Day 22 - Gudur to Sulurpet, 70 kms

Whenever we think we don’t have much to cycle that day, we end up going too slow or taking too many breaks and end up reaching late.. hehehe… But today they were breaks well spent..

We were stopped by the Sarpanch (Head) of a village and his team. They came with the press photographers and brought a crate full of soft drinks for us. Just like that.. out of the blue.. It was so sweet of them. We managed to give them a lecture on keeping the village clean :)

Thereafter, we saw a board for Nellapattu Bird sanctuary. We were told that it was a kilometer away from the road and we decided to go there. Reena quickly brought out her bird book and we took off on our cycles. What a sight It was.. Hundreds of birds that have migrated from other parts of Asia and come here to breed. We saw Pelicans, Asian Openbill Storks, Painted Storks, Cormorants and different varieties of ducks. We spent about an hour just watching these birds. It was a sight of a lifetime. The Pelicans and Storks, especially, are such beautiful birds. We realised that the birds that we spotted the other day were these storks.

Sulurpet was great. Small town, but good food and a wonderfully comfortable hotel to stay at.. We all slept very well. It was, after all, our last day in Andhra Pradesh. Tomorrow onwards it will be welcome to Tamilnadu, the last State for the expedition…

We are unable to believe that we have already completed 22 days of the expedition. The pre-expedition days In Kolkata seem like a faraway dream. We can't even remember a few days of the expedition, already our minds are going blank. While there is great pride in the fact that we have been able to complete what almost everyone (including ourselves) thought was quite impossible. It is equally sad to see it coming to an end. All of us have grown so fond of each other and know that once we go back, despite all our promises to staying In touch, we will grow slowly busy In our own work and slowly drift apart. We will probably meet only at the next WANI AGM in Mount Abu. :( But one thing I am sure of. The relationships that have been built will definitely last a lifetime. When we meet the next time, it will be as if we were never apart. The jokes and leg-pulling will never end :) What a great bunch of girls… Ever helpful, always smiling, always pulling each other's legs and never feeling bad about jokes cracked.. Love you all!!! :)

Sunrise on the road...

The bird sanctuary..

media!!!