Before I start, I just wanted to give a brief about who we are. We are The Royal Twin Riders Club - Chennai. We are an exclusive Riders' club based out of Chennai. Exclusive to the riders of the Royal Enfield 650 Twin cylinder masterpieces - Interceptor 650 & Continental GT 650. We are a budding group of individuals who share the similar passion for riding. We are more than a group, a brotherhood, I would say!

Ride to the Southern most tip of India - Kanyakumari
Date: 03, 04 & 05 September, 2021

Day 01: The previous night we all had a conversation about the prep and readiness for the ride. We were also little bit concerned about the rainfall, that was predicted for the next day. But this trip was planned well in advance and we had decided - Rain or Shine, We Ride.

By 4.00 am on the 3rd of September, Friday, everyone was up and to our surprise there wasn't any rains. The weather prediction still showed 100% chances of rain. As decided, we had our rain-liners ready, just incase it rains. Six of us were to start from Chennai and One of the member was to join us in Madurai. Myself and Selva live close by and we planned to meet near my place at 5.00 am and ride together to the assemble point, which is about 28kms from my place.


Everyone gathered at the assemble point by 5.30 am (+/- 5 mins) and we were all excited about this trip. Everyone participating in the ride have vast experience in riding across the country. The longest I have ridden on a single day before this trip was to Sholayar Dam, which was about 600+ kms. It was the same with others as well. No one has ridden 700+kms in one single day.


This is the first time I'm meeting Selva and Varghese. One thing I liked about or impressed even before the ride started was our punctuality. Everyone was on time and we started our ride as planned at 6.00 am from Vandalur. We had pre-planned our stoppages, but we decided that we shall take the first break when we want to as that would be the longest distance we will be able to cover in a single stretch. Everyone had their fuels filled in as advised earlier. So we started this epic trip on time from our assembling point.

The weather was so favorable for riding. It wasn't raining. But it was cloudy and the breeze was cold. Perfect conditions to have this trip. We rode for about 160kms and took our first tea break near Arasur. Took exactly a 20 mins break and off we went towards our destination. We decided to stop next for filling up our tummies and fuel up our beasts. We stopped for breakfast near Perambalur - Ashwin's Veg Restaurant. We spent about 45 mins there and stopped at the next fuel station for another 10 mins.


We continued our journey crossing Trichy and were cruising comfortably with not much traffic. We had a short 20 mins break for some tender coconut. It seemed that we were avoiding rains all along our route. We could see that the roads were wet in the sides, which meant it had rained there a while ago. All along the ride so far, the weather was so pleasant, that we didn't feel much heat.

Our next stop was for lunch near Kappalur Toll Plaza. The other rider, Dhanraj had reached the place 15 mins before us. We were on the outskirts of Madurai, when he called to inform that he reached. We decided to have our lunch in Hari's Restaurant right next to Kappalur toll. A funny incident at the hotel - We went inside and took off our riding gears and were about to take our places and order, that is when we found out that we entered the Pure Veg section of the Restaurant. 🤣🤣..

Everyone in the group, except 1, wanted to have some decent non-veg food. The restaurant was referred to me by one of my friends in Madurai. He did vouch for the restaurant. The price and taste were decent. Both veg and non-veg. Lived up to our expectations.

We continued our ride towards our destination and had to fuel up again in the outskirts of Kovilpatti. The roads were a little wet and quite a few road expansions were in progress. The clouds became darker and the breeze was cold. It started to drizzle for a while and we thought of having our rain liners on. There was a sudden burst of clouds and we found a place to stop and put on our rain liners. But the sudden spell didn't last for long. Within 5 mins, it was all clear and we continued our ride.


We took another break on the way at a familiar shooting spot along the Tirunelveli highway. Stopped for some clicks. Spent about 20 mins there and continued our ride. Tirunelveli to Kanyakumari ride is through a scenic route. It is covered with lush green hills, windmills and it was windy too. At some places, mostly over the bridges, we were pushed to the sides by the cross-winds. We have never experienced that before, with our rides being heavy themselves, this came as a surprise for us. Finally, we reached Kanyakumari around 6.30 pm and navigated to our homestay.

We stayed in VLS Holiday Homes. We had found the place after a brief search in the nearby are and finally checked in at about 7:00 pm. Everyone freshened up by 8:00 pm and ordered some food and waited for the same.


We had a wonderful conversation with each other and got to know more about each other. We decided to go for the sun rise in the morning. The beach was less than a kilometer away. By the time we hit the bed, it was past midnight and that brings us to the end of Day 1 of the ride..

