Winding Roads - Unwinding oneself!

Friday, November 06, 2015 4 Comments

3 day bike trip to Coorg from Chennai.

Started as a rough plan for a long trip through a whatsapp chat. Before I know was booking stay, getting leaves approved, servicing my trip companion.

6th October - Day 1

Started at 5.45am from Madhavaram.
Maduravoyal Bridge
Reached Vellore by 8.30. Eventless journey with mild traffic. Had breakfast at Vellore. Mesmerized by clouds around Ambur. Spent close to half an hour just staring at the skies(and clicking lots of pics).
Cloud, clouds everywhere!
mesmerizing is just not sufficient to explain the feels!
 

Whoa!
Click on the pic to enlarge and enjoy!

 Reached Bangalore by 1 pm. Took the wrong bridge (the ten km bridge) and ended up taking left at Silk board, entering BTM layout. Finally moved through snail pace traffic, took left went along Madivala lake(do not remember the places after that) and finally reached Nice Outer ring road. Paid toll to travel all 48 kms and got off the road at the second junction. Total delay due to Bang traffic and detours - two and half hours.
on Nice Outer Ring road!



Approx 120 kms to reach Mysore, Columbia Asia hospital. Stopped at KFC around 4 for light lunch.! Intermittent rains before reaching mysore. Reached mysore around 6.30 pm. Wonderful roads between Bangalore to Hunsur. With good barriers mechanism to slow down traffic, but not affecting as much as moronic speed breakers do.  From mysore to hunsur, the travel was again eventless. Mild, consistent traffic. Total distance between Kushalnagar and mysore - 90 kms. The first 57 km stretch was easier to cover. After that point, no lights other than headlights. Intermittent rains to add to that. Travelled at around 80~90 ish range. Learnt a lot about how well the thunderbird handles corners, brakes and how powerful is the projector headlamp. The difference in lighting between classic 350 and a thunderbird was so apparent in pitch black roads.

the only photo after 7 pm. Nirvana!

Simple two lane roads with both side traffic occupying as much of real estate as and when possible. The ups and downs, twin speed breakers(at every village, town across the highway) opposing headlights, and most importantly, to rely on your gut and visual alertness to sail through tight bends, without light. Not to forget that it was the most thrilling part of the entire journey! When I totally forgot who I was, what was i doing, where was I, how am i going to cross the next dark, bend at 80kmph? It all became a blur and my existence was the blissful feeling, which cannot be comprehended/conveyed with words. Needless to say that now I believe in nirvana, and kind of know how it feels. Finally reached kushalnagar at 9. Crossed Dubare elephant camp, reached Orange county board, took left, followed all instructions of host to reach Chilipili. It was a refreshing experience staying at chilipili. Travel between kushalnagar and chilipili happened around 60kmph speeds. With all hairpin bends, no lights to assist, lots of pothholes to tackle, even with just the headlights, roads with all the greenery on the sides looked awesome, couldn't wait to get a glimpse of how the roads looked in natural lighting. A meal to remember by the host! Not uber expensive. Home made. Worth every penny.

Distance covered - 638 kms
Total time taken - 16 and half hours.

7th October - Day2

Winding roads. Unwinding oneself!
Didn't want to take up on a lot of places to visit. Planned to visit Dubare elephant camp and Golden temple aka Tibetian monastery at Koppa. Pretty event less travel. Had to do a small boating session to reach Dubare camp. Not many elephants. The very least, not as many as I had seen in Guruvayoor. Purchased few Spices for Mom!


beasts resting at Dubare
staring - happiness!
Reached Tibetian monastery by 2.00 in the afternoon. Monks were having a prayer session, which lasted for half an hour after we reached there. Their instruments(which I'm not familiar with) when injected in right combination, was soul stirring. It gets you in the mood. Had a half an hour soul searching meditation. 

Monks in Prayer


Stopped by a local shop for Coffee and pastries. Coffee that was capable of creating another soul stirring moment. Reached Chilipili before dark. Were drenched in rain during return journey!

Near Chilipili!
 Had dinner. The silence, and the cicada's cry. A thing to kill for. I don't remember how long I sat in the porch, absorbed in the silence and cries that alternated each other.
Another specialty of Chilipili - Coffee!
heartwarming coffee
Beans cultivated at Chilipili


Distance  covered - 81 kms

8th October - Day3

Had planned to start by 5 am. Started by 6 am due to rain. Cleaned and Lubed chains before heading out!  Reached Kushalnagar in less than an hour.

 Stopped for coffee. Reached Mysore by 9. Had breakfast at a roadside place that served idlis, the size of Uthappam.
Yes, Idly.
Started from mysore, reached Bang by 12.30, Hosur by 1 pm, Krishnagiri half an hour later. Stretch on nice outer ring road to Krishnagiri, scored 110 plus constantly. Had to slow down. Mental pressure of have i pushed it "that bit too far" started creeping in. Nice outer ring road reminds me of a track from Need for speed Most Wanted (the old edition). The road was wide, concrete, had such a big grass patch throughout in the middle of the road. It looked exactly like that.
the one that reminds me of nfsMW!


Self adoration!

Stopped at Ambur Star biryani for lunch by 3 pm. Reached Sriperumbudur by 5.30. As usual heavy tiring traffic till Maduravoyal. Reached home by 7.30. In the last bits, was surprised to by how well I could handle the bike. Being on the saddle for prolonged periods has it's own advantages.

Distance covered - 627 kms
Time - less than 14 hours.

Thanks to all souls that helped in putting this together (You know when you read this). Jowin Joseph for the plan, Mi4i for the Pics!

Those who are disappointed with what's been presented here. I know that I have not done enough justice, in translating my experience. But truth be told, there were lots of moments that I couldn't even begin to try expressing through words or pictures. Trying to convey them will not be just to the 1.experience that I had, and 2. to those who expect to see or experience the same through my eyes/words!

4 comments:

indhuja said...

Beautiful!

sri said...

superb

Bharathwaj said...

Thanks. It was a perception changing ride! ✌

Unknown said...

Nice Bharathwaj !! You would have stayed one more day in coorg to visit some lakes..