Day 10: Sun 19 Nov 17 - Madurai to Theni, 93 km - total so far: 660 km

26 to 39 deg, fine and sunny.

After the best brekky we’ve had so far we rode away about 8:15am. Steve, (from the UK) Mick’s sweeper-rider, left us today as he’s on his way to Australia as a immigrant; might catch up one day. Dpak (from Northern India) joined the back-up crew. So we now have Mike (Tour Leader), Trio, Mick, Baz, BJ and Simon (all UK) and Ken, Phil, Bob and I (all Aussies) and Kiela and Thampbi, the sag wagon team.

A puncture stop (Mike) was our first break after only 30 minutes or so. Good chance for a drink and a chat with our fans, the kids. They just appear out of nowhere whenever we pull over. We were soon mobile again.

Today the terrain got a bit lumpy as we entered the start of the mighty mountains of the Western Ghats. No steep stuff just enough to make the old legs work a bit harder. Again some impressive rocky outcrops and mountains in the distance giving us an indication of what is up ahead. The range starts near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, south of the Tapti river, and runs approximately 1,600 km through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu ending at Swamithoppe, at the southern tip of India. These hills cover 160,000 km2 and form the catchment area for complex riverine drainage systems that drain almost 40% of India.

The board-acre farms of previous days made way for the tiny plots of self sufficiency. A little closer to Theni we saw a few larger holdings but mainly just bananas. An interesting practice here is for the small farmers to place their ripe grain and legume crops (millet, sorghum and hard beans) on the main road so that the cars, trucks and buses can run over them. This results in the grain or beans being de-husked. All you have to do is gather it all up. Not sure it’s all that hygienic due to the amount of animals roaming on the roads. There also seems to be a lot of waste in this method as the vehicles tend to scatter things around a fair bit. Hopefully they’ll be able to use proper harvesting methods one day soon.

Lunch was a tasty egg pastry and a cuss cuss ball with a delightful curry sauce for dipping. A great milky coffee served in a small paper cup topped it all off; doesn’t sound much but boy is their coffee tasty.

After lunch with 35km to go and the temp getting up around 39 deg, Ken, Phil and I took off at our own pace for the hotel. Needless to say Kev’s own pace was much faster than ours and he was waiting at the turnoff to point us in the right direction, after having checking into the hotel and washed up! The others arrived a little later.

After washing and showering I took it easy for a while in my aircon room (might have even nodded off) and then went for a walk around the streets with Phil. The most prominent store in town was gold jewellery. They were all very grand and beautifully maintained with excellent lighting and well dressed staff. The ladies all like their huge gold nose studs, pierced ears and other golden jewellery all throughout Tamilnadu.

Dinner, which we had in the hotel restaurant really hit the spot. There’s very little available for us westerners outside the hotel in these out of the way places.

It was an early night for me.

Leaving Madurai



The ute parked up!


Trio and his fans

Baz with his fans

De-husking millet on the highway



Dpak, our new sweeper

They like their bright colours

Willowing the grain

Brick works

We love to see the overhanging branches when it's hot

My room


The International Hotel, Theni

Gold jewellery store

Bright and colourful Tamil dresses

Another gold jewellery shop at Themi













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