A Weekend Ride to Punalur & Small hilly roads

A normal lazy sunday was turned into a refreshing one - thanks to a ride through the really picturesque MC road and some small pocket roads which depicts typical Kerala roads through the rubber estates. The destination was my cousins home near Pathanapuram.

Let me lead you to my riding experience of this small but picturesque ride.

Started the ride pretty early at 7 in the morning. Decided to take the Kazhakkottam - MC road bypass which was partly under construction. Being a bike means, bad roads does not pose a problem. The ride till Kazhakkoottam was uneventful. Once I turned to the bypass, suddenly I felt as if the visibility was reduced. I thought of it as due to some smoke or may be the it is a cloudy day.

Never did it stuck my mind that it is fog, coz fogs of this magnitude are pretty a rarity in this part of the country. Just see what I saw.


Well the foggy ambience was creating a new look to surroundings and I enjoyed snapping up my bull in the fog.


Spend some good time in this road which was hardly some 10kms away from where I started. But the presence of fog took me by surprise and I could not resist being there for a longer period of time.

After about 30 minutes the thump began to ring my ears, and I was swinging and swaying through the beautiful MC Road which has been neatly relaid. Was so absorbed in the ride that I reached Ayoor soon and turned eastwards towards Anchal. Reached Anchal in about 10minutes and then turned towards Punalur, the place renowned for the historical hanging bridge.

The roads towards Punalur was also very scenic with the presence of trees on both sides adding to the greenery.
Soon a photostop happened.



A royal stature amidst the woods


Just tried out a small idea for an innovative picture. Apart from its excellent riding comfort, this two wheeled wonder is quite photogenic too.

What I see in the rear view mirror is also worth a snap


My main object for todays photo session seemed to be my bullet with the greenery providing an excellent background. Here comes one more which shows of the curves and the chrome.


Turned towards one of the pocket roads from the Punalur - Pathanamthitta route. This pocket road eventhough narrow was something of a dream.

It was well maintained

Thick flora and fauna on both sides.

The kallada river is flowing by it side.

The sound of the flow of river + the sweet thump of bull was with no other disturbances was something very enjoyable.

Watch the roads and the thick greenery on both sides


The river can be seen on one side. Ain't it beautiful


Soon I found that my cousins home is in sight. The place is called Kamukuncherry. A beautiful little place by the side of this hilly road which I was riding through. A distance of 80 kms from home was covered and the time taken seemed to much less than actuals, just like when we watch our favourite movie.

A rest for my bull afer this small workout


Had lunch and tender coconuts & after exchanging pleasentries, hit the road again. The narrow but beautiful roads was once again on display in my windshield.

The famous Punalur paper mills which is now non functional is visible in this stretch.


The remains of this erstwhile highly profitable establishment is a sorry sight.


A windshield view of the road ahead. I cannot explain the feeling of riding through such locations in words.


After thoroughly enjoying the ride through the narrow road through the hills, reached Punalur, and then quickly to Anchal and Ayoor. From Ayoor, it was a butter smooth ride through the butter smooth MC road.

Did not stop much since by this time afternoon sun was shining in full swing. Still I couldn't resist snapping a shot of the "Jadayu Rock" visible from the MC road. There is a small temple on top and one can reach the top by trekking through the rocky path.


In another 30 minutes reached back home after another round of really refreshing ride through some of the picturesque roads around. I am amazed by the fact that, even though the roads which I took was not new to me, each time I travel through these roads in two wheels, it presence a new experience and a new feel.

Part 6 - Rider Mania Day # 2

Continued from Part 5 - Ooty climb & Rider Mania Day 1

Group ride @ 8:30 am, Be ready for this ride around Ooty, that was the motto when we went to sleep. But we had hardly slept for 4 hours when time was 8 am. By the time we managed to find us out of bed, it was 9.
Only crankie went for this ride.
One look through window of our room, and we stayed enjoying for some more time.




Got ready quickly and decided to join the group ride if can find them somewhere around. One more shot in front of the view from the resort.


This sure is a beautiful place.


Got out of the sterling resorts all geared up for the day ahead.


Got into our bulls and raced to the venue along with Raghu in our bulls, only to find that the group riding team was getting back to the main venue, joined them for atleast the last half a kilometer. It was an awesome sight, the whole of Ooty roads came to a standstill to allow this bunch of thumpers pass in unity. Never must have been Ooty being thumped so hard.
Just half a kilometer ride with the gang, but the experience was something to cherish.

