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-   -   South Indian Coast to Coast ride - 1975 kms, 7 days, 3 states (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/130779-south-indian-coast-coast-ride-1975-kms-7-days-3-states.html)

Me and a friend had planned this ride in the year 2011. We wanted to start off from Bangalore - cover the eastern coast, then ride back to Bangalore via the west coast. All of South India. We'd planned it for around the same time - during the Christmas holidays but sadly, I had an accident that prevented me from being able to ride the bike for such long distances and I was forced to chill out at home watching all the seasons of Dexter and eat Christmas cake (humble pie). And I had just bought the CBR 250R - a bike that still pulls at my heart strings.

So towards the end of 2012, I was casually checking with my friend if he was still interested in this trip. He still was and is - but he had trouble with leaves and couldn't finally make it. This did put in a spanner in the works so to speak. The ride seriously seemed to be out of the question.

At this time, I just decided to go ahead with the ride alone. I had never done a ride this long alone and was quite apprehensive. But seriously, some ride reports from ADVRider inspired me. If those guys can do thousands of kms in unknown countries, I could at least do a 2000 km ride in my own country. So without really telling this friend of mine, I started planning for this trip.

The main thing I was worried about was obviously breakdowns and medical help if was in an accident. The Honda CBR 250R - has been a wonderful and break-down-free machine in a year of owning it. I also have a Royal Enfield Thunderbird - which is a never-ending breakdown machine. I was obviously taking the CBR on this ride - with tubeless tyres and EFI - would be that more hassle free. Also, I'd never ridden in these State highways before. I wasn't sure of the road conditions. I asked around on some forums but didn't get too much information. But since the places I was visiting were all pretty big towns/tourist places, I wasn't too worried.

This was my planned route map.



My plan was as follows:

Day 1 - 22 Dec - 300 kms. Ride from Bangalore to Pondicherry.

Day 2 - 23 Dec - stay at Pondicherry. Visit some places there.

Day 3 - 24 Dec - 150 kms. Ride from Pondicherry to Nagapattinam.

Day 4 - 25 Dec - 260 kms. Ride from Nagapattinam to Rameshwaram. Visit Dhanushkodi

Day 5 - 26 Dec - 300 kms. Rameshwaram to Nagercoil - stay with folks.

Day 6 - 27 Dec - eat

Day 7 - 28 Dec - sleep

Day 8 - 29 Dec - 300 kms - Leave my home town. Head to Kochi.

Day 9 - 30 Dec - 500 odd kms - Kochi to Kozhikode. Ride on to Bangalore. Would be the longest ride in a single day

This was what I had planned anyways. What I ended up is another story. :D

Let me start off this ride report saying that this has been cross posted on ADVRiders as well. So if you want to read up the whole thing there, feel free to do so.

Anyway, let me continue with my ride report. As said earlier, my plan for the first day of riding was to reach Pondicherry - an erstwhile French colony. It has officially been renamed to Puducherry - the name meaning the same. "Pudu" in Tamil means "new" though we all still call it by its "original" name. Sounds cooler :)

My plan was to start my ride early in the morning and reach Pondicherry by afternoon, get a room in a hotel and take some rest. A friend who knows Pondicherry well was supposed to meet me there and we had plans of visting places. While I was planning all this, a friend - Jijo decided to join me from Bangalore to Krishnagiri - from where he would go ahead to Thrissur - his home town.

Morning dawned fine and I was all ready at around 5:30 AM.



I use Cramster saddle-bags and the Cramster tank-bag. These are pretty good enough for the short rides that I do. They fit well and are "relatively" water-resistant.

My odo reading before starting on the ride



This is me and Jijo - who rides a KTM Duke 200 just after we tanked up at Hosur - just out of Bangalore. The early morning traffic was a little hectic. This is firstly it being a Saturday and secondly because a lot of people were leaving the city for the holidays.



Soon after that, we reached Krishnagiri and stopped for a chai and smoke. This is where me and Jijo would part ways on the ride. We did "nearly" catch up later on the ride :). More on that when I get there.

