Day1 Mumbai-Lonavala-Karad-Nipanni- Ranebennur


According to Deepan we will sleep on Friday night(12Aug) and wake up 1.00am on Saturday and start the ride by 2.00 AM.
I reached at Deepan’s friend place at 5.00 and I didn’t want to wait and start asap but still Deepan had not procured his Saddle bag from DK, so I went to Panvel at DK’s place took Saddle bag from his dad, in the meanwhile Deepan was getting ready. I decided to fuel my tank full and asked to fill petrol worth Rs 800. and gave him Rs.1000 and forget to take change,Rs.200 lost.
I reached Sanpada was crossing Palm Beach Road signal and to my surprise I saw a red CBR 250R and it was Dk, he was going for meet his clients there in Sanpada. He wished me luck and asked to be carefull while rain and night riding.
Now everything was ready and our luggage packed so we started at 8.00 pm reached Lonavala by 10.00 it was raining till now. By this time we were getting hungry so decided to halt for dinner.We went in one restaurant and we then were amazed to see so many vintage cars in its backyard from Mercedes to Jaguar from Ford to Fiat. I started clicking but then I realize that there something’s wrong with my DSLR, it was not focusing on any object . Even Deepan’s point and shoot cam was not there as it was broken during Leh ride, we were in catch-22 situation, we are are on ride to Gods own country on our dream ride and our only camera was not working.
Some how managed to click this but there were many to be clicked but I was not able to


We had barely passed Pune, I was leading and suddenly my tankbag’s rain cover flewoff I thought it was stuck somewhere with one of its cord intact, but it didn’t ,Deepan honked and asked me to stop, he had seen it flying away.Deepan went back just to return empty handed so I went back and returned with same results. No worries that was not of any use, no waterproof at all and we had prepared for worst rainfall with extra layers of protection of plastic bags for all our luggage.
We had clocked some 350 odd kms and 3.00am we had just passed Karad and that heavy dinner was doing its work, we both were felling sleepy so decided to sleep at the same Petrol bunk we had just refulled.
Soon we entered Karnataka and was spellbound to see straight roads of NH4 .I wanted to capture it anyhow but my DSLR was not working, fiddled with it for some time and Eureka it just started working fine






It was 7.00AM and Deepan started to hear some funny noise from his bike’s chain and sprocket on closer inspection we had seen that it was completely loose and can break away anytime, Deepan didn’t wanted to ride even 1 Kms with that condition so we decided to go back as we had spotted a restaurant Hotel Satyawati palace there and think about it. Spotted a small garage exactly opposite to that restaurant but he will only come by 9.00 that means we have to wait for 2hrs before he comes and find a solution




You can see it was just about to break.






Mechanic came inspected his bike and asked us to ride to Nippani city and buy new chain and sprocket
but didn’t find it there so we have to ride back 40kms to Kholapur , dig for shops which sell this stuff and and again ride back 40kms back to Nippani.

It was 2.00pm until all work was done, we had breakfast and lunch at the same restaurant .
We also spotted cyclists as well making his way to the mountains.





Temple at Hubli.




Airtel Village





Navgrah temple.





Our target was to reach banglore on day 1 but due to bike issue we had wasted 7 hrs,
so we have to stay at Ranebennur at Anant Lodge paid 350 Rs for the same.

Waaah Sagar Bhau..kya baat hai..Nice writeup & awsum Pics..Hooked on your log. Please complete it a.s.a.p.

Day 2 Rannebanurr-Bangalore-Salem

Since we had already wasted more than 7 hrs in Nipani our aim was to wake up early and reach Munnar asap.I had kept alarm of 6.00 AM but we only woke up by 7.30am, left lodge by 8.30 and once again we were ready to roll.



