12 Mar -Belur to Sringeri - and 1,000k on the clock!

Day's run: 100 km
Total: 1009 km
Start:  06:25
Saddle Time:   06:06
Total Climb:    914 m
Total Descent: 1240 m
Average: 16.3 kph

A brilliant ride today, off the dusty plain and back into the jungle. Butterflies, monkeys, the heady scent of a coffee plantation in blossom. Still bloody hot after mid-day though with some hair pin climbs and descents on the final stretch to Sringeri. Good decision Mr Michael!

Nice to see some green again; those are coffee bushes in flower.....I think!  They smell gorgeous, whatever they are.

Coffee is big business round here, with lots of ex-colonial estates. Tied (slave) labour still used and some of their estate barracks look pretty grim. An hour later and I'm back in tea plantations.

This may not look much of a photo to you but on a 33 deg day this shade was a godsend........(says the atheist!)

I stop to read the sign and soon attract attention...........my bike is a boy magnet! The sign says 50k to go.......can't hang around.

A quicker way to cool your rims off.

I don't want to move!

I'm staying in a plush hotel tonight (1000 rupees!)..........this is my beautifully inlaid antique dining table. I wanted plain boiled rice with my curry. I thought the waiter said cold rice, I said Ok.......no, he said curd rice.........believe me, there is a big difference.

I like this luxury.  I have 3 bars of soap in my room...........and a balcony with a view. How did I manage to lock myself out on the balcony.........it seemed logical when hanging out my washing to close the sliding doors to keep the mosquitoes out of the room. As I said before, an idiot abroad.