Topic Approved.

Day 4: 26th December 2009

Started off the day late, with a good breakfast we headed to have a look at the city. We were just roaming around the city and killing some time. But by noon, it was pretty hot and I was sweating pretty badly. Headed back home to find some shelter from the sun. After lunch had a nap for a couple of hours. By 5 in the evening we headed off to the beach again for the sunset. We spent the rest of the day near the beach.













But before heading back home, we went to the Kollam railway station and spent about half an hour sitting and chatting in the railway station.

With a yummy dinner with Idiyappam, it was time to hit bed again.

Day 5: 27th December 2009

We had planned to ride to Thenmala, an eco tourism place the previous day itself. Thenmala is about 80 kms from Kollam. It took us about a couple of hours to reach Thenmala. We headed to the adventure zone. Spent about an hour there, but there were not too many interesting activities.



















We decided to go to Palaaravi a waterfall which is about 18 kms from Thenmala. This route is very nice for a drive/ride. With the company of greenery on both sides, a railway track running along on one side of the road and stream on the other side of the road. The Palaaravi waterfall is very good. It will be at its best during monsoon. Spent about an hour clicks photos.

It was time to head back to Kollam. Just about reaching Ponalur, it started raining heavily. The rain brought out big wide grin on my face. Reached outskirts of Kollam, I had to stop over at a hotel for parotas as I was very hungry.

Went back home to rest and pack up all the things as we wanted to leave the next day morning.

To be continued

Day 6: 28th December 2009

Actually wanted to started pretty early in the morning. Started off at 7 am and the highway up to Ernakulam is pretty crowded with loads of vehicles. And to add to the slow pace, there was a traffic jam for about an hour. It was sultry hot and I was sweating very badly. It was hot there.









Then finally moved on towards Chalakudy, but not before refueling the bike again. We took the route towards Aithrapally Waterfalls. Being a holiday season, the crowd was a little too much. Further rode on towards Valparai and the rounds were twisty in poor condition. To add it started raining pretty heavily. All this contributed to a very slow progress. This route had very sparse traffic or even no traffic sometimes. The forests are thick and evergreen.



But the roads were very poor. Finally reached Valparai by 5.30 pm. Decided to ride on towards Coimbatore via Pollachi. This route has a fair bit of traffic. The mountains were completely covered in thick mist. The visibility was very poor, hardly a few meters was visible during daylight, it got even worse with the sun going down. The ghat section has 40 hair pin bends and they are pretty steep. But the roads here are in good condition, but speeding is a strict no in this route. Finally the roads opened up nearing Pollachi. The pace also increased and finally reached Coimbatore by 9:30 pm. Took a lodge, had dinner and slept like a log.

Day 7: 29th December 2009

Since I slept well the previous night did not want to start early in the morning knowing that it was 320 kms that I had to cover in the day, it was a leisure ride back. Decided to take the Chamarajanagar route. The roads were good until we reached Chamarajanagar. Then it is pretty poor till Maddur. Finally reached home by 3 pm.

A part of life reclaimed.

Trip Stats

Bike: TVS Apache RTR (modified 180)
Trip Odo reading - 1906.8 kms40.8 liters

Wow a long trip there....... and small trip log but a sweet one.......

the pictures are really good....

didnt click any pictures of ghats in satyamangalam??

It was pretty misty and had a bit work pending at home so rode back without stopping too many times.