Sunday 1 March 2015

28 Feb - Kochi to Ottapallam Heading inland

Day's run 127km    Total  384km
Start 06:00
Ride Time 07:51
Height Gain 676m
Average 16.2 kph 


This is a long run today but if I run out of oomph I think I can camp somewhere in the green bit, maybe. As it turned out I was wrong but I managed a good distance in some really hot and humid weather. I guzzled  8 litres of water throughout the day and although my belly was like a football my mouth remained parched.


This was   the room temperature when I got up in the morning. I must be getting acclimatised!


First in line for the ferry, 10 rupees for me and the same for the bike


My second ferry. Dawn is breaking as we head out, steering behind this huge container ship accompanied by pilot and tugboat. I am feeling childishly excited. For any ship-spotting readers it is the ZIM Istanbul registered in Monrovia. Where's Monrovia? I reckon about 1,000 containers on board.


With 99 km still to go I turn to head inland . The arrow shows where the photo below was taken.







Some heavy duty spokes and frame re-enforcing on this one. The Sherman tank of the bike world. Why am I thinking of converting one with sleeping quarters at the back?


After Thrissur I'm on a national highway 544 heading east, no hard-shoulders and it is frightening. A bus overtaking a lorry coming towards you and another truck coming up behind. I´d love to get a photo but it would probably be the last one I'd take.


I take on fuel at a restaurant on the NH544 ........in the form of a paratha and a bowl of dal. Very tasty and all for 15 rupees.  This area is about where I thought I might camp. Ha!

A pure white 'wedding cake' church



It's early afternoon and getting on for 40 deg, another 3 hours to go    : /

I don't want to frighten the kids but this is what my thighs looked like when I took my shorts off. It looks painful but it isn't. No blisters, so not prickly heat. Suggestions on a post card to Poste Restante, Mysore.





I haven't got the energy to go searching out the best accommodation so I took the first one which had somewhere secure to store the bike. As the  staff kept reminding me it was a four star hotel. They're having a laugh - no internet for starters. Worst of all was the attitude of the Front of House Manager. No smile, no welcome, just a curt 'passport'. Perhaps he didn't really think I was the right type for his hotel. As it turned out I was the only type in his hotel, certainly I was the only guest in the restaurant where, looking a little smarter and less beetroot-like, I was fawned over by three obsequious waiters. What is the point of presenting an international menu for me to salivate over for five minutes, only to be told that all they have is vegetable or chicken biriani......four stars my arse!











































































1 comment:

  1. Ouch Mike, you've got a touch of heat rash there, but you already knew that Lol. Just catching up Mike. Some very interesting photo's ta.

    ReplyDelete