New Ride on to Yercaud.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
The Ride is ON!!
What a trip! Motorcycling across towns, villages, jungles, hills all the way up to Udagamandalam (Ooty).
On all my previous rides I had thought I would write down the experience after the trip. But I never got to it. Every trip has been memorable. Sometimes it was about Harleys or bullets, sometimes the beauty of the west coast, sometimes it’s the people I was riding with. But this one was different.
It was April 25th 2008. My wify had been pestering me to make an outing for quite sometime. I was also desperate for a good break. The last few weeks at office had been a real fryer. I was feeling more and more drained out and lost everyday. I had started dreaming of relaxing in a jungle lodge over a cup of tea with nothing to do, nothing on my mind. Unfortunately my lifestyle in the recent times had been so screwed that I did not even have the time to plan a proper outing. Cutting all the cribs short, I finally started making an effort to think about a break. I had spoken to Bharath on a couple of occasions about making a ride across to some place. I had a short duration of a day or two in mind. Considering how seldom these kind of plans work, especially with Bharath, even two days was a stretch. But then, I got to know that May 1st was a holiday. Don’t be surprised. I know I am supposed to know this at least considering the profession I am in. I knew it from my work perspective, I had it planned in my project plan. But then, my work had taken its toll recently and hence it did not make it to my personal plans.
I started looking desperately for places that I can do. This time though, my plans were for 4 days. May 1st to 4th. It was expected that Bharath would drop out, he will always have something. But I was in no mood to let this opportunity go. Work demanded that I be around even on Friday. But I had given in too much in the recent times. I was not letting this pass. Personally, in the family every one was stressed due to my lifestyle. Mom and dad were both feeling the heat from my wife who was very unhappy with me. I needed this more than anything. So I took it. I soon confirmed that Bharath would not be available as I had expected. Me and Sri were keen to keep this trip to just us. We had been going out on every occasion with the whole family and had spent very little time with each other. But we did not want to leave mom and dad behind.
We got smart. We planned an outing for Mom and dad to Coorg, while we decided to hit Ooty. But it was already 30th. We had no bookings, nothing. I tried desperately to arrange some stuff for both the trips. But all hotels were booked at both destinations. We decided to go ahead either way. Mom and dad had a fantastic time. I will not give any more details here as that’s not the intention of this blog.
1st may:
Plan was to get up at 4.00 am. Hit the road by 5.30. We got up at 7. J Well, that’s pretty much how the rest of the trip went too. We had the cramsters ready. A few last minute checks and we were ready to leave. We assembled in the parking at 8.15. Mom, dad, me and sri. I loaded the cramsters on to my Bullet, strapped it. Cleaned up my bike. Checked for a few last minute things. We were all set. Mom and dad took a rick to the bus stop to board the bus to Marcera. We hit the road, it was 8.30.
We had decided over the previous night to take the southern route leading thro Kanakapura – Kollegal – Chamarajanagar – Gundlapet – Bandipore – Ooty route. The mysore route was the usual that every one did. Lets try this Dindigal route, we had thought. So we did.
Since we had lost out on time, we decided to ride long stretches before we could take breaks. We took a short bio-break in Kanakapura and rode all the way to Kollegal and stopped for lunch. It was 12.30.
On this route the roads are not that great. Some stretches are very smooth and stretches are bad. But its ride-able.
I think we had done a few less than 200 kms. We had around 120 kms left to reach Ooty.
We reached Bandipore by around 3 pm. The approach roads to bandipore from Gundlapet are very bad. Huge craters welcome the visitors. You can see cars criss-crossing end to end on the road to avoid these craters. It is simply pathetic.
I was hoping to see some wild when we cross across bandipore. I knew it was the first time experience for Sri. This trip itself was first of the kind for her. I wanted to make sure it will become a memorable trip for her. It would be fantastic to add a few wild animal sightings to that memoryJ.
