Let’s go cycling

5 days of riding through the state of Kerala. A little bit of everything!

India day 5

Well that was a biggie. Up, up and more up. Today’s ride was spectacularly beautiful, marred a little by incessant rain for a good part of the morning and the road was a tad too busy for our liking! But the scenery, the elevated views and the constant contrasts made up for the discomfort. The most “up” either of us have ever recorded and we (well, one of us) were pretty weary by the time we arrived in Kattappana.

Around 25km of constant ascent makes one somewhat hungry (understatement) and we stopped, full of anticipation, at a rather posh looking place near the top of our climb. The menu looked amazing…but sadly we arrived “between” breakfast and lunch so we made do with omelet and toast and hit the road again.

Neil stopped for a photo and wee stop at a particularly lovely vantagepoint… resulting in a very sudden roadside stop not much further on with much ado as he was covered in leeches (thankfully on his feet…). I really wanted to take a picture but there was some apparent urgency in removing the bloodsucking little critters so I reluctantly assisted instead…

Tonight , we had what is probably the most impressive meal we’ve had for quite some time- all for the princely sum of $12 including drinks (freshly squeezed juices…another thing we are finding irresistible here!)
Some kind of Indian/Arabian fusion that really hit the spot and made up big time for today’s calorie deficit.

We must confess that on our first day in India we were somewhat underwhelmed by the food we found, and wondered if we were going to last very long in this country. However, four days in things are looking pretty good…the further we have travelled away from the first major city, the better the food has become. We’ve also noticed a lot less rubbish, and much more pleasant smelling aromas as we travel through the smaller centres.

The people seem friendlier too, a lot more smiles and waves and general cheering on today 🙂

Day 6, to Munnar

Well, we thought yesterday’s ride was a lot of climbing. Today’s route (according to garmin and google..) was to begin with some gently undulating, mostly flat sections with a long climb at the end. Somehow they got this terribly wrong. The “flat” sections along the river turned out to be unexpected hills of torture that left me considering flagging a tuk tuk for the remainder of the leg to Munnar. The slight issue of fitting my bike in meant I had to persevere…but if it hadn’t improved I reckon I would have found a way!

A hearty egg biryani around midday gave us a bit of a boost and some energy to tackle the second half of the day’s ride, which by google’s account should have been even worse than the first half. Thankfully, although still a ridiculous amount of “up”, it was all at a very doable gradient. Didn’t have to get off and walk this time!

The afternoon’s ride was simply stunning, with lush tea fields and expansive green valleys, so beautiful that the increasing elevation only added to the scene and was a distraction from the never ending climb.

Munnar is a bustling township around 1500 metres above sea level. So a tad cool- around 20 degrees constant!
The perfect spot to have a day of rest… plenty of amazing food to enjoy and a “quiet” walk around the township of Munnar with its vibrant market (oh and chocolate!)

Day 8

(yeah, we had a day of nothing on day 7!!)

A bit less up today, hooray! Just a few km ascent and then a pretty big downhill. Another day of spectacular scenery, with waterfall after waterfall punctuating the ride. We made it a short day today and we’ve stopped just short of the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary which we’ll ride through tomorrow.

Today’s the last day in Kerala and we’ve both loved most aspects of the state. The food has grown on us the more we travelled inland and we haven’t really struck a bad meal yet!
“Bread Omelettes” have become a constant thing on the roadsides- no imagination needed as to what they are but they are the perfect filler when we need a snack break.
Parathas are another constant and we’ve eaten them at most meals…