Day 2 - Srimangala to Meppadi

The plan today was to get up by 6am and leave by 7 am, so we reach Kutta as early as possible. The reason, apart from taking advantage of the early morning pleasant climate was to brighten our chances to spot some wildlife by hitting the sanctuary as early as possible. But that was not to be. Plans hardly work for me. By the time I got up and was out for a walk, it was 6.45am. We were told that there is a small lake around, and I thought I will check it out. But I took a wrong way, and went in a different direction in the estate. I wandered in the estate for almost 45 minutes, listened to the wind whistling through the leaves of the swaying trees, smelled some unknown flowers, stopped a few times to appreciate the scenic beauty.

When I came back, Anil was waiting for me. Breakfast had already been laid on the table. It didn’t take any time for us to take the plunge. Must say the traditional coorgi rice balls (I don’t know what they are actually called) were something I had first time, and that it tasted awesome.

8.15 am – Finally we were back on the saddle. The morning air felt nice and made me energetic, but also lazy enough to not to hurry up. I wanted to feel every moment of the journey. It was mainly downhill to start with, and it felt good. As we cruised through, we saw 2 more signboards for home stays within 1-2 km from the one wherein we stayed. Soon our luck with downhills was over, and the road zig zagged up through forests and coffee plantation.

Things had changed since the first day. On the first day morning, I was even reluctant to come down to the second chain ring. By the end of the first day, I was more eager to drop down to second chain right on the sight of anything that goes up. That became the smallest one the next day. And today, any such sight promptly makes us get down from the bike and push it up cheerfully.
We reached Kutta at around 9.30, and then crossed the border to enter Kerala. We stopped at the border, took some snaps. I had long had that ‘something special’ image about Kerala and Kerala cuisine in my mind and it felt good to enter Kerala. The road till now was decent, but became very bad as soon as we crossed the border. I remembered hearing from friends that roads in Kerala are very bad. However, the road conditions improved dramatically as soon as we entered the Wayanad forest, which was only 2 km from the border. I have heard and read a lot about the scenic Wayanad, especially while planning this trip, and was looking forward to it. We spotted a small tea/snacks stall just after the check post and decided we must celebrate the moment with a cup of coffee. Unlike in Coorg, the coffee was served in much bigger glass here. Came to know from Anil that’s how people in Kerala drink tea and coffee.
It felt good after the break, and we were back on our saddle. We kept an eye open for any wild elephants. We have heard there are plenty in these areas. Although the road was excellent, we weren’t rushing through, and slowing down the pace intentionally. That, we thought, will give us a better chance. Unfortunately, it was almost 10.30am, and that reduced our chances of spotting any wildlife. The jungle, though, was amazing and the road was lined with huge tress both side, especially eucalyptus and bamboo trees. I have never seen bamboo tress so big. And when they swayed, they would make such scary creaking noise that it would remind me of horror movies. I wondered how it will be to lose our way inside the jungle, only to end up spending a night in the bamboo forests here.
At times, when we get down and push our bikes up, the sound of jungle would engulf us. The sound of the wind whispered to the leaves of the eucalyptus trees. Birds chirped and sang in enchanting tunes. Somewhere far away an unknown animal made a shrilling call.
No luck with wild elephants though, and soon we came out of the check post at the other side. Next town for us was Mananthawady which we had marked as our Lunch Stop. I was trailing behind Anil, who had disappeared from my line of sight on a long downhill. And now I sense some problem...may be the chain has slipped from the largest cog. It happens with my bike all the time. But no, it’s not the chain this time. The rope used to tie up the luggage on the rack has found a way to unwind itself and has managed to get stuck on the rear cogs, making it a mess. I cursed myself. Just when I was about to enjoy my downhill ride, this had to happen. I got down. Well, it was a real mess, it took me at least 5 min to sort it out and another 10 min to secure the luggage tightly back on the rack. I promised myself to get a pannier for my next trip. I was back on the saddle.
