Day 10 - 60 km ride along the coast

With most of the shops shut on strike the ride was a bit more relaxed, no doing battle with trucks and lorries.  But the buses, tuctucks and mother bikes still gave us a run for our money!

We cycled along the coastal road between the sea and the backwaters, didn't know which way to look at there was so many interesting things to see.  But no monkeys this far down in Kerala.

So I just had to keep stopping to take photographs....

We passed a boat builders, making the traditional Keralan fishing boats.  All wood, they looked as though they had been stitched together:

Beautiful inspiration for mark making?

It will need oiling and then sealing with tar to make it waterproof and ready for sailing.

Stopping for drink breaks frequently beneath the shade of a convenient tree there is a chance to see what is going on 

One of the main 'industries' of Kerala is coir processing.  The coconut husks are separated and the fibres collected together for spinning into the ropes and other items.

On we cycled passed fishing nets,

boats (various) and

palm tree fringed beaches, dotted with water birds.

Fishermen were busy,

and wherever we stopped Rintu attracted a crowd of friendly children!

Our tea stops are very often taken at roadside kiosks,

but today we have many more miles to pedal...60 km / 37 miles in all on a very, very hot day.

So it was with relief we turned right, made our way down the canel and into our next home stay. And of purse a chilled glass of fresh watermelon juice helped too.

The hotel is on the waterfront, so our bikes were parked in front and off we went to find our chalets.  Debs and mine is the one on the rights. Unlike the others ours wasn't thatched, but our walls were still made of palm leaves; thank goodness it had air con though as it was really hot and humid.

Here's the view from our veranda, we can sit here and watch the world float by.

Want to have a look around? 

It's really quite a treat with all its dark brown polished wood and copper (brass?) fittings and things. The lights are the lovely glass hand blown ones that we have seen all over India.  I have this feeling that they may have originally come from Belgium, but then I might have totally made that up.  

All looks quite colonial.

Here's a closer look at the brassware gleaming in the late afternoon sun.

And this is the pot of orchids hanging on the veranda.

Hurrying back to the main house for my Ayurvedic massage (a very interesting experience) I saw this chap busily fishing.  See the plastic bag hanging up?  Well it was positively jumping with fish...

Doesn't our dinner table look lovely? Lorraine had been busy with the help ( and shopping skills) of Joseph and Rintu.