Prologue approved. A very happy and safe Diwali to you too

Why don't you take the East Coast Road all the way up to Pondicherry and then branch off back towards Krishnagiri - Bangalore? The road has been recently laid out and is in pristine condition.

All the roads were & still are in pristine condition for over 3+ years. One can count on them anyday.

Thanks for the wishes Sunil

My plan is to visit Yercaud.. So the Pondi route will be a long one, hence skipping it for now... don wanna finish off all places in TN at once

19:45
Just got a new sticker stamped on my bike's tank. Got bored of the old one. My morning visit to JC road was disappointing as the panniers I wanted was out of stock. Just did a small shopping of a halogen bulb, new spark plug, spare tube and a seat net..
Last Saturday was the service day for my bike. Got engine oil and primary case oil changed. Air filter was totally screwed up after the last trip to Wayanad, got a new one. Carb cleaned, changed the pilot jet to a bigger one. Gear box got a new mix of oil and grease.
My friend who was supposed to get new cam from US ditched me with advanced travel date and had to get another one from my office buddy. Such a wrong timing to ask for a cam, fortunately, got it!!
Bag is packed, camera batteries are charging and the same old excitement in my heart is brewing up again, sleepless in bangalore

Cya back in a week!!

Happy diwali... ride safe mate..
waiting for trip log and pics..

Thanks bro.. Will surely be having lots of pics

Huh... back home this morning 11:45 after 1800kms, 5 days and about 3 liters of tea in Tamilnadu
Enjoying the hangover of the ride!!1

good one done buddy did you encounter heavy rains on the way
anywhere????

thanks bro
nope... no rains at all, in fact, was freaking hot all over!!!
however, on the 31st encountered some 10min of rain smhere near salem..
it did rain in Trichy, but in the night and I was at the hotel
That 's pretty much about it!!

Happy Diwali to all

After a full night's rest thought of logging the memories of past 5 wonderful days lest I forget the details. I was to start off on 31st Oct, a Sunday. The previous night was mostly spent on packing clothes, documents and making a rough schedule. Tried sleeping at 1:00 AM but as usual, could not, till 2. Finally dozed off only to hear the shrill noise of the alarm ring at 4:45 AM. It has begun!!!! This trip was my long time yearning and I had spent so much time visualising, dreaming and talking about it - that day had come. Had a quick shower, put on teh gear and tied the huge bag on the rear seat.

