Mizapur to Viranasi

Finally we pulled into our destination station of Mirzapur where we had only 2 minutes to offload before the train would set off again with a loud blare of it's horn.
Our transport from here was a short ride in classic white Ambassador cars; this time with all the bags stuffed in the 2 boots but with the lids bouncing open as they could not close them. We stopped at a very nice little hotel and took 2 rooms here between us to shower and freshen up before we had a breakfast of tea, toast and omelette's. Back into the cars we took a short ride to our transport for the next two days – 3 25ft wooden sailing boats. One of the boats was the kitchen and the other 2 were to be our ours to lounge on. Each boat had 2 men to sail or row them and the cook boat had the chef, his assistant and 'the boss'. We were soon underway out in the middle of the Ganges, it is a wide low flowing river and initially we were able to use the wind to help us along. However after rounding a bend the boat men had to resort to rowing. In fact they had to row nearly half the 80 mile journey as there was either no wind or it was a head wind. After about 1 hour the 3 boats rafted up in the middle of the river and lunch was served, fresh sliced vegetables, rice and 3 different spiced vegetable dishes followed by chai tea. This was to become the standard for the rest of the main meals on the boats. The food was simple but really good – tasty and loads of it. We continued down the river watching the world go by, very peaceful and quiet especially after the noise and bustle of Delhi. Every now and again we would glimpse a fresh water dolphin come up for air. These dolphins are now quite rare and apparently are blind relying on echolocation to find their prey. Around 5pm we pulled into a sandbank at the side of the river and a campsite was setup, we were given chai and biscuits on a large rug whilst the crew erected the tents. (Oh if only Scout Camp were like this!) Dinner was served on the rug as just as the sun had gone down, so a Tilly lamp was hung from one of the oars to provide some light for us to see – using a head torch was suicide, as you were instantly bombarded by small moths which live on the sand banks., By 9 we had all gone to bed although sleeping in the heavy dark canvas tents was hard as it was so warm. (It wasn't until the second night we discovered air vents around the tents which improved things!)
Day 2 I gave up and got up at around 6 as it was too warm in the tent. Breakfast was served on the shore and was Tea, Toast, Jam and porridge. We cleared the camp and set off down the river again slowly watching the world go by, People fishing, Buffalo bathing, people washing cloths, children swimming and the occasional dolphin jumping out of the water. The heat started to build and we had to stay under the cover on the boat as it was just too hot to sit out in without burning. Initially we had wondered why we had 3 small boats instead of on larger one. We found the reason was the many floating pontoon bridges which span the river. These allow the bridges to rise and fall with water level in the river which can increase by at least 30 feet in the rainy season. to break the journey up (and allow us to str5ech our legs we left the boats at one point an walked up into a small village. Cows were being fed on the small streets and their dung collected to add to chaff then dried to make fire blocks. Children in spotless uniforms were going to school, a man was having his beard trimmed by a barber under a large tree. In the village we found a rundown cemetery from the British Raj era, large ornate columns and stones marked the graves of colonels and brigadiers and their families from a long forgotten era. Above the village there stood a large fort built in the Mogul times then used by the British and now used by the Indian Police as a training centre as such we could not visit it. After a quick cold drink at a small shop we rejoined our boats and continued down the river towards Varanasi.
The second night was spent on a sand bank in the middle of the river. This time with all the air vents open in the tents! I awoke around 6:30 to the gentle sound of rain on the tent – rain?!? RAIN!! yep even here it rains however it was only a light shower and had cleared in 10 minutes leaving pock-marks in the sand. Underway again we headed off downstream and finally had lunch on the boats before reaching Varanasi .