Visakhapatnam – Srikakulam – 109 km
The map wasn’t as accurate as one would’ve liked, and, instead of
following the coast, our path spat us out on the highway. With the
help of a good tailwind, cycling became an absolute pleasure. We
understood from passers-by there were short clips of us on TV, and
people stopped to tell us they’d seen us and took a few pictures. I
was happy I wasn’t a celebrity and had renewed respect for them. I
didn’t think I could continuously handle this kind of attention. More
remarkable was how quickly one became blasé about it.
Soon afterwards, we reached Srikakulam and we called it a day,
mainly due to the sweltering heat. Finding budget digs was more
difficult than we envisaged due to the town’s Arasavalli Sun Temple, a
seventh-century sun temple considered one of the oldest sun temples
in India. It’s an important temple, and many pilgrims filled the town’s
more economical rooms.
Srikakulam – Palasa – 89 km
Our initial plan was to do 140 kilometres. Still, we came upon the
smallish town of Palasa, one of India’s largest cashew-producing
towns. The town looked good enough to spend the night, and heading
out on the hunt for supper was an adventure as the streets came
alive with people, carts, bicycles and rickshaws. Food carts were
numerous, and the variety was immense. Once we bagged a meal of
veg-fried noodles and other essentials, we headed to our abode to
feast.