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Rain had it's Plans and We had Our Own

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  • [Photo Feature]: Rain had it's Plans and We had Our Own

    After reading so many travel logs here as well as other forums, I too wanted to blog our rides. It took over one and a half years to overcome my laziness and pen down the log. This was our first interstate long ride. We have had couple of longer roadtrips after this, but this one still remains the best.
    June 16 to 19, 2011.
    Four of us on two bikes. A Bajaj pulsar-150 and a Yamaha Fzs.
    Most of the websites we came across told it is not recommended to visit Munnar in June/July because of heavy rains. But we wanted to go there from long time, so we decided on that.

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    Day 1:
    We left Mangalore at 6 am. Target was to reach Munnar or a previous city where we can find a decent accommodation.
    We Had lunch at Kozhikode and headed towards Thrissur. It was getting dark when we reached Thrissur. So we decided to stay at the next city on our way. It started pouring heavily when we just left the city. By 8pm we were in Kalady. We started searching for hotel and settled with one near Parambavoor(don't remember the name of city exactly). We were completely drenched by then.
    All of the pics were shot on a point and shoot Sony and a Canon.



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    Our rain gear
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    Fun times, somewhere near Kannur
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    End of Day 1
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    Day 2:
    Early morning we started riding towards Munnar. It was drizzling. 90 more kms to Munnar, most of which was ghat. Several small to big waterfalls and it was green everywhere. Treat to the eyes! We used to take break every five minutes or so to enjoy the beauty of nature. We reached Munnar at around 10 am. It was raining heavily. Completely drenched, soaked and shivering. After visiting Echo point and other place, we were at Munnar for lunch. At 4pm we started our journey towards Ooty. We decided to cover half the distance before it gets dark. None of us had smartphones. Hardly we could find anyone on road to ask for directions. We had no idea about the cities we would go through. It was raining heavily nonstop. Roads were also bad. The sun set and we started looking for accommodation. We did not find a proper city, continued to ride untill we were at the gate of Anamalai Tiger Reserve forest. The guards told two wheelers are not allowed after 6pm. Later he told we can follow a truck that passed that route. When we reached Udumalpet(Tamilnadu), it was 9pm and stayed at a hotel right opposite to Udumalpet bus station.

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    Many more pics to be followed...


    Last edited by livingdead; 02-04-2013, 06:00 PM.

  • #2
    Travelogue Approved

    Better late than never
    Biking is not about what you have between your legs, its all about how well you use it!!!!!!!

    Give your details here if you want to help your fellow xBhpian stranded in your city

    Touring Blog: Cycling in Mongolia!

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    • #3
      Good pictures. You guys had a gala time in the rain. Just one small advise. Since you guys are doing frequent long trips it is advisable to have some safety gears like knee pad and elbow pad. Cheers

      Mathews

      Smile at everyone you meet and make someone happy.

      Its better to sweat than bleed!! "AGATT "



      Comment


      • #4
        Thank you Mathews. You are right. Safety gears are must. Those days, we were just out of college, all we could afford was a helmet and cheap jackets. Started saving for the basic riding gears already.

        Originally posted by accuengineer View Post
        Good pictures. You guys had a gala time in the rain. Just one small advise. Since you guys are doing frequent long trips it is advisable to have some safety gears like knee pad and elbow pad. Cheers

        Mathews
        Thank you for approving the thread Moderator


        Originally posted by The Monk View Post
        Travelogue Approved

        Better late than never
        Last edited by The Monk; 02-04-2013, 06:34 PM.

        Comment


        • #5
          Pics from Day 2. Continued...

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          Comment


          • #6
            Day 3:
            Ride to Ooty via Coimbatore. Decent roads. We were in Coimbatore around 9am, traffic had started catching up. Those days I was putting together spare parts for restoration of my 1984 Royal Enfield. And my friend needed cylinder-piston kit for his Rd 350. So we went in search of spare parts shop in Coimbatore. Had tough time communicating with them. We somehow lost our way to get back and wasted some time to get out of city. Finally we were on the highway to Ooty. There wasn't much rain in Tamilnadu. We met another group of local riders heading to Ooty when we were on Ghat road to Ooty. We reached Ooty at around 12pm. Shadab knew few friends there(as he lived in Ooty during his early school days). So easily we got rooms. Dumped our luggage there, had lunch and we rested there till 4 in the evening. We went to Doddabetta, Botanical gardens etc. At night after dinner, roamed a little in city, bought some Ooty homemade chocolates. And decided to get ready early morning next day and ride back home.

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            Last edited by livingdead; 02-04-2013, 05:58 PM.

            Comment


            • #7
              Day 4:
              Because of the cold whether in Ooty, we ended up sleeping till 9 in the morning and it was 10:30 am when we were finally saddled up. We had not yet decided on the route yet! Nor we had a map. But as we had seen in the maps when we left Mangalore, the return route was via Kerala(may be via Waynad?). We weren't clear on that. When we were about to start from Ooty, we met a Tourist cab driver from Bangalore, who properly guided us to take the route via Mysore, as the roads were too good. So we started riding towards Mysore. Bison valley and then 36 hairpin bends. Amazing! Pulsar's front disk brake gave up when we almost neared the end of 36 hairpin bends. Madhumalai National Park and then entered Karnataka, rode through Bandipur National park. It was a Sunday, we did not find any proper place to fix the front disk brake of Pulsar. We had lunch in Mysore and replaced the brake pads at a mechanic shop. Mysore - Madikeri! The straights! We reached Madikeri around 5 pm, had tea, snacks and spent some time at Raja seat(this time did not see the sunset though :P). Riding back home, between Sampaje-Sullia, the worst road we came across during those four days. Roads were under construction and I hope it might be completed by now. Reached Puttur around 8pm. From BC road, we went to visit our college campus, Canara engg. Shadab went to Mangalore from there. Vik dropped shishir(Mudbidri) and me(Karkala) on the way and he left to Udupi. Thus our four day Monsoon ride came to an end safely.

              Total Distance: around 1500 kms.


              The Riders
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              Shishir got boil on his finger when he touched 'hot front disk' !
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              Purple tounge!
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              Comment


              • #8
                Nice ride and pictures. It really takes something to visit Munnar in July. Its possible to ride, but in heavy rains you don't get to see things due to heavy mist and clouds. But, I like Munnar in rains than when its clear.

                When going for a long ride, one should always check disc pads life, engine oil life, and air filter. It could have been disastrous without front disk in those hilly areas.
                HH Karizma (Current) || CBF Stunner PGM-FI || Honda CB Unicorn Dazzler
                Honda Aviator || Kinetic Flyte || Kinetic Blaze || HH Splendor

                Two ZMAs, 9 Days in Western Ghats

                Comment


                • #9
                  Thank you ravi.

                  Originally posted by ravi@17bhp View Post
                  Nice ride and pictures. It really takes something to visit Munnar in July. Its possible to ride, but in heavy rains you don't get to see things due to heavy mist and clouds. But, I like Munnar in rains than when its clear.

                  When going for a long ride, one should always check disc pads life, engine oil life, and air filter. It could have been disastrous without front disk in those hilly areas.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I'm not a big fan of Rain-rides, let alone around a wet Munnar

                    Looking forward to the rest, and I can clearly see why you feel that this trip was the best..! #Experience.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Refreshing pictures!
                      Be the change you want to see in other Riders!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Thank you Sharad

                        Originally posted by Sharrrrrrad View Post
                        Refreshing pictures!

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