Re: It's raining beaches and hills!

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Re: It's raining beaches and hills!

Day1(Aug 15th): Bangalore-Coorg-Sulia-Bekal

Planning started a month back. 4 other riders were to join me: Abhisek (ZMR), Soumya (Pulsar180), Charan (FZ-16) and Shukla (Bullet). Plan was to meet at Kengeri and start by 5 am. All except the Bullet reached by 5:15 am at the meeting point. We checked with him and got to know that he had a small fall and his bike was giving some trouble and was not sure if will be able to join us. So 4 of us decided to start the journey by 5:30.

1st stop was after Mandya for b’fast at a Benne Dosa place. We spend some time there discussing our routes and plans for the day. As planned we rode straight to Kushalnagar without taking any big breaks in between.

The moment we reach Kushalnagar, the landscapes change. Greenery all around, with some contrasting colors thrown in by the flowers. Reached Bylakuppe around 9:30 and started our hunt for momos. But we had to leave empty stomach as they serve momos only after 12 noon. Clicked some pics of the monasteries and started off to Madikeri.


Bylakuppe (Photo: Charan)


Just 5 km more to Madikeri town and started raining. Did the same drill in Madikeri too, went straight to ‘Coorg Cuisine’ to get that bite of Pandy Curry. Even there, luck didn't favor us. We were standing in front of the closed doors of the restaurant which opens only @12. It was 11:45 am then, but since the lunch will not be ready before 1 pm, we decided to ride. All of us geared up in our raincoats.

Cornering starts (Photo: Charan)


The roads were awesome with lots of twisties, scenic route with very less traffic. Around 10 kms from Madikeri town, there was apart where 60% of the road has caved in because of rain. Maintenance work was going on here. About 20 kms before Sulia, tarmac started to fade away. Stopped at a small tea shop and had some Mangalore bajjis. The roads were bad till we reached Sulia. All throught the way from Madikeri it’s been raining, and it never stopped for more than 5-10 mins. Had lunch from Sulia and we asked the people for the way to Ananthapuram temple. This temple had a pet crocodile in their pond and was on our route to Bekal.

View from one the many bridges we cross once we entered Kerala (Photo: Abhisek)


But we missed one of the turns and went through another route which took us straight to Bekal.

Abhisek’s friend Rihan was waiting for us there and he helped us to find a budget accommodation. It was already 5:30 pm and we had to catch the sun set. We dumped our luggage in the room and headed to ‘Kaapil beach’. Had ‘Pathiri and erachi curry’ from a ‘thattukada’ on the way

A deviation from the SH took us to a small road which went up to the beach. This was one of the cleanest beaches I have seen. There was hardly anyone around other than us. It was too cloudy and we couldn't capture a good sun set. Some pics of ‘Kaapil beach’.

Photos by Charan




Had some fun in the beach till 7:30 and went back to our rooms. As it was raining most of the time, I din't click many pics. After making the next day's itinerary, all of us hit the sack.

Re: It's raining beaches and hills!

Nice ones, dude!! Bring it on.....

Re: It's raining beaches and hills!

Day 2 (Aug 16^th): Bekal, Vellad, Muzhappilangad beach

Plan was to start early morning, take some pics of Bekal fort in the magic hour. The alarm rang @5:30 and we woke up to the sound of pouring rain. We had to wait for the rain to slow down, so that we can take some good pics without damaging our cameras. Bekal fort was just one km walk from our lodge. We reached Bekal fort by 9:30 am. It is under Archaeological Survey of India and entry is charged. They have maintained the fort really well. Here are the pics:













Soumyajit’s Pular 180’s headlight had fused yesterday and he wanted to get a new one. After all the repair work, we saddled up and left Bekal. Our next destination was Paithalmala, which is a beautiful, small hill station in Kannur. We asked many people in Bekal for the route, but none of them seemed to have heard of the place. So we decided to follow Google maps. The route was too confusing as we had to pass through small villages and 70% of the route was through ghats. So we again resorted to the people there for guidance. Each time we asked someone, they gave us a different short/long cut to Paithalmala. The roads were not in the best condition, but this route was one of the best I have ridden through. Roads were narrow with greenery all around, but there were no other vehicles and the drizzle made the ride all the more fun.

It was around 3:30 pm, when Soumyajit slowed down with some issue with his brakes. He felt that the rear brakes were not working and wanted to take it to a workshop. We had to ride back around 10 kms, and took us a good 45 mins to find a garage. All 3 of us were ready to GPL Soumyajit when the mechanic rode the bike and told that the brakes didn’t have any issue. I took the bike for a spin and felt the same. The mechanic advised us to drop our plan to ride to Paithalmala as it will take us another 1 hour to reach there and will have to walk for half an hour to reach the top. It was already 4:30, which means it will be 6 by the time we reach there. So after cursing poor Soumyajit, we decided to ride to Muzhappilangad.

Small photo session on our way to Kannur


We reached Muzhappilangad by 7:30 and checked in to a resort right on the beach. We were lucky to get rooms there and that too at a discounted rate as it’s off-season now. We spent the evening on the beach, with a bottle of beer under the moonlight We didn't forget to take some long exposure shots of our moonlight party.

