Tour de Chilika

Waiting for the boat at Satapada

Yesterday (9th January, 2024) I came back from a successful cycling trip in Orissa. My riding partner this time was my school friend Ambarish Dutta who now lives in Bhubaneswar. 

The trip details in short are like this. 

On day one of our tour we cycled from Bhubaneswar to Puri (66 Km). On day two we went from Puri to Balugaon via Satapada (60 Kms cycling and a 3-hr boat ride). Day three was a straight ride along the highway from Balugaon to Bhubaneswar (96 Kms). Satapada to Balugaon was a direct boat ride for three hours. This is a sort of circumnavigation of Chilika. I took the cycle by train from Howrah to Bhubaneswar and came back the same way.

If you are not familiar with this region you might want to check out the map here 

The map generated by Google is a little misleading on the Satapada to Balugaon section. It is showing a different route to cross Chilika. We took a more direct straight line route. I will explain it later. Please ignore it for now. Google cannot generate the map of the route we took to cross the lake.

The total riding distance involved was approximately 220 kms. If one is reasonably fit with a half decent bicycle, one can quite easily do this in winter (provided you have some means of carrying your luggage). We didn't have anyone to guide us about the route but we had done the two sides of Chilika by car in the past. So we knew what to expect. But we had no knowledge about crossing Chilika. Not a single person could answer our question about the cross. Not even people who live there on either side of the lake. The internet also had no information whatsoever. We found it out on the spot and it worked perfectly for us. This was our good luck. And as they say, luck favours the brave. 

Now follows the details of the trip. 

The most intimidating part of the ride for me was the train ride. There are a plethora of rules to deal with when you book anything as cargo on Indian Railways. Then comes the thought of leaving my baby - vulnerable to dents and bruises - to the mercy of illiterate coolies who deal with loads in a very crude way. 

In case you are a foreigner - Indian trains don't allow you to load the bike in your compartment. There is no such provision to keep bicycles there. The train compartments are only for passengers. You have to book your bike as an extra luggage. It is loaded in a parcel van (we call it a brake van) that is usually attached at the head or tail of the train (or sometimes at both ends) that you are taking. These goods compartments are usually crammed with commercial luggage booked by various transporters and courier companies. The railway coolies load the bike alongwith all that. It is a scary sight if you love your bike. So giving your bike a good protective cover, while keeping it mobile, is of paramount importance before it is booked.

I went a day in advance to Howrah station to find out exactly where to go for booking the bike and what all to do. I will write a seperate blog on the subject because it demands one. Suffice it to say here that I found the place and learnt that one must come at least 4/5 hours before the train's departure time. 

Here is a link to my ride from home to the station.

My train - Jan Shatabdi - starts from Howrah at 1:40 pm and terminates at Bhubaneswar. This is the reason I chose it. I left home at 8ish - the distance being 10 Kms or so. The previous night I had done a basic packing of the various tubes of the bike using old styrofoam tubes that I had (possibly they came with one of my bikes years ago) and some zip ties and 3M sticker tapes. One can buy the tubes at Chandni Market from shops that sell supplies for the refrigeration industry (like fridges and AC etc. These pipes are commercially used for covering copper tubes against external heat). But these available pipes are a little narrow. I am told one can even use flat styrofoam sheets and curve them around the tubes with a little bit of heat blown on them and shaping them around the tube. I don't have a hair dryer. Will try this out some other time.

I will possibly write a seperate piece on how to pack a bike for a train ride in India. The accompanying photograph below should give some idea.

I thought that in Howrah I will get it commercially packed by the local coolies. I had thought I would take the saddle off and carry it with me in the train. I use an expensive and hard to find in India Brooks saddle. It is very dear to me and under no circumstance do I want to expose it to any risk of being slashed.

At the luggage booking office I came across a few very friendly booking clerks, which is unusual in India. They were extra cooperative to see a senior person travelling with his bicycle. They asked a lot of curiosity questions about the ride and about me in general and rued the fact that they still have to slog at work while I was enjoying the retired life. For the first time I realised it is sometimes an advantage to be old. 