At the entry point of the venue, back after the group ride



Once into the resorts parking lot, the madbulls - bullet club of chennai - burst crackers amidst the thump of the madbulls and the whole episode was really madbulletish and we all enjoyed.


Got a call from our rider pals that they are out in the Ooty town for a small trip around and are having breakfast now. Raghu and myself joined them for breakfast.
Parked our bulls near the hotel. The sky color was so pleasing to the eyes even from this point. Just see this snap


The sky upclose with a zoomed up shot from the above frame


After breakfast, decided to have ride around the Ooty town.
Ooty seems to have lost some of its charm owing to the density of buildings and the density of people around. Riding around Ooty is almost similar to riding through the dense traffic of any of the metros aroudn.
Went to the lakeside. This Ooty trademark train is still doing its duty


We all went out for this city ride

From left, crankie, myself, Doc and Raghu

My steed enjoying all the attention he is getting as well as the amount of work being done in the past 2 days and still raring to go.


Went inside the boatclub, and was sad to see this sight.See the vehicle density


Did some shopping from the vendors here and came back to Ooty town. See one snap taken from near the Ooty Bus stand.


It was already noon by this time, Raghu and myself decided to do some more of shopping before returning to the venue.

The sun eventhough shining brightly, did not have any impact owing to the cold climate there.


It was almost 2.30pm when we came back to the venue. The major competition had already started - "the Best Tech Modified bullet". We were stunned by the work done by some hardcore bullet maniacs. The lunch we had was just for a ritual, because we were already satisfied with the mean machines on display

A 1962 model beauty



The alcatraz



Another bull which was a strong contender for the tech mod challenge.


But after a round of questioning by the R&D chief of Castrol India who was the judge for the event, the winner was announced and we were overjoyed when one of the riders who registered on behalf of Silver bullets won the first prize. It was Anoop and the work on his super charged bull was done by Gopu, Who also rode to the event in his bull. Anoop and Gopu were friends of Balan sir who rode with him during his Leh trip last year.

The supercharged bull.



Twinspark, supercharger, monoshocks, reardisc brakes are some of the tech mods in this super charged bull.

There was this small boy who came along with his father for RM 2009, he was one of the attractions owing to the way he started his father's bull and revving it up.



Time was running away like a bullet when we were spending our time with the tech modded bullets and it was 5pm when we decided to have another round of ride together before the final party of the event kicks off.

We decided to have a photo shoot of our bulls on our way



That is Sanal on my bull


The riders for this short trip

Myself, Sanal, Doc, Anjath and twinspark

Our rides



We decided to proceed to "film shooting point", which is near a lake.

Reached the destination at about 5.45pm. There was a steep descent to reach the lake. After a round of discussions on whether to go down or not, finally decided to go down.

Started our stroll downwards between the trees.


Almost reached there


And once near the lake, it was a wonderful scene.


It would have been a great miss, had we decided not to stroll down.


It was getting darker, but could not stop clicking photos of this place where each view is picture perfect.




What if someone does a perfect jump. Sanals does the same here


The reflections of the trees on the still water and its vastness was the reason behind this place being so picturesque.


It was getting real dark by the time I clicked this picture.


It was almost 7pm when we strolled up the small hill and got into our bulls. Went straight to the resort where we stayed. Decided to pack our bags before we go for the dinner and party.

Reached the venue of the party by 8.30pm, It was time to bid goodbye to the new friends which we got during this event. It was about 9.00pm when people in our gang began restless since dinner was not served even then. We had plans for starting the ride early next morning. Even after some amount heated exchanges with the organisers dinner was still not served even by 10.00pm. So we decided to skip this ride back to our stay. Doc wanted to refill his stock of medicines, so he and balan sir went to town to find if they can find some medicines as well as some snacks for quenching our hunger. Rest of the gang rode back to our dwelling place.

Not many shops will be open at this time of the night. So we had to be content with the biscuits and bread which we had in stock. Meanwhile two of us was having some health problems. Doc gave them medicines.