A couple of kms down, I found Anil waving at me. He has parked his bike by a small eatery and was enjoying a huge slice of watermelon. I was getting tired as well, and hence I welcomed the break. I parked my bike, and washed my face with some fresh water. It felt good. I helped myself to some snacks which were actually a slice of ripe banana dipped in some coating and fried. Must be a very common snack item in these parts of India, but I had it first time. It was love at first bite. Then I shifted by attention to that thing wrapped (steamed) in banana leaves in the picture. I don’t know what it is called, but it tasted nice. Not as good as those fried ripe bananas thoughJ.
Well, it was almost 1 pm and getting very hot. Although our stomach was half filled already, we still decided to take a longish lunch break. That was to avoid the afternoon heat. On some enquiry, we were guided to the P.S. Mess, which was may be 50 metres from the place where we had our snacks. We parked our bike outside the Mess. This place was a km before Mananthawady, which means we could avoid the crowd, which in turn means our bikes were safe.
P.S. Mess was a simple cosy place. We order some paratha, beef fry and fish fry. The beef fry was fiery but fabulous. One of the best I ever had. The beef fry also came with some free beef curry, which too was delicious. Along with that, we were served pink hot water. The colour of the water was due to an herb that the locals traditionally use. It is supposed to aid in digestion. This was probably the first time I was having hot water along with food, and it felt very odd. With time though, I got used to it. We finished the meal up, with a glass of coffee each and relaxed for another half an hour. When we went to the counter to settle the payment, we were pleasantly surprised to find the one of the most beautiful meal we ever had has cost us a total of Rs 65.
We would have liked to relax our limbs for some more time, but we had to reach Kalapetta which was still around 40 km away. So we got back to our saddle and challenged the mighty sun. We didn’t realise that the Sun god would take this challenge seriously, but it did. Soon we found the heat unbearable. We kept taking frequent stops and drinking some electoral water. At around 3 pm, Anil said he can’t carry on and we decided to take a break and wait for the climate to cool down a bit. Nearby, was a small shop, and we sat there and stretched their legs. We filled up our bottles with water and had some tea. We would have spent some more time there, but changed our plans when we found our bikes surrounded by a big group of school kids. Apparently, their classes for the day had just got over. As usual, Anil’s Edge attracted more crowd than my Target. But the crowd grew unruly, and we fled off with our bike.
By this time, sun god was showing mercy on us – the climate became much more enjoyable. Throughout the day, the road conditions were average. But around 20 km before Kalapetta, we started riding on what seemed a newly laid road. That increased our average speed, and at around 5 we were at Kalapetta.
Kalpetta looked like a much bigger town, and we had difficulty finding an accommodation that would allow our bikes inside the room. After a brief discussion we decided to continue to Meppadi, which, we were told is 12 km away. Although the road was excellent, it was mostly going up and we were happy to alternate between riding and pushing our bikes. The scenic beauty of the road was awesome. Pushing our bike up gave us more time to appreciate it. The mountains that were far away have suddenly come closer to us, keeping us company from Kalapetta. But everything is not well. Around 3 km before Meppadi, my rear tyre had a puncture. But it was getting dark and repairing a puncture is difficult. It was very frustating to push our bikes all the way to meppadi, especially this being a long day.

7.30 pm – We were at Meppadi. After looking around a bit, we got a room in ‘Hotel Paris’ for Rs250. It seemed to be the only option in the town, if you leave out the home stay a km ahead. The home stay though was expensive for us for Rs 700 for the night. But problem came when we insisted that we would like to carry the cycles in our room in the second floor. The caretaker will not agree, and they would suggest alternate places to park our bikes, which they promised would be very safe. But we weren’t going to leave the bikes out. Ultimately, they agreed reluctantly. We finished the day with a meal of Kerala paratha along with some chicken and veg curries in the restaurant at the ground floor of Hotel Paris.

