India coast to coast day 4

India Coast to Coast day 4

It was to be a shorter ride today as my search for a better than 7 out of 10 cup of tea continued. We had been told that no early morning alarm call would be required today and the reason became apparent as the early morning local wailing did the trick instead. After a breakfast of curry and toast it was time to hit the road. Today we had no city to get through so were off to a fast start to a nearby town.

Mrs Crusader on the way to town

The next part of the ride was to put all my new found Indian bike handling skills the test. First it was another race through rush hour using my now legendary bell ringing skills to  make it to the other side.

Another bell ringing frenzy in order to get through town

Next we rode along the river on an old crumbling road which had little traffic but plenty of potholes and bumps.

Roads more like the standard we are used to in Norfolk

We crossed a bridge, where it was pointed out that there were crocodiles in the water (and if you look closely you can see the tops of two sticking out). We don't get many crocodiles in Norfolk at this time of year so it was good to see some in the wild.

Crocodile action

This took us to a quick elephant based Temple visit (one of several contenders for temple of the day; winner to be announced at the end of the post. I also put all today's temple entries are on my tweeter feed, exciting stuff!)

Elephant based temple

At last it was time for our tea stop and it was a real treat.

First teashop of the day

Not only were we having tea but deep fried potato fritters and doughnuts as well. Big George, like any Scotsman, would have loved it.

Everything here was deep fried

Just as your thought it couldn't get any better some benches appeared to create a tranquil pop up outdoor seating area on the roadside. 

Pop up outdoor seating area in action

Here I discussed the cafes ratings with the other punters and although the deep fried things were good the tea was our least favourite to date being a bit too bitter for our western tastes. Although nice this tea room couldn't surpass the excellent ginger tea stop from yesterday.

Tea and deep fried thing

Back on river path we ploughed on as the temperature continued to raise to a rather warm 37C. It turned out we were now riding on the regions Ox cart superhighway and it was rush hour. It was total Ox cart gridlock.

Ox cart rush hour traffic

We were stuck in this traffic for over a minute before we could eventually getting going again. But our progress didn't last long as Mrs Crusader developed a puncture. Fortunately the support vehicle was close at hand and like a scene from the Tour de France Mrs Crusader raised her hand and our mechanic came charging out the van with a spare wheel to quickly have her on her way. I reminded her that this was a service she should not get used to back in the U.K.

A new wheel quickly solved the puncture issue

After 42 miles and sauna strength temperatures it was time to stop for the day and lunch, after which there was a chance to visit a mega temple at our overnight stop in Tanjoure.

A top Temple (3rd biggest in Tamil Nadu apparently)

It had been another lovely ride on a beautiful sunny day and we had seen lots more of Indian rural life in this agricultural region. Still not found the great cup of tea or über tea shop yet but with another 60 plus miles to do tomorrow I'm optimistic of success.

Oh and today's temple of the day was not surprisingly the mega temple at Tanjoure which was absolutely templetastic.

Tomorrow's weather forecast (what a surprise 30C + and full sun again)

Cafe ratingsw 

Cafe	Tea	Food	Ambiance	Score
Auraville visitor centre cafe	3	7	4	4.67
Caddaloor	7	7.5	6.78	7.09
Buvanagiri	5.8	3	3.7	4.16
Anakkarai	4.5	6.8	5.6	5.63

Stats

	Miles	Average Speed	Hours on bike	Meters climbed
Day 1 familiarisation	2.9	8.08	0:21	2
Day 2 Puducherry loop	14	9.76	1:26	77
Day 3 Puducherry to Chidambaram	63.2	12.68	4:59	119
Day 4 Chidambaram to Tanjoure	41.9	12.35	3:23	69
Overall	122	12.02	10:09	267

India coast to coast day 3.

                                 India Coast to Coast day 3  

Although I was still none the wiser as to if a cup of tea could ever score more than 7 out of 10 I was now settled into the way of the bike in India and ready for our first long day on our way to the Arabian Sea. My only worry was that Mrs Crusader had decided that the style of Indian driving was much better than first thought and planned to adopt the "get out of my my" approach to driving on our return to the UK.

Our first challenge would again be getting through Puducherry. There is an old Indian proverb "you can ride a bike without brakes but not without a bell". I followed this advice as the basis for my urban area cycling approach (UACA) which was to close my eyes and then madly ringing my bell when crossing any junction. It seemed to work pretty damn well as I'm still alive. Once clear of the city the "real" India opened up before us.

Finally leaving the urban India

The roads were now clear and we had moved from the hustle and bustle of the city to the more tranquil paddy fields and banana groves.This area is known as India's larder. From time to time there were still motorbikes and lorries to contend with but these were now joined by oxen pulled carts as well. 

