Kanyakurmari-Rameshwaram bike ride -Day 3

Day 3: 1st Nov
          Day started with sad note, saw the rear tyre flat once again. As it was early morning there is no chance of getting it repaired, so went to take breakfast. By 9:30 am we got hold of one puncture repair guy. Oh this guy has mobile puncture repair shop, carry everything on his bike. He patched the tube with out taking out the wheel and that too very easily. Just give a call and he will be at your service where ever you are stranded in middle of the road.
          It was almost 11am when started for Udumalapet. After driving for another 17 km we reached the forest check post gate of Indira Gandhi Nation park. The road inside the national forest is small but well maintained, few vehicles moves in this road, so most part in this road we were driving alone. Once again we were stopped by forest check post for checking near Chinnar Wildlife sanctuary. now gradually started driving up the western ghats towards Munnar. There lots of water fall everywhere you see but far way to be captured by camera.

view of distant waterfall

Slowly temperature was also decreasing, we can feel the clod wind. everywhere its greener with lots of vegetation. As we reached 3000m above sea level we can see tea estate everywhere.

tea estate surrounding every hills

never ending road!

  we were almost 30km away from Munnar took pit-stop for photoshot.  You will be mesmerize by the greenery everywhere you see. Most of the the hill are covered with tea plantation and eucalyptus tree plantation.

The Bull n the beautiful western ghats!

Near Eravikulam National park large number of tourist were present to see the nilgiri tahr, roads were packed with tourist vehicle seeing  all this we planned to straight head towards Munnar. Suddenly the hill was covered with fog and visibility dropped to few meters & temperature also dropped drastically now it was chilled climate. As we descended towards Munnar slowly we enter into the nice climate not too cold but the sky was covered with clouds. It was almost 3pm very hungry directly headed to take lunch at restaurant. 

     As we planned to stay the night at Thekkady, we started driving towards Devikulam. We were stopped by Kerala police for vehicle papers checkup. As all papers were clear except that i was caring photocopy of the RC book which was not attested by gazette officer, the officer asked pay fine. I told him all the reason why i was caring the photocopy, he said "only only.......Rs -100" you have to pay fine. After that we stopped 1km away from there for photo shot.

 

  Police stopped the Bull for checking papers

On the way to Devikulam, Oh! remember this place from 2007 new year trip, similar shot i have taken during that trip....not wanted to miss this one....waited long for the mist to clear.....finally got this shot. thanks to Madhu

Roads where very good with occasionally few pot holes. Once again we stopped for photo shot near the top of the hill. 

  mostly it was covered with fog

waited long for the mist clear to get a good snap.....but couldn't wait for long as the road ahead is mesmerizing.....!

 Now almost view of the valley was totally cover with fog, so decided to drive slowly enjoying the awesome road. On the way there were few small waterfalls

Got one good snap of one water wall.

 view of the waterfall

The state highway was well maintained by Kerala. This road was the best road to driving in western ghat. After 2 puncture you have intuition like the pressure is low, so after riding for more then 100km we were always check the tyre pressure. It was getting dark and still we have more distance to cover. We have to drive in night till Thekkady. As vehicle traffic was less it was easy to ride in night till our destination. We reached Thekkady by 8pm and checked in  Harita homestay. Then went to have dinner and night photo shot.

Coffee day Rest house....beautiful wood work....night time looks like a palace!

Madnavi retro coffee bar! .....love to walk on those street at night!

After a good dinner and good night walk with photo shot we went to bed. And already excited for the next day!

Route : Udumalapet - Munnar - Thekkady

Distance Covered: 250KM

Kanyakurmari-Rameshwaram bike ride-Day 2

Day 2: 31st Oct
          Good morning Pollachi, still cloudy and drizzling. Got freshen up and went to take breakfast. by 8:40am we started our journey towards Valparai.

General check up before starting

Reached the ghat section after driving for around 22km, 9am in morning hills are covered with clouds, couldn't take a single pic of Aliyar Dam as the view was blocked by fog.

most of the time it was covered by clouds

Once start climbing up for about 3km you will come to a Monkey fall, big water fall is there - be careful as the name suggest lots of monkeys are there near that place. Few of the monkey tried to open the saddle bag. So one has to guard the motorcycle while other went to see the fall. After driving for another 5km you will come to the starting point of 42 hair pin bend.

 

1 of the 42 hair-pin bend 

Still most part of the hills were covered by clouds couldn't see the beautiful landscape always heard about from friends. Driving slowly we crossed all the hair-pin bend. Its was awesome to ride in these ghats section. Traffic was less so we could enjoy riding slow and mesmerized by the nature. We stopped  near the tea estate to take snaps of Lion Tailed Macaque.

Stopped for taking photos, me & my bull taking rest, madhu chasing Lion-tailed Macaque - Valparai 8KM away

We couldn't take a good photo of Lion tailed macaque, as they were far away on the trees. Once we reached Valparai and asked few people for tourist places to visit near by area. As already we were running behind our planned schedule didn't wanted to waste much of the time so we headed towards suicide point. Why people always name a beautiful view point to suicide point? any hill station you go, you will find one suicide point. Now its greener everywhere because of tea plants. Every hill has been converted into tea estate.

on the way to view point

small house inside the tea estate

There was a temple at the view point - Nallmudai Punjolai. The priest was present when we reach there, he told us about the temple history and performed puja. You can see the border of Kerala from here. As it was cloudy there was no clear view. far away there few water fall.

View of distance waterfall from suicide point

By around 1:30pm we returned back to valparai and planned to head to Munnar. After driving for around 10km the rear tyre got puncture in middle of nowhere, we stopped one guy and asked for the puncture shop, he knew the guy in the puncture shop so he called and told the exact location where we were stranded. he told us that the guy will come in another 15 mins and once again it started drizzling. Waited there for the guy for 30 mins when he didn't turned up because of the rain, madhu walk 2km to reach the nearest communication point where he spoke once again with the mechanic he assured that he will come in 10 mins, but didn't came. Finally we decided to take out the rear wheel and take it to the nearest puncture repair shop. One middle age guy gave me lift till the puncture shop. Once the puncture was repaired once again took lift from a more guy who drop me till the point where the bull was parked. We place the rear wheel and are ready to roll. When ever you are going for long ride don't forgot to carry necessary tools with you! as in our case i was carrying all the tools except foot pump and puncture repair kit. So by 5pm we started from this place, on the way we stopped near Tiger hill view point for photo shot.

View of tiger Hills

View of tiger Hills 

 panoramic view of Tiger hills

It was getting dark when we got down the ghat section, our plan to reach Mannur was not possible so thought to stay in nearest town, then headed towards Udumalaipettai, reached the 8:30pm. Got a decent lodge on Udumalapet - Munnar  road. Had dinner in near by restaurant and went to bed.

Route: Pollachi - Valparai - Udumalapet
Distance Covered: 200KM