We were not disappointed. Pretty soon we had to stop as a couple of cars had stopped ahead of us. Then we noticed an Elephant. It had strayed onto the road and was standing there busy reaching out for leaves hanging down the trees. It was not a very big one. It was an adolescent female, but intimidating enough. The thought of being on a bike unprotected a few yards from a wild elephant sent chills down our spine. It was thrilling and a bit scary.
We reached a place called Theppakad, I think, not very sure. It right after the mudumali ranges, the continuation of bandipore into Tamilnadu’s side. This is like a meeting point of roads leading us to various places. From there, there is one road which goes over a narrow bridge. This one takes us to Ooty in a very short time. Ooty is just 36 kms if you took this road. I will go thro the jungles and will reach the foothills soon. But it’s very winding with many hairpin bends and sharp inclines.
We reached Ooty around 6pm I think. We did not stop there but proceeded straight to Coonoor as we knew it would be hard to find a descent place for the night in Ooty, considering the long weekend. We were right. As soon as we reached Coonoor we found that all of the Coonoor places itself were booked. We kept looking for availability in many hotels, in vain. Finally we came to a stop at the city center of Bedford to contemplate our next move. We had one option, try the smaller lodges. Just about then I got a call from Velan International Hotels. They told me that there was a cancellation, but it was a Suite accommodation. I took it. We were not very far from the hotel. We rode back quickly and checked in. We had this place for just one night.
2nd May, Friday:
We had gotten up late. The first thing we wanted to do was to ensure accommodation for the night. We went straight to Viveks Hotel, just a few yards from Velan, on the other side of the main road. Fortunately they told us that there was a room available for the evening, but it was a 4 bed room. We took it either way. We dumped our luggage and off we went towards Ooty city.
There is one stretch on the way to coonoor from Ooty where the roads had been dug out. It was so dusty due to the traffic plying the road that it was almost impossible to see the vehicles ahead of us. Riding this stretch was hell. All that dust was unbearable. As expected I had developed nasal allergy by morning.
The rest of the day went by pretty fast. We did some boating in Ooty, checked out the botanical gardens and before we knew it was evening. We decided to do some shopping. We went around buying attar (perfumes/oils), some wooden artifacts, etc. It was getting late. So we decided to head back to hotel and have dinner there.
3rd May, Saturday:
As usual we got up late again. We decided to do some tea gardens and factory if possible today. We also decided to pay a visit to the Needle Craft, and we did. Needle Craft is situation mid way down on one side of the Ooty hills. Its a beautiful spot and makes a spectacular view. Some resident family promote some hand crafted needle works. Though the work itself is pretty amazing its too highly priced.
We got out of there and rode straight to the nearest tea factory. There is a standard Tata factory that public usually visits and normally is pretty crowded. We decided to do visit a little laid back factory with less crowd where we can spend a decent time and have fun. After talking to some local we started off towards HomeDale Tea factory. We had a good time watch the process from fresh tea leaves being cut to fermitation to drying. We bought a pack of tea as a souvenier. It was evening and we had little more time left in the day, so we headed straight to Wellington. The ride through Wellington streets is amazing. My wify like the place so much that she did not want us to leave. After an hour or so we headed straight to our hotel.
4th May Sunday:
This time we got up at around 7 am, got ready quickly packed up, checkout and left for the Doddabetta. Our plan was to see the peak and then ride back towards bangalore. Doddabetta was nice, but too crowded. We did not feel like spending much time there. We started off towards bangalore, but instead of coming back the same way towards bandipore, we took Madhumalai route. The roads are very bad on this route, but the scenaries are breath-taking. I hope they work this road soon, people will really enjoy ride this route. We had to keep stopping for photographs. We took lots of stops at lovely places and finally made it to Nanjangood by 7 pm. You can just imagine how much time we spent on the way, we just loved all the nature.
We stayed back in mysore that night. I am not inclined to ride in the nights normally. we got up early next morning, by 4 am, and made it to bangalore in 2 hrs.
