Day Four continuation

Eventually even I had to do this, thanks to Pavan.








Sriram checking out my P7100




Setting out Gorillapod for group shot.




When we asked Sriram and Ram about the weather in Munnar, they said its raining heavily there. So, we thought we should prepare for a rainy ride from here onwards. After we departed, it was almost around 3:45 p.m., and rushed to Valparai. There I told Pavan that even though we could reach Athirapally by night, we have to rush ourselves, and in case if there is heavy rain it might spoil everything. So we decided to stay at Valparai for night and start early morning to Athirapally. After enquiries we found Pon’s Home Stay. The room was big and nice and he quoted 1000 rupees, but agreed for 600 finally for the night stay. We threw all the luggage in the room and was out on the road for much-wanted lunch. We found a small hotel at the corner, and had nice paratha.

After lunch we roamed around Valparai for 30 kms in slow motion, enjoying each and every inch of the place in beautiful climate. It turned out to be a whole new experience today for us, with excellent valparai ghats and the nice beautiful climate. We did only 130 kms for the day.


The pics from here are like a photoshoot of our bikes in those beautiful tea estates. J



























The twilight time was most amazing. Peaceful, calm, serene, and beautiful.











We came back to Valparai by 6:30 p.m., and took our bikes to a local mechanic shop. Adjusted chain slackness, lubed the chain, and checked engine oil level.

Came back to room, checked our photos and videos, charged the mobiles and camera batteries. Had paratha and masala dosa as dinner at a hotel, which was really good. Retired to bed early with alarm set at 5 a.m.

P.S.: I also came to know that 'God's Own Country' is also 'Leeches' Own Country'. Where ever I went into grass and tea estates, I was constantly checking for any leeches on my shoes. Any small tingling sensation, I had to peep near the ankles for leeches. Luckily no leech bites so far.

Wonderful travelogue and brilliant pics. Enticing me to start riding again and visit these places. Have got lots of leaves remaning for any long rides

I liked that pavans trademark type......... i m definitely gonna try this.....................Pics are simply awesome and beautifull
long live riders.............

Come on Krish, jump on the saddle and ride. This is the best time to do. And thanks for liking the pics.

Thanks Satish. Am glad you liked the log and pics. A word of caution: A bit of risk involved in trying out the Pavan's trademark; your trousers may tear at unwanted places.

Highlights of the Day:

• Flat tyre in Sholayar Reserve Forest
• Beautiful upper and lower Sholayar lakes
• Lovely and amazing climate
• Unexploited sholayar reserve forest, deep and lengthy
• Athirapally Waterfalls.

Route Map:




Woke up to ringing of alarm at 5 a.m. and we were out by 6:15 a.m. Had some tea at the junction and started riding towards Sholayar Dam. The upper sholayar dam is 20 kms from Valparai. The weather is cloudy and calm with cool breeze, which is perfect for a biker. The roads were wt with overnight rain. Every view was a beautiful scenery with coffee plantations and tea plantations. Our pace was slow with more number of stops for photos and to enjoy the place. Whenever I got down to click pictures, looked at the place where I was going to stand in fear of LEECHES. Any small tingling sensation in the legs, I was more scared. This fear incited in me by the log of Avinash from Chennai. A month back when these people visited this place, they got leeches all over the body, including helmet :O. Leeches climbing up near the head would be difficult even to think. So the conditions are perfect for leeches with wet roads and grass everywhere.

Winding roads all over the place with good tarmac.








Darks clouds covered soon, indicating heavy rain. Workers going to plantations so early.






After around 5 kms, we got the view of upper sholayar lake. The lakes in these areas are like amoeba with wings stretched everywhere.


















The lake around the plantations makes the place more and more beautiful. The plantations were grown on the islands too.










The Sun played a little hide and seek for sometime, giving us scintillating views now and then.




Finally, the sholayar dam was visible from a distance.














They were not tea plantations on the hill.






