Day 290: Shahapur-Nashik

This mornig I managed to be at seven on the road, but before I had to break out of the hotel. First I tried the room key on the lock then I called loudly but politely, then I shook the gate and after ten minutes I started cursing very loudly in swiss german. That worked and somebody came. He tried to open the padlock but it was stuck, so he fetched some oil and tried again. He said that I did not telll him that I wanted to leave so early and I replied asking if this is a prison or a hotel. After watching him try for another ten minutes I fetched my lock and used it as a lever to break the lock by jumping on it, the lock gave in and broke after the thrid kick.
I didn't get very far before heavy rain hit me. it was actually nice beside the fact that my shoes and socks got soaked in no time. It didn't last long though and I enjoyed riding in bearable temperatures. The landscapes became a bit more complex with hills and the first rains of this monsun season let the light green grafts give it a voluptuous touch. And as the towns became less and the farmer villages more frequent I filled my lungs with air again without having to hold my breath every now and then Some of the valleys with the fields, water buffalos farmers and women in their colorful saris carrying stuff on their heads look really picturesque.
At some point I realized that I must have forgotten my sunglasses somewhere. I went back to quite a distance to ask if somebody kept them where I last had them during a short water refill stop, but people were little helpful in this regard, I was not sure I they couldn't or wouldn't help and I had to accept the fact that they were gone, probably they dropped from my shirt where I had hooked them in.
I waited until four after my lunch break to start cycling again between eleven a.m. and five p.m. the sun can be merciless to poor almost transparent me.
Finding a cheap hotel in Nashik was not exactly easy. Many hotels do not take foreigners and just say that they are complete, so I started to wonder how it comes that off season so many hotels are booked out. An agent picked me up at the third hotel that refused me and took me to a nice place at last.