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.