03 Mar - Mettupalayam to Kotagiri - Into the Ghats

Day's run: 31 km    

Total: 570 km

Start:  06:57

Saddle Time:   04:37

Height Gain:    1,632 m 

Height AMSL: 2,000 m

Average: 6.7 kph 

Probably the most unrelenting climb I've ever done......and  I've never seen such a consistent gradient.  

The plan was to reach Ooty, a run of 59km, but I knew that with  a 2,000m climb that would be a tall order. Suck it and see!

Don't worry, I won't be obstructing any elephants. It rained over night, so a little bit cooler.

It took a million years to end up looking like.......this.

I've been going for a couple of hours in the biosphere and haven't seen any shops.... or anything, I'm starting to fret about food and water as I'm only carrying 2 litres..........and I'm sweating bucketloads.

Even the monkeys stare at me. Every single 'sitting for a breather' rock and wall is freshly whitewashed a delicate lilac blue, no reflective road markers here. There are some lethal drop-offs if you go over the edge, as has clearly happened in places.

A camera can't really do justice to the scenery. I'm grateful when it starts to pour with rain and think about doing a nappy change at some point.

That's the town I left this morning in the distance. I'm around 1,000 metres and it's starting to cool off, a very pleasant 26 deg

 ..........and then suddenly around a corner is a teashop - Bliss!

Breakfast of veggie pakoras - delicious. Even the wrapping paper (Hindu Times - classy) was in English, so you can catch up on the news while you munch.

In the tea plantations. 'Tea is nature's gift, it keeps us fit'. On the strength of that I should be pretty fit! As a booster I picked some leaves and had a munch on them............disappointingly they taste nothing like PG tips.

This is jackfruit I think, basis of idlis, a traditional breakfast dish I've yet to try.

Not easy to photograph, and I don't trust them. In Malaysia I left the bike for a few minutes and they removed the water bottle from the holder and chewed a hole through the plastic to get the water out. Cheeky monkeys!

12 km to Kotagiri, 38 to Ooty. I'm starting to feel it so Kotagiri it is. I don't want to damage anything due to over-exuberance

Soaked with sweat but exuberant....and sitting on the only whitewash-free rock I can find

It is just so lush.........what a difference 2,000m makes

Two guys stop on a motor bike and want to be photographed with me. Put your arm around me (like you are my bestest friend). But look I'm a yucky wet rag. No problem. I feel like some sort of celebrity.........is this what it's like to be famous?

Even though it's definitely cooler up here, I'm still having to work at it. I turn on the beats.......Hendrick's 'Purple Haze' riff works for the manic gradients, Disco Bob for the medium, and Jake Bug for the tedium. When I finally arrive in Kotagiri, itself built on several levels, I try several hostelries before I discovered this little gem. Bel-air Cottages, perched above the town on a hillside, it's Raj-era English cottage built 100 years ago and not had a penny spent on it since. I lie on the bed after showering with a bucket (hot water mind you) and look up at the corrugated tin roof. Sort of shabby-chic. Two big pluses, the internet chugs along fairly respectably, and it has a small kitchen where businessmen come for lunch. 750 rupees the night. Oh, and it's quiet, I am the only guest.

Only in India 1: Why do you put a padlock on the outside of the (shared) toilet? "In case somebody tries to use it." It's upstairs on the first floor. Apparently it gets busy 'in the season'.

.........but first a spot of lunch in the leafy bower. Best chilli chicken I've ever tasted.......and all those home-made pickles!

My charming residence. I can have dinner on the lawn, or wherever I please.

It was a great day. I like it so much here, I'm going to have to stay another day....and do a bit of strategic trip planning. at the moment I've no idea where to go next.

02 Mar - Palakhad to Mettupalayam

Day's run: 92 km

Total: 539 km

Start:  07:30

Saddle Time:   05:52

Height Gain:    566m

Average: 15.7 kph 

Note: The discrepancy in distance between the screenshot and the day's run is because the screen shot is the intended route which is not always followed exactly. The day's run is taken from the Garmin GPS which is tucked away in my bar bag recording my actual track and height gain.

