Our Bicycle Tour of South India is one month in.
Hi Guys, Just a quick note to update you on life on the road in India so far.
We hit the road on the 15th of December leaving our comfortable apartment in Calangute and heading south out of Goa and into the state of Karnataka then into Kerala. The attention we get from the Indian people is quite remarkable.They appear so happy and keen to talk with us and they show such compassion especially when Mary fell off her bike (twice)
I never noticed when travelling India by train in 2000, just how different each state of India is, in that when we cycled from Goa to Karnataka then into Kerala there is a border between each where the police check peoples cargo and especially the trucks which were queued by the dozen. It reminded me of central and eastern Europe before they joined the EU. There does not seem to be any reason for this holdup and we heard that if you drive from say Kerala to Tamil Nadu with say Kerala Plates you can get pelted with stones due to tensions between states over sharing resources. Even trucks need permits.
The days are still extremely hot which is not the norm for this time of year and in fact between noon and 4pm we drink about 2 litres each of water but never feel our thirst is quenched.
The roads are so patchy where for one period there will be a smooth road with a shoulder and then a day of complete ruin with pot holes and loose gravel especially 60km before and after Mangalore where they are building a new motorway but in the same place as the existing road which meant the most dangerous of all for us as the road was so narrow for two way traffic. We learned that if a large vehicle blows his horn continuously from behind you then that means get off the road because he will not slow down and does not have enough room to pass so it's move or die. Likewise when a car is coming straight for us because he is passing someone then when he flashes his headlights then move or die. No one will slow down and no one cares if the road is clear enough to pass another vehicle and as we are so far down in the pecking order of size of vehicle then we are the ones to lose. Having said though, the Petrol tankers are the best and probably the only real professional drivers as they usually give us space and actually are quite careful.
We experienced some fantastic beaches heading south and stayed a day or so at a fair few of them where we met European tourists and made some friends.
We got used to the liquor prices in Goa thinking they were the norm along with the range of food available but as soon as we left that state the prices shot up and the range of food options went down only to learn that Goa is basically duty free. It is getting more expensive as we head further south but accommodation is steady at around £6 per night.
A typical day is get up at 5 or 6am and pack the gear and move the bikes outside of a typical hotel and in many cases carry it all down two flights of stairs. Load up the bikes and head out of town before the chaos starts then once outside the cities or towns we stop at a shack on the side of the road for a coffee or tea which are always top quality and sweet and yummy and typically 8p a glass. We take off again and enjoy the cool air for a few hours while we tussle with the dogs, cows, pedestrians, on coming motor bikes and bicycles on our side of the road and the relentless tooting by oncoming and passing vehicles of all types including bikes, cars, vans, trucks, busses and massive 40ft container lorries which should really not be on what you would call a B road but is in fact the main highway. At around 10am we stop for cold bottled water then at noon we stop again for lunch which is usually some form of dosa, masala, chapati and or rice so nothing very exciting there with the odd exception. After lunch it is hotting up big time so it is a matter of a sprint between tree shade on the side of the road. For some reason there never seems to be tree shade whilst we battle up a hill of which there are too many but as we go on we master most of them but have to walk some relentless ones as our bikes are 40kg all up not that 20kg would alleviate the problem because it would just mean we would be two gears higher. Anyway after loving the lush countryside at around 4.30pm we arrive at a destination which is worked out based on the mileage and we are only managing about 70kms per day due to all the obstacles and heat, meaning many water breaks. The towns and cities that are non tourist are crummier than ever but we are used to that now and the people are generally very nice except when looking for a place to stay. The paperwork involved for the hotel is horrendous such that they need a copy of our passports and visas and they have huge books for us to fill out all our details about arrival and departure in India and so on, such that it is very difficult to get a hotel to accept us so we usually have to try four or five before having any luck which is so tiring. In tourist areas and beach resorts it is the same paperwork but they are used to it so not as many answers saying Full Full, No Rooms! Finally we have a room so we transport all our gear into the room always including the bikes which the hotel hates us doing but no we will not leave them in the toilet downstairs no matter what they say about safety. Next is a cold shower and watch the dirt and sand fall of us then we get our civvy clothes on and venture into the dark of the crumbled roads and normally no footpaths to find somewhere to eat which is never a problem as India is not short of restaurants, that's for sure.
Sometimes we have a great meal (mostly Indian) with a Lassi or juice then back to the hotel for sleep.
We are now in Kovalam which is south of Trivendrum and only 75kms from the southern most point of India so we are staying for a few days just up from the beach and we have the use of a lovely swimming pool next door.
We went out for dinner last night with two lovely ladies we met in leaving Aleppey as we decided to take a ferry from there to Kolam through the Kerala backwaters, which was lovely and fortunate as I had Delhi Belly from some dodgy street food we ate the day before.
Description of the Photos below (Left top to right top to bottom)
1. The wonderful roads.
2. Tobacco trucks stop as we have lunch at a roadside cafe.
3. Beautiful scenery as we cycle.
4. Lovely Agonda Beach (The most peaceful one to date).
We have placed a montage of some photos of our adventure here
Our location at the 12th of January is here.