It was a wonderful trip, 800+kms, 4 days and many places.
On all my previous rides I had thought I would write down the experience after the trip. But I never got to it. Every trip has been memorable. Sometimes it was about Harleys or bullets, sometimes the beauty of the west coast, sometimes it’s the people I was riding with. But this one was different.
It was April 25th 2008. My wify had been pestering me to make an outing for quite sometime. I was also desperate for a good break. The last few weeks at office had been a real fryer. I was feeling more and more drained out and lost everyday. I had started dreaming of relaxing in a jungle lodge over a cup of tea with nothing to do, nothing on my mind. Unfortunately my lifestyle in the recent times had been so screwed that I did not even have the time to plan a proper outing. Cutting all the cribs short, I finally started making an effort to think about a break. I had spoken to Bharath on a couple of occasions about making a ride across to some place. I had a short duration of a day or two in mind. Considering how seldom these kind of plans work, especially with Bharath, even two days was a stretch. But then, I got to know that May 1st was a holiday. Don’t be surprised. I know I am supposed to know this at least considering the profession I am in. I knew it from my work perspective, I had it planned in my project plan. But then, my work had taken its toll recently and hence it did not make it to my personal plans.
I started looking desperately for places that I can do. This time though, my plans were for 4 days. May 1st to 4th. It was expected that Bharath would drop out, he will always have something. But I was in no mood to let this opportunity go. Work demanded that I be around even on Friday. But I had given in too much in the recent times. I was not letting this pass. Personally, in the family every one was stressed due to my lifestyle. Mom and dad were both feeling the heat from my wife who was very unhappy with me. I needed this more than anything. So I took it. I soon confirmed that Bharath would not be available as I had expected. Me and Sri were keen to keep this trip to just us. We had been going out on every occasion with the whole family and had spent very little time with each other. But we did not want to leave mom and dad behind.
We got smart. We planned an outing for Mom and dad to Coorg, while we decided to hit Ooty. But it was already 30th. We had no bookings, nothing. I tried desperately to arrange some stuff for both the trips. But all hotels were booked at both destinations. We decided to go ahead either way. Mom and dad had a fantastic time. I will not give any more details here as that’s not the intention of this blog.
1st may:
Plan was to get up at 4.00 am. Hit the road by 5.30. We got up at 7. J Well, that’s pretty much how the rest of the trip went too. We had the cramsters ready. A few last minute checks and we were ready to leave. We assembled in the parking at 8.15. Mom, dad, me and sri. I loaded the cramsters on to my Bullet, strapped it. Cleaned up my bike. Checked for a few last minute things. We were all set. Mom and dad took a rick to the bus stop to board the bus to Marcera. We hit the road, it was 8.30.
We had decided over the previous night to take the southern route leading thro Kanakapura – Kollegal – Chamarajanagar – Gundlapet – Bandipore – Ooty route. The mysore route was the usual that every one did. Lets try this Dindigal route, we had thought. So we did.
Since we had lost out on time, we decided to ride long stretches before we could take breaks. We took a short bio-break in Kanakapura and rode all the way to Kollegal and stopped for lunch. It was 12.30.
On this route the roads are not that great. Some stretches are very smooth and stretches are bad. But its ride-able.
I think we had done a few less than 200 kms. We had around 120 kms left to reach Ooty.
We reached Bandipore by around 3 pm. The approach roads to bandipore from Gundlapet are very bad. Huge craters welcome the visitors. You can see cars criss-crossing end to end on the road to avoid these craters. It is simply pathetic.
I was hoping to see some wild when we cross across bandipore. I knew it was the first time experience for Sri. This trip itself was first of the kind for her. I wanted to make sure it will become a memorable trip for her. It would be fantastic to add a few wild animal sightings to that memoryJ.