Why I avoid main roads:the whole road is up for improvement and you can be sure the toll booths will be finished on time

I'm crossing the state line. The road is littered with trucks for at least two kilometres while the drivers go off to join a queue to pay some cross-border freight tax. It all looks horribly inefficient. As the road is blocked on the other side the school buses are allowed to pass against the flow of traffic, which at the moment is me!

No modern creature comforts in these trucks. In another world when I was a H&S manager (Ha!) an employee (ex MT) driver slipped and fell when getting out of the cab.of his Volvo truck. He took several month's off work and finally sued the company because the tread on the metal footplate was allegedly slippery.

Melons are in season and I take a slice..... and then another.

It is difficult to capture the tooting mayhem on camera.

This is the craziest. When the level crossing barriers are down the whole road width is filled up with traffic. It's like a face off. When the barriers go up two waves of traffic race towards each other and it's complete pandemonium  when they all meet in the middle.

These look like lime kilns fueled by coconut husks in a scene that probably hasn't changed since the middle ages. Hot dusty work.

Loading up with sugar cane

One of my rural roads, the surface is variable from this.........

.........to this.

I´m in a coffee shop - it's good stuff

Coimbatore is a big city of 2 million people. There's a lot to see but it's too damn hot. I want to press on to reach Mettupalayam, a good launch point for tomorrows' climb into the Ghats. I can see them looming larger, heads shrouded in cloud, through the brown afternoon haze. Intimidating.

01 Mar - Ottapallum to Palakkad Ups and Downs and Re-routing

Day's run 63 km    Total  447kmStart  06:30Saddle Time   05:11Height Gain    533mAverage 12.1 kph 

Not showing the first part of the day - this is after my re-route

Today the plan was to head north along a very minor road through a national park and up to Ooty. The day started off well enough. It was Sunday and lots of young men  were out cruising on their motor bikes.

It happens fifty times a day, I see a motorbike approaching in my rear view mirror........it slows down to have a gander at the bike and I......hangs back practicing the introductions in his head...."What is your name", "Where are you natural/ staying/coming" (either option means what is your nationality)...."where are you going"....."Are you alone" (this normally means are you married but can mean are you in a group). All delivered woodenly as statements rather than questions.....often delivered just to impress pillion passenger(s). 

Then the bike pulls alongside. They stare unblinkingly, I nod and smile. Then, if I'm lucky they will zoom off. If I'm unlucky, the barrage of questions begin. I don't mind, after all I am a spectacle, no more or less than if an Indian were to ride an elephant through a village in the shires (except we, the English have our natural reserve and would never ask such direct questions outright........probably start off with "Hello, turned out fine (for elephant riding). 

Outside the teashop. The leader/spokesman is up front - they look harmless enough

I'm digressing. Today I have three 'sticky` youths. I turn off at a junction, they follow. Probably only for 10 minutes but it seems much longer, they've clearly not got anything better to do on their day off.

 I pull over and have a cuppa at a teashop. I take their photograph. They wait for me. It's starting to get tiresome. Riding so close in traffic takes concentration. My road is limited. I hit pot-holes that I'd normally swerve around.

My route takes me on to a quiet back road, they follow....and then it begins. "Give me money." No, (laughing) you give me money. "Need money for petrol for bike ......Give me money.....50 rupees". So stop following me, you're wasting petrol.........I'm starting to appreciate the vulnerability of my situation, three on one in the middle of nowhere. I have a 6 inch knife in my bar bag (fruit peeling - for the use of) but I really don't want to go there. I remember a tactic used successfully by cycle tourists in Guatamala. " I love you, give me money" Time to play my trump card. I bring the bike to an abrupt stop and in my best angry voice......" Your bothering me, I have your photo.....I'm calling the police!". Head down, I jab pointlessly at my phone screen, pretending to dial and wondering if the ruse will work. In a flash, they've done a U-turn and are off with a not-so-fond "Bastard!" farewell.