DAY 1, 31st Oct
At sharp 5:00 , was idling the bike and in couple of minutes the bike was roaring down the road. My idea was to cover around 350kms every day so that on the fifth day I would be back home comfortably. Such a nice feeling to let that early morning breeze hit your face, so nostalgic of the older trips At 06:15 I was near Jayadeva hospital and took the Silk board - electronic city route. It was for the first time that I ever used the newly constructed expressway. Its such a good piece of road that my bike was nicely heated up and found it rhythm in about 15kms. Plan was to reach Trichy(tiruchirapally) via Salem. By the time I found A2B near Krishnagiri, was so hungry that even a rock would do for a break fast
At early in the morning , the place was CROWDED!!! Somehow found some place to sit and enjoyed the delicious pongal and vada. Tea, couple of smokes and was up and running again towards Salem. This entire stretch of NH7 is damn boring and there is nothing much you can do except twist the throttle. Weather was totally overcast, road was slightly soaked and I was bit cautious as sometimes tends to be slippery on braking. At around 10 it started raining heavily and I just thought the trip was already ****ed up. Pulled by a shop after getting some water on my gear and luggage, all I could do was pray for teh rain to stop. Ah well, it did stop after about 15min and I was so glad!! Off again and this time the conditions improved and found nice sunshine all the way till Salem. On reaching Salem, had to inquire about the route to Yercaud. Did some blabbering with my pathetic(in fact, 0 %) Tamil and somehow understood I need to go ahead and then take a left deviation to cover about 35kms.
After about 10kms towards Yercaud I could notice the distinct chill in the weather. Was really loving this and then the hair pins started with gradual steep incline. I get this mad rush on seeing the twists that tend to speed up towards them. All the way up till the 14th hair pin and as soon as I slanted the bike for banking, it just slipped. Could nt even know what's happening and next moment I was on the road along with the bike right on the middle of the hair pin bend. My right knee cap landed with a loud noise on hitting the tarmac. Gosh, if not for the knee guards, a gift for my birthday last august, I would have a smashed knee cap . So fortunate I was that there were no vehicles on either way and that's how I remain to narrate this tale!! Pulled the bike straight with great effort and just started off straightaway. It was then that I noticed that the right foot peg was bent thereby not letting me shift gears smoothly. after half a dozen kicks the foot rest was kinda back to normal position and in 15min I was at the top of the hill. Fantastic weather, a slight drizzle and the place was beautiful. After going through the TN tourism board on the visitable places, decided to check out the Shevaroy Temple. The road was kinky and nice with occasional potholes nevertheless dint bother as I was in great spirits This temple is 6kms from the town and on reaching the place found couple of KA cabs. The drivers introduced themselves and were quite surprised to hear that I came all alone. We went ahead and had few teas and smoke, one fellow even offered and snapped a pic of mine the legend is that the tunnel in the temple leads to Talakaveri!!!
After some 30min, I decided to move on as I had a good distance to cover and started teh descent soon. Again reached back Salem and had to ask for directions towards Trichy. Well my next stop happened to be Namakkal which was 70kms. After reaching Namakkal I had to again do the routine of using my exquisite Tamil and ask for direction as I dint even have a map.
Okay, gotta know that had to go strqight till Karur which is another 50kms and I started cruising at speeds around 85-90kmph. This trip was not about speed or ego polishing for me but just the satisfaction and bliss. So dint even bother looking at the speedo most of the time.
Meanwhile it was near about 12:30 and I had placed my gloves in the carrier with the intention of stopping for lunch shortly. But voila, one of them just popped out and dropped off somewhere and I had to ride for the next 4 days bare handed. Apparently, now my wrists look weird alien wooden pieces fixed to the arms, thanks to the scorching heat of TN.
Found a road side motel and had a couple of teas. I wonder what would I have done without these tea shops
Karur too came by and it was here that I had to take a deviation to NH67 towards Trichy. Was glad to find the roads weaving through villages and lots of greenery throughout, hence preventing teh boredom which is predominant in NH7!! From Karur Trichy is around 80kms and I reckoned it would take another hour or so to cal it a day and rest.
Quite comfortably, I reached Trichy at 14:00 after stopping a couple of times for teas, smoke and pics breaks in between. Trichy is not a very big town and I again had to ask for directions regarding hotels and visitable places. After getting few suggestions went straight to Srirangam temple and found a neat guest house next to it. But the damned guy asked for a full 550 bucks a double room as no single rooms were available!! Obviously, I was tired after covering a full 430kms and the searing heat and dint wanna go hunt for another cheaper room. So reluctantly took the room and dumped luggage. Only after a cold shower tat I found some life coming back into me and headed off towards the city. found the place boring after roaming around for an hour and thought watching TV at eh room was much better
Hunted for a wine shop and finally found one right after the temple(!!!) and asked for a beer. I was glowing when he said its available. Askd for teh brand and yeah, got some names I never heard before. I took the risk of buying one Marco Polo beer as I really needed some of beer to relax. Came back to room and sipped the beer eagerly - gosh, wasnt good and was really disappointed. So finished my packed dinner( rava dosas ) and a cool drink, watched some TV till 10:30. By then my eyelids were just weighing down cos of tiredness and just hit teh bed. The alarm was set to 06:00 next morning and I had another busy riding day to make it to Rameshwaram....

some pics ..

bike with the baggage at a fag break..


En route Yercaud...


Lake at Yercaud..




View from one of the hairpins




An anglo indian whom I met at a tea shop... spoke fluent english and came to know her family member s were mostly cops in cities but his lady chose to stay in a small village.. she even blessed me for the ride by pressing a coin onto her eyes and chanting something