Locals hard at it in the Paddy fields

By mid morning we were ready for our first stop which was a charming tea room at Caddaloor and I was at last hoping to be able to test out the tea.

Outside our first proper India tea shop

The Barista insisted on giving us ginger tea (which is sort of tea) and a spicy deep fried rice cake thing (which is sort of cake). By now I had embroiled the rest of the tours punters in the way of cafe rating but as always with new cycling guest they were far too generous with their markings and I had to intervene.

Over generous tea and cake rating in the charming indoor seating area

Although the ginger tea was very nice I still felt it needed to be capped at a 7. The spicy deep fried rice cake thing was excellent and although only a sort of cake got a high food rating putting the cafe at Caddaloor into first place for India.

Ginger tea and fried rice cake thing

Back on the roads I was impressed just how advanced Indian technology had become because as we in the west struggle to deliver the driverless car the driverless Oxen cart was a regular site here.

A driverless Oxen car

We were surrounded by photo opportunities but as I stopped to take a photo of yet another paddy field a passing moped pulled over as he thought I had stopped to buy a plastic bucket from him. They were very good plastic buckets and I was tempted but had no way to carry it, so to our mutual disappointment continued on plastic bucketless.

Plastic bucket sales opportunity went begging

After a quick picnic lunch we were off again on some more very quiet roads as we headed for the big town of Buvanagiri.

Cycling past more bananas

Here we found our second stop of the day. There was no indoor or outdoor seating area which had the inevitable impact on the tea rooms Atmosphere and Ambiance rating.

Outside the tea shop in a big town

Here there was a proper tea man making the tea. This involved pouring the tea from a great height into the glass (and back again several times) for what reason I have no idea but it was a neat trick and one I shall be adopting to impress guests requiring tea back at Crusader Towers in the future.

Tea man doing his tea trick

For the sake of research I ordered a white (chai) and black tea as this would finally be my first proper cup of Indian tea and I wanted to know the best way to take it. One taste of each confirmed that the chai needs to be consigned to the never drink it again bucket (if only I had bought one earlier) while the black tea was the way forward. 

Chai (white tea) should be avoided at all cost.

Once again I was aided by the group and we felt the tea was nice but hardly the nectar I was after and certainly not a 7 plus rating.

Tea rating outside the tea shop

It was now meant to be a short bike ride to our hotel although a couple of us did some extra as we missed the turning and the Broom wagon had to be despatched to turn us around. Despite this we got to our hotel an hour ahead of schedule!

Got too far ahead of the group and missed the turning, whoops

All very interesting, I hear you say, but what about temple of the day. Well I had a choice of three to choose from on this ride but our hotel had its very own temple facility so even though I failed to work out how to get in I've made it today's temple of the day. 

Todays temple of the day

It was a fascinating 63 mile ride and I was impressed by the quality of road surface that compared favourably with those in rural Norfolk, plus the Indian people we met were very friendly waving and shouting hello. Many motorbikes also pulled up alongside and wanting to chat about our journey with no other motive than satisfying their curiosity as to why anyone would want to go cycling in their country for fun.

I still haven't found that special cup of tea yet and we don't get to the tea plantations for a few more days but tomorrow's 42 mile ride promises an excursion to a temple that could well be a contender for not only temple of the day but temple of the tour.

Tomorrow's weather forecast (what a surprise 30C + and full sun again)

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Cafe ratings 

Cafe	Drink	Food	Ambiance	Score
Auraville visitor centre cafe	3	7	4	4.67
Caddaloor	7	7.5	6.78	7.09
Buvanagiri	5.8	3	3.7	4.16

Stats

	Miles	Average Speed	Hours on bike	Meters climbed
Day 1 familiarisation	2.88	8.08	0:21	2
Day 2 Puducherry loop	14	9.76	1:26	77
Day 3 Puducherry to Chidambaram	63.2	12.68	4:59	119
Overall	80.08	11.86	6:46	198

India coast to coast day 1 and 2.

India Coast to Coast day 1 and 2

I felt the time had come to expand my horizons and check out the cafe cycle culture further afield. I have now cycled to, and reviewed over 300 cafes, mainly in Norfolk and Suffolk, but I have also had several visits into Europe to check out the cafe and cake scene there so after much research I have decided on India for a new next adventure.

India works on several fronts. 

1. It is a new continent to cycle on.
2. It is warm at this time of year and I'm fed up being cold on snowy bike rides.
3. My scoring systems caps a cup of tea rating at 7 out of 10, "as it is just a cup of tea", so being in the world capital of tea I can check this assumption out.
4. There are a wide range of tea selling outlets and I plan to find the best one.

