Travelogue approved

We had a plan to do the Kolli hills ride in September. Somehow it didn't work with us. Hopefully soon enough will visit the place. Waiting for more info

more pictures please. waiting to head to holli hills - maybe in December - this might be a great spot for a southern g2g.

Damn!! I missed it!!
Bring on the pics..

Wish I was there with you. Interesting pictures. Can't wait to see your trip log.

Cool! This is place has been on the to do list for quite some time!

More and more inviting pics make me elevate its priority

Cool snaps bring on the rest!

Me too!!! wish I could visit those places & awaiting eagerly for route map & road conditions. Ofcourse with the pics

Thanks Aryan for the Approval.

Absolutely, the place is a great spot.

Missed the company guys... but no worries planned to ride again to explore the unexplored places there.

@All: working on the Trip Log and photos, will update soon.

Kolli Hills by bike..That must be one heavenly trip.
I have been there to fix one swamiji Internet connection in his Ashram on top of kolli hills like 6 years ago when I was with HCL.
Man you would have enjoyed those narrow Hairpin bends...

Yep it was a heavenly trip and enjoyed to the max taking those narrow hairpin bends

Day 1 Trip Log



It all began when we were discussing about our next trip. Ananth suggested to do Point Calimere and it was fixed for Oct 29th. I have been quite busy with my personal work for sometime due to which had to skip couple of rides and G2Gs too.Then finally showed up myself into a G2G and was discussin abt the ride, also was getting some places to ride before this ride since i had an optional holiday on 18th so thought of doin a simple 2 day ride. Steve sugested the place Kolli Hills mentionin about its 70 hair pin ghat section. This interested the rider in me. Decided to do a ride and was checking with steve and Tarun for company; but due to their official commitment they were held and Tarun tried his best to accompany me but got himself stuck in office which means i got to do this Solo - for which i was prepared

Had my bike serviced a week back so wasnt much to worry on the ride prepartion except for the Camera which i didnt have ; checked with couple of friends and finally got one on Friday night. Kept my mobile, Camera battery for charge overnight and tried to sleep, as i planned to leave by 3 am; but things were different, i didnt get sleep and forced myself to get some sleep by 2am and got up by 4am. Quickly took a bath and geared up myself. Saddled up my bag and turned on the ignition to warm-up my engine for the ride ahead.


Few minutes after i was slowly throttling away from my house to the destination which i have heard abt in couple of G2G's and with the information which i googled (which either didnt give much information) and no idea about where i gonna stay . Slowly munchin few kms i reached the NH45 and started to speed up and was in no time was cruising in comfortable speed of 90's. With no idea of what to expect from this ride, i kept myself occupied with the ride and constantly munching miles and took my first butt break some 120 odd kms from chennai; to stretch myself and to clear the visor - took couple of pics of NH45 and then i was all again riding down towards my destination. Actually i was takin the Chennai - Kallakurichi - Attur - Salem - Rasipuram - Kolli Hills which my friend suggested instead of the NH7; which i regretted as soon as i took the turn to kallakurichi, the entire stretch till attur was mix of good roads, bad roads, pothholed roads. Took a wrong turn and entered into salem city, had to cross a market place to reach the rasipuram road which was bad experience since being a pooja festival time the market was crowded like anything and by the time i reached the NH i was pissed off. Once reaching the NH, it was another 20 odd kms to reach where i got to take the left to Rasipuram and from there it was the pleasant SH with the fields on either sides and distant hills in view.

























Checked with the local about the route to vaasalur(from here only the Ghat section begins) and also about the nearest bunk to fill up my ride. Filled up with few litres and started my quest for the Ghats; this stretch again was wonderful with the fields, hills, trees all along the roads and was a quite refreshing ride with the breeze; soon in no time i reached the Vaasalur and got the glimpse of the Kolli Hills entrance Tomb. Clicked a picture of it and was soon rollin on - within few kms the entire landscape changed in one turn whcih gave away to the beautifull hills ahead. After riding for a km or so i encountered the first hairpin and then the other, i felt the adrenaline rush expecting much more too come, which was soon faded away since this wasn't the ghat section - guess what its the glimpse of what to expect up ahead. After some kms more the real ghat section started and was taking up the narrow curves one by one; after few bends i realised that i was the only soul who was there and no human in sight and it was a mix of good and creepy feeling - since i have heard some creepy stories about Kolli hills. With all this running back in my mind, i rode ahead and was takinn/countin the bends one by one... i noticed few smaller ones weren't marked and also there were around 14+ 'C'Curves - i.e. long loop curves; i was literally on the edge when riding in the ghat since it requries every single micron in your brain to focus, else you will end up in the sidewalls or down the hill.

























Was enjoying myself taking the bends one by one and was extra alert since the roads had loose sand too - ya u heard it right the roads weren't that great. Ghat sections with loose sands is dangerous but a rider with the adrenaline rush like me would easily traverse through. After some 20 odd bends you bends the nature exposes itself and the valley is right next to you. Getting your concentration on the roads means u got to really reign ur mind to focus i really mean it. Stopped in couple of places to take some shots and the Hairpin-34 is the one which relives the glimpse of the nearby city between the hills. After some turns, i think after the 40th, i saw a person riding his puny TVS XL up the hill, was happy to find a human bein after such longtime, soon after couple of turns aheads saw few more guys on couple of bikes riding up and encountered the downhill traffic of couple of tourist buses. i think being a pooja holiday and the time i started my ghat section left me all alone in the hills which i was quite enjoying . I was manovering the curves, bends and twistes... you name it - the ghat section had everything of it and it was really a wonderful experience, the hairpin bends are really - wat u call crisp turns with much height than the ones which i faced in yercaud. The weather was also adding its own flavour to the ride, its was chilling wind from the first hairpin. Soon i was in the top and completed the official 70 hairpin bends, took a pic of it and thought i have reached the destination - to my realization that Kolli Hills is a the Hills which provides shelter for around 240 villages (which i learnt from a local - more on this on Day2). The main village/town is Semmedu, which hosts a Self-employment society building and a big audtorium type hall for the Flower and Fruit show and also a Police station and hospital.





