Date: 14 – 15 – 16 April 2017
Places visited: Bandipur Forest, Ooty, Muzhippalangad Beach, Bekal Fort
States Visited: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala
No. of People: 4
Riders: Akshay, Panindra, Rajesh and I (Gokool)
Bikes: TVS Apache, Hero Karizma, RE Thunderbird350 and Suzuki Gixxer.
Total Distance covered: 1093 km
Route Taken:
As we had a long weekend geared in the mid of April’2017 we wanted to go for a long epic ride. A practice ride before we hit Leh Ladakh.
Day 1 (April 14, 2017)
We started at 4 am from Nayandahalli Bridge, Mysore Road. All of us were riding with full of passion, the excitement, thinking about how this journey would be. We had our 1st pit-stop of the day at Maddhur CCD, sipping some tea along with some biscuits; I could see the excitement and that smile on everyone’s face as this epic journey was planned long back for the month of February but actually happening now in April.
Our Machines at Maddur CCD
Upon reaching Mysore, we exited the Bangalore – Mysore highway taking the Mysore Outer Ring Road.
We had a small pitstop, where I meet “Lucky – The Labrador”, as I always mentioned in my previous blogs that for every ride I go, I have memories with these pets.
Me with Lucky – the Labrador
We had a quick breakfast at the roadside hotel here to fill our tummy with some delicious dosas.
Post breakfast at Mysore Ringroad
The journey continued as we kept riding on the ring road and took a left that leads to Ooty.
Upon reaching Bandipur Forest Checkpost we stopped over to grab some water bottles and a small pitstop for photo-session.
Rajesh, Phani and me at Bandipur Forest Gate
The “Beast”, The “Warrior” & The “Apache” ready to roar through Bandipur Forest
Please be aware, Bandipur Forest has time restrictions.
The ride through the Bandipur forests and Madhumalai forest was an amazing experience. Once you pass through Madhumalai forest roads, the stretch of 36 Hair Pin bend to Ooty starts.
Rajesh at 36th Hair Pin Bend en route Ooty
Riding uphill over 36 hairpin bends was an ultimate experience. We could glimpse a couple of tea estates as we kept riding uphill. It was noon until we reached Ooty, and as it was a long weekend we could see a lot many tourist landing here.
As we entered the city limits, we stopped over for lunch at Youth Hostel. As we had lunch, we quickly checked for accommodation in Youth Hostel and to our bad all the rooms were full.
We got a normal hotel near Ooty Racecourse, we freshened ourselves and we straight went to Doddabetta peak. It was 4.30pm until we reached the Doddabetta base and the security guard there stopped us at the junction and sent us back saying it’s closing time as the timings were only till 5.00pm. We rode back downhill and visited the nearby tea factory.
As Phani and Rajesh were grabbing some tea, I was mesmerizing the sunset view. There were 2 other bikers doing some photography there. I had seen both of the bikers somewhere but I couldn’t remember where. Suddenly my eyes fell on their bike club logo “Naked Wolves” and then I remembered seeing them on TV for Bajaj 200NS preview ad. We had a quick intro of ourselves, discussing about the bike groups we represented, Discussing about Road Thrill, Gixxer Club Bengaluru, and Naked Wolves, about the trip to Ooty and which all places were on the cards. Post greeting good-bye to them, we 3 (Rajesh, Phani and I) headed back to Ooty city.
Sunset at Ooty
Yo guys… !!!
Warrior and Me
We spent some time taking few rounds in the city market, eating those garma garma bhajjis and pakodas. We were tired, we were sleepy, we headed back straight to the room, had dinner which we got it parceled from Youth Hostel and off to bed.
Day 2 (April 15, 2017)
After having some tea and biscuits which Phani managed to get it early morning, we were ready to start the day. The first place to be visited was Doddabetta Peak. We got all our bags mounted on our bikes and started the ride. As we reached the peak, to our horror there was no place to park our bikes, it was that full. But we somehow managed to find a place to park 3 bikes. We were worried about our luggage as we did not want to leave it on the bikes nor did we wanted to carry with us.
We spoke with the tea shop there and the shopkeeper said you can drop your bags on his Maruti Omni.
Along with our luggage, we had a laptop as well.
Thanks to the tea shop owner to guard our luggage.
Many times, people are worried about the safety of their belongings during their trips, but:
“Being a traveler, yes we have to trust strangers sometimes”
It was a good time spent at Doddabetta with some photo session with the beautiful view of Ooty city.
At Doddabetta
Ooty city as seen from Doddabetta viewpoint
A viewpoint while descending Doddabetta
I Love You my “Warrior”
Biking partners from the days of HSBC
Kids loved posing with our bikes and RT Flag ! ! ! ! !
Phani and Rajesh both taking selfies, where should I pose ?? The confused me !!!
The next destination was Muzhapilangad beach near Kannur. It was 2pm in the afternoon when we left Ooty city. We took the Gudalur forest route, the most scenic route from Ooty as the roads on either sides were covered by huge Nilgiri trees and riding those forest roads was good.
Somewhere in the middle of the Nilgiris… Gudalur Forests
Post a small pit-stop for tea, we entered the roads of a small place called Pandalur and riding through the lush green tea estates during dusk time with few droplets of rain was mesmerizing.