we had just left from Rannebanuur and were crusing on NH4, just then we spotted 3-4 riders riding on other side of road, we both waved hands at them. Soon I realised they were Chennai Xbhpians riding towards Maharashtra.It was not possible to stop as both were cruseing at high speeds we just waved hands and headed forward to our destination.
It was 14th August and next day was Independence day, highways were flooded with mens selling Tricolor flags.Deepan had an idea about buying flag and flaunting it on our bikes.
we went ahead and after vey hard bargaining bought two flags for 70rs.
In no time we had reached Bangalore, we were on Bangalore Elevated Tollway, that flyover was more than 10kms long and it was the first time ever Deepan had paid toll tax for his bike.
By now it was 3.30pm and we were looking for place to have lunch, we decided to stop at Mcdonalds which was 4Kms away.As we were having our lunch we saw a green Ninja parked next to our bike then came CBR 250 then Ninja again then Pulsar 220 and then Ninja again and to our suprise one of them was wearing Xbhp Tri-state G2G t-shirt, they all were xbhpians from bangalore just came back after a short ride to nearest waterfall.


We had a great time chatting with them, telling them about our ride plans and gaining some pointers from them as well.It was a great felling to meet members of same family.Felt proud to be a Xbhpian that day. Alok (xbhp id - exo) and all others were very friendly, wanted to chat with them for few more time but we had to leave as we wanted to stick to our plan since we were already late.
Clicked some pics with them and we headed off to our destination.





Mr.Mcdonald admiring the ride.



Now it was 8.30 pm we were in Salem in Tamilnadu.Here Deepan was confused about to which direction we should go Chennai or Maurai.There was a signboard which said Chennai to the left and Madurai to the right, I took turn towards left which said Chennai, then stopped to check if we were in correct directions and also to remove rain gear as it was getting very hot.
But Deepan forgot to check if this was correct direction and we proceeded further just to get lost in Salem city for 1.5 hrs.
We were exhausted by now and needed some rest or you say needed dinner to feast on.
After searching for a nice restaruant we decided to enter Garden Restaurant.




Here we asked for Tamil special dish and the suggested Chicken Chaknadu soup and Chicken Chaknadu Gravy with papad and garlic nan, that sounded yummy and tasted very delicious as well.



After that yummy dinner we asked for directions towards Munnar and headed towards or destination.It was 11.30pm by then.

Kya baat hai Sagar & Deepen.... badiya hai....

Gud pics & log...

Coool log.
Didnt knw Deeepan was also along wid u? He was the planner was a shock

Bike prob at start of the ride, indicates happy sailing for rest of the days.

@ Koustubh bhai - Indeed the ride was smooth later on after the chain incident occured after around 14 hrs from the begining of the ride. Also I had this plan in my mind since long and that week the leaves and all just happened to be in place and we set out in a jiffy yet made the trip one of the most memorable ones.

Regards,
Deepan

Nice log man!
Loved the Airtel village shot. Nice to see Exo in the military cut.

By the way, did you figure out why the DSLR had a problem focussing?

Xstunter - Lucky dog as you managed to do Ladakh ride followed by Kerala ride. Hope both of you had a great ride..

Sagar - Finally u managed to do a longggggg road trip.. nice pics and log.. Keep it coming.

One of my friend while playing with camera had set focus to manual from the settings and not from the switch which is outside, so it took me a while finding out what the problem was.


Thanks Sachin....would have been more fun if you would have been there.

@sagar, Fatte pics
@deepan, Ladakh and kerala almost back to back, nice man, keep it up

@ Manas :- If all goes well there would be another big ride soon, hmmmm may be next month .

Regards,
Deepan

Day 3 (15 August 2011.) Salem-Erode-Munnar. (SH-17, 300+ Kms.)

Day 3 (15 August 2011.)
Salem-Erode-Munnar. (SH-17, 300+ Kms.)

After having full fledged dinner at Salem we decided not to stay for night but do night riding and reach Munnar ASAP. After asking for directions we headed towards to our destination.
Barely we had covered not more than 100 kms and started felling sleepy. I guess that chicken was doing its trick. Soon we reached a toll plaza and decided to rest here for a while by now it was 2.00AM.


We slept at this toll plaza for nearly an hour, by 3.30 we again started to ride forward. I must remind you that by now the road condition are just awesome. It was 15 August that day and we were waiting for sun to rise so that we can hoist tri-color on our bike and boy we were really excited about it.
Sight of rising sun and that too witnessing it from my bike has always amazed me and I was hoping for the same but I didn’t know it will so amazing that it will astound us and we wasted no time in clicking it.


