We left Varanasi yesterday morning heading for Lucknow. 180 miles of driving along NH56 (National Highway 56). Mmmm, National Highway, 180 miles, 4 hours? Well that was our thinking but once again the Indian road system surprised us. The road was absolutely packed with pushbikes, motorbikes, taxi-vans, trucks and people. There were frequent stops at level crossings with long queues waiting for very slow trains. At one level crossing there was a work truck blocking our side at the entry to the crossing and another work truck blocking the oncoming lane at the exit. That would have been fine except that there was a team of workers (hence the work trucks) tarmacing our exit lane! The only way to exit the level crossing was to drive over the fresh tarmac!

Along the way we spotted some superb dung-piling:

I checked and India has only ever won one individual Olympic gold medal, I think they should be lobbying to get dung-piling included, they would definitely win another!

The NH56 is being upgraded at the entrance to Lucknow, a beautiful new flyover is being built. The problem is it is being built along the line of the old road so the old road is no more. The NH56 is now actually a dirt track through the woods alongside the unfinished flyover. So we took to the woods.

All of this was at times frustrating and at others hilarious, it took us 9 hours to cover the 180 miles but the final hundred metres to the hotel made it all worthwhile. There was a wedding celebration the same evening, here we are driving to reception through the red carpeted entranceway!

Today we visited Lucknow. Our first stop was the Residency. This once beautiful group of buildings housed a British garrison in the days of the Raj and is famous as the location of the siege of Lucknow in 1857 which signalled the beginning of the end of British rule in India. The British had been beaten in battle nearby and had retreated to the safety of the Residency. Here’s the brief story (click on the picture):

and a few shots around the grounds:

We were surprised to find that the obelisk above had been made from Cornish granite:

My Dad served with the DCLI in Bodmin! Bosahan quarry is near Falmouth, here’s a link to their website: http://constantinecornwall.com/bosahan/the-quarry/

The Residency also houses a cemetery containing the graves of some of those who died during the siege. The gravestones tell their own stories:

  a young wife

  a young boy

 a Mother and her two sons

Here is the gravestone of Sir Henry Lawrence who led the force which was routed at Chinhat and retreated to the Residency in disarray. Lawrence was wounded early in the siege and died of his wounds.

He tried to do his duty.

After the Residency we visited Bara Imambara, a huge tomb. The impressive bit is the array of corridors around the upper floors and the acoustics in the corridors, a bit like a whispering gallery. Here’s a view from the roof:

and down one of the corridors:

We finished the day of with a walk around the Aminabad area of the city, basically a maze of small streets and street sellers. We stopped for chai, made by this lady:

and consumed by this lady:

this was the view from our bench, not sure what they were discussing:

We walked some more and saw some goats in coats:

and a bejewelled goat:

On our way back to the hotel we saw yet another splendid building, there are so many in Lucknow, the city is an architectural and cultural joy:

And that was that. We loved Lucknow but tomorrow we will be on our way to Khajuraho, another Unesco world heritage site.