Couldn’t sleep well tonight due the pathetic stink coming from Washroom. All the clothes were still wet, so I had no other option to dress up with the clothes which were less wet and start my journey.
I thanked the owner for letting me stay in his office room and started for Top-station. It was bright sunny day which brought me hope and a good start.
Mattupetty Dam Reservoir
Enroute Station Top
Finally at the top
Pretty soon I reached the view point of top station. There was a minor fees entry fee of 10 Rs,the people collecting entry fees
Looked fake to me, but argument for 10 Rs was not worth it .There is a small trek of 1/2 Kms to reach at the View point. Finally I reached the view point, and the view was Magnificient.Unending plains surrounded by lines of irregular peaks towering one above the other. Small groups of clouds hanging here and there.
It was all enchanting.
Route to the View Point
Went back to the top, there were few restaurants there. It was time for the breakfast, but to my surprise the only thing available in the breakfast was rice and sambhar :P
Anna preparing fresh rice
So had few rounds of Tea and enquired about the route to Kodaikanal.They advised that there are two routes, one is the shortcut, where the road condition is not good. And another one is from Munnar.
First thought in my mind,"Oh Great, I love shortcuts, tell me more about it”, also if the route is bad shape...how bad it can be. As I have seen worst. Also I did not wanted to go back on the same route. So I went ahead and took the shortcut.
But who knew this route and my decision to take it will be the disaster of day.
Few initial kms of road was all good, till I reached a village named Kottakumb and road suddenly ended and I reached a dead end. I doubted that I got fooled by the peoples who told me about the shortcut, I asked few peoples from the village and they reconfirmed about the existence of the shortcut. They pointed towards a road which looked like Nature trail or 4X4 track sort of.
The condition of the road didn’t improve at all. Pretty soon I was riding on the rocks. At one point I thought of returning back, but I didn't did it because I was in dilemma that this bad nightmare can end any second, I was not sure how long the stretch is. I was wrong about every assumption I made, the patch lasted for three hours where I struggled a lot to push around the bike.Evertime my bike is stuck at some rock section I have to unload the saddle bags. Move the bike from that patch, go back collect the saddle bags and load'em up again.
On the patch of around 15-20 kms I have loaded-unloaded the saddle bags for atleaset 30 times. I shouldn’t have taken this shortcut, but hey I got too see the route, place and view which nobody else have seen and experienced. And this was the motivational force which was driving me through that worse patch.
At many places I just struggled 15-20 mins to pull the bike between rocks, had a fall at a water crossing, and faced few diversions inside the jungle, where no one was there to suggest which route is to follow.
A single wrong turn would have been ended me in a big-big trouble .
It continued a little longer than i expected and as i moved ahead the road condition gotten worse...At one point i thought i have been sent on a wrong route and i will never be able to make it to the other side.But these were just thoughts,I continued ahead...
The nullah where i got stuck and struggled for 15-20 mins
Wonderful road ahead :P
Had a really hard time crossing this patch
And the time came when hours of struggle came to an end..Finally saw some taaar road :P.With little bit of inquiring with the local villagers about the route to kodaikanal, i continued ahead towards Kodaikanal.Met few fellow villagers who were cleaning carrots and packing them to transport and sell them in city.The method of cleaning was super awesome.
Ok,so from here the special-sweet taste come :P
All set to be sold
..I grabbed some pieces,free of cost.Double cleaned them before eating though :P
I was on my way to Kodai and it started to drizzle again,it transformed into heavy rains later on.Finally reached Kodai.
Berijam Lake
Staying in Kodai was not in cards,as it would it be as costly as Munnar.So i moved towards Theni.
A waterfall enroute Kodai-Theni
I reached Theni around 08 PM,found an decent accommodation for 300 bucks on the main Theni-Thekkady highway.Quite a tiring day it was.Had my dinner and crashed to bed
Cheers
Biru
I thanked the owner for letting me stay in his office room and started for Top-station. It was bright sunny day which brought me hope and a good start.
Mattupetty Dam Reservoir
Enroute Station Top
Finally at the top
Pretty soon I reached the view point of top station. There was a minor fees entry fee of 10 Rs,the people collecting entry fees
Looked fake to me, but argument for 10 Rs was not worth it .There is a small trek of 1/2 Kms to reach at the View point. Finally I reached the view point, and the view was Magnificient.Unending plains surrounded by lines of irregular peaks towering one above the other. Small groups of clouds hanging here and there.
It was all enchanting.
Route to the View Point
Went back to the top, there were few restaurants there. It was time for the breakfast, but to my surprise the only thing available in the breakfast was rice and sambhar :P
Anna preparing fresh rice
So had few rounds of Tea and enquired about the route to Kodaikanal.They advised that there are two routes, one is the shortcut, where the road condition is not good. And another one is from Munnar.
First thought in my mind,"Oh Great, I love shortcuts, tell me more about it”, also if the route is bad shape...how bad it can be. As I have seen worst. Also I did not wanted to go back on the same route. So I went ahead and took the shortcut.
But who knew this route and my decision to take it will be the disaster of day.
Few initial kms of road was all good, till I reached a village named Kottakumb and road suddenly ended and I reached a dead end. I doubted that I got fooled by the peoples who told me about the shortcut, I asked few peoples from the village and they reconfirmed about the existence of the shortcut. They pointed towards a road which looked like Nature trail or 4X4 track sort of.
The condition of the road didn’t improve at all. Pretty soon I was riding on the rocks. At one point I thought of returning back, but I didn't did it because I was in dilemma that this bad nightmare can end any second, I was not sure how long the stretch is. I was wrong about every assumption I made, the patch lasted for three hours where I struggled a lot to push around the bike.Evertime my bike is stuck at some rock section I have to unload the saddle bags. Move the bike from that patch, go back collect the saddle bags and load'em up again.
On the patch of around 15-20 kms I have loaded-unloaded the saddle bags for atleaset 30 times. I shouldn’t have taken this shortcut, but hey I got too see the route, place and view which nobody else have seen and experienced. And this was the motivational force which was driving me through that worse patch.
At many places I just struggled 15-20 mins to pull the bike between rocks, had a fall at a water crossing, and faced few diversions inside the jungle, where no one was there to suggest which route is to follow.
A single wrong turn would have been ended me in a big-big trouble .
It continued a little longer than i expected and as i moved ahead the road condition gotten worse...At one point i thought i have been sent on a wrong route and i will never be able to make it to the other side.But these were just thoughts,I continued ahead...
The nullah where i got stuck and struggled for 15-20 mins
Wonderful road ahead :P
Had a really hard time crossing this patch
And the time came when hours of struggle came to an end..Finally saw some taaar road :P.With little bit of inquiring with the local villagers about the route to kodaikanal, i continued ahead towards Kodaikanal.Met few fellow villagers who were cleaning carrots and packing them to transport and sell them in city.The method of cleaning was super awesome.
Ok,so from here the special-sweet taste come :P
All set to be sold
..I grabbed some pieces,free of cost.Double cleaned them before eating though :PI was on my way to Kodai and it started to drizzle again,it transformed into heavy rains later on.Finally reached Kodai.
Berijam Lake
Staying in Kodai was not in cards,as it would it be as costly as Munnar.So i moved towards Theni.
A waterfall enroute Kodai-Theni
I reached Theni around 08 PM,found an decent accommodation for 300 bucks on the main Theni-Thekkady highway.Quite a tiring day it was.Had my dinner and crashed to bed
Cheers
Biru
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