Day's Stats:
Start from Srimangala Home Stay- 8.15 am
Reached Meppadi- 7.30 pm
Time on bike : 6hour 17min.
Dist covered - 68.09 km
Average speed - 13.3 km

Day 1 :Madikeri to Srimangala

It was 6.15 am when I managed to get out of the bed. I looked out from my window ...the sun was painting the sky in all shades of red and orange. We quickly kicked us out of our room into the open, inviting coffee estate. It was chilly, but the full sleeve thermal t shirt that I bought for the trip, beneath my usual full sleeve cycling t shirt was doing a good job. The sun was hiding behind the early morning mist, which, combined with the morning chill and the coffee plantation all around was making the whole ambience divine. The estate looked much bigger than it looked last night. There was a narrow walking trail covered with dried leaves that went off from a few metres left of the front gate of the house. It looked inviting and we found ourselves on it, going through the dense coffee plantation peppered with pepper tree. A little further, it dived into a dried stream, and then disappeared. Then it again magically re appeared once we crossed the stream, around 50 metres ahead of the stream. We kept following the trail till it hit a bigger, broader trail, and then lost our way. We wandered a bit, before Anil’s sense of direction got us back on the track. It was already 8.30 in the morning when we were back at our room.We took showers and got our stuffs packed. Anita and her family had to leave for the marriage hall, hence we had hurry up. We had our breakfast quickly and then concentrated on setting up the bikes.
Back in Hyderabad, I couldn’t manage to get panniers for the trip. I also tried getting one stitched, but to no avail. So the plan was to have most of the stuffs in a bag that can be secured onto the rear rack. The rest of the stuffs, which is basically things like toolkit, pump, puncture kits, first aid and some eatables, should go into the backpack. Securing the bag to the rear rack seemed tougher than it looked like and took a while. Meanwhile, all is not well with Anil’s rear seat post rack. Yesterday, while setting up his seat post rack onto the bike at medikeri, we had unknowingly screwed up the threads of the holes in the rack. This now means, the existing screws are not able to secure the rack to the bike. So we tried the only option we had – use some ropes to secure the rack to the bike....it seemed to be working. But that’s when we noticed a bigger problem. Apparently the wire from the shifter that controls the rear derailleur has become loose, and the chain was stuck at the largest cog at the rear, and the largest of the front chain ring. We tried our best, but soon we realised we didn’t have the tools to fix this issue, which means we were in a fix. If Anil had to ride now, he will have to do the climbs at 3-7. We asked the locals about our options and were informed there is town called Murnad, around 12 km from here, on the way to Virajpet. The road till Murnad being mostly downhill, we decided to take a chance and ride on rather than going back to Madikeri.

