India by Motorbike: Nt adventurers go forth!

Intrepid adventurers from Neural Technologies' technical team set out on the trip of a lifetime to explore the southern part of India on motorbike. Raf Wane, Nt's Product Manager, tells the story.

The aim of the trip was to travel over 2000 km on Royal Enfield motorbikes unchanged in design since the 1950s. We would pass through the four States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, with countryside ranging from tropical jungle hill tops to the low Deccan plateau and coastal regions.

One core goal of the tour was to get to Kanyakumari, the southern most tip of India. Everything in between depended on several factors: how well the bikes stood up to running in all day heat, on road conditions that varied from dual carriageways to pot-holed dusty tracks, and on the accuracy of the notoriously unreliable maps.

Not knowing how far we would get each day, hotels were either booked just before, or as we arrived in each town. 

Bangalore to Kalpetta

Setting off from Bangalore, a city with a population of 6 million, the road south soon deteriorated into dusty tracks. We headed west at Mysore into the Wayanad National Park, a rain forest reserve of swamps, teak forests, bamboo and tall grass; it has been declared a Project Elephant site and is home to leopards, bison and tigers.

Kalpetta to Kochi

Heading down through the jungle hill tops of Wayanad, we got split up and lost, but eventually all made it to Kochi in the dark. Kochi has been a spice trading port since the 14^th Century and is now the industrial hub of Kerala. We had a tour of the famous Chinese fishing nets and Fort Kochi, the first European colonial settlement in India.

Kochi to Varkala

After a day's riding south we arrived at the tranquil and remote beach resort of Varkala. We rented bamboo huts in the village high up on the cliff tops overlooking the Arabian Sea.

Varkala to Kanyakumari

Following a long day of riding and dealing with numerous breakdowns, we arrived at Kanyakumari late at night. This is India's number one place to see the sun set and rise over the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. The tourists and pilgrims that come here are ferried in by plane and coach, so we had a sense of real achievement to arrive on our bikes from over 1000 km away.

Kanyakumari to Madurai

We finally changed direction and started to head north. The road was still being built, so we could pass long lines of traffic negotiating unmade parts of the road. Madurai is considered to be the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu with a heritage that dates back more than 2500 years. The main attraction in the city is the Sree Meenakshi Temple complex that has a high granite walled enclosure, the core of which is a sanctum that only Hindu pilgrims can enter.

Madurai to Pondicherry

The route should have been a long but straightforward road to follow. It started to rain which shorted the bike electrics and we had to resort to a truck for two of the bikes to make the last leg of the journey. Pondicherry was the capital of French India; it still has elaborately ornamented Catholic churches and French road names.

Pondicherry to Madras

We rode along a small palm tree lined coastal road. This was an excellent winding road with the Bay of Bengal to the right and lagoons to the left. We stopped off at a small remote fishing hamlet to see how far we could ride the bikes up the beach to the sea. At Madras we visited the Royal Enfield factory where we were given a tour, they hand paint the tanks and let us have a go - it's more difficult than it looks.

Madras to Bangalore

Setting off early we joined a long line of trucks pumping out black fumes, making their way out of the city. After many dusty towns and villages, we eventually made it back to where we started in Bangalore.

We had many challenges to deal with on our journey: bikes that needed almost daily attention from roadside mechanics, oncoming trucks running us off the road and the uncertainty of how far we would get each day. All this added to the experience. The tour was a great adventure and a fascinating insight into the culture, countryside and cities of Southern India.

 
Sunrise at Kanyakumari