Day 24: Chellary – Thrissur

Malappuram is a district full of lots of hills, and the national highway goes over all of them. The heat and high humidity, combined with yesterday’s forgettable experience at the police station, made this one of the worst cycling days. We planned to reach Thrissur (Trichur) by tonight, but an extremely slow progress hampered by Shyam’s illness – he has a headache and loose motions – made me doubt we were gonna make it. Krishnan and Shyam suggest giving up and catching a bus/jeep to Thrissur instead. I was against the idea.

A breakfast of parathas at Kottakkal settled down heavily into my stomach, and same went for the others too. 10km ahead we descended a major slope – spoilt by rumblers – and called a halt. Ditched lunch and ate Complan and tukkudi instead. We then had a good rest under a roadside tree, waiting for the sun to cool down.

After it got cool enough, we made for Thrissur where Krishnan’s granduncle lives. It must be about 65km, but we decided to make it come what may, given Shyam’s illness.

51km to Thrissur, we bid adieu for good to NH17 and took the state highway. Good road, but the hills were still there. At the 35 milestone, Malappuram district ended and Thrissur began. The hills disappeared – just like that – beyond the border. I stopped my cycle and looked back in respect at the district that had caused us to nearly quit cycling.

5km more and it was darkness – but the road was lined with establishments that were lit and I had rare occasion to use my torch. This was going to be our longest night cycling so far and definitely the latest by which we reach a place. To avoid troubling Krishnan’s aged relatives, we had dinner at 18km, a town called Kecchere. Overall sidey food, but eating joints are closing down fast at 9:00pm, and we have little option.

From then onwards the light on the road reduced and I found myself at times admiring the clear night sky. That is, until a vehicle whizzed past and blinded the nightsight out of me.

We reached Thrissur very late and spent a good time searching for the house. Some helpful locals finally escorted us there. It was 11pm. Had a good bath. The lady of the house served us tea and bananas.

Given our extreme condition in the morning, it is surprising how we completed our kilometer century of the day, the third so far. Looking back, it happened because of Thrissur’s (relative) flatness, and the fact that we could cycle so much in the night. We can change the pattern now to cycle after dinner too. The cool night air is definitely better than the late morning and afternoon sun – only it’s a pity you can’t see the area you’re cycling through. At the end of tonight’s run, I was still as fresh as I was in the morning and could have cycled a few more hours through the darkness.

Actually, a shorter, more direct, coastal and perhaps less hilly route to Cochin would be:

• Leave NH17 at Feroke, take state highway.
• Go to Tirur via Parappangadi.
• Rejoin NH17 before Ponnani, go to Ponnani
• Carry on the NH to Edapally, from where Cochin is a few km more.

But we selected the current route because of Krishnan’s contact in Thrissur.

Estimate of distance covered today: 104km