Sholayar Dam








After the Dam, we reached TN-Kerala border check post. The forest official noted down our details and gave a slip, which we need to submit at exit check post at Athirapally, 55 kms after. We entered into forest and roads were not good. It was drizzling. We were going a little down and felt something wrong with my bike while negotiating corners. The rear was swinging and swaying a lot at corners. I thought may be the alignment gone wrong when I adjusted chain yesterday. The forest became deep and thick which was wet everywhere (leeches in mind ). Found a small waterfall by the roadside and stopped. I told Pavan what I experienced of the bike. While I was looking around, he checked air in my rear tyre and found it to be almost flat. Fear engulfed me totally, and was thinking something went wrong with the rim which let the air out. If that’s the case, not repairable in deep forest. Was thinking why the flat tyre in deep forest? I put the bike on centre stand and Pavan found a nail with big head. I told Pavan not to remove the nail and took out the foot pump. Now, to make things better/worse, the rain entered the scene. I was thinking thank God, we were carrying the foot pump. I connected the hose to the nozzle and found the pressure to be 10 psi. Filled up the air till 40 psi, and Pavan could listen the air gushing out from the nail. So, the puncture needs to be repaired. Luckily I had good experience with repairing tubeless punctures. Repaired the puncture and filled air, while Pavan was shooting the entire process.





We were thinking what a place to repair the flat tyre, in deep forest, with waterfall entertainment. Filled air till 35 psi, and here comes the BIG JOLT. As soon as I removed the foot pump hose the air was freely coming out of the nozzle. The valve pin seemed stuck inside :O :O. It was really biggest scare for me. I tried to insert some needle inside and tried manipulating so that the pin comes in to lock position, but it didn’t happen. What to do now? We had no clue what to do; we were in the middle of a deep forest with no traffic. The forest was so deep we could listen to all kinds of sounds. What if wild animals come? Many thoughts bouncing in my mind.

Our moods turned gloomy from joy. I filled air again and put the valve cap and tightened it. The valve cap was made of metal and seemed to stop the air. The sound of waterfall made it difficult to make out. I was relieved a bit as the air was not leaking much. Thought of moving ahead and fill air whenever needed and get out of the forest first. Tied the foot pump to saree guard with the bugee cord and we started moving. Pavan was following me keeping an eye on the rear tyre. After a while found air not leaking much and we started riding slowly with a bit of relief in mind. I was not able to enjoy the climate and the deep forest and the ride while thinking about whether the air would leak again or the repaired puncture would hold properly. Then, I told myself, “stop worrying and enjoy the ride and place, and that’s what you rode 1000 kms all the way. See the bike is running as of now and if air leaks again, lets do something then. For now the metal cap is holding the air and consider yourself lucky; you got a way out of the forest, so enjoy it.”

Took a deep breath and focussed on the ride and surrounding around, forgot about the incident and started enjoying the deep forest. The roads were initially bad for around 20 kms, and rain making the road more bad. But, after around 20 kms, the remaining 30 kms till Athirapally was awesome with newly laid tarmac. We found huge Langoors hanging and jumping across the road from big trees. We stopped at many places for photos, and we could listen sounds of many creatures from the forest, some were scary enough. This was the first time I have seen such a deep forest that spread across a lengthy area. Whenever I stopped for photos, leeches were always in my mind and was carefully looking at wherever I put my foot.


This is the place where we repaired the flat tyre.
















Later we spotted the lower Sholayar lake on the right side and it was a treat to our eyes. The reservoir appeared untouched and not exploited at all. The thickly grown forests in and around the lake gave it a totally different experience. We could listen sounds of creatures from the forest.










Posing time..




Pavan the poser..














We spent quite a bit of time over there enjoying and relaxing. The flat tire episode was completely out of my mind and stopped worrying completely. It only came to mind when I was topped by a two wheeler with the pillion carrying a wheel. He asked me something but I could not understand due to language barrier. I tried to tell them that its another 30 kms till the next check post. I wondered wouldn’t it be the same if we were not able to stop the air leakage? That thought jolted me for once .

Suddenly the dark clouds surrounded the lake and it started raining, indirectly telling us enough of relaxing and there is more distance to cover for the day.




Day five continued...

Day Five continuation....

Day Five continuation.

We started riding in heavy rain for some time and I thought we would be doing so for a long time after seeing the clouds, but after 2 kms, the rain subsided a little, but the clouds were hovering around the mountains. The road was awesome and the visuals were spell bounding. We could see dry sunny climate down the hills from a view point.










The views were stunning and breath-taking.





After this, I thought the forest ended and we will be nearing the exit check post at Athirapally, but it wasn’t. The forest was as usual more thick with elephant dungs everywhere indicating their territory.














We found another big lake by the road side, the name of which I don’t know.






Found this wild snail crossing the road ‘aaraam se’. I almost crushed it but luckily missed it narrowly. Never saw this big snail with red-hot colors. I stopped to click and turned its head as if it recognized me taking its picture.




Bridge between deep forest.






