The Rajasthan Rocket

The journey from Udaipur to Jodhpur is about 260km but we take a large detour to visit Kumbhalgarh, yes another fort.  Overall, it’s a ten hour journey but well worth the effort.

Once we turn off the main road we pass through dusty villages and hamlets – as usual the livestock in various forms hampers our progress but with driver Anu, shortly to be known as the Rajasthan Rocket for reasons that I will explain later, we rattle along in a cloud of dust and a rattle of stones.

The fort is high in the dry, arid Aravalli hills and is reached via a long, twisting single-track road that judging by his speed, Anu can only presume is one way.

The remote fort perches 1,000m above sea level and dominates the surrounding landscape.  From the top of a long hot climb to the top, the fort has views that melt into the blue distance.  Dotted around the fort are a number of temples but time does not permit us to visit.

The road on to our next stop, Ranakpur is 12km as the crow flies and 50km by a rollercoaster ride on badly maintained roads that snakes down through the mountains via a series of vicious hairpin bends.  Anu sees this route as a challenge to his driving skills and we bounce about the back pressing imaginary brake pedals until our feet are sore.

Ranakpor is a 15 Century Jain temple built in milky white marble.  It looks lovely but we spend only 20 minutes before heading on to Jodhpur.

A brief lunch stop provides a good egg curry and John tries dum aloo, potatoes stuffed with something which is tasty if unknown – turns out it was stuffed with fruit and served in a tomato gravy.  Had we known what was in store in the rest of the ride we’d have probably had toast.

Driving through the villages and countryside provides a large number of interesting images.  Whilst the women invariably carry huge loads of sticks or hay on their heads the menfolk seem to sit around putting the world to rights.  The women are particularly shy and cover their faces or turn away as we pass.

The children however wave and call out as we pass through whilst the goats, sheep, cows wander oblivious in the road and ignore the honking horn.  

We rapidly form a view that people and cattle are reasonably savvy and understand the basics of the green cross code, dogs couldn’t care less (which is why over 50% have at least on gammy leg) whilst goats are erratic and skittish and will often double back into our path with no warning.

Camels, not as bad as goats but you wouldn't want to hit one

Say what you like about Anu, he certainly isn’t a quitter – when the road is blocked by a wall of bricks extending across our path he swerves into a field and rejoins the track on the other side.  The bricks were there to close the road for repairs and we jolt and bounce around in the back.  Back on the main road we now encounter the scary bit.

The road from Udaipur to Jodhpur is being remade into a four lane highway.  In the meantime, we have to travel the last 100km along a temporary two lane highway which is shared with motorbikes, cars, tractors, buses, lorries, and the assorted road making kit including cranes and steam rollers.  We weave blithely in and out of the traffic whilst the oncoming traffic does the same.  

No sudden stops please

The honking of horns becomes a continuous, strident note. A small Tata dices with death as it overtakes us as we overtake a tractor.  The oncoming bus scatters everything in its wake as it ploughs through and leaves the Tata on the side of the road in a cloud of dust.

Nervously, we calculate our eta as the last thing we want is to be driving in the dark with Anu (who tells us that we are lucky the roads are so quiet today!). 

Not Busi at all

It’s just getting dark as we enter Jodhpur and the city is busy and dusty.  Our hearts sink as we pull up outside our Haveli.  The dusty sign hangs neglected at a jaunty angle.  However, I’m pleased to report that first impressions were in this case not a sign of things to come.  We’ve a large comfy room and the rooftop terrace provides great views of Mehrangarh and serves cold Kingfisher beer.  We kick off our shoes and let the beer refresh our achy brakey feet.