My Life On Two Wheels: May 2012

When: 12th & 13th May 2012.
Destination: Ooty (Udagamandalam)
How and who all are: Myself and Avinash on Apache-180 RTR
Distance : 680Kms.
Route Map: Bangalore - Mysore - via Mysore by pass - Gundlupet - Bandipur National park- Theppakadu – Masinagudi - Ooty - Mudumalai National Park - Mysore - Bangallre.

Short n Sweet description about trip:
              What does one do when the mercury soars in Bangalore and rains play hide and seek? The first place everyone think about is OOTY. It’s Grandiose Mountains, thick timberlands, terrific ponds, sprawling prairies and miles of eucalyptus trees and tea enclosures welcomes Nature lovers on the way to Ooty.

Travelogue:

Day 1: 12th May 2012

      As we planned to cover Ooty in 2 days, we left Bangalore in the early morning @ 5AM on Saturday. We went through Ramnagara -Maddur-Mandya-Srirangapatna-Mysore - Najungad- Gundelpet - Bandipur - Mudumalai - Masinagudi - Ooty. This is a familiar road to me.I had driven on it for last four trips in the past 5 months. Road condition was good till Mysore and after Mysore upto 30Kms journey was becoming boring with lot of traffic, after that we traveled through forest and Ghat section. Bikers can easily ride at 90Kmph speed and 4 wheelers can easily touch their limits till Mysore, but drive safely :)

   Ride was very smooth till Mandya since it was early morning we didn't face any traffic problems.. After crossing Mandya filled my bike with fuel and checked Nitrogen level in both the tiers as I usually prefer to fill tiers with Nitrogen. After Mandya average speed got down to 70Kmph bcz of morning traffic which was created by local riders.
     As We couldnot have much time reached Mysore ring road in no time and took a short break and as we started towards Ooty via Nanjangud road it was terrible. The roads are not good and more over its a single lane with vehicles rushing towards in the opposite direction it’s pretty dangerous but we couldnot have any choice and it made the pace of riding little slow till we crossed the Nanjangud after that the road also became somewhat ok kind of thing and moreover traffic was eased a lot.. And we started to realize that the surrounding environment also started changing rapidly as the distance we traveled now it’s more of coldness in the air with surrounding changing to forest.

In good time we have reached Kerala border and now we needed to cross the famous Bandipur National forest. The ride was wonderful through forest... smooth and small single lane road with thick forest on either side with beautiful scenery and silent music of wildness.. We did really enjoyed the whole route and luckily we were able to spot some animals including elephants in a far away distance.

It was almost 11:00 AM now and we were in the Ghat Section. The Ghat section starts soon after completing the Mudumalai forest area. The last 30 KMs on Kalhatty Ghat with 36 hairpin bends was really adventurous and thanks to my beast, it was a cake walk :) - Soon we crossed 36 hair pin bends. These turns are named so because of their steepness. As we moved upwards in the Ghat Section, the air became thinner and cooler. I must agree, Ghat section journey was fun and moreover that was my first Ghat section ride :)

By 1'o clock we reached Ooty and since we don't have much time, we directly headed to do boating. Pedal boating in Ooty lake was good... can take 2 or 4 persons pedal boat depends upon no.of persons. for a group of 10 members there were engine boats available. It has taken 1Hr to finish all the corners of lake. While boating make sure that you return within the time they mentioned, otherwise they will deduct amount from your deposited money.. We had experienced there :(

    As soon as we finished with boating we headed to look for room. Suddenly it was started drizzling and we thought that rain will stop soon, so started riding my bike into the town. But rain didn't stop and we started getting drenched in rain. There was not even a single place available for parking my bike... Either side of road was covered with No-Parking boards or vehicles. So we were having only one chance to park my bike and protect our self from rain under a roof of railway station. Soon we headed to railway station. As soon as we reached railway station we could see last train which was about to start to COONOOR. Doing train journey from ooty - coonor was also in our list. But that was to-do list of Day2. We were like confused whether to go for train journey or not. I was thinking about where to keep my bike if I go to coonoor and also was thinking about return journey to Ooty from coonoor as there was no return train. Meanwhile Avinash bought 2 tickets not even asking me. I was in dilemma... I didn't find not even a parking area in station. The only one way I could see was there were some 2, 3 bikes parked outside of station. So I decided to park my bike there itself and ran to catch the train.