I ride on shakily but the day is spoilt. Villagers stare at me blankly, no response to my forced smile or greeting.  The road is awful, 'choppy'. Short saw-tooth ups and downs.....potholed, no teashops, not a lot of anything, claustrophobic. My average speed is about 6 kph. It will take me a day to get somewhere, in the middle of nowhere, that I don't want to be anymore. Time for a rethink.

I decide to head back to a main road, any main road, and head up to Ooty through Coimbatore.....sod the traffic. That's the beauty of Pocket Earth (and a data connection), you can re-route in seconds....from 'current position' to 'tap point on map'  I do a U- turn and back-track to civilisation. My mood lifts as the miles pass and the smiley head-waggling faces reappear.

I'm no fan of the nanny H&S culture but this is amazing.These are exposed 250V cables beneath a transformer, well within reach of any child. No attempt at any fencing.

The whole country is cricket-crazy, like football in Portugal. I've been asked to join in a game but my cricket skills are a little rusty. It would be fun though.......maybe later. I took the photo because I'm impressed by the improvised wicket........a stripped coconut palm frond.

It's rice harvest time, here the harvester disgorging grain

Just before arriving in Palakkad. It's hot and I spy these boys swimming just above the weir (on the right if you zoom in!). I want to join them but I am not comfortable about changing into my bathers and leaving my bike on the bank in front of the inevitable crowd. Shame!

Draconian rules on the gates of a Catholic convent school.........

........to counter this, just outside the school gates. I suspect/hope that you won't see this in a generation. It is after all merely educating those fresh young minds, no?

I decide to stop in Palakkad and push on through Coimbatore (pop circa 2 million) tomorrow. It's been a day of mixed emotions. I've taken most of my cash and credit card cards out of my wallet and dispersed them around the bike. I've vowed not to tell 'dodgy' strangers that I am on my own....."No, I'm in a group, they are following behind, with the guide". I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression, I'm relaxed and happy with 99% of the people I meet....... there's always one bad apple.
I console myself that you and I are far more likely to come to harm travelling in a car.

I completely forgot to mention that I have passed seamlessly into the large state of Tamil Nadu, different language, fertile, hot.

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!

26/27 Feb - R&R in Kochi

26/27 Feb - R&R in Kochi

Daily Run 10km    Total  257km

Part of my ramble around Fort Kochi

I'm not much of a sight-seer, especially when it gets steamy hot in the afternoon. The only place I really wanted to look at was the Indo-Portuguese museum which turned out to a load of dusty church relics. What impressed more was the sound of the big guns live firing from the Indian Naval Service Gunnery School, whose motto 'Hit first, hit hard, keep hitting' is a bit like my touring mantra ' Start pedalling, pedal slowly, keep pedalling (except for tea-breaks). An incident towards the end of my trip took the shine off the day. I stopped in amongst a hoard of boys just out of school. While I chatted away to those in front the little buggers at the back had been ripping open the bottom of two plastic bags of shopping I had tied on the rear rack. I was furious and they all scattered during my tongue-lashing. One sweet lad came back and apologised. 

T'

Lots of red flags around here. It's all  too black and white, I certainly don't feel like a work animal, am I a capitalist?

These Chinese fishing nets are all along the coast. Here tourists can have a photo opportunity hauling up the net.

If I was ever to own a motorbike it would look something like this beauty

Not a lot of people smoke here............spitting, yes. I was in a tiny tea-shop when another aged occupant cleared his throat at length. I was looking for a spittoon on the floor and tucking my feet under my chair when he stood up in the doorway and spat a perfect jet between a narrow gap in the drain covers outside, gone. Impressive! They probably practiced as kids while we were playing marbles.

All rubbing along together on this little peninsular you have a mosque, synagogue, temples and churches of various denominations

Don't be fooled by the title,I ate the other side of that white fence everyday (not fish and chips btw) and the food is superb. It makes you wonder though, in a city like this, that women, NEVER a man, have to come and hand pump and carry water from the street (and only available at certain hours)

I'm heading for Ooty tomorrow, maybe 3 or 4 days to get there. I'll be first in line for the ferry tomorrow morning......06:30.