Ride to Ooty and Gudalur

Jan 29, 2012
i'v been eagerly awaiting a ride to to try photography with my new camera. And a trip to Ooty seemed perfect..
Ooty is about 145 km from Palakkad via Coimbatore and Metupalayam. Assuming 3.5hrs, i decided to start early, at about 6am.
Ride upto kerala border at Walayar was gud but the roads in the tamilnadu side were a mess. Reached Coimbatore by 7.15am. From there turned to Metupalayam. If i thought that road from Walayar to Coimbtore were bad, the roads from Coimbatore to Metupalayam were shockingly worse. The roads were dug up in many parts and were dusty..
I had breakfast at hotel midway.. Not good. The roads eventually began to turn to sharp hairpin bends and climate slowly cooler.. Embankments on either sides were manned by playful monkeys scampering to and fro. There was enough traffic and bends were easily negotiable. Initially the view from hairpin bends were blocked by the mist. However as the day wore on and i climbed up , the mist cleared producing spectacular view of Nilgiris..
Reached Coonor and Kotagiri by 9, there were quite a few tourist spots like Dolphin's Snout look out point but i decided to give em a miss as i was running on a tight schedule..
Onwards to Ooty. It kept getting colder and colder and traffic was still high.. The wayside sceneries weren't as good as i expected as the mist kept playing spoilsport. Anyway reached Ooty by 10.15..
In Ooty headed straight to BoatHouse Lake. Have to follow a winding road beside the lake along a closed Deer Park to reach the Boat House. Maintained by Tamilnadu Tourism, it was beautiful, spic n span but a bit deserted too. There was a well laid out manicured garden beside the boat jetty that follows on the right side of the bank-ideal for walking hand in hand. Anyway i rented out a pedal boat for half an hour at 90rs. Lake was beautiful, calm, placid with tree branches languidly bending over the lake.. It was pure pleasure boating there and clicking photos. Had the best boating experience ever. But then my time was soon up and i headed away.
Passing by Childrens Park and Thread Garden i headed out to Arboretum, a small well maintained garden of exotic trees and plants.
Next on agenda was the famous Botanical Garden..There's an entry fee. My, the place was huge, beautiful and crowded.. Beautiful exotic trees, long tree lined paths, well trimmed bushes, small decorated lily ponds, green lawns, glass houses, well gardened hillocks with bright colourful flowers. It has about a 1000 plants, some sort of tree fossil and Toda tribal huts. It was really a treat to the eyes. Except for the overcrowded part, it was awesome and must not be missed.
Next stop was Dodabetta peak,7km from Ooty, the highest peak in South India. The road was winding upwards sharply and it kept getting colder. My fingers were already paining from cold.. Soon the road turned right and entered a lonely dirt track up another 3km, ending in a parking lot which was surprisingly crowded.. Again there's a 5rs entry fee. Besides a well laid out garden, there's a building which house the telescope which unfortunately is not working. Anyway the building offers a panoramic view of Ooty town and surrounding vignetes from the peak.. Photos clicked i headed back.
It was 1.30 and i headed next to Rose garden. This had a very large collection of beautiful varieties of roses. A feast for the eyes. I rushed through the rose garden.
I had to miss out on Wax Museum, Tea Factory and Mini Garden.
Next on agenda was window shopping through the bazaars of Ooty..
It was 2.30 when i started for Gudalur, 58km away.. The road to Gudalur was the highlight of the journey. The road was excellent, traffic was low, high trees lined either sides of road and road just slopes down to Gudalur unlike sharp bends of Ooty.. Its perennialy green hillocks with thick pine forests and winding beautiful rivers offer endless picnic spots enroute..i'v stopped at a min of 15 spots enroute to take photos. On the way,up along a dust trail, i reached serene, undisturbed Pykara lake as well as Pykara Waterfalls which was a small affair.. Other spots which should not be missed are Glenmorgan falls, Wenlock Downs, Kalahatty Falls, Ketti Valley View, all of which i decided to give a miss due to time constraints. The whole route appears to be a Honeymoon special. After Pykara falls the winding roads offers excellent view of tea gardens, plantations and estates. However the road also turns a bit narrow, bad and with sharp curves..
It was 5 when i reached the quaint small town of Gudalur. Nothing much there. 55km to Nilambur..This forested winding road though full of potholes, was also beautiful . It was 7 when i reached Nilambur and dark.. From there headed back to Palakkad via Wandur, Pandikkad, Melattur, Alanellur, Kaladikode, Mannarkad.. It was 10pm when i reached home, my bike clicked 398km and me exhausted with a sore back..
Review: excellent trip, not to be missed if you'r with wife or gf.