At Howrah Station goods office

They said the bike looked adequately packed and there was no need to get it commercially packed. I said then let me at least cover the leather seat. I don't think they realise exactly how expensive the saddle is. I wrapped a piece of blister cloth over the seat. Before that there was a PPE foam sheet. Finally I put a plastic carry bag over the seat and tied it with a jute rope. I was carrying all this and more in the small Scout bag that I carried to the station. They came in really handy at the station. 

Friends and relatives accuse me of carrying extra stuff. But I never want to regret not bringing something. I try to think through every possible situation and go prepared accordingly and often with a few fall back plans (fashionably called Plan B by management folks). 

Once packed properly and booked I said a pryaer and left it at the mercy of my fate. Next I went across the river to Monisha's office to bring back my luggage. She carried them by taxi from home to her office in Dalhousie. At her office I took a small lunch and once again came back to the station with my luggage - one largish duffel bag and a mid sized back pack. The duffel also had my two empty Ortlieb panniers that would be used while riding. 

I came back about an hour before the scheduled departure time of the train. A coolie was deputed by the Railways to take my bike to the platform and load it in the brake van. An old man named Yusuf did the job. Before my bike a huge number of very large sacks were loaded into the train. Finally my bike was somehow tossed on top of all that.

Curious onlooker on platform. Waiting to be boarded 

I considered myself immensely lucky that at the penultimate moment before leaving - that is, the evening before - my trusted cycle mechanic Someswar came to my house and installed a rear derailleur cage. The one I brought from Rito's Stay Tuned was broken and wasn't the right model for my bike. This is a life saver gadget if you travel with your cycle in Indian trains.

I reached Bhubaneswar in the evening. My friend was there at the platform already and was standing in front of the brake van to oversee the unloading. By the time the door was opened I had reached the spot too. We didn't want the bike to be thrown off the brake van. The bike was brought down carefully in our presence and we pushed it from platform six to one. At the parcel office there were certain formalities that had to be completed before we were issued the gate pass to go out. It took about an hour, which is an inordinately long time after such a long journey.

From the station my friend took both my bags on his motorbike while I rode the bike to his house - a distance of about seven kilometers over excellent roads. In fact the road had a cycle lane. The bike wasn't rolling freely. Later I realised the rear wheel was slightly misaligned where it was tilted to one side and touching the brake pad. Fixed it by taking the wheel off at Ambarish's house and installing it properly. 

The next day was spent getting ready and generally lazing around. First I removed all the tubings from the bike. Next I packed the two Ortlieb panniers with things that would go on the trip and set them up on the bike. For reasons that I will not describe here, we could take a test ride with the load quite late in the night.  At 9 pm in fact, which in a small city is pretty late. This is the first time I am travelling with a heavy load. I wanted to see how it feels. So this test ride was important. 

We went for a six kilometer spin around the block along the dark roads of Bhubaneswar. The load was certainly very heavy but more or less reasonably balanced. The bike felt a lot more stable and planted with the load. This I had always heard about the LHT and it was true I realised now. The combined load would have been at least 20 Kg, if not more. I also had a rather heavy chain for night time parking in hotels which added to the total weight of the bike. And all this was on the rear side. 

Next morning we started off on our Tour de Chilika. 

Before the start of the tour 

Bhubaneswar to Puri  

The road from Bhubaneswar to Puri is a brilliant 4-laned state highway. However, as it runs through a moderately urbanised area, there is rampant wrong side riding by local motorcycle riders. They use the first lane where we were riding. So one had to be cautious all the time. There was hardly any other commercial or tourist traffic on that road. Although Puri is a major tourist destination, it is very well connected by rail. 

Tea break en route

We took one stop after around 25 Km when we took tea (in a cute little terracotta cup) and some biscuits. I was carrying some boiled eggs. I cannot remember if I had any. But generally speaking I wasn't feeling hungry at all. Perhaps because I was riding very slowly and was not pushing myself at all. I hardly felt any need to drink water. But I did keep myself hydrated even though I wasn't particularly thirsty. I keep a mix of normal water and water mixed with Electral for maintaining electrolytic balance.

