Thanks Deva !

Day-2: In and Around Meghamalai

Alarm rang by 6.30am and but i was awake some 15 minutes before itself Weather was cold outside and inside the water from the tap was freezing cold and somehow with the help of water heater and a technique got some bucket full of hot water bath - similarly all implemented the same were ready by 9am. With Idlies, Vada and Dosa's for breakfast all were ready to roll by 10am. First in our list was the Dam which is some 20 add kms from our stay. Roads are going to more worse than what we rode yesterday, with that cautious info passed to all we started our ride. Rajiv had less fuel in his 1000 so jumped on Sriram's Karizma as a pillion - from there on its was a offroading, photo-breaks, ride under drizzles, checking with locals on the route - Reached the Dam.



We didnt go near the dam as being a restricted area, clicked photos a lot and a group photo was the one to be clicked. Once done we moved uphill to the view point - we already were amazed with the views and we took a corner nearing the so called view point and all of were spell-bounded is the word. No words to express the happiness that we rode to that place - the biker in me (all of us )was really happy and jumping in joy for that. Marvelous, Fantastic, Splendid - outstanding view and we all were feeding our eyes-heart-mind with every inch of the outstanding landscape to be scanned and etched onto our memories.


we were distrubed by a couple of localities (we thought that) but actually they were the police officers who are in control of the area. Since no one comes over this side - they were in normal dress. First they were tough on us asking that who gave permission to come this side and stuff... Already Sriram, rajiv and couple others went ahead,so ananth went call them back - meanwhile we were on talking with the police officers and they were asking us what we are doing here n stuff - informed that we were motorcycle tourers, came here to get the glimpse of unheard places and some story - since we are of no threat they let us all to go ahead :-D. We futher rode couple of hundred meters the road ended. Another photo break for few minutes - Ravi, praveen and thier friends left bidding us bye since they got to ride all the way back home respectively.



Few more minutes, we saw the rain gods coming down - so we cleared of the place soon and started our ride back. within a km or so it started raining, we stopped to change into our rain gears - fun was that jus before a corner sunny and deepak were changing into their rain gear under rain itself - around that corner there was a bus stop for shelter :-) where we all changed our rain gears. We checked with the local who came to the busstop if there are any tea shops nearby - we lucky to have within 50 meters from the busstop. Hot Tea adn bhajji to beat the rain :-) by the time we finished the tea rain stopped and we started our ride again - meanwhile Sriram and Rajiv went ahead without stopping in the rain itself - they have informed the security to about us and asked us to take the route to Vattaparai (Round Rock), made entries of our bike numbers and we proceed ahead - roads were in better condition but we were lost, no sign boards and we were struck - suddenly we saw someone waving hands at us and it was Rajiv and Sriram. We rode up till them, enquired did they found out the route to Vattaparai - no luck the road divides into and further divides to 4 :-) so returned back. we decided to take a break there for sometime and then return to guest house as it was already 3pm and sure it take couple of hours to ride back - but Steve was adamant on exploring more so he, jafar, sriram and deepak went ahead, we stayed back.



After some half-an hour rest we decided to get back which we already informed steve and group. We left downhill and crossed the checkpost and soon the offroad junkies Badri and Ananth found a water crossing then what - figured out a route down and one-by-one lined up for free bike wash and to get clicked :-) Spent some half an hour over there and came back to the guesthouse tired and hungry.



Informed for dinner and stayed behind the doors in verandh because we experienced the gusty spine-chilling winds - this is the first time iam facing it and was one of a kind experience. We talked into the night after dinner pulling around each other and soon getting back to rooms for sleep as we have to start early to ride back home !

Brilliant !!!

Brilliant trip log and pics there Dinesh. Though I regret about not joining the ride - Happy to see such a big ride well executed with no big issues. Glued to the thread, bring on the last day ride and more pics

Beautiful pictures Dinesh. Hard to say they came out of a Point & Shoot. Really nice ones.

Thanks Nishant !

Thanks Ananth ! on a given day where Light is perfect - Point & Shoot will be good and luckily Light was good during our trip

To Paradise, One More Time

It was time for an another trip and what better company than the biker buddies. They have all been in viscous "friendship" circle for a while now. And i just aided a get-together to relax, unwind and enjoy in a place called "Meghamalai". With the help of Sriram, I booked the hotel accommodation close to a month before the ride. Having been there earlier, i knew how hard / challenging the roads could be. More than the ability, the temperament, maturity and the bond between the group made me select a small group of riders from the usual riding group. It was hard, It was lame and It was boring to answer why i did select a few and why i had to reject a few. I selected 12 guys including myself for the ride and booked three rooms with 4 bed each. We exchanged a lot of emails, few members read them, many didnt - but atleast i was content that i did what i needed to. Manoj dropped out due to personal reasons, and final list of riders were:

One good thing about the group was, it was not about the bike but the guy riding it. We had a FZ16 to R15s to Karizmas to KTM 200 to Ninja 250 / 650 to a FZ1 (a 1000 cc Super Bike). Regardless of speeds we maintained, every one stuck to the group and the coordination was just spot on. We started early on a friday morning, had lunch in Dindigul Thalappakatti, and were in Meghamalai - Highwavys by evening. Steve & Jafar went there earlier than us & sought out the accommodation issue. Our stay was shifted from the Big Inspection Bungalow to the cramped Panchayat Guest House because of reasons best known to them. We had to book more rooms extra since we were 11 guys in all and we had only 8 beds (Offered 4 rooms) - After many rounds of arguments and requests, we were given one room extra. Even though we were ready to pay for it, the rooms were not free to be occupied.