We had a round of discussions on the plans for return ride. Our initial plan was to start the ride at 5.30 - 6.00 in the morning and reach tvm by 8pm or so. Since some of our members were having problem, they decided to sleep a little longer and start a little late. Raghu and myself had some engagements next day. Hence we had to start early. So finally we decided that we will ride in two batches, first batch will start at 6.00 and the second batch will start at 8.00am. After all these discussions on route plans and about the event, we all got into our beds by about 1am. It was quite an eventful day at Ooty with organisers finding it really hard to manage this big a crowd. Still I would say that they did a pretty decent job.

So it was time to dream about the ride tomorrow through the beautiful roads of gudalloor, nadukani and nilambur. Slowly we all switched to sleep mode.

Continued in Part 7 - The return ride


Topic index
Part 1 - The onward journey
Part 2 - Day 1 Continued: Thrissur - Palghat ride
Part 3- Palghat - Coimbatore : Day 2
Part 4- A Humane Gesture
Part 5- Coimbatore - Ooty climb & RiderMania Entry: Day 2
Part 6 - Events @ Rider Mania Day 3
Part 7- Return Ride: Day 4

Part 2 - Day 1 continued.. Thrissur - Palghat

Continued from Part 1 - Ride Preparation & Trivandrum - Thrissur Ride

We were still pondering on what happened to the other group.

Finally got in touch with Crankie, he was nearing Mannuthy, and from him we came to know that Akhi is stranded on the road, Anil was with him. Crankie lost them due to traffic and was way ahead of them when he contacted them. Soon he also reached Mannuthy.

Crankie, Doc and Bala at Mannuthy
We got in touch with Anil. They were trying all their tricks up in their sleeve to bring the bull back to life. Nothing was working up. In between it comes to life, but after some time it will huff and puff and then engine will shut off. Meanwhile we were in search of a workshop and found one in the Mannuthy - Thrissur route. Directed Anil and Akhi to reach that spot.

We decided to have coffee at Indian Coffee House. By about 7.00pm they managed to reach Mannuthy and they proceeded to the workshop. Raghu and Sankar also decided to go to the workshop. Bala, Doc and myself decided to proceed to Palghat where our stay was arranged. One of Bala's friends had arranged the accommodation and we could not make him wait till late in the night.

So there started the next leg of the journey, again it was in two groups. The traffic in this route was really horrible with the narrow highway stretch making it difficult even for the two wheelers to overtake those huge container lorries.

By 8.30 we reached Vadakkancherry. We decided to have a short tea break. Meanwhile we got info from the other group that the problem was solved, and the reason was a faulty fuel stainer. In reserve mode fuel was coming, but in main mode fuel was not coming. A simple thing, but made life uneasy for us.

Relieved on getting this info we proceeded to the Metropolitan club, Palghat. Being on the side of NH 47, it was not difficult to find this place. Our host of the day was waiting for us and he turned out to be a very good company for us that night.

We ordered some food and went into a relaxed mood.
Doc with our host in jovial mood
But mood swing was on the cards when we got a call from the other group that, they have reached Vadakkancherry, but Raghu has gone back to Mannuthy, because he forgot his camera at Indian coffee house. Anil and Akhi were wating there for Raghu to return, while Crankie is proceeding to Palghat.
Within next half hour came the next message that Raghu got his camera back and they all will join us within next 1 hour. Another sigh of relief.

Soon crankie joined and we had fun.

Ordered dinner and waited for the others to join. Soon Raghu, Anil and Akhi joined and we were all soon discussing the happenings of the day starting from the morning ride.

That is the club house where we stayed. Anil and Raghu marching in.
It seemed to be a long long day and we had to face the routine troubles of a long journey. But group riding teaches us the worth of having a good team, rider pals are there at our help and we all got a good lesson of being part of a team, helping each other and making all of us reach the destination.

We thanked our host who was with us till late in the night, we enjoyed his good company and he made us feel at home and the arrangements were exemplary too.

It was nearing 12.30 when we all retired to bed after setting our alarm to 5.00am and our start was planned at 5:30 am, all of us quite excited about RM 2009 which is just hours ahead.

Continued in Part 3 - Day 2: Palghat - Coimbatore

Topic index
Part 1 - The onward journey
Part 2 - Day 1 Continued: Thrissur - Palghat ride
Part 3- Palghat - Coimbatore : Day 2
Part 4- A Humane Gesture
Part 5- Coimbatore - Ooty climb & RiderMania Entry: Day 2
Part 6 - Events @ Rider Mania Day 3
Part 7- Return Ride: Day 4