The Ride to Parambikulam, Dhoni waterfalls but ending in Meenvellam waterfalls..

8 jan 2012
I've been waiting for sometime to go to Parambikulam wildlife park.. But basically couldnt find anyone to accompany me.. This week i decided to go there come what may.. Whole week i researched on the subject and come sunday i was very excited.. And decided to ride out alone..
I started from home by 6.30 am. It was very cool morning. Had tucked up my jacket and slung up my camera.. I headed from palakkad to Pollachi route via Kinasseri, puthunagaram , chittur, vandithavalam, menakshipuram.. Very smooth road.. Hardly any traffic. Was speeding above 70kmph. Soon crossed over to Tamil Nadu.. At 10km frm Pollachi, turned right to head to Anamalai.. Anamalai is small nondescript tamil town. Had breakfast here.. It seems there is a Masaniammam Kovil where there is a huge rush of Ayyappa devotees. Made my way out of there and headed to Setumadai... Setumadai is a very small village.. Unfortunately i took a wrong turn here, headed up into some Sarkarpathy dam about 10km away.. It was a long, deserted forested route.. A good ride.. But had to come back to Sethumadai and head out to Topslip.. But on the way was a forest checkpoint. The guards said bikes are not allowed further.. Buses are available but its another 3 hours away.. Taxis take about 1500 bucks.. Damn.. Nevertheless i decided to turn back and come back another time.. Maybe a bad decision.. But i hate to wait...
So i headed back.. Was speeding at 80s in my disappointment.. I took a wrong turn and instead of going to Vandithavalam, i headed out to Muthalamada and Kollengode further. No problem its just a slight deviation.. And from there rode back to palakkad.. Reached palakkad by 10.15am...
Half an hour later rode out to Dhoni waterfalls, 10km from Palakkad, off Olavakkod... However when i reached to forest checkpoint they said waterfalls are closed for atleast 6 months as some people died there recently.. Talk about badluck..
But i wasn't about to give up.. Next destination Meenvellam waterfalls.. Dats abt 35 km frm palakkad.. 25 km on palakkad kozhikod highway. From Kalladikode, turn right and go for about 10km.. From kaladikode, the way was small and full of potholes.. Soon the way deteriorated to such a terrible extend that it was practically unmotorable.. The way was strewn with loose rocks and big potholes.. Going by bike even going on first gear was difficult.. It was the worst stretch of road i'd ever been in.. Unless you want to have your insides shaken uncontrollably go in a All Terrain Vehicle(ATV).. After a long bumpy journey i reached the checkpoint where they asked for 10rs coupon.. From there we have to ride up another 2.5km thats probably the worst stretch.. I seriously thought of stopping the bike and pushing it.. Finally reached the base point.. From there we'd have to walk up another 300ms.. After meandering through some construction sites i did reach the waterfall..
Waterfalls was a big let down.. It was a small affair.. Of course there was sufficient space to swim around and it was not too deep.. Dont think ladies could make it, didnt see any.. After taking one or two photos trudged home..
On the way back to the checkpoint, i saw an opening through a clearing. Thought i'd check it out.. The opening went down onto a amazingly beautiful and secluded green waterpond formed by 3 small gurgling streams.. This water body made of rocks which are max 2 feet deep led off into a big stream which gurgled down numerous small heights.. Overall it was so so quiet. I was so moved by its beauty i spend close to an hour there taking photos and taking in the scenic beauty. Just sat on a rock and let my feet be washed by the streaming water while enjoying the music of gurgling waters..If you ever go there dont miss this clearing, though its slightly secluded..
The journey back was uneventful and reached home by 4pm. Dats abt 250km done..
Overall, Meenvellam waterfalls, highly overrated.. Avoid if possible..

