Southern India Coast to Coast Ride

Begin your adventure in Chennai this morning, meeting the group at Chennai Airport. From here it's a 3hr 30min group transfer to Pondicherry. We normally take a break at Mahabalipuram, home to shore temples and rock carvings. Carving in stone is still a living art here and we see stonemasons chipping away along the roadside, practicing skills that have flourished for centuries. On arrival in Pondicherry, we have a chance to freshen up and have lunch before we assemble the bikes and explore this former French colony on a 4mi (6km) ride to Promenade Beach. Around 6pm, we gather as a group to get to learn more about the adventures ahead over a welcome meeting. Your tour leader then arranges a group dinner at a nearby restaurant. Want more time in Chennai or Pondicherry? Secure pre-tour hotel nights through your sales representative

We take a circular ride to Auroville, a new-age spiritual commune. Founded in 1968 by The Mother and named after her Guru Sri Aurobindo, it promises a more balanced way of living. Revitalised by some earthly fruit juices, we ride the 9mi (15km) back into town, seeing fishing communities and cycling along the promenade, which retains some Gallic charm. Depending on time, lunch may be at Auroville or in Pondicherry, and the rest of the day is free to explore.

Starting from our hotel, we either ride out of Pondicherry through bustling traffic, or we have the option to take a transfer out of Pondicherry to miss most traffic and get on our bikes on a quieter road just outside of the city. We soon leave the city bustle for quiet backroads, experiencing rural life where simple mud huts contrast with the brightly coloured saris worn by local women. In true Indian style, we stop at a roadside restaurant for a tea break, and a little later, stop for a lakeside picnic lunch. Back on our bikes, we cycle another 41mi (66km) to Chidambaram. If we have time this evening, we may visit the ancient Thillai Nataraja Temple, in the heart of the city. Staying in the grand mansion of the village, we sleep in the extended family villa; with its own temple, it’s almost like stepping back in time.

We have a scenic morning ride following quiet roads and tracks alongside the Cauvery River to Thanjavur. A capital between the ninth and 13th centuries, it regained its status under the Nayaks in the 16th century who rebuilt the Royal Palace, Durbar Hall and libraries. After lunch at a local couple’s home, in which we eat their home-made food, we take a vehicle transfer to the Thanjavur hotel. Late afternoon, we visit the palace, which houses one of the finest collections of bronze sculptures and stone carvings in southern India, and the vegetable market at Tanjore followed by a visit to the Brihadishwara Temple, one of the largest in India and known locally as the Big Temple.

Leaving the city by the old road, often greeting and meeting friendly local people, we head into the Tamil Nadu heartland, visiting the oldest clay horse temple en route, to an area renowned for impressive mansions built by wealthy traders known as chettiars. Some of these palatial houses have been converted into boutique hotels, offering a glimpse of the past. The grand interiors of Burmese teak and elaborate plasterwork retain much of the traditional architecture of a bygone age.

We have a scenic ride to Madurai, passing rice fields, often greeting the local people, and stopping for tea at a roadside cafe. En route, we pass a rocky outcrop that’s said to be the sacred abode of Lord Murugan, the son of Shiva and also known as Skanda, the most revered god in Tamil Nadu. If we have time, we visit Sri Meenakshi Temple, one of the largest temple complexes in India and one of the highlights of Tamil Nadu. Here, thousands of huge stone pillars, each adorned with different deities, are said to represent the gods of the Hindu cosmos. A constant flow of worshipers, offering pujas (rituals performed by the temple priests to the various deities) add to the heady atmosphere of incense and camphor smoke, and make this an unforgettable experience of Hindu culture.

We have the morning to explore the old city, including Sri Meenakshi Temple if we didn’t visit yesterday, and a local vegetable market. We then leave the heat of Madurai for the cool air of the Cardamom Hills. We transfer by vehicle to our lunch stop at Theni. After lunch, we are dropped at Cambam, from where we ride to Kumily. Hidden behind a banana plantation are the vineyards of southern India’s new venture into wine making. These give way to the forested slopes of the Western Ghats and a slow ascent through the rainforest to Thekkady, a small town close to the entrance of Periyar National Park and our accommodation for the next two nights. Reaching the peak of the climb and arriving in Kumily, we cross the invisible border into Kerala from Tamil Nadu.