The climate became relatively hot as we were nearing Athirapally. It was around 2 p.m. by the time we reach the exit check post. Wanted to visit the Vazhachal waterfalls, but we skipped the plan as we needed to carry the luggage. We started towards Athirapally after the check post and found a mini waterfall before it, the name of which I forgot. J


Its quite sunny.








We reached Athirapally and called up Praveen Mathew from Kerala and informed that we reached Athirapally and got details as to how to reach the falls. He said he would book a room for us in Munnar and would message the route from Athirapally to Munnar. We didn’t have any food since morning, except for some cake and biscuits on the way. We had to park the bikes in the parking lot and walk inside the forest to reach the falls. The problem was with the luggage; it would be difficult to carry the luggage inside. So, I told Pavan that we first have lunch at some hotel, park our bikes opp to it and ask the owners to look after the bikes and luggage. As we were hungry we ate stomach full and asked the lady owner there to keep an eye on the luggage. Left our helmets and jackets too on the table. We reached the entrance to the falls, and came to know that we had to take tickets. We looked for the place where to get the tickets and was shocked see its almost 250 meters away :O. The climate was hot and sunny, and walking immediately after food showed us hell. We got the tickets finally and started walking back to the entrance of the falls cursing the management as to why they have to put the ticket counter far away from the entrance. Here luck favoured us a bit; a part of waterfalls was visible from the road, I stopped for tacking photos. A localite enjoying the view sitting there on the bench enquired about us and was surprised when we said we rode all the way from Hyderabad. After introduction he told us that we could reach down the waterfalls quickly if we take a short cut. He asked us to take the route between the stalls, where a guard would be sitting. We thanked him and left.


View from the road




We found the route in between the stalls, but the guard didn’t let us in. After requesting, a localite from the nearby stall asked the guard to allow us. With big smiles we started climbing down. The road was through the forest.






We reached bottom of the water falls soon and I saw everyone carrying big towels, and was wondering why everyone would go into the falls. I was carrying a mini towel and realized later that it was the good thing I did. As we neared the waterfalls we could hear all the buzz of falling water. I was shocked to see it was all misty due to water droplets and we started to get wet soon :O. Nobody was going into water falls but everyone there getting fully wet due to the misty water droplets formed due to water falling on rock from approximately more than 150 feet. It was a visual treat seeing the falls from the bottom and I knew then why it was so famous. I had a very difficult time clicking photos because the moment I take out the camera, it was all wet. With lots of difficulty, hiding under the bushes nearby, was able to get some pictures.























After that we started climbing up the stairs to reach the top of the waterfalls. Seems my fitness levels have drastically fallen; it was very tiresome climbing up the stairs in hot sun. I was left breathless in the halfway, but somehow managed to reach the top. Took some much-needed rest and enjoyed the view. Clicked some photos and posed for photos. The barricade to protect people from falling down looked really ugly and destroyed the beauty of the falls.


















We walked back to our bikes with difficulty. Bought two soda cans and thanked the lady shop owner for watching over the luggage. It was very hot and sultry. So, I removed the jacket and started riding. The roads were in very good shape. After some 10 to 15 kms we reached a junction where there was a bridge on the left side. There is a waters sports resort on the right side. I remembered google maps showing there a way from that place to Kalady, skipping the Chalkudy town. We enquired people over there but we didn’t get a any proper road updates. Called up MG, and confirmed the route and suggested us to take the route and see as it won’t eat up our time much. So, we decided to skip Chalkudy and take this route. As soon as we crossed the bridge, I took left again and saw a forest check post. The officer there noticed my puzzled face and asked about the destination. I said Munnar and then he asked us to come and note down the details. We enquired about the route and he said around 10 kms would be bad and the rest would be okay. That cleared our minds and entered into forest. The road was narrow single lane and lots of patches and appeared good initially. It turned very bad after some kilometres. There were lots of teak plantations everywhere; no other trees anywhere near them. For almost 20-25 kms, nothing else except these trees.




Pavan trying to find new ‘pose’










The road was sometime good and sometime bad. I started worrying about my rear tire, but seems the metal cap holding the air good. And then we got a junction with no signboards and not a single human being in the vicinity :O. Luckily with the help of google maps were able to go into right path. And again after some kilometres, we faced a junction and with no signboards. There was a lady localite there and tried asking her. Language was a big problem and she showed left to Munnar. Meanwhile, a school bus came and I enquired about the route, and he suggested to take right and then ride for 16 kms and then take left from there. We took right from there and started riding. There were lots of turns in between but ultimately we reached a kind a town (don’t remember the name though).