Day 02:

With a plan of getting up for Sunrise, all of us had hit the bed last night. Our group members from Nagercoil - Kaowshieek and Harishlal informed us that they will be joining us and will take us around the town. The funny thing was that almost everyone of us slept a little longer than expected and had to miss out the sun rise in Kanyakumari Beach. Only Selva from the group had woken up on time and visited the beach. Rest of ur enjoyed the Sunrise from the terrace. 😂😂

Nevertheless, we had some beautiful clicks from Selva's DSLR.



Our local members and Selva had reached back to the room and we were discussing on the days plan. Some of us went to the nearby tea shop to have some morning snacks and some of us had tender coconuts. We decided to visit the Kanyakumari Beach, fully geared up and have some shots taken there. Then we would fill up our tanks and have breakfast on the way and have a small tour around Nagercoil. So everyone started to freshened up and we checked out from our stay by 9.30 am.


First thing we did after checking out is to hit the Kanyakumari Beach. Kaowshieek & Harishlal lead the way. We followed them for most part of the day until we hit the highway back on our way, but that's later in the day. The sun was scorching and we were so dehydrated. We took some snaps in the Beach. Some group pics and some individual shots. We spent some 45 mins there along with a short tea/snack Break.



We then hit the roads, got our beasts fueled up and entered the busy roads of Nagercoil. We had breakfast in one of the busiest streets. The ride for the next 1 hour was very tiresome as most of the roads were closed and we had to roam around the busy streets of Nagercoil. We had a decent breakfast in Aryas. Our plan was to visit Chittar Dam 2 and hit the highways from there. It was a solid 1 hour ride from the place where had our breakfast.

The traffic was at its peak. The roads were completely different from the previous day's ride. We had to maneuver through the traffic and some reckless riders. It wasn't easy to keep up the formation, but still we coupled and tripled up and rode together. Parani M10 intercom system, is something that made this ride a well coordinated one. It is definitely worth a mention here as it was key to our coordination during the entire trip.

Finally, we hit the roads of Netta. A beautiful two-lane road, surrounded by rubber tree farms. The last leg of the ride towards the dam was beautiful. Roads were smooth with a lot of turns, ideal for bike enthusiasts. The weather abruptly changed as we were going towards our destination. We stopped in-between for some photos.


We stopped at a place where we had access to the dam water, inside a Rubber tree farm. The water was good for a swim. We unloaded our luggage and walked towards the shore. Some other groups of people were already there, each choosing a good location to sit and chat. We jumped in to the water that was so refreshing after that hectic ride.


By this time the weather was also better. Infact there were couple of passing clouds which burst some rains over us while we were still swimming. The view of the location was mesmerizing and it was definitely worth the ride. After an hour in the water, we decided to gear up and leave, as we had to reach Madurai on time to have some good food.


As we were preparing to leave, one person from the other group of people approached and was enquiring about us, like where we are from and so on. Turns out, he is also a Biker, infact he is the advisor for one of the oldest RE biking clubs in Chennai - Chennai Royal Riders Motorcycle Club (CRR MC). His name is Anto and when he mentioned about his group, we introduced our group to him as well. Had a nice chat with him. He is based out of Chennai but is a native of Nagercoil and he too was equally excited and astonished by getting to know the location. He wasn't aware of the place we had visited and he mentioned that it would be definitely be in their ride list in the near future.


We bid adieu to him and the beautiful location we had come to. It was time for us to continue our journey towards Madurai, where we had our accommodations ready for the night. We cruised through the busy Thiruvananthapuram main toad and finally were about to hit the highways. We decided to take a break and say good byes to our Members from Nagercoil, Kaowshieek and Harishlal. They had spent almost the whole day with us. Two enthusiastic lads, about 20 years old, but have been wonderful guides to us during this trip. If not for them, we wouldn't have visited these beautiful places.


One of our rider, Dhanraj who joined us in Madurai also had to leave to his hometown, as he will be traveling back to Chennai with his family the next day. So he took off a little before us as he had about 400kms to cover. We said our good byes and soon hit the highways and now the time was around 4.00 pm.

We had one snack Break and rode as much as possible before it became dark. Once it was dark, it was not easy to ride. The roads between Tirunelveli and Madurai was being laid newly and there were no reflectors or markers in the road, which is very essential for a night ride. We carefully cruised along the highway and we had to stop for a fuel break about 80kms from our destination.

We stopped once after that near Kappalur Toll Plaza for a quick hydration break. Then we had to ride thru a little conjested Madurai night traffic. We had booked our accommodation in Hotel John's, just opposite to Mattuthavani Bus Stand in Madurai. We reached our hotel at around 8.30 pm, checked in and got freshened up. Ordered some food and hit the bed for a good night sleep. We had decided that we will start the next day, whenever we wake up.