The Ride To Palani

I've been wanting to go to Palani ever since my lab technician went there by jeep to get his head tonsured. It was frankly a suprise to me that Palani was only around 130km from palakkad.. Ideal for bike journey..

So this fine sunday we started early morning as usual, me with my friend Arun Gopi.. Only thing riding with him is that he doesnt drive. Often times i'v to drive all day myself often driving more than 350km.. But he's a best friend..
Our route was from Palakkad to Pollachi.. Thats as usual 45km.. This time we went by Koduvayur, puthunagaram, chitur, menakshipuram to pollachi.. Climate was cool in the early morning and the world was still waking up only. As usual roads are good, traffic less and we taking it easy n slow only reached pollachi in 1hr.. It was 8 and we were hungry yet we decided to press on..
Taking diversion from pollachi, we went on Palani road. Its 75km to Palani from Pollachi.. The road was good but at places it was bad. The traffic was picking up and the Tamil sun was slowly showing its true colours. It was getting too hot.. The whole area was intersped with huge wind mills and the road looked like it was snaking throug a windmill farm.. There was strong gust of wind regularly.. The scenery now quite resembled the typical tamil countryside.
We stopped at had breakfast at wayside hotel. The food was good..
Soon we were on our way. The way was turning hilly and hotter.. Far away we could see a huge mountain rear up its head with a temple on top.. Its another 5km with temple view and then we have to turn right beside a huge water pool to enter Palani town..
Palani town is a small, dusty, congested,typical tamil town... We headed towards the temple entrance.. Before that, i felt like taking a bath as i was dirty from the long journey.. There are many shops which offers toilets and bathrooms at affordable rates of 5 and 10.. Bathroom was a large hall with a large water tank in the middle.. Obviously private cabins are not available. Considering there was no one else we made do with what we had..
It was 12 noon now.There are private parking lots available but We parked our bikes by the road and prayed for the best.. Shoe keeping counters are available and we kept our shoes there and began trudging up the steps of holy temple.. There are 650 steps and view from hill getting better and better as we climb up.. There are many shops on the way up selling toys, sweets, icecream etc. We had icecream to soothe the heat..
Half an hour later, sweating and panting we reached the top of hill.. The top provides and absolutely breathtaking panoramic view of the surrounding areas.. The water pool which we passed by down, shimmered in the sun.. Inspite of it being a sunday, it was not crowded as we expected.. There was a 100rs special darshan token or free token.. The free darshan line seemed to have barely 70 people in it and we decided to stand in it n save money.. But alas.. We were in for a shock.. The line snaked and snaked and it actually turned out to be a very long line. And tamilians true to their character always looking for ways to break line and sneak in somehow.. Anyway after a hour and a half of serpentine line waiting we were led directly into the sanctum sanctorum.. The sanctum was a large hall with a big black image of Lord. Lord's face was beautifully sculpted with rather large ears. I couldnt observe much more as i had to pray. I must say i've had enough time to pray and it was a good Darshan.. We circumambulated the temple and came out feeling very blessed.
Outside we bought the Prasadam and the famed Panchamritam. I bought two bottles one for me and other for back home..
We decided to go down via the haulage wench. It was a small toy train like one at Ooty, only more congested n stuffed. But there was a huge rush for this train and we had to wait more than a hour to climb onto it. We could have easily gone down walking in this time. The haulage wench journey wasnt that much exciting with it being stuffed n all, but it was a novel experience.. Anyway reached down, collected our shoes, and we were out of temple.
We had breakfast at one of the hotels in Palani, then we got on the long ride home. We rode slowly taking in the view, scenery and everything. It was late when we reached palakkad. I had to go till Ambalapara to drop my frnd off n come back.. Thats another 45 + 45 =90km more to endure.. Anyway it was very late when i hit bed.

The Ride To Athirapally, Vazhachal and Sholayar.