So at last we were on the saddle. But not even hundred metres into our rides, we saw Anil’s rear rack giving away again. Our rope trick is not working. We had only one option left now, and that’s what we did. 3 quarter of Anil’s luggage comes into my backpack. Whatever left, along with the rack, went into Anil’s backpack. We were hopeful that we should be able to get some bigger screws for the rack in the next town and get it sorted.
So yes, the ride has finally begun. It wasn’t exactly early hours of the morning, but even at this hour the air felt so fresh. And the winding roads through the countryside were a treat for my eyes that made me forget the load on my shoulder. Anil though wasn’t enjoying the ride as much as I was. Even the slightest uphill would mean he had to come down and push the bike. I was gladly using that extra time to preserve the moments in my new Canon F90IS. It took as less little more than an hour to reach Murnad, where Anil located a four wheeler servicing shop catering primarily to large vehicles. Luckily, they had the tools. While I went out looking for the right screws for Anil’s rear rack, Anil concentrated on getting the tension on the derailleur wire fixed. I tried at few hardware shops, no luck with the screws. But by the time I was back, Anil had a broad smile on his face. He has sorted the derailleur problem out. This surely deserved some celebration, so there we were in a local sweet shop, replenishing our sugar levels.
We resumed our journey from Murnad. We went through coffee plantation, open fields that looked like harvested paddy fields, banana and coconut plantation. Alongside, every now and then, we would spot a traditional coorgy architectured double storeyed building with sloping roofs. They looked majestic to the eyes that are used to seeing malls and software parks. At times, there would be small masjid somewhere around. I guessed there would be a reasonable muslim population in southern Karnataka.
The ride was mostly downhill, with a few climbs. Initially, like in Hyderabad, I would rough it out and climb the slopes on 3rd gear, which by the end of the day would become 2nd. This was to change with each passing day. By afternoon 2.30, we were at Virajpet. Virajpet was a small town, wherein we stopped for a quick bite at one of the bakery. The plan for the day was to reach Kutta, which was till 60 km away. Because of the late start, it may not to be feasible anymore, and we were now looking for a more reasonable destination for the day. At that point we met a very helpful local, who advised us to spend the night at Srimangala, a small town around 15 km before Kutta. We still decided to give Kutta a try.
The ride was pretty much smooth and we soon passed Gonnikoppal. Exactly at 4.30 pm we reached the small town of Punnampet. We needed something to eat now. We located a small eatery and parked our bikes on the road, and selected a seat which would keep the bikes in line of sight. Within minutes, we had a big group of locals, looking at our bikes and talking among themselves. The owner of this small eating joint though was very concerned about our bikes and wouldn’t let anybody touch it. As more and more people start pouring in, he urged the crowd to leave and they reluctantly dispersed. We were relieved and now concentrated fully on the kerala paratha and kerala style chicken curry that had arrived at our table.
By the time we finished lunch it was 5 pm. Kutta was more than 30 km away, and we knew it was not possible. We didn’t want to ride in dark. So Srimangala had to be the destination for the night. After Punnampet, the road started getting bad. Srimangala was still around 17 km away, but the good food had recharged our energy cells. The sun was getting back its orange tinge and the air its chill. Soon it kissed the horizon, and we tried to capture the beauty in my cam without much of a success. We resumed soon, but it was now getting dark pretty fast. Another half an hour of cycling, and we were at the small town of Srimangala.
Srimangala turned out to be a much smaller town that what we had assumed it to be. We stopped at one of the shops and asked local about any accommodation. We were told there is 1 km ahead of the town. We did find a house with a board that said they are a Home Stay. We later found that the owners stayin another building other side of the lane. Rooms were indeed available. After a bit of bargaining, we got a huge room, spick and span for Rs 300 for the night. The owners were nice people and the even allowed the cycles in our room.
It was dinner time soon, and we were treated with traditional pork curry, akki roti and some vegetable curry. I had heard about akki roties , but couldn’t get one in my tummy in madikeri. This was my last chance to savour those on this trip, and I was glad theey were right on my plate. The pork curry turned out to be too hot for me though, but the akki roties were too good. After dinner, we decided to go for a stroll. At 8.30 in the evening, there wasn’t a single soul in the road. It was pitch dark, occasionally the darkness punctuated by the headlight of some fast moving vehicle. We walked towards the town , 1 km away, to the point where we were given direction for the homestay. Although our body felt tired after the long day, legs felt so nice...I felt the walk was relaxing the muscles, almost like a massage. A few minutes later, we were in the centre of the town. Its not even 9 pm, and not a single shop is open. Not a single light, not a single soul. I looked at the sky. I looked at the stars. It felt as if the night sky has been studded with diamonds. I haven’t till date seen stars so bright. I spotted the Orion constellation, and remembered my geography teacher in school. I remembered my school days. I remembered how carefree life used to be, and soon I was nostalgic. It was time to head back.

Day's Stats:
Start from Madikeri Home Stay- 11 am
Reached Srimangala guesthouse- 6.45 pm
Time on bike : 4 hour 42 min.
Dist covered - 68.55 km
Average speed - 14.5 km

Reaching Madikeri

There I was standing in the parking area next to my bike, looking at the flat rear tyre. I checked my watch , its 4 pm. Anil had called me few minutes back and informed he has just reached Kachigudda station, from where we were to catch the overnight train to Bangalore. I wanted to ride my bike to the station, but he had insisted I rather I take an auto and load my bike into it. More so, keeping in mind that we have to pack and load the bike in the train. I didn’t want a long argument on this, so I said ‘fine’ to Anil. But I knew I was not going to load the bike in another vehicle. In the 6 months I have been with my bike, I haven't done that even once. But now I have no option.