I felt a little pain in the elbow. But nothing that didn't go away by changing the hand position on the handle bar frequently. 

We comfortably reached Puri around noon. Joy - our go to man for hotel bookings in Puri - had kept two rooms for us in a delightful little bungalow near the beach on Chakra Tirtha Road. We checked in happily and discovered much to our delight that we were the only guests there. Cycle parking was very safe under the portico of the house. At night we even brought them inside the living room of the bungalow. 

Outside Joy's villa off Chakra Tirtha Road

After a good long warm shower (the geyser and the overhead shower both work) we went to have lunch in one of the small hotels across the road followed by a siesta. A good deep sleep is perhaps the best recovery exercise one can imagine. I did that for sure, as is my wont. In the evening we went walking about a kilometer to Chung Wah for dinner. I love this authentic Chinese restaurant in Puri. It is actually owned and run by an immigrant Chinese family. 

In the evening we got some four eggs boiled for the next day's journey and went to sleep early. We weren't sure how we would cross Chilka and how much we might have to ride. We weren't sure where we might have to spend the night. It was all unknown. All I knew was we must reach Satapada and then find out all the details on the spot. That's the thrill of an adventure.

Beyond Sargadwar. Full of plastic trash

Puri To Balugaon via Satapada

From Puri we started in right earnest for Satapada at around 7 am. I took four boiled eggs with their shells intact as food for the road. We took the new 4-laned exit for about ten kilometers and then entered the narrow state highway towards Satapada. Although narrow, Satapada road had very little traffic and full of large trees and open fields. We stopped a couple of times for tea (there are many such shops on this road). I found a co-cyclist - a local villager who works in Calcutta. He said he was on holiday and was going for fishing. He works for Benfish near New Garia. I told him I would visit him there one of these days. He has another house in Hasnabad area of West Bengal. I told him that's a very Muslim area. Without getting offended he said he was Muslim too. We had very pleasant conversation for about five kilometers. He gave me some insights into life in general and fish in particular. He is a sorter of fish at Benfish. It felt really nice to have some conversation with a local. 

Many motorcyclists were slowing down next to us asking about where we were coming from and where we would go. All of them were very encouraging. Some even asked how much the bike cost etc. This is a question that really irritates me. I feel a little embarrassed and never disclose the actual price. I give a figure that in my estimate is slightly more than what they think it should cost. 

Waiting for the boat to Balugaon

Satapada, if you look at it on Google map, looks like a very wild place in the middle of water everywhere. Somewhat like western Ireland or northern Scotland etc. There is the open sea on one side and the big lake on the other. Though we call it a lake it is actually a lagoon - the largest brakish water lagoon in Asia. But when you actually reach the small hamlet it is rather underwhelming. No sea or lake is visible to the ordinary road user. It is just a very small hamlet with one parking lot for tourist vehicles, one marine interpretation center run by Chilika Development Authority and a Ro-Ro ferry ghat for going to Gopalpur. Tourists come here to see Irrawaddy dolphins. Because this is where the lake meets the sea and such areas are preferred by dolphins. 

To see all the water one needs to fly a little higher, I guess. 

In Satapada Ambarish stopped to take a work related phone call while I proceeded towards the ghat from where the boats and ferries start. 

If you plan to cross the lake with a car or even a truckk you need to go to the ferry ghat which is beyond the CDA building. If you are travelling with a motorcycle you can take a mechanised country boat that starts every half an hour from next to the Ro-Ro service. 

This way you are transported to a place called Jahnikuda from where you can go south and hit the highway to go to Gopalpur. If however, you want to turn towards north to go to Bhubaneswar then after hitting the highway you find Rambha first and then Barkul/Balugaon. Going to Balugaon via this route is quite a detour and will involve 60/70 km of riding after the ferry cross. 

All this may not make much sense unless you refer to the map or are familiar with the geography of the place.

