IT WAS THE VALENTINE’S

Day week and to show our love for our bikes we decided to ride in the hills of Meghalaya. The plan was to cover a distance of 1,000 kilometres, 5,000 feet above mean sea level, covering Dawki, Mawylnnong (the cleanest village is India), Cherrapunjee, and Shillong in three days.

We started from Dhubri in Assam at 4.30 am. We stopped for a refreshing cup of tea after riding for 70 km at Chapor and thereafter at Rajapara for breakfast. We wanted to reach Guwahati before 10.00 am because two of our bikes were in need of service there. However, since we were late in reaching Guwahati, we decided to stay there over the night, having covered 300 km on the first day.

The next day we decided to ride up to Dawki via Shillong. The Guwahati—Shillong road is a veritable biker’s paradise, full of bends and curves. At Borapani we were joined by our biker mate, Jeremy, who rode for a few kilometres with us until Upper Shillong. En route we had lunch at the Silver Brook Restaurant. I must say the roads were good for motorcycle riding. Interestingly, we came across no signboard giving either directions or distance to Dawki, which we finally reached at 7.00 pm. Yet another surprise was in store for us: there are no hotels at Dawki. A guide we met there said that we could stay in tents. So we camped out on the bank of the river at Dawki. It was a memorable night for us. We had covered a distance of 175 km on the second day

On the third and final day of our ride we woke up at 6.00 am. We had Mawylnnong and Cherrapunjee on our itinerary before heading back home. Incidentally, the most beautiful part of our stay at Dawki was a boat ride on the river. We also went to see the India-Bangladesh border. It was already 10.00 am so we decided to ride towards Cherrapunjee with just a single halt en route for breakfast. We did not dawdle much in Cherrapunjee, opting instead for a 40-minute break for lunch at Nogpho at 5.00 pm. Thereafter we left Guwahati at 7.00 pm and reached back home at about 11.50 pm, having covered 560 km.

All in all, it was a highly enjoyable ride and a fitting event to celebrate Valentine’s Day.