Freedom Ride - Bulleting fun

Silver bullets - The bullet riding club of which I am a member had decided to do a ride entitled "Freedom Ride" on August 15th - the independance day of our mother country.But due to some reason the ride did not happen as planned. Instead it got postponed and eventually it happened on 2nd Oct 2007 - the birthday of Father of our nation.

Destination - almost unplanned
Direction - towards nagercoil and get back to kerala through thenkasi.

Only 3 riders turned up, Anil, Raghu and myself. 2 machismos and a std 350. The combination thump of the AVL's with goldie and the crisp thump of std 350 is sure to make our adrenalin pump.
As usual the ride again started on schedule. Met up at a place near karamana in the Tvm - kanyakumari NH.
Soon the NH from Trivandrum to Kanyakumari was blessed with the thump of three musketeers.
Stopped at Marthandom for an early breakfast.
The roads were slowly opening up as was the sun. The nagercoil - thirunelveli stretch starts with the scene of big windmills doing there duty. Stopped near a windmill for a photoshoot.

Now its time to move on. The Ghats towards the eastern side of Kerala was now visible on our back. The nagercoil route is the only stretch from Kerala where we can cross into another state without touching a high range.
Our plan was to ride on through the straight roads of tamil nadu plains till some more time, then turn left towards ambasamudram. The geographical diversity of our country starts to become evident within a travel of just 80 to 90 kilometers. What was lush greenery and hilly terrain in Kerala made way to plains with almost no greenery at all. Advantage of plains is that you will get dead straight roads and all you can do is rip, rip and more rip.

That is Anil on my rear view mirror.

After about 30 - 40 kms in this route stopped to just check whether the turn towards the left which we saw will lead to Ambasamudram. Got the nod from a native of the place and off we go from the highway.

Be it highway or be it any of the local roads, the roads are just awesome. Now we were again facing some hills on our front. That means we are on course. The site of such straight roads with the hill far far away is something to be witnessed to get a feel of it.
In between stopped for a photoshoot near a tree - a rarity in this region. Once we stopped we understood how cruel sun can be in such places.
With our riding jackets on, we were sweating like anything. Got into the bulls as fast as we can and proceeded with the journey.
All group riding rules were abided with and literally zero traffic and straight roads means our average speeds were on the high side with minimal ripping.
Being the tail, I enjoyed the formation of fellow riders ahead. There was some kind of rhythm in the way the bull was ridden. The way they take curves in synchronous action was similar to any synchronous dance forms.
Different kinds of flora and founa was on display even though it is a rarity here.
After some time we found ourselves climbing a ghat sort of area. The papanasam falls were approaching. Got some doubt on the direction. But no one to ask for. So settled the matter after a round of discussions.

Decided to proceed towards left

Had to park the bull at the entrance and do a little bit trekking to reach the top. But we did not enjoy the trekking much. We were at home riding a bull rather than walking up a mountain.
By this time it was almost 2pm and our stomachs were giving signals for a refuel.But where to find hotel.
Had to travel for another one hour in the thenkasi route before we could locate this hotel. The food was real tasty with mutton dish there speciality.
By 3.30 pm we finished our lunch and began to search for a place for a power nap. Soon found a bus shelter and the nap lasted just 30 minutes.
Off we go towards Kerala. The approach to kerala was being signalled by the increase in greenery.
The ghats were very nearby. If it was scorching sun till this time, we could see the ghats engulfed by thick dense clouds. We climbed up and reached the check post.

The roads were getting worse. Another land mark - a bridge of the kollam - chenkotta metre gauge rail track was on this way.
It was getting more and more darker and slight drizzling also started.
We reached Kulathupuzha in another hour or so and soon hit the MC road towards thiruvananthapuram.
Reached back to where we started by about 7.30pm after covering a distance of 380 kms of pure bulletting fun.
If one asks what was the purpose of our journey - It is simply for - bulletting.