Trip of a lifetime draws to a close

PARTING gift: Rasel Miah receives his bike from the Chronicle’s Martyn Torr, pictured wearing a headband symbol of International Mother Language Day

Dateline: Sylhet, Bangladesh
FINALLY, the last day of the Tour de Sylhet dawned and my aching legs were craving a rest as we climbed aboard our tour bus for a 30-mile drive to a hospital in Beanibazar, close to the border with India.

The hospital is the best in Sylhet and has won awards. The plan was to spend time with the staff, and at a school in Golapgonj before heading back to a reception in Sylhet.

Our time at the hospital and the school overran massively, and the party was content for it to be so, but it meant we had to drive further back to Sylhet than originally planned to make the event that would end our five-day, 200-mile tour, a music festival in the town centre to mark International Mother Language Day.

As we cycled into this bustling city of noise and dust, past cows resting on the highway, the crowds grew thicker by the minute and we were engulfed by hordes as we rode into the park.

A reception on the stage, with each member of the party announced in turn, brought out a huge outpouring from the locals.

I lost count of the photographs taken of me with locals. It was like being a pop star!

We made our farewells and set off to a farewell dinner in the Fair View Hotel hosted by one of the tour organisers, Dr Hussain, Sylhet born but now practising in Rochdale.

A surprise guest was Professor Mohammed Abdul Hannan, born in Sylhet but now owner of the Simla Restaurant in Royton and the Shalimar in Uppermill, as well as others in Cheshire. He was visiting family in Dhakar, heard about the cycle tour and drove for six hours to attend the park ceremony. He also paid for dinner!

My final duty was to get rid of the trusted bike, which was given to 17-year-old Rasel Miah, a cleaner at the Hotel Metro, our Sylhet base.

Rasel had volunteered on day one to help Phil Buckley build all the bikes. The cycle was his reward — a gift from Oldham.

There will forever be a piece of the Chronicle riding through the streets of the astonishing, crazy town — a place like no other I have visited in a lifetime of travelling the world, and a place I will never forget.