Ooty!!!

The name that was tickling my mind from a long time and a desire to ride solo on this beauty...

And Finally I've done it...yippe

Few Pics...

Green Everywhere



The Beauty is hiding behind the hills..



Lonely and Alone...



So close to the wild life





Day 1: Bangalore - Mysore - Bandipur - Mudumalai - Ooty

Although everything was prepared for me to get Leh'd this year..somewhere, some strong feeling was rooted in my mind that when Am I going to do Ooty alone???

The itching has become more when our Leh group planned for a pre-ride but couldn't happen due to some availability issues. I did not want to waste my weekend, lot of thoughts ran through my mind for the entire night but everything flew away with that fresh breeze in the morning.

Got a glimpse of my bike with Tea in hand (ummmm!!! I just love that feeling). That's it, no second thought, everything aside, got freshened up, pulled on my jacket, back pack is on and I'm set to go.

It was 9.30 in the Morning when I left home, reached Mysore Road in minutes, filled up the tank, came out for the pressure check and it was 13 PS on my rear tyre but I wasn't feeling it (thought the meter is wrong). A guy came from behind and told, "sir your tyre is punctured" I told "What!! how do you know??" he politely asked me to get down from the bike and proved it by showing the hole and I was wondering why this guy is so concerned about my bike. It didn't take much time for me to realize that the guy owns a puncture repair shop next to the petrol bunk Wow!!! what a timing, he fixed it in less than 2 minutes and all ready to jet set go. (My first ever puncture on my ZMR after )

There is nothing much to say about the Bangalore - Mysore express Highway (this is my Nth time on this road) except Mandya city with a sweet jaggery smell which took me back to my childhood days on the shores of our sugarcane farms (Miss my hometown)

It has just been about me and my baby all the way till Mysore as i was all excited about the route beyond that. Reached Mysore around 1pm (Lot of traffic on the highway over the weekends)

The First milestone on my ZMR...



It started feeling the routes new and welcoming as I have ever crossed Mysore before. The only thing circling in my heart and mind was to ride alone in the challenging Bandipur - Mudumalai reserved forest. Had lunch at 'Nanjnagud' and headed to Bandipur.

Here is the welcome board



Entered inside, I was so excited but suddenly I saw somebody courageous than me. Look at the below picture.

Guy cycling in that lonely forest



I felt like he would have laughed at me as I do when I see people travelling by 4 wheelers. Anyway moved on from there and soon I realized the meaning of the word "Amazing". It wont be enough if someone says, one must feel it. I was irritated by the boards everywhere which says that that wild animals crossing, feeling why would those come nearer to the roads when they have a hell lot of space inside. But those people are not mad right. Check out the below.

18 horses and 1 Elephant



He is also alone like me



Beautiful sites leaving behind






Soon I reached the border of Karnataka

Bidding Adieu



Entering Tamilnadu





Once after the border, it was Mudumalai Tiger reserve which was more scenic and lonely

Yet another Bunch



I was waiting for a tiger to come out but there were only 1141 left which never had time to see me but there were lot of monkey species and i was afraid to get down for a snap as they might grab my mobile and runaway.

Its all been green everywhere and moved on with a refreshed mind, soon reached Masinagudi.

Next is the task which I have come all the way for Yes all those 36 hairpin bends. Just wanna test my bikes efficiency and my cornering skills.

Above all, it looked small in-front of my beast





And there the feast starts, first I thought of counting the bends but there was no need as each and every bend has a count board along with some useful information.

Sorry I do not have any photos of those bends as its been common out of everone's trip and I will do the next trip very soon with a full fledged cornering video on a mounted camera. (No miss) . As the incline goes on the I could feel the cool breeze entering in all possible gaps of my Jacket. That was chilling and giving me more energy to touch my knee down but I'm not so good as an expert and i don't feel one need to do it on this kind of incline.

Hats off to Hero Honda, ZMR was awesome for me at cornering. Braking was amazing, I felt like that my brain is directly connected to my Bike ECU which is giving some instructions for the cornering as i could see my hand and eye coordination working out so well. OMG !!! I'm getting better and better here.

Well all that wondering 36 hairpin bends has just passed by teaching 36 different lessons of cornering.

Butt break.





Disadvantage of riding alone



Reached ooty around 4 and it took quite sometime for me to understand the hawk eye view of ooty roads. checked in to a hotel near by bus stand with a safe parking area(500rs per night, sounds reasonable for me in a place like ooty). Freshened up, headed to ooty lake.



boating didn't make any sense for me as I could see only couples around and I will be a disturbance to them

Spent some time around the lake...found a place where they changed the meaning for paintball.. They give 5 paintballs and asks to aim at bulbs (which are stronger than the balls) at a distance and shoot it, if you get 3 correct shots, you win 1000rs. I couldn't stop laughing and even people were trying very seriously. Moved on from here, it was dusky and around 6.30pm, came back to hotel, parked the bike and took a walk to search some nice non veg restaurant. Walked Walked Walked, I would have seen half of ooty town by walking till 9 pm in the night. They started closing hotels one by one, rushed in to some restaurant, had dinner, went back to hotel and crushed on the bed (no fan or AC required)

Tomorrow is gonna be a real chilling ride... Ooty - Coonoor

Day 1: Ooty- Coonoor- Ooty- Mysore- Bangalore

I got up early as usaul but the hotel guys delayed hot water, he said it will come only by 7.30 I didn't knew the reason behind that but I couldn't even touch that tap water in that cold, so just came out for tea with drowsy eyes and the weather was so chill and refreshing. Had tea and came back to hotel. Took bath, checked out around 9am. Asked Hotel guy if I have missed out any places, he gave a brochure and asked me to park my bike in the hotel and go by their car which covers all the places. I gently rejected with a smile and came out.


Race course view from the hotel



Filled in petrol and left to coonoor, lot of traffic within the town but just after that it leads to a beautiful descent with amazing views which I never ever expected, the road was just awesome which made me to cruise at 70,s with oncoming traffic at the blind corners This was the real thrill and a test for the ZMR brakes and i was speechless for the response from my baby.

Not even an inch of those 18kms road can be missed...its all green everywhere...





Reached coonoor around 9.45 and it was quite busy with tourists and locals. Went into the railway station to check if i could get a chance to travel in the Toy train but I reached at odd time where in no train left for me and couldn't wait till the next as I will not be able to make it to Bangalore by evening. So came back disappointed.

All I could see is this



Came out and asked the locals for any places, they named quite some to visit which are ahead of coonoor. So went a head with my expedition to Lamb's rock view point and Dolphin nose.

And this route has turned the views more beautiful with tea estates on both sides of the road.





Again the disadvantage of riding alone..asked some tea shop guy to take a snap of mine













View of Metupalyam









Telescopic view of Catherine waterfalls



Will all the visual feast, headed back to ooty, had breakfast in the middle.

Came to ooty and thought of ascending Doddabetta, but I know I'm lacking a DSLR and I don't want to keep everything routine when I come back in future. So Doddabetta is reserved for future.

Came to the outskirts and I took the different route towards Gudalur unknowingly but I never regretted the mistake, it was again an amazing road with extended corners and excellent views.

That is where i decided to come back with a mounted camera and do these corners again.






P.S : Sorry for the picture clarity as all these were taken in my 3.2 megapixel mobile camera

Headed back to Bangalore with these final words. I WILL BE BACK FOR SURE