The train was very small, hardly 4-5 small compartments. It was more or less toy train. We went and tried to enter into a compartment.. The guard (shocked by seeing guard in this train) who was like door keeper stopped us. I thought this guy wants to check our tickets. But that was not the reason for stopping us.... The reason was compartment is RESERVED :(. I was like WTF... reservation for this train is available!!! I thought of asking guard.. Whether Tatkal ticket reservation is available :)

At last we were able to find a compartment where only 2 middle seats were available.. But sitting in middle seats we can't enjoy the train journey.. Especially we can't take snaps. :( Luckily the one who was sitting beside me offered his window seat to take snaps from there... but not for sitting :(
I said Thank god and train has started. By the time it started our compartment was filled with 10members. Ideally one compartment is only for 6 persons. Apart from this the journey was awesome. , especially while going through tunnels. We got down the train after 3-4 stations as it was 7PM and we couldn't see the beauty of nature in night. From there getting back to Ooty was hectic. We have walked for 4Kms to get onto the road and waited for 30mins to catch the bus and reached Ooty at 9PM :(

Directly we went to railway station to check whether my bike was there or not. Luckily I found my bike and surprised by seeing not even a single person/vehicle in railway station. Still it was raining. Walking while raining gives you a good feeling.. But walking while raining in Ooty has given me wonderful feeling. Drizzling and temperature was dropping was one side and finding room was very difficult especially in May(It's a season). we searched almost for an hour, almost covered entire ooty town. At last at 10.30PM we found a hotel with only one room vacant. If you are planning to travel during season (April - June), safe side book a room. During Off-season getting room is very easy.

Had delicious dinner and went back to room. Since we travelled 350Kms in a day, falling into sleep happened so soon. Finally we ended up the day in cold sleep in the hotel :)

Day 2: 13th May 2012

                Getting up in the morning in ooty was very difficult... By the time we woke up we were unable to see through windows of room. As I step out of bed I felt so cold which making my feet go numb even in hotel room and even though the floor was covered with mat. It was so cold that we needed to walk in slippers: D. .. I Just wiped window with my palm then peeped outside. Oo my GOD.... it was full of mist and fog. As we need to cover so many places, we got fresh up and check out the room and went to take my bike.. I could see my bike looks like someone have washed my bike just now. But later realized that is bcz of Mist. I was little bit worried bike will start or not.. But it started for the first kick itself. :)

Our plan was to reach Doddabetta peak. We enquired the route and headed to the Doddabetta peak which is highest peak in ooty side ghats. The ghat road to doddabetta peak was narrow and with unexpected curves. Soon we reached peak and we could see a very long queue of vehicles. Since ours was bike, we managed to reach parking area easily :). I didn't feel great about the view of ghats from doddabetta peak. It might be bcz of crowd or something else. But I didn't feel great. Without wasting any more time we headed back to ooty.

While coming back we stopped at road side hotel and had hot hot idly which were perfect for the climate. Our next destination was to cover the tourist places which are on the way back to B'lre.

This time we have taken Ooty- Gundelpet- Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary route which covers lot of tourist places. Before leaving ooty, we thought of reaching any tunnels on foot. Luckily we reached a railway stn called LOVEDALE, from where we can walk to reach tunnels. We just parked bike @ “Lovedale” stn and started walking on railway tracks towards tunnels. Like y'day it was started drizzling again. This time I removed my jacket and covered my DSLR to avoid getting wet. Walking on tracks feeling was very nice. We reached a small
Tunnel and had taken some snaps. There we could see the inner beauty of nature... The following pics will show you the beauty.

After that our next stop was Pykara falls. By the time we reach Pykara falls it was 2'0 clock. We need to walk a 1km to reach falls. But I was feeling very hungry, so first we filled our empty stomachs after that we started walking towards falls. On the way we could see local guys playing cricket on greenish lands. Luckily they agreed to take us in there team. We just played for some time and headed to falls. As it was very crowded (May month is season :() we have waited for 15mins to reach to the edge of the falls. But we didn't get chance to take some good snaps. Spent some time there and headed towards "Shooting spot" which is exactly at 7th mile. After reaching the shooting spot, I could see crowd like crowd in Bangalore malls. Without wasting any more time we started towards mudumalai forest as we need to enter into the forest before 6PM (Forest route is opened only from 6AM - 6PM), otherwise we have to plan for a sick leave :). As we were descending the hill, I could fell the rapid changes in the temp as it getting bit hotter. At last we reached Mudumalai forest entrance before 6PM, in fact we crossed Mudumalai and Bandhipur forest regions before 6PM itself :). Then we have taken a gap and headed back to the B'lre via Mysore. Ride was awesome from Mysore to Bangalore. Safely we reached Bangalore at 12AM (Sunday early morning).

Two days, we completely enjoyed in Mist covered mountains which are mostly occupied by tea-estates. Especially riding bike in 36 hairpin edges ghat section. Railway track trekking remembered my childhood days :)

Few snaps from this trip