The Wandering Rider: Southern Spice Ride : The Land of the Windmills, Kanyakumari

Here is Day 2 to Day 3 of the our epic Southern Spice Ride. I narrated our story till Rameswaram in my last post, this time, I'll tell you to journey to Kanyakumari.

We were all very late to leave Rameswaram. It was close to 4 pm and we had 250+ kms to cover. This time the planned route was Rameswaram - Toothukudi - Kanyakumari. But as luck would have it, we found the Toothukudi road to be in bad shape, and hence opted to go via Tirunalveli.

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Due to this diversion, our total distance increased to 300 + kms.
So getting back to the story, we left Rameswaram, rode ahead around 30 kms, and refueled all our bikes. This took another 20 mins of our time. So we decided to push ahead, as quickly as we could.

But as luck would have it, my sweep skills were to be tested again. Hardly, a couple dozen kms from the fuel stop, Kats's bike got punctured. I quickly got out my tools, while Bala went ahead to stop the lead. I took out the cutting plier and pulled out the axle pin. Then pulled out the correct sized spanners, and removed the wheel. It was as easy as pie!! Then, Kats took the wheel and went with Kavi to a puncture shop a few kms ahead. During the wait, an ice cream seller found this as a money making opportunity and sold us many many ice creams. 20 mins later, the boys were back with the fixed tyre, and Harish and me were back in action, fixing the wheel in place. Reason for the puncture : The heat!! No nails, just the heat!!

After this unfortunate delay, we got back on the road. The roads got confusing, and so Go Go joined me as the co-sweep for a while, during which time Bala took over as the lead, with Empy as the co-lead. We took a small break road side, where we all indulged in some more Parotha and omelettes. We continued on the state highway, till we came across the Toothukudi (Tuticorin) road. Here we were informed that the road was in very bad condition, and so a quick decision was taken to divert through the Tirunalveli road. We took a small stop near Tirunalveli, for the veggies to have some dinner. After this stop, everyone got on the bikes, and started their engines. But Anudeep's bike just simply refused to start. Tried kicking it a dozen times, self start, but nothing worked. Everyone had one thought, we were all praying it wasn't something serious. That's when I got an idea. I opened the fuel lid, and then started the bike. Voila, the bike came to life. Reason : Air lock in the fuel tank. Often the simplest solution is the best solution :D :D . From here on we kept riding, keeping our breaks short, as it was already quite late.

Windmills on the way.
Photo Courtesy : Parameshwaran Balasubramanian

Soon enough, we were around 25 kms from Kanyakumari. Here Sidd got a bit sleepy, and so Bala and me stopped along with him for a quick break. This is when I looked in front to find thousands of blinking lights strewn across the horizon, everywhere. I thought to myself, how can the ocean be so close, and how can there be so many boats, for I knew we had 25 kms more to go. Then I looked up, and found this gigantic wind mill, and a blinking white light. That's when it hit me, that all those lights were wind mills. Thousands and thousands of them, everywhere, left, right, in front and behind. Just Windmills!! It was an awesome sight, one that I couldn't take a photo of, and one that I'll never forget.

The feeling of reaching Kanyakumari, along with some awesome tamil songs playing in my ear, gave me a sudden josh. I went right to the front of the pack, and urged everyone to stand on their bikes. Only Sidd and Kavi, followed my stunts :-( . 30 mins later, we had reached Kanyakumari. We quickly seized the opportunity and empty roads for a group pic.

Group picture. At the entrance to Kanyakumari

5 mins later, we had reached the hotel. Hotel Manickam, north car street. Too good a hotel for the price. Make sure you book your stay there if you ever visit Kanyakumari.

The time was 2am, Bala and me were hungry. So Go Go, Bala and I took our bikes and went to the main road, where a lonely hotel was open, making, you guessed it, Parothas. Bala ordered and we stood outside waiting for the food to come. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a couple of cops came with lathis beating the poles and railings. My heart skipped a beat. But Bala, stood there unnerved. He was too used to all this by now, having stayed in many such towns.

We got the food parceled, and came back to the hotel. Ate it and slept.

The view from the hotel room

The next day, I woke up early, and ran to the beach, so as not to miss the sunrise. But the Sun decided to play hide and seek, hiding behind the clouds. But still, I was able to capture a few great photos.

I got back to the room by 7am and went to sleep for a few more hours. Having visited the Vivekananda rock, the last time I had come, I had no interest in taking the ferry and going out there again. 7 people from our group, took the ferry, and visited the rock. Find some of their pictures below.


Photos Courtesy : Sreekanta Datta


Photos Courtesy : Sreekanta Datta


Photos Courtesy : Anudeep Cheekanahalli

Once everyone was back, we quickly packed up, and were ready to leave. The weather was extremely hot. 10 seconds in the sun, and I swear I sweat so much, that I could take a bath in it. We head out to this nice path surrounded by the ocean, for a photo session, before setting out to reach Madurai.