Re: The Great Grad Road trip ; Dhanushkodi !!

Travelogue Approved

Nice. Now bring on the rest

Re: The Great Grad Road trip ; Dhanushkodi !!

Great teasers. Bring on the rest!

Re: The Great Grad Road trip ; Dhanushkodi !!

Thanks for the approval


....But the time was running out .It was the last few weeks in campus and i really wanted to get this trip done before i step into the corporate world which i am reminded byeveryone ,is ruthlessly monotonous.I couldn't ride during the break i got on one of the cultural fests at our college ,because my brake pads got worn out and the service center didn't
have them in their stock (Apparently the same service centre bagged the award of 2014s best agency for outstanding inventory management :-p). So i waited and waited until my graduation
break ( a three week break between my last exam and convocation date. My partner co rider was Don .He worked in sales in the nearby Yamaha service center .I was warned by his friends about his mad driving skills.


So we decided to set off our journey at 2 am on from our campus.The route planned was Kozhikode-Palakad-Pollachi-Palani-Madhurai to rameshwaram. The logic of starting at night was to avoid the irritating traffic on the roads of kerala.We went at lightning speed for the first couple of hours (by lightning i meant my co rider was caught by police camera flashes for crossing speed limits :-p ).We crossed palakat by 5 and by 6 am we were cruising in the palakad pollachi highway.The sunrise was simply beautiful .There were innumerable number of windmills in the horizon from which the sun rose. We stopped for tea n biscuits and clicked few pictures



Sunrise was a bliss

We continued our journey .The roads were smooth n straight but a bit narrow .Both my nighfury and Dons R15 munched miles with ease .We stopped for break fast at 9:00 just when we entered the NH.We had couple of mouth watering masala dosa and filter coffees which removed all the fatigue which had been building up . After the breakfast we had a blast in the 4 lane high way .Night fury and the R15 stayed at the red line most of the time in that stretch. If i remember correct we did the 53 km stretch in jz 28 minutes ( U guys do the math for average speed :-p ).We took rest at Dons friends house at madhurai ( Call it luck he just landed from dubai in the morning and don didnt have his contact for last 5 years ).Refreshed, we hit the road . We realised that we might reach too early than our schedule .Our plan was to reach Reameshwaram at around 4 but we were just 150 kms from rameshwaram with 4 hours of time in our hand.
The scorching heat slowed us down and we took more frequent and longer breaks.We continued our ride on the dead straight roads. We were cruising in late 90s and nearing rameshwaeram.And suddenly to my surprise we were surrounded by pale blue sea on both the sides !! .The sudden change in the landscape stuck me by surprise . I was sure that Don who was ahead of me din notice it .I twisted my throttle to maximum,reached besides and screamed " Look around Don , Look around !!" We stopped on the mighty pamban bridge and waited for the beauty of the sea to sink in.Soon we had a bunch of super enthusiastic kids around our bikes.They were asking all sorts of questions like "why didnt u became a racer ? " to comparing specs of my fury and Dons R15 :-)






The Pamban Bridge













Well they had lotsss of queries :-)


We got so mesmerized by the beauty around that instead of looking for an accommodation at rameshwaram , we went ahead directly to dhanushkodi.We clicked few pictures of the beautiful beach and visited a temple. There were no roads to the most extreme point of dhanushkodi .Jeep and tempo drivers asked us to board in but we opted out.We went back to rameshwaram found a decent Air conditioned room for 750 rs. It was 6 PM ,Fatigue and sleep deprivation was creeping in ,but we freshened up and headed out to explore .Dons R15 got punctured and we lost some time fixing it. We enjoyed roadside food meanwhile. We had tea from the pamban bridge and chit chated with few local people. They were very friendly and most importantly they gave us some valuable information.They said that there's no need for taking a jeep or tempo traveler to reach the end point,we can take our bikes itself but it requires a bit of skill.
We decided to take that risk.After all we rode all the way from kozhikode to rameshwaram , it will be "not so awesome" if we take resort of a jeep to reach the end point.






Dhanushkodi finally !!



Shot of Flamingos

Next day we woke up at 5 am and set out from rameshwaram to dhanushkodi on our babes. We took our bikes off the road to the beach. The next 8 kms we followed the jeep tracks. Yes the tires got stuck few occasions but we managed some how to keep the tires from sinking into the soft sand.Th trick is to keep the bike moving at a steady speed and not stoping. The morning beauty of the place is just indescribable . it was just unending view of sand ,blue sea and the stunning sky.This more than anything like i ever imagined. You just have to be there to enjoy the beauty and the stark silence of this place.




Sunrise from the eastern tip of India



Ruins of the past




Partner in crime...mad skills hes got




be careful of these..got one pierced deep underneath my feet


We hardly saw any tourists at this time as the jeep service and all havent started .We talked to few of the people who were setting up the shops in the morning on the sea coast.And finally we just ran into the sea ,where the bay of bengal and the arabian ocean merges . Funny thing we noted that Don was getting mobile network from Srilanka!!. I just checked google maps and found the pale blue dot ( Thats us )... here !!!

Re: The Great Grad Road trip ; Dhanushkodi !!

Beautiful teasers. Waiting for the rest!

Re: The Great Grad Road trip ; Dhanushkodi !!


Thanks buddy !! :-D

Re: The Great Grad Road trip ; Dhanushkodi !!

Awesome. BTW did you manage to take your bikes down until rama sethu point?

Re: The Great Grad Road trip ; Dhanushkodi !!

the very very end of rama sethu point was a defense camp were civilians are not allowed which was jz a couple of hundred meters away from where we reached.

Yes we took our bikes ...First the jeep guys and traveller guys didnt let us go saying that its not allowed..but next day we went at around 5 Am when nobody was there

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

the very very end of rama sethu point was a defense camp were civilians are not allowed which was jz a couple of hundred meters away from where we reached.

Yes we took our bikes ...First the jeep guys and traveller guys didnt let us go saying that its not allowed..but next day we went at around 5 Am when nobody was there

Re: The Great Grad Road trip ; Dhanushkodi !!

Cool. Have experienced a similar situation. Didn't have the time to wait till dawn, but will try it next time. Now waiting for the rest of the log.

Re: The Great Grad Road trip ; Dhanushkodi !!

Dejavuud!!Did that stretch to the tip of dhanuskodi in 2014 and it was worth the pain. Kudos to both of u.