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 jou
rney. 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 lon
g had that ‘something sp
ecial’ 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 ro
ads 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 l
ot 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, a
nd 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 dow
n, 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 st
omach 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 con
tinue 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.
rney. 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 lon
g had that ‘something sp
ecial’ 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 ro
ads 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 l
ot 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, a
nd 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 dow
n, 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 st
omach 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 con
tinue 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
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