In fact this trip will tick more boxes than I currently own! 

To make things easier I have decided to go on an organised trip with the Exodus travel company on a route in Southern India. The ride will  be over 400 miles coast to coast which should be far enough to complete my mission.

Planned route

I am taking Mrs Crusader as my cycling guest although as well as our guide there are a potential 8 more cyclists who I may be able to use in a cafe rating emergency.

I don't know how many cafes or tearooms (if any) I will be able to rate but hopefully in 400 miles time I will know a lot more about cafe cycling in India and how it compares to Norfolk.

The expedition started with a flight from London to Mumbai which was straightforward enough and everything went smoothly until Mrs Crusader broke the Indian immigration system and caused a delay, but once fixed we were allowed in and successfully got our connection to Chiennai. 

Here we met up with the rest of the group before a 3 hour minibus ride to our first stop in Puducherry on the south east coast. On the journey we learnt much about the law of the road in India. It operates quite differently from our system in Norfolk where most tractors will move over to make room for your bike. Out here the bigger the vehicle the more right of way you have. So lorries are king and bikes have to get right out the way. Horn honking is compulsory and there is no such thing as a cheery wave. Overtaking can take place on either side and despite what it looks like 3 vehicles can fit across even the narrowest roads. I thought the Indian driving approach added yet another notch of excitement to our trip but Mrs Crusader was not yet sure.

Typical street action in Puducherry

On the way we stopped off at Manabalipuram where we went to today's temple of the day which was carved out of the rock.

My first temple of the day of the trip

Over lunch all the punters introduced themselves and surprisingly our group of 9 didn't have any other cycle cafe rating bloggers in it, so there would be no competition in my mission to check out the Indian cafe scene.

After a bit of rest we collected our bikes and set them up before a quick ride to get used to them. 

Hair raising short ride round town

No cafes had yet been checked out but we were now ready for our first proper ride.

On the morning of day 2 we met for an acclimatisation ride. It started with an eventful motorbike, tuctuc and people dodging session through town until we found ourselves on the shore of the Bay of Bengal, which was our official start point East. I was very pleased that we took our bikes all the way to the waters edge for the official start or I would have felt short changed.

Start point on the edge of the Bay of Bengal

Once on our way we finally encountered some much quieter roads where we could get up to speed. Progress was only stalled as we had a short stop at today's Temple of the day which was in honour of a Hindu goddess who had kindly killed a demon with two of her many bare hands and therefore saved the world. Thanks Hindu goddess.

Todays temple of the day

Despite the distraction of todays temple of the day I was careful not to lose focus from the main purpose of this trip; to find out if a cup of tea can ever score more than 7 out of 10, so I was pleased that we would be visiting a cafe at our next stop Auraville.

My first cafe in India

The cafe was a bit modern for what I was expecting (although future Indian tea shops didn't disappoint) and we were given arrival lemon soda (which is not tea) for our drink.We also got a posh onion bhaji (which isn't cake) but was very tasty. I will be surprised if the visitor centre cafe at Auraville becomes my number one Indian cafe and I was none the wiser on the tea rating front either.

Lemon soda (not tea) and posh onion bhaji (not cake) at our first cafe stop

But what is Auraville anyway. According to a short but informative information video, it is a city dedicated to the ideal of human unity for people to discover themselves in a spiritual sense. No one owns it but if you want to live there you must perform meaningful but selfless work for the good of everyone in return for board and lodgings and plenty of meditation.

The centre piece is the Matrimandir which looks like a giant golf ball from the set of Doctor Who. The short and informative video had explained you can go inside for meditation on the path to enlightenment but access is only for those who are serious about discovering themselves and I wasn't so I didn't.

The Matrimandir also seen in an episode of Dr Who in 1976 (probably)

Our ride finished by returning to the hotel to prepare ourselves for the real start tomorrow.

Ride back to Puducherry on quieter roads

Although only a short cycle it had been an enjoyable one and I was starting to get the hang of cycling out here, I even started to adopting a gung-ho approach to ringing my bell; either to warn people I was nearby or sometimes just because I felt like it. I was no further forward on my tea research, failed to discover my inner self and hadn't found the best cycle cafe in India yet but it was early days and hopefully I'll have more luck when we set off for real with the first 60 miles towards the West coast tomorrow.

Tomorrow's weather forecast 

Cafe ratings 

Cafe	Drink	Food	Ambiance	Score
Auraville visitor centre cafe	3	7	4	4.67

Stats

	Miles	Average Speed	Hours on bike	Meters climbed
Day 1 Familiarisation	2.88	8.08	0:21	2
Day 2 Puducherry loop	14	9.76	1:26	77
Overall	16.88	9.64	1:47	79