– ODO- 10033 – 10159km
– Location- Jamb, India
– Weather- 25-38 Clear and roasting
Today I went over the halfway mark from Pondicherry to Dehli. These long stretches on the road get over any initial excitement that being on the road brings. When you realise that you’ve only just reached halfway of this leg of this continent of the whole round the world journey my mindset shifts. I settle into a resigned meditation. For short bursts, I feel the strain and the suffering of pushing one leg over another yet again today. But mostly the physical part drops back. It’s the same experience of heading out to walk to the shop or leaving in the car to drive to work and realising when you reach your destination, that you don’t remember those details of the route.
The main addition to this feeling though that keeps it interesting for me is that all the time I’m aware of my key needs. “That looks like a nice campsite”, “When will I next be able to get water”, “Am I ready for dinner at this next Family Dahba”. These thoughts are calming in their simplicity.
And when I’m satisfied by all of my needs I have more time than I’ve ever had with my thoughts. Today’s road pushed north with a few sharp hills followed by bridges and road works on several sections that pushed four lanes of traffic into one side of the road. While I rode I listened to hours of podcasts and Audiobooks. I’ll post about those sometime here. I also get to relive times with my family, friends and relationships. The good and the bad. With such a lot of free thinking time, it’s hard not to rethink decisions from the past.
I also get to dream. Dreaming was something I loved to do when I was younger. At one point this trip was one of those dreams and I’d spend hours sitting up at night or leaning over my computer in the shed I had set up in my back garden thinking of this future. Now, some of the time, on the bike I spend dreaming of upcoming time seeing friends. Future destinations down the road. New mountains and routes to fly with my paraglider. And, one day, having the family along to enjoy.
