who escorted me on my way out from Delhi. After 30 min of leaving Delhi we were on NH1. We stopped our bikes at the road side and he bid goodbye to me and wished me luck for the remaining journey. It was a kind gesture and I am really thankful to my friend, Prateek.

As soon as I was on NH1, I had to be extremely careful and alert as people were driving like maniacs, specially the Haryana roadway bus drivers. I stopped at one of the roadside dhaba and had Lassi. Met few people and as usual everyone was shocked to see a girl riding from Kanyakumari all alone on bike. Another 30 min of ride and I was in Panipat. Saanjh, a good friend of mine received me at Panipat.

Until that day I had covered 3000 km on bike in 5 days.