Thats me - looking a little pissed? Maybe the cars did that to me



After this small stop, I took the road to Chennai and soon had to move away from the National Highway to a State highway - with no way of knowing how good the roads were. In the beginning, roads were pretty good - my teeth rattled a lot but I was able to maintain speeds of up to 80 kmph. But soon, the roads deteriorated and I saw that there was a lot of road work going on. Or should I say - the roads were being paved over, but I did not see any machinery in sight. An already small 2 lane "highway" was just a one lane now. It was scary trying to avoid cars and buses who would not judge your oncoming speed and not give way!

So I took a break to enjoy the scenery at a small lake - later found that it was a bird sanctuary?




Moving on and I stopped for break fast at some small town. Don't even remember the name of the place but stopped at a roadside joint for some idlis. Its insane how cheap food is at places like this even in this day and age!

Riding on and I reached the small town of Gingee. Off the road is the Gingee fort - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gingee_Fort.



I remember reading about it ages ago in history lessons but the Wikipedia entry has more information about this fort. It says it is in good condition even now. And it was so impregnable in its time that Shivaji the founder of the Maratha empire called it "most impregnable fortress in India".

History lesson over and I carried on with my ride. Roads were improving and I soon reached Tindivanam. This is where I saw the first signs of the road work being completed. Really neat 4 lane highway greeted me and I rode on to Pondicherry. I soon settled in a small inn and took a well deserved rest. I'd done some 300 kms in 5 hours. Not bad, not great - considering the roads. I'd waited for my friend to arrive - she never did so I just walked around the French Quarter - taking in the french architecture that still survives.

I didn't take any pictures then - since I always thought I could do that the next day. Little did I know what was in store.

Btw, I can't mention what I did for the rest of the day in Pondicherry but I'm sure you big boys can guess :)

My actual plan for this day was to spend it in Pondicherry - visiting the Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville and get high on adult beverages. But I decided that it would be a better idea to travel home and be there with my folks for Christmas. I hadn't even told them that I was riding down the coast and that I would be home for only 2 days.

So I quickly called up my friend who was supposed to meet me in Pondicherry and told her of the change in plans. Had a nice breakfast and packed up the bike. I'd stayed at a nice inn in Pondicherry - wasn't too costly but clean and neat. A night cost me 1200 bucks. The manager there personally took an interest in keeping the bike safe though it was parked on the road. He also offered to guide me on the road towards my next destination. Though my original plan didn't have a stop at Velankanni, I decided to stay the night there.

My next stop was Velankanni. Its a short ride away from Pondicherry and the roads were empty and good roads all the way.





On the way, I stopped off at Tharangambady - this is the Tamil name of the old Danish settlement - Tranquebar. In fact, I guess the Danes still call it Trankebar. On the way to the Danish fort which still stands on the sea-shore, there is an old Danish church in great condition. People still use it for worship. I took a quick look-see inside the church and it was immaculately maintained.



Rode onwards to the Danish fort



Some old cannon - not so good shape though



Another view of the fort from the sea-front - (taken with my mobile).



This next pic is the entrance to the fort/church area. I love old architecture.



I decided to then ride onwards to Velankanni - a small town famous for the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health. Tourists come from all over the world to pray and worship here.

Reached the town much before noon - it was just a 170 km ride and settled in to a nice room. Good food - beef in the afternoon and I dozed off.

Not a religious person, I am more interested in the history and architecture of places of worship than the religious sentiment attached to them.

I really didn't believe that a Micromax camera can actually take that good a pic - came out well huh?



Took a quick walk around the town - the beach was empty and some unsavoury elements were walking about waving booze bottles. Next day - Rameshwaram. This is a temple town - famous for Dhanushkodi (which was swept away in the 1964 cyclone) and the Ramar bridge. Mythology :)

I woke up early at 5:30 to start off my ride towards Rameshwaram. Though I was over-charged for a room at Velankanni - I was quite lucky to get a good room considering that it was Christmas eve and tourists pour into the town during this time.