As per our Google map research we realised it was possible to cycle 15/20 kms from Jahnikuda to Krushnaprasad (this is basically an island between the sea and the lagoon) and get a connecting boat/ferry to go to Balugaon (the map I have shared before shows this route). We had asked several people before about this connecting boat but no one could confirm it. We got very vague replies from people who were never too sure. Before entering Satapada someone told me yes it is possible. One has to go to Garh Krushnaprasad Jetty to get that connecting boat. 

Crossing the lagoon/lake

Near the ghat of Satapada when I reached and asked at a tea stall they also confirmed this. However, Ambarish soon called me (he had stopped a minute before me) saying there is another ghat from where a dirct boat goes to Balugaon. Someone else told him this. We were delighted. Several of our worries got taken care of in one go. We would go straight to Balugaon and wouldn't need to cycle an additional 70 km or so (it might get dark if we had to). 

In case you are interested - this boat starts from a ghat that is at the end of a narrow lane opposite to the parking lot. It normally starts at 12 noon. But on that day it would start at 12.30 they said (it actually did at 1 pm). It would cost Rs 80 and would take 3 hours. It is an open boat with a noisy engine. We would need to lay our cycles down and sit cross legged on the floor of the boat. You even have to take your shoes off. I guess it is a religious thing. Google map doesn't show this direct boat route. You cannot take a motorcycle on this boat. 

Waiting for the boat

We waited for an hour and a half under the shade of a large banyan tree near the ghat. This boat, we realised is mostly used by fishermen to send their catch in boxes to the market of Balugaon. There were around 8/10 other local passengers with us. One of them - a regular on this route - told us that if we had taken the other boat to Jahnikuda  we might have missed the connecting boat to Balugaon, as it was too late in the day. We told him that we were planning to take that as we were unaware of this direct boat service.

After a three-hour ride over the greyish water of Chilika we reached Balugaon. On the way we had the company of several brown-headed gulls who were being fed by some of the passengers. I also saw a few white bellied sea eagle and didn't miss the several brahminy kites that were flying around. Chilika is also a major birding destination and I have done it in the past. But this trip is about cycling.

Our bikes slept like this while we sat cross-legged

On the lake you never feel like you are very far from civilisation. There are signs of human activities everywhere. It is a major fishing area for local fishermen. At Balugaon the bank had concrete steps made (Satapada didn't have any such fancy embankment on the shore). We pushed the bikes up to the jetty. I have no idea where in Balugaon we disembarked. There was a busy fish market with a dirty narrow lane full of rickshaws and pedestrians. We made our way through all that and asked our way to hotel Digantika. 

We had the choice to go to Barkul which is 5/6 km in the opposite direction to Bhubaneswar. But we didn't want to cycle anymore. The bike ride from the jetty to Digantika was 2.5 km only. It was around 4.30 in the afternoon when we checked into Digantika. 

Parked bikes at Digantika, Balugaon

I have stayed in this hotel two times in the past. They have a covered parking space behind the hotel where we left our bikes, securing them together with my heavy chain. The hotel, though looks smart from outside is extremely basic and eminently avoidable if you have an option. An AC room cost us Rs 1200. There is no option in Balugaon actually. 

We had dinner at the restaurant attached to the hotel. Ambarish had a biriyani. I went for the traditional bhaat-daal-fried fish after a good warm shower. The geyser doesn't work here. But they gave us hot water in a bucket which was sufficient for me.

I made endless cups of tea and coffee in the room and went to sleep. We have a long 100 km ride tomorrow. 

Balugaon to Bhubaneswar 

Our longest ride from Balugaon to Bhubaneswar

In Balugaon we took our own sweet time to start and finally went out at 8 am despite this being the longest ride of the tour. From Balugaon it is a ten kilometer ride along the old narrow highway (with almost zero traffic) to the point where it meets the new 4-laned highway. It took us almost an hour to cover this distance because the road was fairly bad. Once on the highway the road surface was quite nice but there were three problems that we had to deal with. 

First was the relentless traffic passing by. These are mostly commercial traffic coming from South India. But the road being mostly 3-laned on either side, it was not a problem. We were riding on the extreme left lane of the highway and never felt intimidated by the trucks. There were some wrong side local motorcyclists but by now I am pretty used to them. 

