Travelogue approved.

Thanks, Sunil....

Day 1




Well... the time finally came for us to leave.. we decided to keep a speed of not more than 80 and enjoy the cold morning.. it indeed was cold enough to hear D sing out loud on the NICE road.. not sure if she was singing or screaming but sounded so


The route to Madikeri was not a tough one as i had been there before... onto the Mysore road, it was the usual traffic with enough humps to jump around.. something i hate.... we decided to stop by Bidadi for breakfast but it was too soon to have anything ... so we took our first stop in Kamat for some good breakfast...





ready to be unwrapped








tadaaaaaaaaa







Moved on to from Kamat and we entered Srirangapatna.. where we took the diversion towards Hunsur...The road was the same when i last went... bumpy... we finally hit the highway towards Khushalnagar...so far the Comy was awesome... no issues..

Finally we reached Khushalnagar... Had some steaming hot momos and proceeded towards Madikeri... the roads were a bliss as usual.. we reached Madikeri and the hunt began for rooms.. none of the decent places were available.. the ones which had rooms were costing as high as 5000/- and as low as 2500/-.. but finally we reached the bus stand and got into Hotel Cauveri... 900/- for a room .. good, clean and ok for just a day stay... the food as well was good...




we freshened up and went for the hunt for Pandi curry...we were lucky to find a small hotel near our stay which served this.. it was good and spicy which D couldnt handle ...





the dry version...





after lunch, i inquired for any places near by that i can ride to visit and was suggested Abbey Falls, the Fort which was the closest..


we took an hour break and then proceeded towards the Fort.. well not much to see and it was hot too that we decided to go to Abbey Falls...














all smiles





Must say .. they need to have this place more better organised.. the roads leading to the falls was a mess .. and the parking for vehicles was a chaos... luckily for 2 wheeler as we could just sneak through.....also, dont ever wear black.. it will be brown by the time you reach


Well after the well deserved lunch, the last thing i wanted was to walk down a kilometer to see the falls... and so we did.. but to my disappointment.. it was not something i would have come for... just a small fall of 30-40 feet .. the place was crowded with students and luckily we managed to get a couple of shots....













the climb up was the pain.. i was sweating out the meat i had earlier in a way a good exercise.. we managed to get past the jam of cars from the parking and back on to the road to the top...




later we decided to take a walk when the evening started to get darker.. the winds were chill and it was nice to walk down the street looking at shops... we ended this day on a positive note that we have 8 days to go and lot more to cover...




end of day 1...

Day 2


After a fun filled day in Madikeri, our next stop was Ooty...from what [MENTION=829]Phanikar[/MENTION] told me prior to my ride, i had to go via Gonikoppa - Tholpetta - Sultan Bathery to Ooty... so we started off....




5AM... all packed, refreshed, we started towards Gonikoppa.. the weather was really good.. chill winds, and the roads just asking to be ridden... we stopped for an early morning tea which is a must in such a weather... a nice kaka shop was open at that time and we stopped...





with the Mrs





moving on, we saw how tempting the road was to do some sudden bursts but with a pillion, it was something not worth taking ...we stopped by to take some shots of the beautiful Sunrise.. tried to get some zoomed in pics of the Sun.. not very clear but tried...











once we reached the diversion to Gonikoppa, i was pretty confident to be reaching Ooty by noon... this was all as per the plan....we entered the road and to be honest it was not very inviting.. it was still manageable until we reached 5KM into the road when the road started to show its true colors... pot holes, ditches, name it and you can feel how much pain your bike had to take ... it would have been easy if i was alone but with a pillion, handling the bike, dancing around was a little difficult... i never realized but i was putting a lot of stress n the rear brakes then....


This continued for another 20-40KM and i was expecting a diversion to Tholpetta somewhere on the way.. never happened.. after an hour plus of jumping around ditches, we reached a checkpost and to my surprise i saw a milestone that read "Virajpet".... i knew something was not right... i went ahead and asked the policemen in the check post for the way to Tholpetta and he was like, you missed it and you should go back... i thought out for a minute if it was really worth riding back on that road.. so i went back to him and asked.. where will i reach if i go forward and he told Irutty, Kerala... my next question, "Can i reach Ooty that way" and he told yes, you can... so i didnt think twice.. I knew that i was taking a chance but hell, its a chance to see new places and proceeded....


what gave me a smile was, after an hour of torture, we were greeted with some beautiful roads... it was so scenic that i remembered the route in US where we traveled from from Sunnyvale,CA to Santa Cruz beach.... the roads were so neat ... well marked, long trees on both sides... just leaning around for the next 30KM to reach the Kerala Checkpost of Irutty.. it was breakfast time and felt it was time to get some food.. typical malu breakfast - Parota with beaf


A lake as we crossed the checkpost...





a much needed break for the Mrs...





the beautiful roads enroute to Irutty











the mal breakfast...





After a big breakfast, i was not sure where to go next so i asked the policeman, this time in Kerala, how to go to Ooty and then came the shocker...They told me i had to go via Madikeri... i told its not possible to go back all the way and if i had an alternative.. they told me that i need to go to Wayanad and then from there hit Ooty... i knew that if i can get to Sultan Bathery which should be on the way to Wayanad, i can go to Ooty from there....so a change in plan .. more exciting to see new places .. we left...


To be Continued....

Good One! Even I will do South some day!!