Hi Guys,

This is my first travelogue, so kindly bear with me if I ramble too much.

It's been sometime since I went on a long ride since I don't get too many leaves at work. While checking the list of holidays for 2014, I noticed that I had an off on the 20th (Monday). So I immediately applied leave for the 16th and 17th and started planning for a trip.

I first wanted to go to the IBW 2014, but I was running low on cash so I decided to make a less expensive trip. I was searching for a destination in South India on Google Maps, then I thought why not cover the forest areas in and around Tamil Nadu. Finally after a lot of planning, the route came into a shape.

16th => Chennai - Chamarajanagara
17th => Chamarajanagara - Bandipur Forest - Mudhumalai Forest - Masinagudi - Pykara Falls - Emerald Lake - Thrissur
18th => Thrissur - Athirapally Falls - Valparai - Chennai
19th => Munnar - Chennai

Well this was the route at the time of planning, but as always we had to deviate from this plan due to an unavoidable circumstance. More on that later!

At first there were only 3 participants. Me, my cousin, & Akshay. But a week before D-day, Akshay and my cousin had to back out as they did not get leaves and bike respectively. So I was left alone and was on the verge of cancelling the trip as my parents are dead against me going on a long ride, let alone, to ride solo.

This is when Hari Haran and Ezhilkannan confirmed that they are in for the trip. I was psyched again! All the planning began a week before the ride. That's when Ezhilkannan had to drop out as he had to accompany his parents to his native. So it was only me and Hari at the end.

16th January (Day 1) 510Kms:

Both of us met at the Maduravoyal by-pass at around 8.00 AM and started immediately. We took the first break at Vellore. Hari had his breakfast there (I had mine at home) and soon we started again. We reached the outskirts of Bangalore at around 1.30 PM and had our lunch there. Instead of taking the Outer Ring Road, I took the Express Highway by mistake and entered into the city. Finding a route out of city was a pain and got delayed by 1.30 hours because of this. Finally, we caught the Mysore road and was on our way again. I heard that a place called Talakadu is really beautiful, 50 Kms from Chamarajanagara. We wanted to visit that place, but by the time we reached Kollegal it was 5.30 PM. Talakadu was only 10 Kms from there, but our destination was 40 Kms away and we had to search for a good place to stay, hence we were forced to push off. Reached Chamarajanagara at 6.30 PM. By the time we searched for a good lodge and settled down it was 8.00 PM. Then we had dinner, filled petrol, called it a night.

17th January (Day 2) 240 Kms:

We got up at 4.45 AM, got ready and immediately pushed off at 5.30 AM. Soon after we started, it started raining. After all the planning, I forgot to carry my jacket's rain liner and the tail bag's rain cover. It was not heavy, only like a moderate drizzle. Finally we took a break at Gundulpet, had coffee, cleared the visors and pushed off again. By the time we reached Bandipur, the drizze had almost stopped. We stopped every now and then and took some pictures. Soon we crossed Bandipur and entered Mudumalai Forest (it's the same forest, just the other side of the state :P). I liked Mudumalai forest better. It looked more scenic and we found a lot of animals near the roads. Clicked some photos along the way. Now something interesting happened. On the way, I saw a bunch of elephants and stopped at a distance to click some pictures. I was switching on the camera and turned towards the elephant to take a picture and to my horror, the biggest elephant in the bunch was running towards me at full speed. This is where 390 saved my ass. Luckily the camera was strapped to me. So I just dropped it, slotted the 1st gear and took off. Never stopped again in that forest.

We started moving on again, had breakfast at Masinagudi and was on our way to Pykara falls. This is when something unexpected happened. I was leading the way and while checking for Hari Haran at the back using my RVM, I couldn't find him (Duke's RVM sucks!). So, since it was a straight road I turned back for a second to see if he was trailing me. By the time I turned forward, I had already got off the road and rammed towards the railing on the side. During that process, I had cut my finger and my gear shift lever broke. The gear was slotted on the 4th gear and we were unable to upshift or downshift. Since my hand was bleeding real bad, Hari insisted we rush to a Hospital nearby to get it checked. Luckily there was a Govt. hospital 1 Km away, so we rushed there.

The doctor, saw the damage and advised me to get stitches as my finger was deeply cut. Finally got 3 stitches, a TT Injection and few Antibiotics. Now the real problem was riding the bike in the Ghats. It was slotted in the 4th gear. Hari immediately called Vijay Anand as he lives in Ooty to get info on some local mechanics who could help. Vijay asked us to come to Ooty around 35 to 40 Kms from where we were and we could see to get it fixed.

Reached Ooty few hours later and Vijay was kind enough to take half a day off from his work, just to help us. Vijay came to the Ooty bus stand where we were waiting, and discussing a lot we concluded to take the bike to the Coimbatore KTM. Once that was decided, me and Hari thanked Vijay and started immediately to Coimbatore (around 85 Kms).

I had a tough time riding the bike at 4th gear throughout the ghats. Had to keep the clutch constantly pressed and the stiches on my finger along with 390's super hard clutch and Ooty's freezing climate did not help. Finally reached Metupalayam and called KTM. It was already 5.00 PM and they informed that they would be open only till 6.00 PM. We had difficulty in find the showroom's correct location and hence by the time we reached there it was 7.30 PM.

Both of us were tired, so we looked for a good place to stay near the service center and we bunked at a place called KV Residency. They charged us 1300 for an AC room. The room was really neat and the service was excellent. I would definitely recommend this place for others to stay.

Hari was really tired at this point and he wanted to head back to Chennai as my finger was also injured. I said, I was fine and I wanted to continue with the plan. Then we concluded the discussion that both of us will sleep, get up in the morning and decided what needs to be done. Had dinner and slept off.

18th January (Day 3) 158 Kms:

Woke up at 8.30 PM ordered for coffee (room service), cleaned up, took bath and by 10.30 AM pushed off to the KTM service centre. Got everything fixed and we decided to continue to Munnar. Had lunch at Coimbatore and started at 3.30 PM. We reached Munnar at 7.00 PM searched for a place to stay and crashed for the night.

19th January (Day 4) 575 Kms:

Munnar was the most scenic of all the places we visited (you'll know why from the pictures). We got up at 8.00 AM had coffee and breakfast and went shopping, packed our bags and started to Chennai at 11.30 AM. By the time we reached Chennai, it was 10.00 PM.

I guess that was enough of rambling.

Items Used:

Gloves => Cramster Blaster
Jacket = > Rjays Octane II
Bag => Dirtsack Tailbag
Camera => Canon 1100D and 60D
Lens => 18-55mm

Fuel Efficiency => Around 28Kmpl
Speed Maintained => 100 - 130Kmph
Max Speed => 165Kmph (didn't have a stretch to cross that)

Now for some pictures.!

https://plus.google.com/photos/112310725293346167669/albums/5971857844706688753?authkey=CO--0Z-Q5c3mRA