For me, this day (visting Dhanushkodi) would be the highlight of the trip. I have been absolutely wanting to visit for many years. I'd read about how the town of Dhanushkodi was destroyed in the 1964 cyclone - it had been a pretty prosperous town before that. On that fateful night, even a train full of passengers was washed away and everyone on board lost at sea. The cyclone changed the landscape and destroyed many people's lives. Many fishermen were lost in sea.

Around 1800 people died that day. Dhanushkodi has been declared a "ghost town" though fishermen still eke out a living.

I had the route to Rameshwaram mapped out and confirmed it by checking with the hotel manager. The roads were supposed to be all good - all the way till Rameshwaram.



Fingers crossed and I started off, only to stop and tighten the bolt for my rear-view mirror. Someone had surely meddled with it sometime.

Early morning, the roads are incredibly empty on the state highways - just the way I like it.





Riding on, you start seeing the salt pans - where they evaporate sea water to harvest salt. And the land becomes water-logged.





Riding on a few kilometers down, I could catch a glimpse of the Bay of Bengal



A view of another salt pan





A few compulsory shots of the bike





I stopped for breakfast at a small road-side joint and had some idlis for Rs.10! The same would have cost me Rs.40 in Bangalore. Amazing. I wish I'd taken pictures of that.

Riding onwards, I could smell the sea and finally neared Rameshwaram. Its a little creepy to see that you are riding on a road with the sea storming on both sides!



And I finally reached the Pamban bridge - which was also washed away in the 1964 cyclone but rebuilt.



Reached Rameshwaram in a short while and had a really hard time getting a room. Most of the rooms were occupied and wherever I asked for a room, I was told that the police had instructed the hotel owners not to give rooms for young couples and single men! Bwahahahah - one is the moral angle - we Indians like to think we are morally superior to other people on the planet. The other one was the terrorist angle - single men who want to visit Rameshwaram might just turn out to be LTTE operatives or people who support the Tamil struggle in Sri Lanka - which is just a few kilometers away. I've been told that at the right tide, you can easily swim across or hire a canoe to take you to Sri Lanka. Maybe not anymore...

Anyways, I finally had to end up taking a really disgusting room with no AC. Hated the place but since I would be leaving early in the morning, decided to just bite the bullet. And I was also very excited about visting Dhanushkodi.

I settled in and had a nice lunch and decided to visit Dhanushkodi. I asked around and was told that they do not allow tourists after 5 in the evening - guess thats when the tide comes in. I was told that it is just around 18 kms away from Rameshwaram and that I can leave the bike there and hire a van/jeep to take us to the old Dhanushkodi town. Since I was riding alone, was a little worried about leaving the bike unguarded but my excitement overtook my fears and I started off towards Dhanushkodi.

The ride towards the place was amazing - as you can see from the map, it is like riding into the ocean. A narrow road and you can see the ocean on both sides - sea level!



Reached the place and it was filled with cars and SUVs. And people. All wanting to hire the van/jeeps to take them to Dhanushkodi. I knew that I would stand no chance if I bought a ticket for a back-seat in the van and quickly approached a driver and asked him for the front seat - next to his driver seat. He asked for a 100 and I was fine with that. Because I wanted to take pictures.

Thats me and the driver - Udaya.



You can see these ruts in the sand in the following pic. If you do lose driving in the rut, you are sure to get stuck in the mud!





This is how some of the people were travelling! Scary - and not a place to be taking photos from



Did I get a glimpse of Sri Lanka from here? I like to think I did :D



We finally reached the erstwhile town of Dhanushkodi and I saw this temple. What is written on the wall is - "This temple was "formed" before the Dhanushkodi cyclone"



These are the remnants of an old church that was destroyed in the cyclone







Another angle



A shore. Fishermen still manage to eke out a living here



A shot of the vans that transported us tourists! Just take a look at their tyres - totally bald! I would have loved to take my bike there but I am sure it would have just got stuck in the mud. And riding alone, didn't want to take that risk.



Some of you might find this insane - thats a pic of the diesel tank - it was connected to the engine by a plastic tube. It was kept near my feet.



We started back by then and after getting dropped back, I paid the driver a 100 and was anxious to check back on my bike. Thankfully, no one had moved it or anything and I rode back to Rameshwaram. Took some pics of the bike on the way back. This was taken on the road towards the Kothandaramar temple. Awesome, awesome views from this place!



