Chandipur Beach of Odissa

Just returned from a very short trip of Chandipur Beach of Odissa. It was on my bucket list for a long time. Once I read an article about a coastal trek from Chandipur to Digha along the coast. I wanted to do that too. Many times I planned a cycle trip to Chandipur but that had not happened yet. So as I got a 1.5 day off from my job I went straight to Chandipur. It had its own hardles. I first planned to do this trip with Sourav but in the morning of starting day I came to know that Sourav will not go. I was in a dilemma, could not decide if I would go or not.  But when the time came, a short spell of rain changed everything.

As I came to know in the morning that Sourav would not go, me too thought of going back home. So after finishing my work at around 1pm I went to petrol pump to fill up the tank and head back home. Then a short spell of shower turned the weather so beautiful that my bike automatically turned towards Chandipur. I headed straight towards Kantai, where I would catch NH60. I didn’t even had lunch. 

After the shower it became a bright sunny day. NH60 was a delight to ride. Traffic was very sparse, road surface was good, what more to ask for. So in no time I reached Amarda. There I stopped in a dhaba to eat something. Ordered roti, chicken. As I was having lunch it started raining. Evan as I was about to start from there, I had to wait because it was raining again. I was prepared for rain with my rain gear. So as the intensity reduced I started from there. Only 40km was left. But the weather became very worse. Sometimes the severity of rain was so bad that the rain drops were hurting my skin. I had to stop a few times even after wearing raincoat. In this way I reached Baleswar.

As I reached Baleswar suddenly the weather cleared and I was surprised to find that it had not rained there. From the highway I took a left towards Baleswar town. This road gies to Chandipur after crossing Baleswas town. Bike riders should be more alert in this town as I found that almost nobody checks before turning. Anyone can turn to any side without prior warning. After crossing Baleswar only a few kms were left. And finally I reached Chandipur.

It was almost evening. I expected to reach Chadipur before sun down but the rain had scrambled my plan.  So I went to the first small hotel that I found there and booked a room and rushed to the beach. But unfortunately it was already dark. Mu hotel had a back door which directly opens in the beach. As I entered the beach I found that most of the hotels have the same facility. It was a natural beach without any modernisation like high mast lights, shops, paved road etc. So it was dark. And it was flat.

I slept early and set alarm in mobile to getup before sunrise to go to the beach. As planned I got up at 5 am and went to the beach. The beach was beautiful in its own way. Its very flat. And its muddy. Even after going 200-300 mtr inside the sea, water just reaches your knee. This is bad for those who consider taking bath in sea is a must if you are visiting a beach. The beach was beautifully devoid of any people. Only I was there. Then came a lonely fisherman and a middle aged morning walker. 

And lots of cows were standing at one place on the beach. The stretch of road from Baleswas town to Chadipur beach also had numerous cows. They were sitting and standing in the road in such manner as if it is their home. So apart from the cows and myself no one was in the beach. High tide had deposited some debris at the shoreline. Among them were a particular type of snail shell. Except that no other type of shells were there. This reminded me of my childhood memories when I would collect bag full of seashells whenever I visited Digha. I had collected a few shells here too.

Then I returned hotel to pack my luggage. Checkout time was 8:00 and I had planned to start my return journey at about that time as I planned to reach home by lunch. The weather was totally different from previous days. A bright sunny day. After having tea I started return journey as planned at 8am. My plan was to take the Egra-Kathi road from Jaleswar. At Jaleswar I missed the turn and wrongly took the Digha road. This road was very tempting to ride, wide newly laid road, shining black surface. It made me confused. So I went to a shop for breakfast. There I asked the owner about the Egra Kathi road. He said it is good, only a small section is bad. So I decided to take that road as taking the Digha road will add more kms to my trip. There was a small connecting road which led me to the other road.

As I finally reached the road only one question came to my mind, “where is the road?”. It was just a undulating surface with a hint of bitumen surface which was long gone. I was not sure what to do. Anyway I continued to ride in that road. And almost after Solpatta the road became good again. Road work was going on in this stretch, so in near future that worse section will also be repaired. Kathi was not very far. From Kathi I followed Kathi Tamluk road. I was surprised very much. Almost 80-90% road work was finished. Now this road is NH116B and true to its name, it was a wide smooth road just like other highways. Because of this I reached home within 1pm. my trip finally ended in exactly 24 hrs.