It was around 6 pm when we stopped at the Tamil Nadu – Kerala border check-post to have some food, post some yummy delicious dosa’s, I went near the check-post gate to take a pic. The kind of pic which I always wanted where I stand on 2 different states at the same time.
At the Border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala
The ride through the forests of Kerala was crazy again. It was around 9.30pm where we just entered a forest stretch “Malabar Hill Highway” and I saw a signboard 5/5 Hairpin bends ahead. We were the only people riding on the roads. We were riding downhill and even though we applied both brakes on our bikes, the bikes kept moving down. Post crossing a place called Perivayoor, we stopped for dinner on the roadside hotel at around 11 pm. From here Kannur was around 50kms. We finally reached Kannur at 1 am and just checked in to a normal lodge. We were riding for the whole day covering 280kms in approximate 11 hours.
As soon we checked into the hotel, I called my brother who was on a ride to Mangalore. I told him about our plan for the next day. He was excited to join us to Muzhappilangad beach.
Day 3 (April 16, 2017)
As my brother reached Kannur, we all rode to Muzhappilangad beach. A very famous beach in Kerala and is known for the longest drive in beach in India and every one of us were enjoying the ride on the seashores. We could see people waiting for the waves to hit the shore and ride as the water waved beneath the tires.
This goes as my FB cover pic for now….. !!!!!!
All of our luggage being stacked on Rajesh’s Bike
Pics with seashells is definitely a must on a beachside
That’s my Riding Partner in my family . . . !!!
Phani is thinking if he could really ride on the Arabian Sea 🙂
Cheers mate .. .. ..
Had to park my bike with a Wheel-spin on the sand . . . . .
The favorite of all the pics… Thank you, Akshay for the click
Aunty, please chill Maadi, we are crazy guys ! ! ! ! !
A good time spent with my friends and my brother, a good photo session on the beach side. We were also lost watching the blue sea all around.
Football on the beach side…. wow…. that’s fun !!!
Hope to ride on this beach sometime again . . .
Fish Curry at this restaurant was superb.
Phani, Me, Rajesh and my brother Akshay
Post a delicious breakfast, Phani rode solo to Bangalore and we continued to Bekal Fort.
The roads were surrounded by lot many coconut plantations, many of road bridges across the rivers as we rode through the Coastal roads of Kerala which took us approx. 2 hours covering 75kms to reach Bekal fort.
Bekal is the oldest fort in Kerala and surrounded by the sea and coconut plantations. Many movie songs have been shot at this fort. A very cleanly maintained fort, appreciate the efforts put by the Kerala Government and Archaeological Department of India.
A fort surrounded by Coconut plantations
Beachside view from the fort
Beachside view
We rested for an hour outside the fort at a juice shop to have some chilled watermelon juice. It was summers and the climate was extremely hot.
We started our engines to start our ride back home (Bangalore). As we entered Karnataka, we stopped at a junction somewhere near a place called Sullia in Mangalore District where my brother Akshay and I were debating on the quickest route to Bangalore. Both of us had switched on the GPS, Akshay had only mentioned Bangalore as the destination but I eagerly wanted to ride through Shiradi Ghat and added Sakleshpur in my map to Bangalore. I somehow convinced Akshay and Rajesh to take the Sakleshpur road.
This road via Sakleshpur was yet another ride through the thick forests. We took a pit-stop amidst the forest route in a village to have some tender coconut water and then rode till Kukke Subramanya.
We got the air pressure of bike tires checked as we had to ride the Shiradi Ghats only to ensure we don’t face a problem of a flat tire. The rain poured as we started riding uphills of Shiradi ghats. This stretch kept all 3 of us on our nerves, we were riding the dangerous road of Karnataka under the wrath of the rain gods and it was dark. This stretch of 30 odd kms you will see a heavy movement of tankers and lorries shipping fishes.
As the ghats finished and we stopped in Sakleshpur to have some garma garm bhajji, we all said, “This was one crazy stretch, we want to ride this ghat again” and meanwhile Phani had already reached home taking the Mysore route.
We stopped over for dinner at a dhaba near Hassan. Until the food was served, we got the pics from the DSLR copied to the laptop and scrolling through the pics.
Bhai, when is the next ride ???
Until Hassan, our entire trip was in the ghats and forests, and now we got highway road and we wanted to just zoom off home, many pit-stops were taken for tea as we all were tired and sleepy.
We reached Yesvantpur at 3.00am and all dispersed for their respective homes. At a point in Sheshadripuram, I stopped in the middle of the road; I forgot my way back home and I quickly switched on my mobile GPS to assist me the route back home.
It was yet another memorable trip covering 1093kms, riding through places in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and most of our riding were in ghat sections. Hence the title “The Ride of 3 States: Trail of Ghats”.
Thank you, everyone, for making this trip a memorable one, hope to have more of such memories with you all.
Stay tuned until I blog another of my travel story, Stay safe, Live Free Ride Hard.
Trailer video of The Ride of 3 states:
Click here to watch the Trailer Video
Cheers,
Gokool Kini
(Soul Warrior)
Also Visit: Road Thrill’s 100th Ride