I had an awesome time going to Dhanushkodi. Some friends tell me that a few years back, they would even go further ahead into Dhanushkodi. I was even told that some years back, you could stay back at dusk and could see lights shimmering in neighbouring Sri Lanka. What I would have given to see that.

This is where I was. As you can see from the map, there was even an old Port. My dad told me that he had taken a ferry to Jaffna in neighbouring Sri Lanka from here. It is all in ruins now. Somehow a very haunting scene - to take it all in.



As I rode back to Rameshwaram, I felt sated already. I felt that I had accomplished what I had come on this ride to do - visit Dhanushkodi. I somehow felt that anything after this would be just a ride into a town and ride out. This was the zenith of my ride.

My original plan was to ride to Rameshwaram on this day. However, since I'd changed my plans and decided to visit my folks for Christmas, I decided to start off early in the morning from Rameshwaram to Nagercoil - my hometown.

I started off from Rameshwaram at around 6 in the morning. The road was the usual East Coast Road - good roads - though 2 lanes. Not too much traffic.

I really wanted to stick to the coast a bit more - but with the Koodankulam agitation and all, didn't want to risk it.



I took one last look back at the Pamban bridge - I was back on the mainland



I'd looked at Google maps which suggested that I take a small village road from Rameshwaram and then I could reach the ECR road. Taking this road, it did take me through small sleepy villages. What an awesome scene - lovely rice fields and misty roads. Misty mountain hop :)

Sadly, I didn't take any pics. The lovely roads continued (single lane - just enough for a car) and passed through sleepy villages. Only problem - I seemed to lose my way a bit. Small kids would run out dreamy eyed to see this insane looking robot riding a bike.

But soon enough, I caught up the East Coast Road and continued until I made the mistake of taking a "short cut". The short cut took me around a bit and looking back, I should have just carried on in the ECR road. But nonetheless, it was nice riding in empty desolate roads. I finally caught up with a villager who was so astute in his knowledge of the roads. He gave me perfect directions and said it would be wise for me to join up the ECR, reach Tuticorin (which is called Thoothukudi now) and ride on from there to Tirunelveli.

Going by his directions, I reached Thoothukudi and asked for directions on how to reach the next section of road. Glad that I had some people with good knowledge of the roads to help me. I caught up to Tirunelveli in no time.



From there, it was just a short distance to my hometown. I'd let mom in on the secret and had asked her to have lunch for me too for Christmas day. I reached home around 12:30 in the afternoon - dad was shocked and happy to see me.

So it was a lazy Christmas lunch. Good to be with family on a holiday.

A shot of the Christmas tree at home

Did nothing this day. Rest, sleep and eat. My folks had received the Galfer brake pads that I had ordered from the UK, so I'd planned to get it fixed. Checked with the Honda service center and they asked me to be there at 6:30 in the morning the next day.



Took a short ride to Kanyakumari - land's end. Been here too many times to count so it was just a sort of formality to show that I did touch Kanyakumari too.

Too many tourists. Boring! But you can see some pictures of Kanyakumari from one of the groups on Flickr.

On this day, I didn't ride any long distance. I was chilling out at home and wanted to get the Galfer brake pads fixed. The ASC had asked me to come at 6 AM to get it fixed. I was a little skeptical that they would be open at such an unearthly hour but was there by 6:30 AM. And true to their word - they were open! But sadly, their CBR technician was away and I couldn't get it fixed that day. I later on found out it was something I could have done myself.

Anyways, it was a good day relaxing and having some great home cooked food.

My dad was already asking me to stay longer and ride on direct to Bangalore after 2 more days at home. This is the problem with staying at home. :)

I leave you with an awesome view of the morning sky from my room at home.


And guys, I am only allowed to bump up this post once - I would appreciate you guys posting your comments, feedback and I can continue on and finish the rest of the trip.

3 more days to go...

Naveen, great trip, nice write-up! I love the way you've laid it out. I need to get back to that travelogue of my Pune-Bangalore ride too. Isn't it a real joy riding alone?

