We are publishing this 7 years later. We never documented this ride as it came to an abrupt end when I fainted whilst riding. I fell off, broke my collarbone and had to hole-up in a lodging for 10 days before being able to catch a bus. Then I travelled to Madurai and met up with my four ride buddies, who had carried on, a few days before we all flew home.
We didn’t document this ride, partly because it seemed like a failure. But that is to deny our vincibility. To deny that things do go wrong. That bad things can happen, and bike touring is not all roses. And that we get a bit older and more vulnerable every year. But that we can get back up and go on.
Should we stop going on new adventures after a medical incident? Certainly not. Since then, we have done 12 more tours and there are more in various stages of planning.
Let’s have a look at the ride up to the fall.
We met up at the airport near Goa and rode down the coast for a few days stopping at Margo, Karwar and Honnavar before climbing up to Jog Falls.
The country around Goa is lush and a favourite place for folks that have “dropped out”, mostly from Europe.
You can feel hemmed in on the west coast. It is a bit crowded. There are some big rivers and sometimes it’s best to cross on ferries rather than head inland just to find a bridge.
There is a highway down the west coast of course and there are some impressive trucks. Some have big loads. There’s something about them that makes us marvel and admire them. Perhaps it is how tidily they have been tarped and roped.
Moving inland, the country rises and there are beautiful scenes in the tea country. This is Karnartaka, not Kerala or Tamil Nadu where you expect to see tea. This state has equally beautiful scenery.
The roads are good and there is very little traffic.
Frequent chai stops happen. We have to sample the local product.
Jog Falls is a famous place in India but for us it was a fizzer. It was December and the dry season. But we were happy to be there.
The western ghats is a big range. Along the top there are extensive areas with wildlife reserves, forests, and quiet, unsettled places. You can head eastward onto the Deccan. Or you can wind your way around, occasionally seeing elephants, coming across hill stations and entering coffee country.
Further south is the Coorg, made famous in bike touring circles by Dervla Murphy. For now, we were entering Chikmalalur District. I’d last ridden through here in 2009.
Here in the south, in the larger towns, and especially in the district capitals, there are hotels (eateries) that match anything you can find anywhere.
We had a rest day in Chikmalalur.
The fall happened on the morning we left Chikmagalur. There was no warning. I was riding up a hill trying to keep up with my friend. We were chatting and suddenly I just fainted. It had never happened before, and has not happened since.
There was one funny aspect to this. A few days prior we had one of those discussions you have when on bike tours. Someone asks…”what day is it?” and you all realize you don’t know. You don’t need to know and just had not thought about it.
As I was regaining consciousness, one of the first-aid-trained buddies put her head down near mine and applied one of the classic tests to assess people for concussion. She asked me what day it was and I didn’t know. There was silence and then we all laughed.
We were scheduled to fly out from Madurai in two weeks. It was decided that I’d rest up in town whilst the others would carry on. In 12 days I would travel by bus with my bike to Madurai, find lodging and wait for them. I found someone that could pack my bike for me and get me on the bus to Bangalore where I had to change for Madurai.
In Chikmagalur I was closely scrutinised by the medical people. Brain scan, X-rays, ECG all for $40 in total and without any delay. Apparently, syncope is rare but can happen.
It was great to get to Madurai. We had passed through there in 1978. The town is famous, particularly because of the Meenakshi Temple. Seeing it was the main reason for ending our tour in Madurai.
This shot is of one of the gates. It is 10 stories high.
It’s been a long wait. Now it’s time to do some more rides in India. Maharashtra 2025 is coming up.