The excitement was paramount that evening, when Jithin came
to us and broke the news about his marriage. It was not only because he
FINALLY found his soul mate after what seemed like an aeon, but also the
opportunity presented in front of us to explore at least a few parts of Kannur
– his native.
As usual, the planning process was started immediately, about
hiring car, spots to be visited, number of days etc etc... Even places like
Coorg, Mysore etc., were on the list. But things weren’t smooth this time, as
few of us had to withdraw from the trip citing various reasons,
non-availability of leaves and so on. And finally, it was just three of us, and we starting off from Trivandrum on
that busy Friday night.
Day 1
After attending the simple but elegant wedding function next
morning, we came back to the room for a small nap. The food was so delicious
that we had literally very little space left in our tummies, making us so tired.
But in no time, we started discussing on picking the spot for visiting that
afternoon. Bekal fort was the foremost one came up the list. But since we had
to depend the public transport, the bus timings didn’t permit us to pick it. It
was already 3.30 PM then. Finally, we reached on a consensus and fixed a little
established beach near Payyannur – the Valiyaparamba beach.
Talking about Valiyaparamba, it is about 7 kms away from
Payyannur town. The interesting thing was, most of the people we inquired about
the buses to Valiyaparamba had no idea about the route. Looked like they
were hearing the place for the first time. Somehow we found a bus and it dropped us at
a place called Vellap, from where we took a taxi to the beach.
Just in a little over five minute the auto rickshaw stopped
at an almost deserted junction, and the driver informed that we’ve reached the
destination. We were puzzled for a few moments, since no beach was seen around.
The small settlements to our left and a coconut grove to our right, but no signs of a
beach nearby. Sensing the bewilderment from our faces, the taxi guy pointed
towards the right and said that the beach is a just a couple of minutes walks
through the grove. ‘No way..!’, we were literally stunned. Whatever, we decided
to give a try, and started walking. The evening with dark sky, people around
looking at us strangely, intimidating calmness around…., the scene was quite
frightening. But just in a few minutes we forgot all these, and the mood
changed abruptly. A new scene was unfolding in front of us. Let the
pictures do the talking.
The beach was literally deserted, except for a small group
of boys playing volleyball in the far end of it. There was a board in the beach
saying, ‘Bathing in waves is prohibited, because of the frequent shark attacks
in the beach’. It was quite new for me, since I’ve never heard of shark attacks
in any beach in Kerala.
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| Shark attack warning |
After an hour well spent in the beach, when we started our way
back, in the backdrop the evening sun was slowly travelling to the west and a
ship slowly moving towards the north. In a couple of hours we were back in the
hotel, still pondering over the thought of fixing a spot for the next day’s
visit. We had a little chat with the guy in the reception and inquired about
various options for the next day. After some detailed discussion we finally
zeroed in on a hill station 50kms south of Payyannur. With destination for next
day being fixed, we finally retired to bed for a much needed sleep.
Day 2
The next day began
with the journey towards Palakkayam Thattu - an upcoming hill station. We used
public transport till Karuanchal, from there hired an auto rickshaw, which was
the only means available that Sunday. A ride of about 30 minutes through the hilly road, surrounded by
greenery occasionally dotted by small waterfalls and rivulets took us to the
destination. But, to reach the view point at the top we had to hire a jeep,
since the road towards the top was in a very bad condition.
By the time we
reached the view point it started drizzling, but it didn’t last more than a few
minutes. However, the cloudy sky throughout made the greenery around us more
beautiful. The view of long range of mountains, a lone church far in the
valley, white clouds hovering around, and the cool air – it was quite liberating.
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| Adventure park at the top |
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Spotted on the way to the hill station
|
After couple of hours we left the place in the same taxi,
thanks to the patience of the driver. Since we had ample time left for our
train in the evening, we went to the St.Angelo Fort, just a few kms from the
Kannur town. The fort built in the 16th century by the Portuguese,
later modernized by the Dutch, is worth a visit. Like any other fort, one can
see the cavernous army barracks, watch tower, cannons etc.
After taking a
stroll around, we settled under one of the trees, relaxing till the sun starts
mellowing down. A well maintained fort, with lawns and plenty of trees, facing
the open sea, the St.Angelo fort is a perfect place to de-stress, within the
city itself without any of its noises.
Beach, hill station, fort, wandering through the city
hustle.., we had 'em all. A weekend well spent, and we left to the Kannur
railway station and became one of the many, waiting to catch the train which
will be taking us back to our daily grind…
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