Cycling Coast to Coast, Southern India

Wow, what a trip - cycling 800km from Channia to Cochin, in Southern India, and all with only a few hours of training on a bike as preparation!
The lack of training would not have been so bad had our itinerary been honest.  However, it appears it was just 'guidelines' to what may, or may not take place.  What I didn't know was that we were acting as guinea pigs for a new trip to be tested out for a travel company in the future.  This is what happens when you travel with mates who know mates in the industry - there is always a reason when the trip is such a good price!  
However, I have lived to tell the tale, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.  Luckily my fitness level is pretty good most of the time, so the 100km every day for the first five was not too tricky.
Before even leaving British soil however, I had prepared my body for what could be a dodgy trip on the digestive front - not only did we eat strong curry for every meal (yes, it was offered for breakfast too, although I declined for that meal at least), as we were cycling through pretty remote areas there was no choice but to eat in the tiny road-side shacks with the locals.  And to me, this was the best bit, I wouldn't have missed that for the world.  Obviously, if you tried to serve from a similar standard of establishment in this country you would be closed down by health and safely officers before you had even poured your first cup of chai!

For the month leading up to the trip I took probiotics to help build up the gut flora against any invading pathogens, plus I took oregano oil capsules daily - oregano oil is known to be an anti bacterial and anti fungal, so useful for when you know you may come into contact with lots of unusual bacteria!  Despite cycling hard every day and pushing ourselves hard in the 40 degree heat, only one of the team came down with 'Delhi Belly' - at this point I upped my intake of oregano oil and managed to avoid joining her behind a bush every 10km.

We ate some amazing meals, and some of the best were those served in the least expected places - normally the most run-down.  In Tiruchiirapalli (otherwise know as Trichy) we stayed in the Grand Gardenia hotel.  When we booked to eat in the local's restaurant in the hotel we were warned to change to the Westerners style restaurant upstairs instead, as they thought the food would be far too much for us (they clearly didn't know how far we had just cycled!).  We insisted on staying put, and ate some of the best, albeit pretty hot, food, we had had on the trip.  Other memorable meals included the creamy fish curry we had for lunch at Le Club in Pondicherry, which is a territory that was under French rule for nearly 281 years and still has the French flavour with beautiful grand colonial mansions and boulevards.
For once being a vegetarian was not an issue, in fact for once I was in the majority, with the local people favouring vegetarian food - great dahls, amazing vegetable curries and lots of great rice dishes - pilau is different in every place you eat.
One of the most traditional places we stayed in was Chettinadu Mansion, a heritage home tucked away in Chettinadu, a village that appears to be deserted, but has some of the most beautiful architecture that we experience throughout the whole two weeks.  I would point out that despite the promise of great Chettinad food, we were pretty disappointed at being served very mild and uninspiring curry, even though the setting was pretty stunning.
One other recommendation has to be Vanilla County, a plantation home-stay in Kerela, near the origin of the Meenachil river at Vagamon.  This gorgeous home-stay is run by 'Baby' Matthew and his wife Mrs Rani, and they make you feel like you are really a guest in their beautiful home.  The house has been in the family for a number of generations and dinner is served in their dining room which instantly makes you feel at home.  Both Matthew and Rani are passionate about good food and will tell you exactly how it should be eaten and which foods are to be eaten together.  A highlight for me was banana jam that was served at breakfast and tasted like banana flavoured molasses.  I spooned it over rice pancakes with sliced banana - heavenly.  Watch this space for my attempt at the recipe that Rani loosely gave me!

The great thing about cycling from coast to coast is the variety of food you encounter - starting with fish on the east coast then travelling through paddy files, tea plantations, cardamom plantations, and finally on to the west coast for more great fish.  Our final meal was at Oceanos in Cochin - a great little restaurant that specialised in fish and seafood and just served you what was available (at this stage I was happy just to be fed and not having to decide which great dish to choose).  After fish soup and then a tuna salad and a pineapple , onion and tomato salad (unusual but surprisingly tasty!) we had red mullet in a spicy tomato sauce and great tiger prawns in a korma sauce.  Even better is that for once the kitchen is open to view, so you can tell that this one really is clean!