Day 10 – Kannur to Kasargord – Running and Beyond

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The day started with a delicious breakfast at Komala Vilas. I wanted to find out if this hotel has any relation to the one in Singapore. Further enquiries revealed that it is older than the one in Singapore. Started in 1918 as ‘Komala Vilas Coffee Club,’ the word Restaurant was added later to it. Somehow, I felt that the breakfast was better than the one in Singapore! For records, the hotel in Singapore was started only in 1947!.

I took a diversion from the highway to a place called Azhikode from where I need to take a boat to reach Mattul. It was a normal passenger boat and I struggled to accommodate my bike. On separate instances, I could see people loading even motor bikes in boats much smaller and getting across rivers. After riding through a few well-laid village roads, I reached the highway again at Payyangadi. I had my afternoon lunch at a ‘Udupi-style’ vegetarian hotel in Kalikkadavu. It was followed by a rest at a nearby browsing centre.

The afternoon ride was through Nileshwaram and Kanchangad. I was advised at Mahe that I should try and visit Sree Narayana Ashram at Kanchangad where I can get a free stay and food! A deviation from the highway made me miss the Ashram and proceeded towards the Bekal fort. I reached Bekal Fort at 5:30 PM when it was about to be closed. The fort looked magnificent from outside and I believe it was a spot for many scenes in Tamil movies. It was too late in the evening to enter the fort and thus, missed a good opportunity.

My destination for the evening sunset was Kuppal Beach, I reached the Kuppal beach to enjoy the sunset. Another quite beach with no disturbances leaving me to enjoy the sunset at its best. I still needed to cover about 8-10 Kms from there. The ride to Kasargod was the only one I did in complete darkness. It got worse as I had to climb down about 150m and climb the same height again. I was drained a bit at this stage and wondered if I will have any more strength to go further to Mangalore. Mangalore was only about 60 Kms from Kasargod and found some solace in that information. After battling these challenges, I eventually reached Kasargod very late in the evening.