[hvkumar]

It was a pleasant trip, I had a friend for company for the first 10 days, rest of the trip (last 5K) was alone. I had been to most of the places before, but this was the first time I was doing it in one go.

Some of the things of interest:

- We could not make it to some coastal places: the beaches immediately north of Bombay (such as Manori, Gorai, Arnala, too early in the morning), the direct road from Amod to Khambat (roads were in terrible condition, and it was already night, so we deviated to Baroda), we could not go to Chadipur-on-sea (Orissa), land fall point for the Oliver-Ridley turtles in Orissa, Navaalveru (AP), the beaches off Bapatla, Suryalanka (off Nellore), Pulicat lake in AP-TN, the coastal road from Vedaranyam to Tondi (devastated roads cannot be driven through by day, far less the night), the coastal road from Chertala to Vayalar, Beypore (near calicut), Muzhapilangad Beach near Kannur, or the beaches norh of Harihareshwar (Murud, Kashid, Alibag, Kihim, Rewas) since it was already night by the time I reached Harihareshwar on Day 17.

- I also made a 2.5 hour movie on this trip, which unfortunately is too large to be uploaded onto YouTube

- Max coasline was in Gujarat, 3071 kms, followed by TN at 1341 kms.

-I covered some very historical places (Dandi - Gujarat and Vedaranyam - TN, where Gandhi and Rajaji did their Salt Marches, Poompuhar (one of India's oldest cities, under the sea now), Mahabalipuram, great places for pilgrimmage (Somanath, Dwaraka, Puri, Rameswaram), wonderful beaches (Goa, Kovalam, Rushikonda), some great landmark points (Koteshwar - the western most sea board, or Namkhana, the eastern most, Kodikarai, Dhanushkodi - the Ram Sethu, Cape Comorin or Kanyakumari), some great old ports (Mandvi), almost all the sangams of rivers of India (Tapi, Narmada, Mahanadi, Ganga, Krishna, Godavari, Kaveri), 4 ferry crossings (Chilka Lake, Godavari, Kerim, Vashishti).

- Roads were mostly good except some terrible stretches in Dahej-Gandhar, Jhabua-Dhar, Bhopal-Jabalpur, Jabalpur-Amarkantak, Kotma-Ambikapur, Tondi, Ramanathpuram-Tuticorin.