Hassan to Hospet

Early start this morning for a very long day. It's not so much the distance involved (350 km), it's more the state of the road. Although road is perhaps being overly kind to describe the series of rocks, stones and gravel; loosely connected by the occasional piece of tarmac and more potholes ,that is shared by a number of varying road users at varying speeds. The wearing of seat belts is not compulsory, but makes you feel more confident; not so much to protect you in event of a high speed impact (High speed? Fat chance of that!), more to restrain you falling sideways if asleep when negotiating a particularly deep pothole (i'm referring to the passengers here, not the driver!).

At Halkurke village we stopped to take a look at a Dravidian temple being built – I can honestly say that this is the first time I have walked around a building site barefoot. Too busy looking down trying to avoid stepping on nails, gravel or worse, I totally missed the beam sticking out at eye level. Fortunately the four inch saw blade on the end missed my face, otherwise I could have had a very sore (saw) head!

A little later, at the beautiful Ravanarajah village temple, we were invited in for a religious puja (blessing), amid a lot of bell-ringing, fire-carrying and water being poured into your cupped hand while your prayers were being heard. A small temple, there were four devotees, three self-appointed guides, us and the priest.

Between bouts of snoozing, roadside bird watching kept us amused for a while – bulbuls, kingfishers, sunbirds, bee eaters, kites, drongos, plovers, egrets and storks – and at regular intervals we stopped to photograph various scenes.

We finally arrived at the hotel in Hospet at 17:00, having set off at 08:30 this morning. If it was tiring for us – and we were able to take a nap as and when we felt like it – it must have been quite a day for Madesh, our young and handsome driver. He doesn't speak much English at all, but the moment he flashes that gorgeous smile, I am ready to forgive him anything.