The second problem was the series of flyovers or underpasses. It was like a chain of ups and downs. Relentless. I guess there were more than 30/35 flyovers that we crossed. But climbing the flyovers was not as difficult as dealing with the headwind that was also relentless. 

Climbing up slowly is not a problem for me because here you can see the enemy. But riding against a breeze is really tiring for me. It wasn't a wild wind or storm at all. But a constant breeze of sorts. My speed with all that load was naturally very slow.

There was one other fourth problem but that is a problem everywhere on Indian highways. It is very dusty. There are certain sections near Khurda where they are unfortunately cutting up entire hills. That throws up a lot of dust all over the area. It is very sad to see entire hills being flattened. Our future generation will perpahs pay the price for this senseless slaughter of nature. They are using the stones for building the roads of our country.

Breakfast outside Balugaon. Not as hot as it looks like here

Mentally I broke up the 96 kilometer ride into three sections of approximately 30 kms each. First came Tangi, the gateway to Manglajodi - a major birding destination in winter. Before Tangi we had a delicious breakfast of vidi vadas and rosogollas from a roadside eatery. One also gets idlis in these shops here but I didn't eat that. I had four crispy vadas instead. In fact as I write this my mouth is once again watering up. The rosogollas weren't up to the mark. They tasted more like danadars but gave me the sugar boost that I would need for the long journey. Vadas took care of the carb requirement. 

Somewhere near Khurda (Elephant corridor. Drive slow)

My next 30 km stage came at Khurda. This is where the hills are being cut up and it was very dusty here. There were a  few elephant corridor sign boards on the side of the road. I stopped for a photograph and then proceeded again. 

The last 30 km stage ended in Bhubaneswar city. My friend was kind enough to stop on the roadside to guide me out of the highway towards his home. It is otherwise very confusing with no signage anywhere. You are never too sure which exit goes where. 

In the evening we celebrated the successful end of the journey with another trip to another Chinese restaurant. 

Next day I unpacked everything from the cycle and loaded my luggage for the train journey. It was time to once again make the cycle "trainable" with all the foam covers. The train to Calcutta would start at 6 am in the morning. They had told me to book the cycle the evening before. I went to the station at 4 pm the previous day. It was a very smooth operation to book the bike for the outward journey. I had to leave the bike on the platform with no lock. That was a bit scary but railway is responsible for its safety.

Next morning my friend me dropped me at the station at around 5 am. The bike was still standing there alone. For the loading into the brake van they brought a cart loaded with some commercial goods in dirty looking sacks. They tossed my bike over them and pushed it away. The brake van being quite far from my compartment D6, I decided not to oversee its loading. I could hardly do anything much, I reasoned and left it to its fate.

At Howrarh Monisha came to take my luggage away (it would be impossible to put the heavy and longish duffel bag on the bike and ride it with the backpack on my back). On the platform I discovered my bike standing alone, resting against a lampost kind of thing and in the middle of lots of other unloaed commercial luggage.

I asked the railway official there if I could be released without going to the office. They checked my papers and issued a gate pass on the spot. I moved out of the station happily. This is not the norm (to be released like that straight from the platform) but I was lucky. 

Next step was to put Monisha in a taxi. This is a nightmare in Howrah. We found one somehow. I then cycled towards Ramkrishnapur Ghat alone from where I took a ferry to reach Babughat (costs Rs 6 each for the rider and the bike). After that it was a matter of just 8 km to home. I will explain this route in a seprate blog because not too many Calcuttans are aware of this route to cross the river.

Waiting to go home at Ramkrishnapur Ghat

So that's the end of my story. This journey taught me two things. A. Taking the cycle by train is not as nightmarish as I thought. I just need to work out a way to carry the luggage alone. B. I can quite ride for 8/10 hours at a stretch now. After three covid attacks between 2020 and 2022 I had got quite weak. Now I am back to normal. I have to improve my speed a bit. 

I have to next see how much weight I can carry up a mountain. The weight I carried on this trip might not be viable on a mountain ride. Let me see.