We all checked in and started relaxing with tea, and others with their own choice of liquid. Ravi & Pavan from Hyderabad, who was touring all over south India for the last week joined us with friends from Kerala, Praveen & Antony. It was good seeing friends from other states, who you always speak through facebook / forums / phone. It was good catching up with them, and now the next headache - Accommodation. Went down to the office, once again to request for rooms. Initially he requested them to stay in the office itself by moving the furniture and make way to sleep on the carpet. We had to say yes, since there was no way out. Later, the caretaker offered us 2 rooms - out of nowhere, claiming he had cancellations at the last moment. what ever it may be, we got extra rooms so our friends from Kerala & Andhra can sleep in comfortably.

The new morning, we were greeted with excellent vistas all over. Lush Tea Estates, Beautiful Lakes, Dam, Reservoirs, View Points, Very Bad roads and yes the team did spot a wild Bison in the tea estates. We started after breakfast, the sight seeing got us hooked that we were only back by about 5 30 PM. We had to be content with tea & bajji's from a remote tea stall near Iravangalar. We ordered for a early Dinner, and almost all of us were with a tummy full by 8 PM. We talked around for a while, discussing about anything that came on the mind. We went to bed by around 11 and were up ~ 6 30 AM. Settled out the bills, had a cup of tea and biscuits and we were off from Highwavys by 8 AM. For the first time, we were right on target to start, not early, not late but just on time to start back home. It took us close to two hours for the first 50 kilometers, and about another 8.5 hours for the next 500 kilometers to reach back home. It was tiring, but an enjoyable weekend spent with some good friends for company. I hope to do similar rides with the gang, sometime soon.

Until then, Ride Safe.

Ananth T E

really good one..

Very nice pics by everyone...... also the place is really a paradise...

@Ananth: you are the second timer.

Absolutely stunning..I sought some guidance from praveen and visited this place last sunday..But.Seems like its calling me back.So planning to visit.next month 1st week again : .

Day 3 - Meghamalai to Ride Back home

Woke up by 5am by the noise of Dog barking continuously and came out to see nothing out there except for Mist. Steve and Jafar who decided to start by the same time ditched their plans for now as the visibility was nearly 5 feet. Went back to get some sleep and was awake again by 6 am - started to get ready by taking bath to beat to the cold :-) Mist started to clear - so Jafar and Steve started their return journey back home - we bid them a safe ride and all got back to packing and getting ready for the ride. With a delay of half-an-hour all were ready/saddled up to start the ride - but not before a hot tea! Some hot tea to gulp down our throats and a group photo - we were all set to roll...Riding through the Mist we wanted to check out the lake which we missed during our upward ride - but again the Mist was not giving a chance for that and with photos in a nice corner - we continued our ride downhill... after couple of km the mist started to clear away and visibility increased. Took a break to realize that we have covered only 6 odd km and got some 24 km to cover - from there on all was on their own - some rode slowly and some stopped for photos and some went ahead - after couple of hours we finally reached the downhill to be welcomed by the sun's warmth to beat the cold we faced. Regrouped, took a break and decided to meet up at Dindugul Thalapakkatti for Brunch - With that in between we all stopped for fueling in Theni which means we were back to civilization and traffic. From there on all went ahead on their and the road construction wasn't giving us trouble this time since we have rode on much worse roads before - so we were able to ride in good speeds and were top gears wherever we found good roads. Within next couple of hours we stopped at Thalapakkatti for Brunch - Sunny, Rajiv, Ananth, Badri were already there and me and Deepak joined, Sriram and Pintu who jus missed the place, went ahead turned back after few minutes. Had a good brunch around noon exactly and started our ride back - this time we hit a different route to get to the highway and it was blessing and within half an hour we were in the highway.

Filled up for fuel after dindugul - saw Rajiv who came in to check his Tyre pressure - bid bye to him - as we know he would rip back to home. Then Sunny, Ananth, Badri crossed us and I started from the fuel station while Pintu and Sriram were few minutes behind - From there on it lonely ride - kept riding - riding - riding - maintained some good speeds and reached A2B near Ulundurpet - with a assumption to find someone - guessed right - Yuvi, ananth, sunny and Badri were there. Some refreshment and rest all set to go - Pintu and Sriram joined us... couple more minutes break - All started the last leg of ride back home. Me, Sriram, Yuvi and Pintu sticked to-gether from there and stopped for a tea break before Chengalpet - and after that we hit the traffic - missed others near tambaram and reached home safe and sound.Messaged our guyz - a Cold shower and hit the bed with wonderful memories wandering over the mind.

Nice Pics bro whats with the Riding boots.

riding in the mist that too in hills, really awesome.. i love this.. though its risky when there is heavy mist.. but its fun..

Nice log and superb photos Dinesh.