At Kurseong, I'm at around 1200m high. Half way through !

One of the several little stations of the Darjeeling Express

With Hathi, we paid a call to a church. People were busy decorating Jesus for Easter. Thoughts for Sri lanka.

Following the railway. Fortunately it is a bit less steep in the afternoon due to the max slope of the rail !

For the night is not so dark and not so full of terrors... I kept on cycling up until around 7:30 pm.

I end up finding this nice and cheap family homestay after trying 3 different guesthouses

Hotel & restaurant "put put", a strange place where the boss is sleeping right in the dining hall !!

Hard to reach Darjeeling

April 20, 2019 in India ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

Only a few pictures - more detail will come afterwards, when i have a proper WiFi connection ! I'm now using someone's hotspot in a mobile shop - to show the crazy uphill route I rode from the plains (Dudhia, 250m) to Darjeeling (2200m).

I actually didn't make it up until Darjeeling, it was getting dark and I had to stop for the night a few kilometers before, in the town of Ghoom.
This still made for a 50 km day with more than ... 2500 meters of ascent, 500 meters of descent.
During the afternoon, from Kurseong to Ghoom, I followed the mythical Darjeeling express Railway or "toy train", as the Indians call it.

I'll tell you more about the first days of India whenever I can seat quietly with a better internet connection... For now I'm leaving for a few days for another trekk in Sikkim : I wanted to see again the Himalayan mountains (Kanchenjunga !) before I ride towards the East .Read more