Pedal-blog of K2K: A trip from KOCHI TO KANYAKUMARI, on bicycle TravelGoal

The memories of this trip still give me chills and a sense of pride. A 350 kilometres Cycle tour from Kochi to Kanyakumari. Traveling is meant to admire the nature. But somehow we overlook this fact and end up spoiling it instead. After Exploring the North and west India, my 2 friends and I were keen to explore the southern part and its culture. But we found a global and environmental cause to accomplish our desire to explore southern India.

We were already working for a not-for-profit organisation called AccelerateSD(or Accelerate Sustainable Development),based in Wayanad district of Kerala. The organization focuses on engaging Youth & working professionals to choose careers related to Environmental Conservation problems aligned with Sustainable development goals(SDGs). My Friends and I were able to pitch the idea of a cycle tour to the founder of this organisation,Akshay Gunteti. So it was decided that a 6 day "Replace Plastic Tour" will commence from Kochi to Kanyakumari.

Day 1

Kochi

I came to Kochi all the way from Gandhinagar,Gujarat on 25th of April. I met my 2 friends there. Hopefully we got 2 more travelers to join the cycle tour.

Day 2

Fort Kochi

Next day, We all stayed at the Lost Hostels, in fort Kochi. Fort Kochi is one of most scenic places I've ever seen.

We hired 5 cycles @200 per cycle/day. We started the day by cleaning out plastics from Fort Kochi Beach and then moved for Press Conference where more than 30 journalists interviewed our Cycle Tour.

Later we got flagged off by then Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Mr. Alphons Kannanthanam.

Then in the afternoon we started cycling from Kochi to Alleppey which was around 60 km away.

Day 3

Alleppey

The roads were majestic, on both the sides you have tall coconut and palm trees along with backwaters with black clouds above giving the nature a perfect contrast.We also cycled in pitch dark roads and reached Zostel Alleppey late night.

Day 4

Kollam

After spending a comfortable night at Zostel, our next destination was Kollam which we covered by boat, the journey was of approximately 8 hours, all in the Beautiful Backwaters of Kerala. There we witnessed why the backwaters is immensely praised by the travellers. It is basically chain of Lagoons and lakes parallel to Arabian sea.

Varkala

Then in the evening we started cycling from Kollam to Varkala on the roads where on one side there was Arabian Sea and on another side it was Backwaters.We covered the distance of 30 kms in around 4 hours and reached Lost Hostels late night.

This Day was sort of a rest day and excursion as we were in Varkala, where you'll find one of the pristine beaches of India. Varkala Beach is the only place in southern Kerala where cliffs are found adjacent to the Arabian Sea.We started the day by soaking us under the sun and playing with the waves. We interacted with Travellers in the hostel and got to know about how Plastic Pollution is tackled in their respective countries.Later we did a beach clean-up drive at Varkala Beach and were glad that there were very fewer plastic pieces there, but we knew it's not going to be the same forever.

Finally, we serviced our bicycles at the local Bike shop and we were ready for the next day. Chill Day!

Day 5

Kovalam

We started the day by having authentic Kerala breakfast. The roads in Varkala were steep, quite steep. In first three hours we covered mere 12 kms that includes playing football and chatting with school kids midway.

We also shared our knowledge regarding Plastic Pollution and told them how they can be Environmental conscious.

After cycling for sometime we met with the highway and here our speed increased drastically, we covered around 40kms in 4 hours taking small breaks in between at Petrol Pumps because there you can free cold water and you don't have to buy plastic bottles at all.

In the evening we reached our destination, Kovalam, where again our stay was at The Lost hostels..

Day 6

This day was again rest day, we started the day with Beach Cleanup Drive at Kovalam Light House Beach where we collected three bags of small plastic pieces that are most dangerous as they are eaten by fish or birds easily and it chokes their throat.

Some elderly people also joined us and congratulated us for the thing that we were doing.

Later that day, we made sand castles and had one of best dinners so far, at a local roadside shop, authentic Kerala Dosa and Omelette.

Day 7

Kanyakumari

This was going to be one of the toughest day so far, we were going to cycle 90 kms in a single day. Nearly double the distance what we were covering almost everyday.

We planned to woke up at 5 but actually we woke up at 9, only 4 hours behind the schedule...XD

We stopped at Poovar Beach for Beach clean up drive where the Local Photographers joined us and supported us.

Later we started cycling in the afternoon in full swing, the roads were crowded, ups and downs, highways, narrow ways. People greeting us with thumps up and sometimes with a warm smile.

We finally reached Kanyakumari late night around 11 in the night. We hugged and congratulated each other for being a team player and completing the Tour as a Team.

Next day I woke up early and got the chance to see the sunrise from the last point on mainland India.

At noon, we travelled back to Kochi by train. It was the most amazing feeling to complete such exhausting yet awe-inspiring cycle trip that we would have never thought of doing without the help of The Lost hostels, Zostel and friendly localites...:)

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