After the 70th hairpin bend, the official count ends which makes you to enter into the villages situated in the hills, thats the reason must be the other hairpins bends from here on was not calculated. the first major village is the Vellankadu(i think i got the name right) and after few more kms, i was surprised to see a Indian oil station on the top. checked with the guys there for the route to semmaedu. Since i havent booked any accomodation i tried my luck with the resorts there, for your information the resorts were just ok. Nallathabi and PA were the 2 resorts there and both werent good enough and were priced high. PA has a lodge kind, which i had it my mind lastly if i wasn't able to find any accomodation. Once reaching Semmaedu, i found a mansion called Arrow Mansion runned by a old doctor couple and looked kind of ok comparitively better than the earlier ones and got myself a room for Rs.315. This is very a tragedy happened - somebody flicked by gloves i jus kept the gloves and the mask down for signing the register which they had and turned the glvoes were gone - doubted the couple of guys who left when i was siging the register.

with a small disappoint i checked in and placed my bag and the gears safely inside the room, left to check with the locals for the couple of places which i have already noted to see and also to get information on any other place to visit. Learnt that the Aagaya Gangai falls(means - Ganga from sky) and the Arappaleeswara temple are 13 kms away from Semmeadu and the boating (5 kms) ang view point a km from the place where i stay. It was around 2pm, Went back to room, refreshed myself and started to the falls, since was much eager to see after hearing about it from the villagers. the road to the Falls is again hair pins bends, twistes, curves got myself a real good dose of it. Reached the Temple and parked my bike nearby; bought myself a ticket for the Waterfall, and stepped down my way to the falls a km downstream - u heard it right... one got to walk down to reach the waterfall - initially the steps were easy later on the steps got steeper which you can see in the photos... had company of a few guyz from salem who here from their regular work to celebrate 'Ayudha Pooja'. As we were nearing the falls, we were able to hear the water falling down and it was a refreshing one to hear after all our walk down. Soon the stairs gave away and there rocks to climb and cross through to the falls, from here the falls was really magnificent. Able to feel the drizzle splash in the air even from a distance (approx 25meters). It was chill, refreshing with the shower from the falls, there were 2 groups who were already takin bath there. Actually there is a pool kind of thing were one doesnt know to swim can take bath and there is rope which is tied to the iron fencing near the falls. One can catch this rope and go near the falls. Force of the water increased in no time and was furocious. was tough to take phots since the water showers increased a lot and hittin the lens a lot.


























Captured a small video of it - please bear with me for the quality.
YouTube - AghayaGangai Falls

As being alone wasn't able to take a dip in the water, but Spent some 1o min which was sufficient enough to make me wet; and moved back to start my trek up the stairs. It was really tough to climb the stairs and managed to climb up in some 35mins - forgot to tell there were totally 1025 steps as per records . On my way back found the Goverment Resorts; and noted the address.
Reached back to room and refreshed myself took some rest for half an hour, mainly to recharge the camera battery. Meanwhile, went to a nearby Digital Photo studio and copied the contents of my memory card to a DVD - reason the card was only 1GB forgot to check that when i got from my friend. After copying the contents, left to the Boat house and took some snaps of the garden and tried my hands on some macro's. One thing i would like to tell here is that nature is astounshing and tree gives you the best poses - you could some clicks of that. From there i left to the View point to capture the view of the valley and the nearby town/villages. Except for few people in the boat house, i had occasional company few villagers when i crossed their homes and in the view point i was all alone and the entire valley for me to capture. Tried my best to capture that in the punny p & S camera, as the fog/clouds covered the place and light was low. with some decent enough pics of the valley and some sunset captures i returned back to the room. Didn't dare to explore in the night one it was really creepy to go all alone in places like
that and one wrong route will take you riding rounds in the hills; second one is that it was so chill than yercaud. So kept myself low and covered my head with the wollen cap and went on a stroll to find out a decent hotel to eat.

































Since being an Ayudha Pooja, the hotel which the mansion owner suggested have closed and except for couple of hotels like muniyandi villa nothing else was there. It was really cold and i was dead tried; so dont want to take a risk of going without food, so had my dinner in a nearby hotel and went to sleep. Food was decent enough and all the hotels here had 2 portions the first one when enter is for non-alcoholics and the the second inner one is like a bar. i gobbled up some parota's and back to room - called up home and slept by 8.30pm.

P.S: Bear with for any mistakes since i wanted to finish up the Day 1 log so wrote it under sleepy eyes

I'm beginning to feel, I've missed out something seriously @Bikerfas!!! Just one question, did you do this on Saturday & Sunday or did you take an extra day off?

Saturday & sunday. He started on saturday morning and reached sunday night.

Got his updates in FB so i know

Awesome photographs. And about the falls. Does it smell like a bathroom with soap and all?

@Rajesh remember Kone?

I have never been to Kolli Mala before and the 70 hair pins seem exciting! How is the weather there? Does it get uncomfy in the afternoon?

And sorry about your gloves. The gloves seem to attract a lot of attention everywhere, especially among small kids.