We were not disappointed. Pretty soon we had to stop as a couple of cars had stopped ahead of us. Then we noticed an Elephant. It had strayed onto the road and was standing there busy reaching out for leaves hanging down the trees. It was not a very big one. It was an adolescent female, but intimidating enough. The thought of being on a bike unprotected a few yards from a wild elephant sent chills down our spine. It was thrilling and a bit scary.
We reached a place called Theppakad, I think, not very sure. It right after the mudumali ranges, the continuation of bandipore into Tamilnadu’s side. This is like a meeting point of roads leading us to various places. From there, there is one road which goes over a narrow bridge. This one takes us to Ooty in a very short time. Ooty is just 36 kms if you took this road. I will go thro the jungles and will reach the foothills soon. But it’s very winding with many hairpin bends and sharp inclines.
We reached Ooty around 6pm I think. We did not stop there but proceeded straight to Coonoor as we knew it would be hard to find a descent place for the night in Ooty, considering the long weekend. We were right. As soon as we reached Coonoor we found that all of the Coonoor places itself were booked. We kept looking for availability in many hotels, in vain. Finally we came to a stop at the city center of Bedford to contemplate our next move. We had one option, try the smaller lodges. Just about then I got a call from Velan International Hotels. They told me that there was a cancellation, but it was a Suite accommodation. I took it. We were not very far from the hotel. We rode back quickly and checked in. We had this place for just one night.
2nd May, Friday:
We had gotten up late. The first thing we wanted to do was to ensure accommodation for the night. We went straight to Viveks Hotel, just a few yards from Velan, on the other side of the main road. Fortunately they told us that there was a room available for the evening, but it was a 4 bed room. We took it either way. We dumped our luggage and off we went towards Ooty city.
There is one stretch on the way to coonoor from Ooty where the roads had been dug out. It was so dusty due to the traffic plying the road that it was almost impossible to see the vehicles ahead of us. Riding this stretch was hell. All that dust was unbearable. As expected I had developed nasal allergy by morning.
The rest of the day went by pretty fast. We did some boating in Ooty, checked out the botanical gardens and before we knew it was evening. We decided to do some shopping. We went around buying attar (perfumes/oils), some wooden artifacts, etc. It was getting late. So we decided to head back to hotel and have dinner there.
3rd May, Saturday:
As usual we got up late again. We decided to do some tea gardens and factory if possible today. We also decided to pay a visit to the Needle Craft, and we did. Needle Craft is situation mid way down on one side of the Ooty hills. Its a beautiful spot and makes a spectacular view. Some resident family promote some hand crafted needle works. Though the work itself is pretty amazing its too highly priced.
We got out of there and rode straight to the nearest tea factory. There is a standard Tata factory that public usually visits and normally is pretty crowded. We decided to do visit a little laid back factory with less crowd where we can spend a decent time and have fun. After talking to some local we started off towards HomeDale Tea factory. We had a good time watch the process from fresh tea leaves being cut to fermitation to drying. We bought a pack of tea as a souvenier. It was evening and we had little more time left in the day, so we headed straight to Wellington. The ride through Wellington streets is amazing. My wify like the place so much that she did not want us to leave. After an hour or so we headed straight to our hotel.
4th May Sunday:
This time we got up at around 7 am, got ready quickly packed up, checkout and left for the Doddabetta. Our plan was to see the peak and then ride back towards bangalore. Doddabetta was nice, but too crowded. We did not feel like spending much time there. We started off towards bangalore, but instead of coming back the same way towards bandipore, we took Madhumalai route. The roads are very bad on this route, but the scenaries are breath-taking. I hope they work this road soon, people will really enjoy ride this route. We had to keep stopping for photographs. We took lots of stops at lovely places and finally made it to Nanjangood by 7 pm. You can just imagine how much time we spent on the way, we just loved all the nature.
We stayed back in mysore that night. I am not inclined to ride in the nights normally. we got up early next morning, by 4 am, and made it to bangalore in 2 hrs.
It was a wonderful trip, 800+kms, 4 days and many places.
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