This was a great trip with my friend Prashant Sagar.. He lives in Angamali, however agreed to meet me at Chalakudi where we were supposed to turn to Athirapally..
I've had to start from Palakkad very early in the mornin.. I started out at 6 am.. Palakkad Thrissur is the worst stretch of road i've ever been on, particularly the region from Vadakkanchery to Mannuthy.. Not only are the roads narrow, its so full of potholes that driving in difficult. On top of that its a high traffic area with trucks and Volvo buses coming at full speed on the wrong side.. So generally i dread going by bike through the route.. Its about 76 km and took 1hr 45 min.. Not bad considering the state of road.
Anyhow, it was early morning, so comparitively less traffic and had a uneventful ride to Thrissur.. From Thrissur we have this excellent super highway.. Riding is pure pleasure on this stretch from thrissur upto kalamasseri.. So about 30km till Chalakudi and i was speeding at about 90 kmph.. My heart did jump once when i saw a police patrol car parked by side.. Fortunately they were checking trucks..
On reaching chalakudi, met up with my friend and we decided to journey upto Athirapally via potta which turned out to be a roundabout journey.. Anyway its 32km till athirapally, roads are good, traffic is ok amd slowly the terrain was getting hilly..
About 15km into journey we reached the gates of Thumburmuzhi dam and garden. There is a small entry fee and for camera also. The garden is well kept and manicured.. We walked the steps towards the water. Its was exquisite site. The water in the catchment area was shallow, upto waist deep . There were numerous large rocks projecting out of water and some under water rock too.. So you can actualy hop across these rocks all along the catchment area if you're nimble footed and careful enough not to slip over slippery rocks under water..
We jumped across the rocks hopping across one rock to another. I had to be extra careful as i had a camera in one hand... It really felt adventurous and exciting.. Best part of it was there were numerous girls on the trip who were slipping and slipping and falling off onto water.. I guess it'd be difficult to jump across rocks if you'r wearing churidar n all.. All togethor a very good experience..
We soon moved off from there to our original destination athirapally.. The way was really getting hilly but the roads were good and scenery was getting better too. On the way we saw Adventure Park.. It didnt look so enticing so we went off on our way.. Half an hour later after some hair pin bends we reached the gate of Athirapally water falls.. We had to climb up some wooden (actually concrete ) stairway to reach there.. That affords a view from the side. It was breathtakingly beautiful... You can also go down along the sides through a long, paved tortous route to be directly in front, although a bit off of this amazing two waterfalls.. Kinda felt out of breath.. There were rocks jutting out from there and there was water spray everywhere.. Kinda overcrowded. It was a photographers delight. I took many photos.. Worst part was the climb upwards. I was exhausted and literally panting.. Again the best thing that made the whole thing worthwhile was the presence of innumerable girls..
Eventually we reached up at the gate. It was 1pm. We went to nearby Ktdc hotel for lunch. Egg fried rice. Twas ok.. From there we set out to Vazhachal waterfalls.
Again we had to take ticket. This one turned out to be a low key waterfall.. A series of small waterfalls. Somewhat beautiful.. Took some photos.. Weren't many people there too..
From there we decided to go to Sholayar dam.. It was 40km away and it was 2.30pm already. The route was through forest. The guards at checkpost checked us and our bike for alcohol. Even petrol tank too. We were told to return before dark..
And so we started with an eye on watch.. It was an uphill road..Soon the route was fully forested and scenery was getting really beautiful with views and hairpin bends. The roads keep getting worse and worse... There were only a few vehicles on the road.. The bumpy ride sure takes the fun out of the scenery. We were busy negotiating the hairpins and loose rocks in bumpy road to admire the scenery... Soon yo reached the base of dam where we were told that dam was closed and not open to visitors.. Disappointed, we had to turn back after taking some photos of the dam view from outside..
The road back was downhill. It was much easier. We just had to avoid the bumps.. Reached Athirapally by 5.30.. From there we sped towards Chalakudy. It was 6.30
when we reached Chalakudi.. We parted and i had to make the long trip back to Palakkad by night. My worst nightmare.. Anyway i drove slowly, had dinner on the way, somehow managed the Mannuthy-Vadakenchery stretch and reached home by 9.30pm.. A very satisfying journey.. Sweet memories..

The Ride To Guruvayur

The Ride To Nelliampathy

The Trip To Pazhayannur and

The Trip To Nilambur

The Ride To Palani

The Ride To Vaalparai

The Ride To Kottakkal, Thirunavaya Temple, Kadampuzha Temple,

The Ride To Aryankavu

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