I soon find myself with my bike in an auto, cheerful in spite of the flat tyre.The long awaited bike trip is about to start. I felt so excited. I haven't even done a 2 day bike trip before, and soon I will be on the saddle for 7 long days, through some of the finest landscape of southern India.

Well, my auto driver did well, and we reached kachigudda in no time. Anil has already started wrapping up his bike with the bubble wraps he has got for both of us. But I had to fix the puncture first. I quickly swapped the punctured tube with a spare one I was carrying (a used and patched one, the only one I had), and started the process of bubble wrapping my bike.

7 pm, we were in the train. It’s been a long day, but we were excited. We have been planning this cycling tour for a little more than 2 months. It would be me and Anil on a 7 days cycling trip through the hills and forests of Nilgiries, across Karnataka, kerala and tamilnadu. We will be reaching Bangalore early tomorrow and then find a way to reach (madikeri in coorg) by tomorrow evening, where Anil has booked us into a home stay. From then on, for 7 days, it would just be us and our cycles. The plan looked like this
17th Jan : Reach madikeri by transport, and set the bikes up.
18th Jan: Madikeri - Kutta(100km),
19th Jan : Kutta - Kalpetta(70 km) (add Vythri round trip if possible)
20th Jan : Kalpetta - Gudalur – Masinagudi(110 km). Night in one of the jungle resorts
21st Jan: Masinagudi-Ooty(35 km, by car/bus), Ooty -Redhills-Ooty(65 km) by cycle.
22nd Jan: Ooty - Connoor- Kotagiri - Metupalayam(80km) by bike. Metupalayam - Pollachi by car/bus
23rd Jan: Pollachi - Valaprai by car/bus, explore Valparai by cycle rest of the day.
24th Jan: Valparai - Athirampilly - Chalakudy by bike
25th Jan: Chalakudy - Shoranur by car/bus, catch train to Hyderabad from Shoranur.

Next morning we were in Bangalore, an hour delayed than regular time. It took almost another hour to get the Gate Pass done. Irrespective of which part of India you are, railway officials have a pace of their own. Anyways, by 9 in the morning, we were out of the Bangalore station. Once out of the railways territory, things started getting better remarkably. We took the subway to reach the bus terminal, and found a Volvo about to leave for Mysore in a few minutes. Our bikes now safely secured in the underneath luggage space, we started enjoying our ride to Mysore. Soon I dozzed off. When I woke up, I found we are not too far from Mysore. Another half an hour, and we were at Mysore.

Now we had to get a bus to Madikeri. We didn’t want to load our bikes on the top of the buses, fearing tree branches can do some damage to our bikes, so were looking for buses with luggage space underneath. Volvos have that advantage, but there didn’t seem to be any Volvo in the next hour or so. That’s when we found the Omni. At Rs 1000, it definitely was good deal. He helped us to load our bikes on the van, and there we were off...to Coorg.

Meanwhile, I was hungry as hell and had confessed the same to Anil as soon as we were into the Omni. The driver though, suggested we should go out of the town first, and around 40 km towards Coorg, there’s a good eating joint by the road. Praying that the food be worth the wait, I agreed reluctantly. It turned out that the wait was worthwhile. The food was lovely. We were served on banana leaves, and the food tasted simple, but good.

Back into the Omni after lunch, we continued on our way to Coorg. The road was in excellent condition and newly laid, and I wished I was riding my bike on the tarmac here. But that would have meant an extra day on bike.

5 pm – we were at Madikeri unloading our bike beside a 2 wheeler garage shop. It was cool and windy, and we started unpacking those bubble wraps and setting up our bikes. Anil has called up Anita for direction, who runs a estate stay where we were booked for the night and was given the directions. Its 6 km from the town of Madikeri and we decided to ride the distance.

