It is believed that fishing
is one of man’s oldest professions. So, one can observe human settlements along
entire coastlines. And with it, traditions and practices from centuries past.
The coromandel coast along India’s south-east is one such location that has
witnessed lives of simple fisher-folks to powerful Tamil kings setting forth in
their conquest of the far east to the European colonial powers like the
English, French and Danish setting up castles to gain foothold in India.
Today, the coromandel coast
hosts the popular ‘ECR’ or ‘East Coast Road’ that runs along the coastline
traversing through small fishing communities, forts built by Europeans, busy
commercial ports and massive places of worship like Chidambaram Nataraja
Temple, Thirukkadaiyur Abirami Temple, Veilankanni Basilica, Nagore Dargah and
Rameswaram Ramanathaswamy temple. This is an ideal route for a cycle trip to
enjoy the views, immerse in local culture and experience pedaling in the smooth
tarmac highway whose altitude remains same throughout. 2 of us from Southern Riders experienced the joy of
doing a 5 day cycle trip in the route in 2011 and wanted to share this with our
fellow riders who have accompanied us during Chennai – Ooty
(2012), Coimbatore – Kanyakumari
(2013) via Kerala and Bangalore – Goa
(2014) rides. What better way to share this than by organizing another
ride of 600+ Kms between Chennai and Rameswaram during the December holidays of
2015?
We have 12 confirmed riders and
have started making plans for this trip. We are considering having a support
car and camping equipment, so that we can stay even closer to nature and test
our endurance. We will set-off from Chennai during early hours of 26-Dec and
will hope to get to Mahabalipuram for breakfast. We would then be crossing
Pondicherry, Cuddalore and reaching Chidambaram. Beyond that, we will be riding
through sparsely populated ancient cities of Poompuhar, Tarangambadi and into
Nagore. The last stretch from Nagore to Rameswaram will cover Veilankanni
Basilica, the Paamban Bridge, Chettinad Palace (Kaanaadukaathaan) by taking a
small diversion from ECR and finally into the Paamban Bride! Hopefully we will
be celebrating the upcoming new year at the imaginary Raamar Bridge into Sri
Lanka (Danushkodi).
This time, we have
experienced riders who can easily do 200 KMs per day, but we will take it easy
and restrict ourselves to a maximum of 125 KMs per day to soak in the
experience from the places we visit, enjoy sea-food, take pictures, write
interesting blogs along the way and make this a memory to cherish for a
lifetime. We will give constant updates on Facebook as well as our Southern
Riders blog – so, do join and be part of this experience!
Nice write up Palani!! A great prelude to our trip!
ReplyDeleteVery eager to ride in ECR once again! :)
ReplyDeleteCamping is the icing on the cake ;)