Cycling Hampi to Mysore. Along the Spine of Karnataka (en Inglés) - Tomas Belcik

Cycling Hampi to Mysore: Along the Spine of Karnataka

From the granite boulder fields of Hampi to the river plains of Srirangapatna and the royal city of Mysore, this is a journey across the interior of southern India-through landscapes that shift as steadily as the road beneath the wheels.

Leaving behind the temple ruins of Vijayanagara, the route moves into the open Deccan Plateau, where distances stretch and villages settle into a quieter rhythm. Gradually, the terrain changes. The road narrows, climbs, and bends into coffee country. Forests thicken. Traffic fades. Encounters become more immediate.

Along the way lie some of Karnataka's most remarkable cultural sites-Belur and Halebid, where stone temples reveal an astonishing level of craftsmanship, and Shravanabelagola, where a solitary granite hill rises abruptly from the plains, crowned by one of India's most striking pilgrimage monuments.

But this is not a guide to monuments alone.

It is a journey through the everyday texture of rural India-roads shared with buses and ox carts, fields drying crops in the sun, small markets, quiet tea stops, and long stretches where the rhythm of cycling becomes the only measure of time.

Based on a self-supported ride, this book combines route narrative with practical insight-stage structure, elevation, and navigation-while leaving space for discovery.

With 67 photographs, it offers both a guide and a visual record of a route that rewards patience, curiosity, and a willingness to move beyond the obvious.

This is one segment of a longer traverse across India-from Mumbai to the southern coast-designed to be ridden in parts or as a continuous journey.