Some strange palm-kind trees. No idea what these are.






Head some tea at a local chai shop and the lady owner nodded okay when I asked kalady route. The road was two lane and we were happy to see that, and then the happiness was short-lived as we suddenly encountered 100s of lorries; you are right 100 of tippers carrying something. Its like a big goods train going on the road. Crossing them was a huge task, and Pavan was left behind. We saw nothing but lorries for another 10 kms. We reached Neeleswaram finally and took left to Kalady. From Kalady it’s the easy route to Munnar. We filled the tanks to brim at the next big town and the tank engulfed more than 16 litres again.

We were doing good speeds trying to reach Munnar as early as possible. I was worried as to what to do in case of heavy rain on the way at night. We started climbing the hills. The road was not that good, with lots of patches initially. We had a heart-in-mouth situation at a corner due to some overspeeding vehicle. Just before night we reached a waterfall, perfect timing for to get flowing effect.


While I was clicking this shot using gorillapod, one elderly man came to and asked if I was able to cover the whole waterfall. I looked at him, and the camera fell from the bridge from a height of 5 feet, with open lens touching the muddy soil L. This was the fourth time the camera fell in the last 3 months. Luckily the camera was still working and the lens retracting well, but lots soiled water entered the retracting system.





That old man was returning from Munnar and he told there was no rain in Munnar. Relieved with that we switched on our headlights and started climbing. Munnar was 40 more kilometres from that place. It was fun riding at night in ghats, at the same time it required lots of focus and concentration while negotiating a turn. We reached Adimaly soon and found it to be a big town with lots of branded shops. We were stopped by police and asked if we were drunk. They noticed we were in finest senses and let us. Before some 20 kms from Munnar, the road was pathetic and we had to ride in broken roads. It was the most painful and tiresome ride at the end of the day. It took us almost an hour to cover that 20 kms. The last time I came to Munnar in 2007, this road was in exactly same condition. One way we were happy that there was no rain, which would have showed us hell riding in those broken roads at night.

We got a room at SN Sujatha Inn as per Praveen’s advice. Checked in the room and put all the luggage inside and came out for a walk to stretch our bodies after a tiresome ride. Had food in the same hotel and retired to bed.

All in all, one hell of a day, unforgettable, with all kinds of experience. And I was lucky that the metal cap was able to hold the air in the rear tire .

Fantastic pics sir. The whole trip spells Karizma!! A full on zma filled tour would have been fun. Waiting for more....

Thanks Harish. Yeah, the Karizma is all over in the trip and it truly deserves. Munnar episode will be updated tomorrow.

Bro, that puncture video was really helpful. Nice pics and that waterfall seems to be a strong one. Keep posting and Ride safe

great trip Ravi, all are mind blowing places n very nice pics... i think this trip is an achievement for you... as a reader also its one of the benchmark trips for me... this entire route is attracting to travel thru ... it covers mountains, tea estates, lake, jungle (wild life), waterfalls, cloudy mist.. magnificent...

Hi anna...really the photos were awesome..safe drive ...waiting for more

Beautiful pictures Ravi !! The clouds, the forests and the falls, truly awesome. Loved it. I must repeat, you really choose the most scenic places to ride to. Wish you many more beautiful rides to come

Take Care & Ride Safe

Route:



There was no rain, and it was unexpected. The Sun was playing hide and seek initially, but by 10 a.m., the clouds disappeared and it became very hot, which was a real shock to us. We got to see a different Munnar in September. We got to see a different beauty of Munnar in bright Sun. We have stopped at many places and clicked lots of pictures, and posed for pictures too. It took us almost 2.5 hours to reach Top Station. The following many pictures were taken en route Top Station from Munnar.


The Medupatty Dam


Top Station will be continued.

Thanks for those appreciating words sir. I am glad you loved the pictures. And regarding selecting the places, I say yes; I always try to make it to beautiful places. But, this year all was possible because I was not working right now. So, I was able to plan as per my wish.

Thanks Sri. More and more pictures of more beautiful places will come in two days. Four days of log is still left.

Thanks Sirish for those words. Yes, this trip is the best one I had so far and is the longest one for me too. Always wanted to ride to these places, and I am happy I was able to ride to many beautiful places at one go at right time too. We rode minimum and enjoyed maximum immersed in the beauty of these places. This was all possible because of the biker brotherhood we shared across the country. I was able to meet many bikers in the trip.

awaiting Bro...awaiting..