The Final Day...

The previous night we had discovered that one of our rider's taillamp was not working. Also, we had to lube our bikes. We hit the bed around midnight with a plan of waking up whenever we can and take care of the pending things in the morning. We all woke up around 8.30 in the morning and started to freshen up. We packed and were all set to check out by 9.30 am. We had decent food last night, but were craving for some of the authentic Madurai style food.

Bala Pradeep, a good friend and the owner of VB Automotives in Madurai who had helped us in getting our accommodation suggested, we have our breakfast in Sulthan Hotel in Simmakkal. He also invited us to his garage, just for a visit, to get the tail lamp fixed and to lube our bikes' chain. He is the authorized dealer for LiquiMoly products & Zeus Riding Gears in Madurai. He has a small garage in Chinna Chokkikulam. He gave us the LiquiMoly 4T additive at a discounted price as well.



After getting everything fixed, we hit the busy streets of Madurai for having our breakfast. One of our riders had left his phone charger in the hotel itself, so we decided to go back to the hotel on our way back and collect the same. It was already past 10 and we could feel the heat. We finally reached the hotel and it was a pure non-vegetarian hotel. One of our riders is a pure vegetarian and he had to look for veg hotels near by. Since the traffic was heavy, he decided to go back to the hotel where we stayed last night and since it was near Mattuthavani Bus Stand, quite a few vegetarian food options were available. He would also collect the phone charger after completing his breakfast.

Karthikeyan from Temple City Riders group was in touch with me since the beginning of our ride. He wanted to meet us when we halt in Madurai. We had requested him to meet us near Sulthan Hotel. He is a very kind hearted soul. He waited until we had out breakfast and rode with us in the highway till the toll plaza to give us a send off.


We had a good breakfast at Sulthan Hotel. The meat was so tender and soft. It's one of the oldest hotels in Madurai, in the busy streets of Simmakkal. We then started back to the hotel bidding goodbye to Bala Pradeep on the way. We joined with our rider who was waiting for us outside the hotel, after having his breakfast and collecting the phone charger.

Karthik lead the way until the Toll Plaza in the highway. We stopped at a juice shop near the toll, just to have a cup of tea/coffee/juice. That was a quiet little place. The time was almost 11.30 am and we were getting a little late. We had to bid good bye to him in a hurry and started our ride towards home. We decided to take the next stop after Trichy.


The total distance was covered in about an hour and a half and we hit the traffic filled bypass roads of Trichy. We put in a halt after Samayapuram Toll Plaza. We had to hydrate ourselves as the heat was scorching. We stopped there for about 30 mins. Took in a lot of fluids. We decided to stop for fuel after our fuel indicators start to blink. We hit the road again. After some 50 odd kilometers we had to take the fuel stop. We still had about 280 kilometers to home (as per Google maps). We used the LiquiMoly 4T additive in all our bikes that we bought earlier.


All of us could feel the difference almost immediately after cruising for about 30kms. The gear transition and engine smoothness was noticeable. We stopped after crossing Ulundurpet toll for some tender coconuts. We definitely needed them. Our next stop was after crossing Dindivanam. By the time we reached our next stop it was almost 5.00 pm in the evening. We had rest for about 30 mins there. We had sandwiches, bread omlette and juice. We decided that our final stop will be at our usual stop near Mamandur.


We stopped in between for a short time as we received updates that it was raining heavily in the outskirts of Chennai. So we stopped to add rain liners to our luggage. We stopped again at the usual place and since there was no rains, we halted for some hydration and bid our good byes. After that we will be entering Chengalpattu with heavy traffic and riding in a formation will not be possible. Couple of our riders will split up in Chengalpattu and will take the route towards OMR. One of the riders will exit earlier than all of us in Urapakkam. So, it was the disperse and we all shook hands for the wonderful trip and proceeded on our way home.


By this time it was dark and cloudy. There wasn't any downpour as expected. It drizzled for a while. Three of us had to wade through through busy traffic from Chengalpattu. Couple of us took the exit towards ORR and finally everyone were home by 8.10 pm. This brings an end to the epic trip. 1,578 kilometers covered in this trip. LiquiMoly 4T shooter's effect was visible. Our bikes were responding better and there was a little increase in fuel efficiency as well.

I wish to thank everyone who was a part of this ride. The riders would have the first hand experience and the readers.. this is to urge you to ride and experience the joy of riding. All the riders were different from each other, but we all cooperated and collaborated to make this trip a memorable one.

And with that, I end my first post. Do comment your thoughts, advise and suggestions. This being my first post, any feedback would be highly helpful. We have a loads of trips coming up in the future and with your support, I shall blog about them all. Thank you All!!!