Back on the saddle, what followed was a crazy serpentine downhill, alternating between the open, harvested fields, and the green forests. The biking trip has truly begun.After 6 km, our ride was intercepted by a Mahindra jeep by the road side. The estate is around 200 meters off the road and there’s no proper road for those last few metres from the main road. It’s also difficult to tell the exact point from where to take that left turn . That’s the reason, Anita had sent their jeep to show us the way to the estate.
Once in the estate, we found the whole family waiting for us at the door. Anita’s son Monish , who must be, around 16 years, is a very friendly chap and was excited to see us and our bikes. He looked at our bikes with a lot of interest, and asked about the gears. But when I offered him to ride my bike, he politely declined it. Probably he has been warned in advance by his elders not to fiddle with our bikes. He then showed us our room which was very nice and cosy with an attached bath and a balcony with a wonderful view of the estate. Actually they had 2 options for accommodation. The first is a traditional coorgi construction – a separate building, which has all the charm of an authentic coorgi experience, but they let that out on rent to groups. This was probably where they used to stay before they started the home stay. For us, they had arranged a room in the two floored house they stay, which looked like a relatively new construction.
Anita told that they have a wedding to attend at madikeri and would be leaving in half an hour. They also apologised for the fact that dinner wont be cooked tonight and hence we will need to eat out. So now, our plan was to visit Raja seat, and then get some traditional corgi food in some eatery at madikeri. I have read about coorgi pork curry and akki roti, and wanted to try them out. Anita and her husband offered to drop us at madikeri. We quickly freshened up, but the plan changed once we got into their jeep. They kept insisting that we should come with them to the marriage. Being a hardcore foodie myself, I couldn’t let this opportunity pass by. It was not just the food though; this would have also be a great way to see the coorgi culture. Problem though was I was wearing a track pant I had got for the rides. I was not carrying any trouser with me to save weight, but I realised the experience would be worth the extra weight. So after a quick visit to Raja seat, we located a small shop selling some garments, bought myself a trouser, got into it right at the shop, and headed to the marriage.
Once in the marriage hall, we were quickly spotted by Monish who played our host and saw to it we were never alone. He introduced us to a couple of his friends and another family who has driven down from Bangalore to attend the wedding, and then guided us to the drinks and snacks counter. Of course, we were eagerly waiting for it. There were long queue at both the counters, but after a peek at the contents, we were happy to queue up. The drink counters had everything from beer to scotch. The snacks counter was serving mutton liver fry and pork fry along with some vegeterian delicacies. We were told there is different snacks and drinks counter for women. Apparently, it is very normal for both men and women to drink, but not together in a public place.

Outside in the courtyard, a band was playing some traditional coorgi tune and locals were dancing to it. The tune was sort of weird, but seemed quite popular since everybody knew how to dance to it. We of course didn’t have a clue. The tune though was very hummable, and we found ourselves humming the same every now and then for the next 7 days of the trip.
A group of pretty ladies joined in soon, and that drew in more people to the dance floor. We kept sipping our drinks and munching on the snacks, tapping our feet while watching locals dance to coorgi music. By the time dinner was about to be served, I was making a conscious effort so as not to look tipsy. I don’t think it helped though. But I was definitely back in sense when I had my dinner served. It’s a feast for any foodie. The experience turned out to be one of the best in the trip.
Around 11 pm, we were ready to go back. Monish’s father was sitting on the steering wheel of the Mahindra Jeep, and Monish and Anita were insisting he must drive slowly. Soon I found he had a bit more alcohol than he should have if he were to drive, and that was the reason for their concern. In no time, that became my concern too. I knew how the road to the estate bends and curves through the hills, and that didn’t help either. Fortunately nothing happened, in around 10 minutes, we were back to the estate. By the time we hit the bed, it was midnight. The plan now was to get up early, take a walk across the estate and then leave by 8 in the morning. Sounds a little difficult considering the amount of food and drink we just had.