Wednesday 5th December, Puttur.
Well today pretty well encapsulated all aspects of Round the World cycling. The morning weather was very wet. After 28km I got a puncture in the rear wheel. In repairing it I noticed that the rear tyre was well worn so swapped front and back tyres (already swapped them once you will remember). Then I discovered that the worn tyre had actually split (see photo). All of this was with the rain intensifying into a proper monsoon downpour.
Cycling on was with the thought that any second I could have another puncture.
About midday entered the region of Andra Pradesh. Here the weather improved slightly. They were growing sugar cane and starting to harvest it. I went out into one of the fields to visit the workers who were delighted with the attention. Great fun.
I managed to reach my destination without a further puncture but the hotel that I had identified but not booked in this small Indian town had stopped operating and just now functioned as a restaurant, but kept the same name of Hotel Annapurna! Fortunately I managed to find a room in Indian lodgings nearby, very basic.
Then removed the front wheel and tried to improve the split tyre by patching it from the inside with Gorilla tape.
All in a day’s ride.
So perhaps all those chicken jokes about crossing the road should really be about ducks
