With first showers hitting Bangalore, we hatched our first monsoon ride plan. Undoubtedly it had to be Meghamalai as the place was under our scanner for quite a while and what better time to visit than monsoon. Plan was finalized, 3 riders it had to be and I was eagerly waiting for the weekend. Chatting on what videos to make, how to pose, what to click, aag lagadenge and the normal stuff.
Quickly Friday came by and we were to be heading out at 2AM. As usuall, the meeting place was Suvra's place and without much fuss we rolled on.
Sauban wanted chai and even I wanted one, so the chai stop was after Krishnagiri.
A couple of night shots:
We carried on enjoying the cool breeze, awesome traffic less roads and we were covering good distance too. I had music playing and from quite some time, I was not able to hear the songs properly. It was Suvras new free flow exhaust which was creating a racket on the otherwise calm and serene roads. Well keep away from that red avy was the mantra there on.
Stopped at Salem for fuel and another quick butt break
The timing of the cracker was spot on
Next stop had to be for the sunrise and that is something that I never miss. New dawn not only is the mark of a new day, but also gives you the very beautiful feelings that you cant feel in the dense concrete jungles of residence.
The golden rays of sun rising behind the mountains and this is what we ride for. To enjoy the beauty offered by the nature, to soak in all the joy!
And our partners in the journey
A beautiful field which was full of blooming flowers
And the amazingly maintained roads
And a towering peak right in front
Spent a good amount of time here. Clicking in each and every direction. The sun was above horizon now, and it was time to continue towards the destination.
Dindigul came in quick, took the road to Kodaikanal. The AH changes to a well maintained 2 lane SH from this point. Rash driving, crazy bus drivers, lazy pedestrians and hey we were not complaining. We had the mountains and the valleys surrounding us and we were enjoying each and every minute of the ride. We were out on a tour, not a time bound race.
The views were breathtaking and we really wished that we could stop at each and every turn of the road where we were shown new and beautiful scenery. We did stop a lot and we tried to capture few of these in the form of pictures. But I always feel that pics dont do justice to what you see in front of you. You have to be there to experience it.
You dont even have to move an inch from the road to see all this. It is kind of in your face beauty which you will see throughout the journey
Very beautiful cloud formations, and sometimes you feel that you are looking at a painting. The below pic seems like the clouds were targeting this lonely structure to take out their wrath.
Few clouds white, few clouds dark, it was a riot of colours coupled with the greens and blues all around. Frankly speaking, I was looking at the sky more than I was looking at the road.
I was cruising enjoying all this and suddenly I was pushed to the side of the road by some invisible hand and then pulled back to the middle of the road. Damn, it was the winds. The winds were throwing us around at their will and were way too strong. Overtaking a big vehicle meant that we had to hold on tight and be prepared to be thrown away in some direction. Speeding was risky and we continued at a slow pace till we reached Theni, took the diversion towards Meghamalai.
Now the 2 laned awesome roads became narrow patchy black objects. We were at the foothills and the board read Meghamalai -30Kms". Awesome, we thought. We will reach in half an hour we thought.Little did we suspect that we will take more than 3 hours to reach the destinations.
No it was not the roads, bad roads are ok, you can tackle them, it was the views which made us stop at each and every turn. Dont believe me?
See for your self
I never knew they grew grapes in TN !
as you start the climb up cursing the bad roads, this will start becoming better and better on your right hand side making you forget the roads
Another valley en route
It is customary to have your baby pose in the best of the locations on a ride isnt it, and gosh she is a looker ;)
We kept stopping at regular intervals. The ride was rough and there was loose gravel and some patches of broken roads to ride on and a TN state transport bus which kept company most of the time.
Trust me this is a very good patch of road
We were not in a hurry and we were really having fun, the only fly in the ointment was wind! Yes, it was fast, all three of us had our helmets thrown off bikes when we were out clicking or posing, the bikes were rocked hard and would sway with every gust of wind. I being lean was teased on being flown away by the wind and having to climb back all the way again. Friends they call these species.
As we climbed higher and higher, the views turned from valleys to tea gardens to thick forests. It also started growing cold and slightly drizzly.
This is how the landscape will look like once you reach the top
The clouds were down now, photos photos and more photos were the order of the day and gladly we obliged clicking like a pack of dogs pouncing on biscuits.
We carried on asking directions for the government guest house so that we could find a roof over our head for the night. We were oogled at, lots of oohs and aahhs from the village kids and finally we managed to find the guest house. We inquired for a room and the guy says "All full. No room" ! We were worried, very worried and had no idea what next. I tried to convince the guy that we badly needed a room and in most probability, the one dialog which went like "we are riding from 2AM from Bangalore" was the one that got him to soften up a bit. He gave us a glimmer of hope by saying have food and come, let me see if I can arrange for sometihing, not confirming, but I will try.