Re: It's raining beaches and hills!

Day 3 (Aug 17^th): Muzhappilangad, Kozhikode, Nilambur, Ooty

1^st thing we did in the morning was a ride on the beach, what else to do in a drive-in beach



Weather was pleasant and all the morning joggers/walkers seems to have gone back home (there were lot of them when I was having tea). Fishermen are getting ready with their boats and net to go for the day’s catch.



Riding on the beach is a very unique experience. We were just riding through the length and breadth of the beach, splashing water and sand all over. At one end of the beach stood the symbol of unity of Industrial and agriculture working class, Hammer and the Sickle.







We would have spent just about an hour in the beach and it starts raining. We had no other option but to get back to the resort before our cameras get wet. It was time to bid goodbye to Muzhappilangad and Kannur.

We had 2 options, one was to take the shortest route to Nilambur, and the other is to go via Kozhikode which is 20 kms extra. Since all of us wanted to have the famous biriyani from Kozhikode, we were ready to ride the extra distance.

Road condition was god overall except for the 2-3 kms inside the towns of Thalassery and Mahe, where even SUVs struggled through the craters. Tanked-up at Mahe where petrol costs 4-5 Rs less than Kerala.

After our fuel-stop, Abhisek and Soumyajit went ahead, and I waited for Charan to finish his phone call. From here the roads were butter smooth, but single lane and medium to heavy traffic. He had some close encounters with the buses that ply in this route. These drivers can give a tough competition to any F1 driver. All we had to do was just follow one of these ‘F1 bus drivers’ and we were able to overtake and cut through the traffic.

We din’t see Abhisek and Soumya for a long time and was hoping they would be waiting for us somewhere before entering the Kozhikode city. My plan was to have lunch from Bombay Hotel which was situated near the beach. We reached the point where we had to take the deviation to the beach and there was no sign of these 2 guys. We called them up and found that they already crossed the city. They decided to ride further as they were not hungry at that point of time.

So Charan and I went to Paragon Hotel, after finding Bombay Hotel closed for Ramadan. After waiting for 15 mins we got a table and soon we were gorging on the delicious biriyani.

For foodies: These were the best biriyanis you could get in Kerala, and for me the best I ever had (I prefer the flavored, mildly spicy variety of Biriyani than the hot Hyderabadi style). Biriyani from Rahams/Richies is the closest we can get in namma Bengaluru or ride 125 kms to Ambur

Getting out of Kozhikode city was a task of its own. We had to do 2 rounds of Mananchira square before we got the route right

After our rendezvous with some more buses, we reached Nilambur. Kozhikode-Nilambur route is very scenic and well laid roads. We got a message fro Abhisek that they will wait for us in Gudalur. There was heavy traffic from Nilambur-Vazhikadavu. From Vazhikadavu, the forest area starts. There is a small check-post, but we were not stopped. The condition of the roads were not so good, but not bad either. Very scenic route again, but did not stop for pics as we were getting late.

Reached Gudalur by 5 pm and regrouped. Stopped for pics on the way to Ooty.





Riding through that route in dark was li’l risky. Road condition was really bad in some areas, and 2 times I nearly escaped from hitting a dog. Checked in to one of the hotels near the main market. Ooty as always was cool and what better place to relax after a full days ride.

Re: It's raining beaches and hills!

Day 4 (Aug 18^th) : It’s Ooty

Waking up was a tough task and getting out of the blanket was even tougher. Had breakfast and all of us saddled up for the ride. We had only one destination for today, the Emerald Lake. Since the check-out time was 12 noon, we didn't have an option to leave the luggage and come back after the ride.

Started raining just after we started, so had to put on the rain coats. Rain didn't last for long time.

Once we reach Porthy, we get a good view of the lakes.

Emerald and Avalanche Lake from the top.


Porthy lake is no less beautiful


The route from Ooty town to Emerald is good for testing our cornering skills, as the tarmac is good and very less traffic. After last day’s ride through Nilambur-Gudalur-Ooty, my tyres din’t have any chicken strips

Photo session @ Emerald Lake





We left Ooty by 2 pm, had some snacks as we didn't have time for lunch. We were planning to take the 36 hair pin which goes straight to Masinagudi and wanted to spend some time for photography too. But we were disappointed when the police stopped us and told us to take the Gudalur route. They were not allowing any 2-wheelers through that route. With broken hearts, we continued towards Gudalur.

Bandipur and Masinagudi were dressed up in their best attire after the rain. Reached Gundlupet by 5:30pm. Had tea and from here I split from the group as I wanted to take Kanakpura road, and others wanted to go via Mysore road.

Took Gundlupet-Nanjagud-Narasapur-Malavalli-Bangalore route, which was an adventure of its own. Reached home by 10 pm. Took almost a week to get over the hang-over of the trip

Re: It's raining beaches and hills!

Beautiful pictures and an amazing ride.

Re: It's raining beaches and hills!

Some awesome locations and jaw dropping clicks.

Have ridden through some of the above mentioned roads and I must admit Ooty - Emrald was a racetrack for sure .. So was Madikeri to Managalore :P

Re: It's raining beaches and hills!

Excellent capture and nice trip.