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Journalism of Courage
With its incessant potholes and inadequate cycle tracks, India is hardly a place for cyclists. However, the country still has some of the most scenic cycling routes in the world.
Erik Solheim, a former Norwegian diplomat, Tuesday tweeted an aerial shot of a beachside road and captioned it, “World’s Most Beautiful Cycling Route ? Udupi, Karnataka, India.”
The photo soon gathered over 47,000 likes in a matter of a few hours.
Solheim did not name the specific road or the route in the photo and that prompted many Indians to guess the exact location. Many people correctly guessed it as Maravanthe Beach near the town of Byndoor in Karnataka’s Udupi district, which is close to National Highway 66.
However, some users contested the former diplomat’s tweet. A Twitter user wrote, “Definitely not cycling friendly road. I had been there many times. Cars and trucks go at speed of 100kmph. Also, there is no dedicated line for cycling.”
Some of them guessed the location incorrectly and talked about another route as well.
Another said, “For those advising it as NH & can’t do cycling, let me correct. It’s not NH u quoting of another heaven #Maravante beach in Byndooru, this is Malple-Mattu-Kaup road stretch which is absolutely a cycling route.”
https://twitter.com/TheNameIsVeer/status/1526448570936664064
The picture shared by Solheim was originally taken by photographer Dhenesh Annamalai, who had shared it on his Instagram account @aerial_holic.
While sharing the photo, Annamalai wrote, “Maravanthe Beach so unique is the fact that it is surrounded by two beautiful water bodies, namely the Arabian Sea on the western side, while the placid and amazing Sauparnika River on the eastern side”.
