A Monsoon Ride - Part I (Bangalore - Nilambur)

                Sometimes, certain things that you’ve been longing for, happen all of a sudden. For me, one of them was a long road trip in a Royal Enfield. On that lazy evening lying in the couch, I was scrolling down the contacts in my Watsapp and stuck at the name of a good old friend from school. On the conversation we had, he mentioned about a road trip he along with his wife is planning to do three weeks later in their RE Thunderbird. Trips are just a routine for them, as they go for bike trips at least twice a month. That too, hundreds of kilometres. I wished I could’ve joined them had I had a RE. Unexpectedly, he asked me whether I’d be interested to join them. Knowing that I don’t own a bike, he told me the option of hiring one for rent from Bangalore. With no second thoughts, I said yes and from there on the preparations began at high pace. Tickets were booked immediately, backpack, luggage tying ropes etc. were ordered, assembled riding gloves and other accessories… now it was just the wait for the day to arrive.

The entire trip route map

                Finally, with all the excitement, I reached Bangalore one Thursday morning. I hired a RE Classic 350 from CNN bikes and took it for a spin through the city just to get the hang of it. Rest of the day I took for rest and trying some street food.  

The ride begins...

                Next day in the cool early morning, by 2 AM we started off from Bangalore, my friend Sreerag in his Thunderbird with Sujini in the pillion, and I following them in the Classic. It was very cold out there even with the jacket and gloves on.We had to attend a wedding in Kottakkal (In Malappuram district, Kerala) the next day. So our first day’s target was to reach Kottakkal.

Route map - Day 1

                Our first major spot for the day was Bandipur National Park. We reached Bandipur by 6.30AM just when the gate of Bandipur National Park is opened. About 240 kms in 4 and a half hours with a tea break in between was a pretty decent ride. The RE Classic smoothly cruised along the highway without any hesitation in speeds around 90kph. 

                Our sole aim to reach there that early was just the probability of more animal sightings. Luckily, we were not disappointed. We spotted plenty of animals on the way and took a plethora of good clicks as well. Herds of deer, elephants, wild gaurs, wild boars etc., were just a few of them. The pics can better explain themselves.

               We cruised very slowly through the smooth road, such that it took almost 3 hours to cover the 30kms drive from Bandipur to Gudalur. The forest we travelled stretches across both Karnataka & TamilNadu - Bandipur National Park in Karnataka and after the Karnataka border, it takes the name of Mudumalai National Park in TamilNadu. Rain played spoilsport often, which prevented us from bringing DSLR out, a lot of times ending up in missing some good views. At one point I was putting my camera back in the bag because of the rain, without being noticed that a big Tusker is just a few meters away from me. I saw it only at the last moment, and luckily it was not in an attacking mood, making me escape harmless. 

                We managed to get as much clicks as possible with the mobile phone camera too. Let the rest of the uncaptured frames remain captured in our memories.

                After 3 hours through the forests, we came out with great satisfaction and reached Gudalur and stopped for breakfast. Gudalur is a small beautiful village with plenty of greenery around with countless number of streams, rivers and rivulets making beautiful patterns created by nature itself. Agriculture is the main activity happening in this village, surrounded by mountains on all sides. The place is more than 1000 meters above sea level, no need to mention how cold it will be out there. After breakfast from a small hotel we continued the ride through the Gudalur Ghat. Our next destination was Pykara lake.

                The ride towards Pykara from Gudalur was one of its kind experience. The almost 30kms stretch is a dream for any biker, a route with number of hair pin bents and the thick surrounding forest. While we left Gudalur it started raining heavily and for a moment I thought of abandoning the ride to Pykara and let my co-travellers carry on and wait till they come back. Had I done so, it would be the biggest blunder committed. The ride through the hills in heavy rains was quite a mesmerising experience. 'This is what “experiencing” nature means', I thought.

                After 10kms up the hill, it stopped raining and was heavy snow around. The visibility range was much shorter and the temperature was in single digits, not if zero. We spotted a small tea shop on the way and took a halt and enjoyed the hot tea served by the aged couple who run the shop. We felt no effect in our numb hands while holding the very hot tea. Sipping it, we observed the surroundings. We saw people working in the tea plantations around but nothing were clearly visible, as the visibility was well below 50 meters. After the tea break and a small selfie session, we started climbing uphill towards our destination.

                After more than an hour’s drive we reached the Pykara Lake. The place was less crowded, and no boating or such activity was happening in the lake. It was thick snow around such that we couldn’t even see the end of the lake at times. The view was quite a treat to watch. 

               

                The ride between Gudalur and Vazhikkadavu was also spectular. We drove through roads surrounded by tall stands of Eucalyptus trees. It was still drizzling, at times getting heavier. From Gudalur onwards rain was our companion throughout the entire trip. So we never felt annoyed by it anymore. 

                On our way, just before Vazhikkadavu, we stopped at a guy selling tea on the way side. He was very friendly and suggested few route options we can consider on our further drive. The interesting thing was, this guy sells tea on rainy days, and on summer he shows up with ice creams, which means he will never be out of business. After the small refreshment we said good bye to him and continued till we stopped somewhere near Edakkara to have lunch. It was over 3 PM then, still the hotel guy was kind enough to serve lunch, especially instantly fried fish just for us.

                We reached Adyanpara Waterfalls by 4.30PM, which happened to be the last tourist spot of the day’s drive. Adyanpara Waterfall is a scenic spot just half an hour away from Nilambur, the nearest town. Since it was monsoon, the natural cascading waterfall was on its full glory. 

                Entering the water was prohibited as it is very dangerous. As per the warning board there, more than 25 people had lost their lives in the waterfall. Even the place we were standing within the permitted area was slippery because of the rains.

                The clock was ticking and we left the picturesque location. We had the plan to visit the world’s first of its kind, Teak museum in Nilambur. But we were too late for that, as it will be closed by 4.30PM. It started raining heavier again. But without bothering about that we kept on driving and finally reached Kottakkal by 7PM. By the time we reached the hotel, our jackets, gloves, pants, shoes, everything were soaked in water. We left them under the fan for drying up. After freshening up ourselves we went for the wedding reception. We reached back the hotel in couple of hours and couldn’t resist the calling of bed. The last thing I remembered was jumping into the bed and closing my eyes. 18 hours on the road, covering almost 500 kms .., it’s time to get some good rest for the man as well as the machine, before the ride further...