So we headed to the only source of food in the area and started gobbling up all he threw at us praying in our heads , hoping to get the room and discussing what if we dont get one!!
This is the guest house
This guest house comes with an attached dam for a change.
Surroundings
So we headed to the only source of food in the area and started gobbling up all what he threw at us, praying, hoping that we get a roof over our heads for the night.
Finally the good guy got us a very spacious room for 1K per day and we were happy to find a comfortable place to rest our sore bums. The next plan was to visit the nearby lake and do some photography. It was 3:50PM by the time we were settled in and the cozy comfort of the bed lured us into staying there for a while.Sauban and I were of the opinion to get a small nap, and when I said lets leave at 4:30, the look on Suvra's face made us change the time by a bit. 4PM sharp (no way in hell we were going at 4 :P ) , we were to head out to the lake and alarm was set for the remaining 8 minutes of sleep and we quietly sat wrapped inside the warm blankets.I woke up to the brain rattling sound of 100 mixies being run together. Just when I was about to open my eyes, the noise stopped. Happy I was, I tried to sleep again, but that horrible noise was resonating through the pillow and in all probability was causing internal vibrations in my head :PI sat up, it was the one sleeping next to me who was snoring like no tomorrow! I wanted to kick that guy and suddenly I realized that all 3 of us had slept and certainly the darkness did not feel like it was 4PM. Looked at the phone, and it said 7:30PM ! Now we were informed that if dinner is to be prepared, the same should be notified before 5 to the hotel guy, woke up and went out to the hotel and was happy that the guy said he will prepare food for us. By the time I reached back all were awake and now we had all the plans postponed to tomorrow.Walked around in the misty surroundings only to find people with local whisky every where. Every damn person had a glass of whisky in his hand and those who did not have them went in and tool a gulp like they gulp down lemon juice! Wow, this will be an eventful night I thought. Quietly had dinner, We had plans to do night photography and wanted to shoot the stars and the sky (Yeah call me mad). Never did we think that in this region it will be difficult to shoot even the person standing in front of us due to the fog and the clouds!Walked around with the tripod and Pandu was with us for safety. Oh, I did not introduce Pandu to you!
Here he is: Pretty much was with us all the time when we were out of the room :)
Here are a few pics from the night.
Quickly Friday came by and we were to be heading out at 2AM. As usuall, the meeting place was Suvra's place and without much fuss we rolled on.
Sauban wanted chai and even I wanted one, so the chai stop was after Krishnagiri.
A couple of night shots:
We carried on enjoying the cool breeze, awesome traffic less roads and we were covering good distance too. I had music playing and from quite some time, I was not able to hear the songs properly. It was Suvras new free flow exhaust which was creating a racket on the otherwise calm and serene roads. Well keep away from that red avy was the mantra there on.
Stopped at Salem for fuel and another quick butt break
The timing of the cracker was spot on
Next stop had to be for the sunrise and that is something that I never miss. New dawn not only is the mark of a new day, but also gives you the very beautiful feelings that you cant feel in the dense concrete jungles of residence.
The golden rays of sun rising behind the mountains and this is what we ride for. To enjoy the beauty offered by the nature, to soak in all the joy!
And our partners in the journey
A beautiful field which was full of blooming flowers
And the amazingly maintained roads
And a towering peak right in front
Spent a good amount of time here. Clicking in each and every direction. The sun was above horizon now, and it was time to continue towards the destination.
Dindigul came in quick, took the road to Kodaikanal. The AH changes to a well maintained 2 lane SH from this point. Rash driving, crazy bus drivers, lazy pedestrians and hey we were not complaining. We had the mountains and the valleys surrounding us and we were enjoying each and every minute of the ride. We were out on a tour, not a time bound race.
The views were breathtaking and we really wished that we could stop at each and every turn of the road where we were shown new and beautiful scenery. We did stop a lot and we tried to capture few of these in the form of pictures. But I always feel that pics dont do justice to what you see in front of you. You have to be there to experience it.
You dont even have to move an inch from the road to see all this. It is kind of in your face beauty which you will see throughout the journey
Very beautiful cloud formations, and sometimes you feel that you are looking at a painting. The below pic seems like the clouds were targeting this lonely structure to take out their wrath.
Few clouds white, few clouds dark, it was a riot of colours coupled with the greens and blues all around. Frankly speaking, I was looking at the sky more than I was looking at the road.
I was cruising enjoying all this and suddenly I was pushed to the side of the road by some invisible hand and then pulled back to the middle of the road. Damn, it was the winds. The winds were throwing us around at their will and were way too strong. Overtaking a big vehicle meant that we had to hold on tight and be prepared to be thrown away in some direction. Speeding was risky and we continued at a slow pace till we reached Theni, took the diversion towards Meghamalai.
