Monday 19th November:

Monday 19th November:

Start:           22,069

Finish:        22,348

Distance:         279km

Average:

Route:         Mangalore – Ullal – Kumbla – Kappil – Beka Fort – Kannur – Mahe – Calicut

Hotel:          Sea Queen:  

Very basic, ordinary & disappointing. In fact could be loosely described as a ‘sh…-hole’…… but it was cheap & local !!

Today:

TB feeling under the weather with a cold, sore throat, runny nose & headache

Up early to pack bikes for an early breakfast and on the road for 07.45

Unfortunately, spent 45 minutes getting out of Mangalore

Worst congestion to date and it was not long before the fumes and the heat of the day were being felt. This was not aided by the signage taking us on a couple of laps of the city with constant exposure to gridlocks at the major junctions.

One had the impression the driving had some aggression that had not been experienced before. Perhaps it was a Monday thing ? We were probably an hour too late to miss the real traffic.

After eventually extricating ourselves from Mangalor, we both had ‘cheek tightening’ experiences, when

TB lucky with a tuc-tuc doing u-turn under his nose causing him TB to stand on his nose and still swerve to avoid him. It is very unusual for these guys……

CRS lucky when alongside a lorry that pulled out sharply to overtake a slower lorry after an ambulance had sped through, effectively ‘closing the door’ and feeding the hapless guailo very close to a well positioned high cement kerbing.

Then there were the frustrations of villages every few km, which does  not allow any decent runs, constant changes to road surfaces, a return of pot-holes, speed humps (now called ‘speed-breakers) which should have been called ‘ball breakers’.

Eventually, the roads improved and the ‘ball-breakers’ became less regular, but there still too many incidents of potholes + broken tarmac to make it relaxing

There had been a forecast of rain, which did not appeal. The idea of riding on these oily, rubber coated roads after a sprinkle of wet stuff did not appeal. It threatened a couple of times, but thankfully held off.

TB’s bike began playing up again with it missing on acceleration, but ok when cruising….a fuel issue ?

In the congested traffic we became disconnected again, so both stopped & phone contact made …. We were at separate fuel stations around 400m apart…good to see the system work this time.

Met-up refuelled & were recommended to go to an adjacent fresh fruit shop where they produced fabulous fresh juices of pawpaw & pommegranite.

Delightful little cameo as a middle aged lady offered Tony her seat, asking us where we from ….the UK and this is Mr Bean…. ‘are you really Mr Bean as Tony gently declined the seat !!

Carried on towards Kotchi, with the view to find an RE shop to assist with the fuel issue & then drove past & stopped into a new RE showroom on the way through to see if we could get the bike serviced. During the check-over, it was apparent the rear sprocket was worn & needed to be replaced.

Lots of chats + help + pictures

Informed of a service centre in Calicut which we navigated to the registered address & not there…….bugger.

No luck with locals and then a passing RE owner stopped and then took us to the new place. He introduced us & straight away the owner said he would do it.

There is a very strong biking fraternity in India with Royal Enfield having something of a cult following so the conversations that have been had and the offers of assistance, quite remarkable.

It was 16.30 and the owner of the repair shop took a look & yup, will do it tomorrow and should be ready by lunchtime. He then escorted us to a local hotel, the SeaQueen (not the Gateway, I had been looking at) and then took Tony’s bike back to his workshop.

The hotel was a tad basic, but we were not about to winge. It had a shower, a bed and a rooftop bar, so all immediate boxes had been ticked.

Whilst in the bar, unusually there was another guailo with a beer. So instead of Tony and me ‘talking about the weather’….again, I popped over to invite him to join us, which he did.

Nial (Irish of course) was a pilot with Ethiad and called in for a beer before his curfew. Based in Abu Dhabi he often flew to Calicut and Cochin where there is a strong link between Indian workers and business with the middle east.

As you might imagine, it was a great conversation with a ‘paddy’. A lovely guy, with no pretences and very happy (I think) to talk with two aged bikers about his work and background.

Although well looked after, life in the middle east could be demanding. Married to a Belgian lass, he had 3 kids, but she still worked with Ethiad at the airport.

It was fascinating to hear that he would normally fly a round trip to India, returning the same day and be back indoors before his wife returned from work.

Exactly 12 hours before he was due to fly, he finished his beer and back to his hotel…..the Gateway, much more suited for someone in his position….just as the SeaQueen was for us !!

We had a quick dinner and turned in….another intriguing day.