SOUTH INDIA TANDEM BIKE

  Kerela's coastline After a very relaxing four day break in Kollam we set off for the beach ⛱️. 

A bit of luxury for our New Year's stay

The mountain view from our hotel in Vagamon 

Another stunning landscape  We left Planet Munnar as prepared as we could be for our next mountain challenge. It was another short ride but from a quick glance at the scenery it was obvious we would face a fair bit of climbing to reach our next destination. We started on a high as we were treated to about 10km descent with the most gorgeous views through the tree plantations. After that it was a few miles of gently rolling lanes, with lush greenery and pretty flowers everywhere.  Then came the hefty climb up - I knew this was coming as we were essentially doubling back on ourselves to get back up to the main road. On the positive, the trees provided us with ample shade and the constant sound of the waterfalls had a soothing (almost cooling) effect.  Nonetheless it was a tough climb and by the time we reached the top our legs were shouting at us 😂. That was the first tough climb done, just one more to go (or so we thought 😂).  Once out on the main road, we enjoyed a...

  Waterfall near the top of the climb to Kerela

A Chettinad Palace In Chettinad temples were trumped by grand palaces and villas built by rich locals in the early 1900's.

  Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjuvur  We left Pondicherry with a mix of sadness (for what we were leaving behind) and excitement as to what lay ahead. We were heading inland towards Kumbakonam and Thanjuvur - temple territory - with three consecutive days cycling to reach Kumbakonam and then a rest day before pressing on to Thanjuvur. 

  White Town Pondicherry  Despite the rain that had been forecast, the weather during the first couple of days in Pondicherry was actually OK and we spent much of the time wandering along the promenade and around the town which was very beautiful. The French Quarter with the quaint colonial style buildings reminded me of Luang Prabang in Laos - a place I also loved ❤️

A nice flat route to ease us in gently 😉 Our intention was to leave Chennai mid morning for a fairly leisurely cycle (around 19km according to Max's spreadsheet) just to ease us in. We were heading for Mahabalipurum by the coast and I was looking forward to it 😀 

Reunited with the tandem at Chennai airport 😍   Having spent weeks in the garage fine tuning the tandem Max then spent hours carefully packaging it up to minimise the risk of damage during the journey. 

Our route: Chennai to Kochi During last year's cycle round SE Asia we hatched a plan for our next big adventure - settling on India as our next winter destination.