Since it was sunrise, it was perfect time to hoist or raise tri-color flag on our bikes and it was easy to fix as they were easily getting attached to our saddle bag.
Deepan tryin to fix flag on his saddle bag.



Within minutes we fixed it and clicked few pics.



As soon as we started riding we grabbed many eyeballs. The sight on waving flags on bikes have taken all villagers my surprise from Policemen to small kids to senior citizens all were admiring us as we past them. They might have thought of as men on mission but we were not complaining and enjoying all the attention.


Now there was big mountain range ahead of us, I thought we would pass them but then I saw a board Munnar – 60Kms ahead. I had heard that road to Munnar is narrow with lots of hairpins and curve which is a dream for every biker. Deepan missed no time in overtaking me and leading all the way to the top. By now some 15 Kms had passed and I was amazed not to see any vehicle from the other end which made me think that traffic is only one-way and there might be different way for coming down since roads are very narrow.

By now I was cornering without worrying about incoming traffic and Deepan was one curve ahead of me. Now there was one Jeep driver who was annoying me (Kerala is notorious for their Jeep drivers) was not giving me any chance or opportunity to overtake. As soon as I found an opportunity to overtake I did the same, it was a right hander with deep valley on the left side. Suddenly, out of thin air a bus approached from other direction that caught me unaware. If all three of us not have slammed break at the right time and with the right amount then this blog would have been spicier, I am glad it’s not.
That bus is still haunting me; if anything would have gone wrong it would have been different story.
I must say I cheated death at that moment. I don’t know why but at that time it reminded me of movie Final Destination.
Deepan was not aware of anything that had happened now I have to ride hard, catch-up with him, stop him and narrate the entire story to him. But, he was already waiting for me on the corner of road. I narrated the entire incident to him and he said that even he was riding carefree but he had seen that bus just 3 turns before and he was careful. Thanked god for saving me, sipped some water and we proceeded further.

Soon we saw first tea plantation. Sight of those tea plants make me feel that “Yes, I have made it. This was the day I was alive for!”
this place is so mesmerizing that words can’t describe it.
This was the first tea plantations which we encountered



We knew this was nothing Munnar have more in stored for us so we started to ride again just to stop to again to admire Munnar’s beauty.

Waterfall at Munnar.





Exotic Munnar Tea Plantations




Deepan trying to take some rest under the sun




This is how small Munnar village is


Now we have reached Munnar and it was time for most painful task- to find cheapest accommodation. We knew we will have tough time finding accommodation, since it was a long weekend but we were prepare for the worst. After running from pillar to post we were able to find small room at decent price of 500 rs /day in ‘Sree Venkatershwara Inn’.
ADD- Opp.KTDC MUNAR, Kerala
TEL: 04865-230179, 231134



There was no fan then we realized why one would need fan in Munnar. Room was decent with twin bed and hot water in toilet and that was all what was required.

Here’s our room.



We wasted no time in bathing and then going to sleep only to be awake after 5 hrs of sleep i.e. By 7.00 pm

We both were felling very hungry now but Deepan was not having any cash with him and there were only 200rs left with me and all 3 ATMs in Munnar were closed or were out of cash. Now we have to survive on only 200 rs and have dinner with the same amount. Just few meters ahead we spotted a small eatery that was dishing out parcels and there was a small place to accommodate 5 people to have food at the same place. We went ahead and gave order for Chicken soup and chicken gravy with paratha.
I must say soup which we had there was one of the best soup I ever had. I can still fill chicken melting in my mouth and aroma of pepper. If this was not enough the Chicken gravy was more delicious than the soup,
we wanted more so we ordered egg paratha which was icing on the cake.



I must agree I never had such delicious food ever in my life. If got a chance I would once again visit Munnar only to have soup at that same place.
Now it was time to sleep, planned about next day’s schedule and went to sleep.
We had kept alarm at 6.00am now let’s see at what time we wake up.
All the best, good night.!!!!!