Now the 2 laned awesome roads became narrow patchy black objects. We were at the foothills and the board read Meghamalai -30Kms". Awesome, we thought. We will reach in half an hour we thought.Little did we suspect that we will take more than 3 hours to reach the destinations.
No it was not the roads, bad roads are ok, you can tackle them, it was the views which made us stop at each and every turn. Dont believe me?
See for your self
I never knew they grew grapes in TN !
as you start the climb up cursing the bad roads, this will start becoming better and better on your right hand side making you forget the roads
Another valley en route
It is customary to have your baby pose in the best of the locations on a ride isnt it, and gosh she is a looker ;)
We kept stopping at regular intervals. The ride was rough and there was loose gravel and some patches of broken roads to ride on and a TN state transport bus which kept company most of the time.
Trust me this is a very good patch of road
We were not in a hurry and we were really having fun, the only fly in the ointment was wind! Yes, it was fast, all three of us had our helmets thrown off bikes when we were out clicking or posing, the bikes were rocked hard and would sway with every gust of wind. I being lean was teased on being flown away by the wind and having to climb back all the way again. Friends they call these species.
As we climbed higher and higher, the views turned from valleys to tea gardens to thick forests. It also started growing cold and slightly drizzly.
This is how the landscape will look like once you reach the top
The clouds were down now, photos photos and more photos were the order of the day and gladly we obliged clicking like a pack of dogs pouncing on biscuits.
We carried on asking directions for the government guest house so that we could find a roof over our head for the night. We were oogled at, lots of oohs and aahhs from the village kids and finally we managed to find the guest house. We inquired for a room and the guy says "All full. No room" ! We were worried, very worried and had no idea what next. I tried to convince the guy that we badly needed a room and in most probability, the one dialog which went like "we are riding from 2AM from Bangalore" was the one that got him to soften up a bit. He gave us a glimmer of hope by saying have food and come, let me see if I can arrange for sometihing, not confirming, but I will try.
So we headed to the only source of food in the area and started gobbling up all he threw at us praying in our heads , hoping to get the room and discussing what if we dont get one!!
This is the guest house
This guest house comes with an attached dam for a change.
Surroundings
So we headed to the only source of food in the area and started gobbling up all what he threw at us, praying, hoping that we get a roof over our heads for the night.
Finally the good guy got us a very spacious room for 1K per day and we were happy to find a comfortable place to rest our sore bums. The next plan was to visit the nearby lake and do some photography. It was 3:50PM by the time we were settled in and the cozy comfort of the bed lured us into staying there for a while.Sauban and I were of the opinion to get a small nap, and when I said lets leave at 4:30, the look on Suvra's face made us change the time by a bit. 4PM sharp (no way in hell we were going at 4 :P ) , we were to head out to the lake and alarm was set for the remaining 8 minutes of sleep and we quietly sat wrapped inside the warm blankets.I woke up to the brain rattling sound of 100 mixies being run together. Just when I was about to open my eyes, the noise stopped. Happy I was, I tried to sleep again, but that horrible noise was resonating through the pillow and in all probability was causing internal vibrations in my head :PI sat up, it was the one sleeping next to me who was snoring like no tomorrow! I wanted to kick that guy and suddenly I realized that all 3 of us had slept and certainly the darkness did not feel like it was 4PM. Looked at the phone, and it said 7:30PM ! Now we were informed that if dinner is to be prepared, the same should be notified before 5 to the hotel guy, woke up and went out to the hotel and was happy that the guy said he will prepare food for us. By the time I reached back all were awake and now we had all the plans postponed to tomorrow.Walked around in the misty surroundings only to find people with local whisky every where. Every damn person had a glass of whisky in his hand and those who did not have them went in and tool a gulp like they gulp down lemon juice! Wow, this will be an eventful night I thought. Quietly had dinner, We had plans to do night photography and wanted to shoot the stars and the sky (Yeah call me mad). Never did we think that in this region it will be difficult to shoot even the person standing in front of us due to the fog and the clouds!Walked around with the tripod and Pandu was with us for safety. Oh, I did not introduce Pandu to you!
Here he is: Pretty much was with us all the time when we were out of the room :)
Here are a few pics from the night.
We were high on spirits
(No, not the spirits that you are thinking of) , we had a nice bon fire,
chatted a lot and had fun. We even bugged the local shop guy to make us omlets
at unholy hour and the poor chap was so sleepy, he put the chopped onions in
his oil container instead of the beating glass. Finally after late night snack,
we hit the bed. Tomorrow was the day when we go out exploring, a day when most
of the pics were clicked.
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