Day2: Palakkad - Athirapally Waterfalls - Valparai

Main Post: South India trip by Bike

Day 2: Feb 1st 2013

Route map: Palakkad - Thrissur - Chalakudy - Athirapally Waterfalls - Valparai

Odometer reading: 240Kms

     Good morning to Day2 :) Ooh!! It was 7'o clock, had sound sleep bcz of the last day tired non-stop journey... Quickly we got ready and had breakfast and by 9'o clock we hit the road to reach Thrissur..We were aware of the last night road(Palakkad - Alathur - Vadakkencherry - Pattikad - Thrissur(68KMS)) which was full of pot-holes which leads to Thrissur. As we asked one guy to confirm whether the route is correct or not, he suggested us another route which is good but bit longer one(80Kms)..  We were not bothering about the distance, we were concern about the road condition, so we have taken longer route.

The longer route was "Palakkad - Ottapalam - Kulappully - Wadakancherry - Thrissur" (80Kms)

As it was just 80KMS , we roughly calculated that, we can reach Thrissur in 2hrs including breaks, but our calculation didn't work. The road was perfectly good with no pot holes and not even a speed breakers.But it was 2 Lane with curvy roads. Curvy roads.... I love those roads. So we were enjoying our ride. After reaching Kulappaly we have taken left turn to reach Wadakancherry.. That stretch was through villages of Kerala, What a stretch..!! Roads were good and it was very calm with not much traffic. It was such a pleasent ride!!!  We could here birds sounds while riding.

As it was going through the villages, at one point of time we doubted whether we were on right track or not. Just to check we have verified in GPS... Awesome!!! GPS has shown us Chalkudy route instead of entering into the Thrissur city. By following the GPS, we have skipped Wadakancherry and directly merged to Thrissur bypass which  goes towards Chalkuddy..

We've reached Thrissur by-pass and as we missed 6 lane route since last night... Immediately we reached our high-speed limits :). But to our bad-luck police caught us for over-speeding (They mentioned we were @ close to 100KMPH). Already we were running on short-time. RTO who stopped us was quite soft spoken, he has given some suggestions and enquired about our route map n all. Finally after 1Hr of chit-chat :) instead of charging for two bikes, he has charged only for one Bike.. So we have saved 400 INR :)

After riding for 10KMS, we have followed Athirapally route, instead of reaching Chalkudy. On the way to Athirapally again we caught by police.. This time not for over-speeding, just to check documents. After one more hour of checking our bags, bike documents n all they allowed us. This time police guys were bit rude.. They almost ragged us (Not Me... They ragged Arun, Since they & he knows Kerala, I doesn't ;))

The ride till we reach Atirapally was simply breathtaking! Curvy roads filled with an amazing range of flora and fauna - rubber trees, palm trees, coconut trees and small streams running amidst them, I realized that almost all roads in Kerala are scenic and make the drive even more interesting..

At last by 1'o clock we have reached "Athirapally water falls - Niagara of India(Kerala) :)" Yess!! Ppl call it as Niagara of India.

Athirapally waterfall is about 24-metre (80 ft) height. During our visit the waterfall was not so great, but it was quite impressive.. We have trekked all the way down to reach the foot of the Waterfalls.

As I got the first glimpse of the waterfall, I've recollected all the movie names ( Raavan, Happy, Naa Autograph etc :)) in which I've seen this waterfall.. The view of waterfall from foot was beautiful ...

Top view of Water Falls

Arun

Green everywhere...

This is the way to reach foot of the waterfalls

First glimpse of Waterfalls as we reached down

Complete view of Waterfalls

Myself

Closest view

 

Artistic snap :)

Athirapally waterfalls

After spending 2Hrs, had our lunch in Athirapally itself and we were back on track to reach next destination Valparai “A Dreamer’s Green Paradise...

To reach Valparai, we need to cross dense forest of Sholayar wild corridor. The ride through dense forest was memorable... We were expecting to see some wild animals, we dind't spot not even one... but we spotted Elephant's shit ;) :P

By Sunset we've reached Sholayar Dam, As remaining ride was during dark time, we didn't see much beauty of nature.. By 7.30 we have reached Valparai.

Police check-post  before entering into Forest

Entrance of Sholayar reserve forest....

Myself at ther Entrance of Dense forest

Our beasts

View of Sholayar Reservoir backwater

Here always water looks in blue color

A down flow of Water

Tea estates on the to Valparai from Athirapally

During Sunset at Shlayar dam - Valparai

Another snap

Ride through forest allowed only 6AM - 6PM

Sunset on the way to Valparai

Curvy roads

Roads along Sholayar Dam

Actually as per initial plan we suppose to reach Munnar, but since we were running short of time from Day1 itself... we couldn't reach Munnar. So planned to stay in Valparai itself and started searching for an hotel/homestay. Luckily found a homestay (PUN-HOMESTAY) at cheaper price. 

This Homestay is right in the center of the Valparai town. I would recommend this place who are planning to look for hotels with less amount.

Happy Reading

\m/ Happy Riding \m/