Hitting Refresh, waiting for more! :D

Cheers,
Rahul

Indeed a neat one with set of good picture.

I did a similar but longer one in Dec '11 in my Laura with few of my friends. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...-5-7-days.html

I am sure you will continue with the rest of the log and share more picture!

Thanks a lot for reading up on the ride report! Yes, even though I started off being a little apprehensive, it became a JOY once I'd ridden a 100 kms or so. Wonderfully lightening to the mind.

And now, you all must be thinking - this guy said 7 days in the title and now is already on his 8th day? Well, I am only counting the number of days that I was actually riding - not the days I was chilling out at home eating and sleeping :uncontrol

So continuing on the ride.....

December 28th dawned nice and overcast. In fact, it started raining at around 6 in the morning. My dad was already anxious that I was riding around Kerala and would be reaching Bangalore only in 2 days. He still wanted me to ride off straight to Bangalore - a ride that I have done before and around 700 kms.

And the rain wasn't helping me either. My mind was playing games with me and making me really unsure. Slick roads, lousy bus drivers in Kerala. And there weren't any big highways either. The 80 km ride to Trivandrum was one of the most "trafficky" roads around.

Good that a friend of mine (incidentally on this forum too) had suggested that I ride till Kovalam beach, take a right and then ride on to Kottayam - a nice state highway.

I finally decided to leave when the rain let up a bit. I was still a little worried about riding in the rain and even had half thoughts of returning back home. And ride to Bangalore leisurely after a couple more days. Bad, bad thoughts.

Around 5 kms away from my home, it started raining quite heavily. I quickly pulled on the rain cover for my tankbag and carried on. Thankfully it stopped after a while and I was becoming more confident of the ride. Nearning Kovalam, I called up my friend so that I could meet up with him. His wife picked up the call and he never did turn up at the point - later the guy told me that he was really late and his mornings are really bad. Laughed a bit - hope you are reading this dude! Well....good chance to meet an old friend lost and I carried on.

I asked some cops for directions and stopped off at Kovalam beach for a quick pic. The number of pictures that I took on this return ride were very few so pardon me.


Had a quick breakfast and carried on towards the road to Kottayam. Very nice, 2-laned road with no median in the middle though. Less traffic and I made good time. Or so I thought. Endless numbers of Beemers and Audis - all flying at the speed of sound. :Shockked:

Roads deteriorated after that and traffic was pathetic. I reached some place past Kottayam and had a relaxed lunch. Reached Kochi beach around 3 in the afternoon! Pathetic.

I scouted around for a room and got some really awful rooms for a high price. Blame it on the foreigners who come and splurge their money here. And at one hotel, I was even treated like some third rate citizen cause they thought I could not afford their rooms.

Anyways, made a run to Ernakulam and landed a nice room for less. My friend Jijo called me in the meantime and said he is in Ernakulam also. But sadly, I could not meet him either - we both had network issues with our phones and couldn't call each other. But I didn't mind as I was dead tired. Dead tired.

Quickly had a shower, and a good long rest. Had a couple of adult beverages after that and some awesome beef curry with Parottas - my favourite! I wasn't really interested in sight seeing on this day as I was tired and have been to all the touristy places as a kid. Good sleep and was off to bed to continue on my ride the next day.

Show some love - need to complete the ride report clap:

Naveen, nice report and beautiful pictures. I am glad that you decided to ride solo when your friend backed off.

Ernakulam is my home town. It will be keenly following the travelogue from now on.

Finally the report is out. Excellent !!
Would get in touch with you for more information on Dhanushkodi.

That's a nice diamond shaped route! Pondicherry to Bangalore is a popular route. Surprising to find that roads from Tindivanam to Salem were not good.

Nice to see ECR (East Coast Road) project completed up to Tuticorin. Not sure whether it is completed till Tiruchendur (it wasn't when I visited there 3 years back).

The trip plan is nice. Not too taxing, and plenty of time to relax on the way. Eager to see your return trip photos & writeup.

So finally there you are! Nothing better than a solo ride. And biking is even one step further ! Great writing and looking forward to more.