Since New Year 2009, my family just forgotten about those wonderful long drives, weekend trips. With running loans (car and home both) and speculations of salary freeze looming large on us, it was prudent to settle on a cost cutting mode. On a positive note, this experience taught my family some innovative cost cutting measures which otherwise we ignore. I floated the idea of a trip in the month end & it worked.
Day-1 (27th Feb): Bangalore – Ramanagaram – Chennapatna – Maddur – Mandya – Srirangapatnam - Mysore – Nanjangud – Gundlupet – Bandipur – Masinagudi – Ooty
Although both of us get up at 3AM but our plan of starting at 4AM took a hit as I had some official work to be delivered before the month end.Then after a quick shower, wake up the baby, load the stuffs in the car and start by 4:55AM.
Roads were empty in Bangalore at that hour. Within 15min we pass through MG Road, Richmond Road, Corporation Circle and onto Mysore Road flyover. Once we pass NICE road crossing, car started to hit 100+ kmph speeds. I kept the speed in 80-100kmph range in the dark as you never know Mysore road is famous for throwing surprises.
Within no time we pass the Silk City, Ramanagaram and just before we enter Chennapatna the traffic converged into one lane. The other lane was blocked for some road over-bridge construction. I lost some considerable time crossing it as it was lined up with trucks.
Once passed Chennapatna, the drive was smooth and we saw day break out after Maddur. With day light the speed to increase to 120kmph range and hit a top speed of 135kmph; soon we were passing the Sugar city, Mandya. With almost no traffic at that time, we reach Mysore Ring Road signal at 6:55AM (exactly 2 hours from home). Another 15min we cross the city and stop at Kamat Madhuvan at 7:10AM for tea. I covered about 150km from home in 2hr 15min. Had we not got stuck at Chennapatna we could have done this even faster.
After a small break of 15min at Kamat for tea, we start at 7:35AM. The morning drive on NH212 was wonderful. The stretch from Nanjangud to Gundulpet was smooth and fast.
he only bad stretch: At Gundulpet NH212 curves to the right towards Wayanad and I take the straight road to Bandipur. Initial few kms were patched compared to my last drive in Oct07 but after that it is the same old story. All broken tarmac and we were on first and second gears. I preferred to drive on the adjacent untarred road than on the broken tarmac with full of potholes. It took us 20 odd min to cross 10km.
Inside Bandipur Forest
Road improve after Hangala Village once we enter into Bandipur range. Now we can speed up. Soon we were passing through the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary. Jungle was dry and looked like there was some fire as well. We spotted some deers on the way though. We soon pass the KA-TN border and reach Theppakadu at 9:15AM.
Theppakadu to Masinagudi stretch
I took a left turn onto the small bridge to Masinagudi. Unlike last time, this stretch through the forest till Masinagudi is freshly laid and the drive was smooth. Soon we pass Masinagudi and onto an empty straight stretch. I pushed the pedal and cruising at 80kmph. All of a sudden, a deer came out of no where and jumped a cross the road. Had the deer jumped 10m before, nowhere I could have braked to stop the car and things could have been fatal for both the deer and the car. I realized my mistake and did not cross 60kmph after that till the Foothills of Segur Ghat.
Segur Ghat (36 Hairpin bends): For those who don’t know this is the steepest road in South India. 36Hairpins and about 7-8km you are in Ooty from Nilgiri Foothills. The car started the initial 2 bends with ease in third gear as we had the momentum. We stopped at the 4th hairpin bend (Bison View point) for some water and pics. With lesser load compared to last drive and with better skill I could cover all the bends in second gear except one (where I had to go behind a mini bus in first gear). This road is one way now for outstation vehicles. Hence with lesser vehicles in descent, the climb was comfortable and enjoying.
After crossing Segur ghat, the road meets the Gudalur highway (NH67) to Ooty. The road is re-laid and beautiful to drive (last time it was a nightmare drive of 5km from there to Ooty). We reach Fingerpost at 10:30AM and another diversion to Golf Road for a km to reach the guest house.The GH is a beautiful palatial bungalow built by britishers a century back and we were welcomed by Ratan (the caretaker), his wife and his naughty kid. Ratan is a Nepali and a native of Darjeeling and his wife a Bengali. It was like a home-coming for them as they could speak in Bengali with us.
After refreshing ourselves and decided to watch the T20 match. In between, we had nice homely food at the guest house consisting of roti, rice, dal and chicken curry. I had already planned that I will not go to the crowded ooty lake and Botanical garden which I had already visited in the previous trips.
After an exciting T20 match, we got ready for Dodabetta peak, the highest peak of south india. Dodabetta is the left road at Charring Cross signal, straight one goes to Coonor. The climb from ooty to Dodabetta was awesome and we passed some nice plantations and valleys. This is actually the road to Kotagiri. We need to take a small diversion from this highway into a single lane road to reach Dodabetta peak.
Needless to say, Dodabetta did offer some breathtaking scenaries all around. We clicked some pics there.
Pics at Dodabetta
We did a small shopping at the government shop and slowly and leisurely descended to ooty by 6PM and drove back to the Guest House. End of a wonderful day. Finally we retired to bed by 10PM.
Day-2 (28th Feb): Ooty internal, Train ride to Coonor
We wake up at 6AM after a good night sleep. Wore the woolens as it was very cold outside and stepped out to have a walk in the garden. We enjoyed the beautiful morning and the view of a small valley seen from the bungalow.
The first thing mentioned in the morning newspaper was that the Coonor -Mettupalyam train is cancelled on Saturday on account of forest fire. As the day was planned for the Ooty - Coonor train ride, I got anxious to know whether Ooty – Coonor is operational or not. Atlast it was cancelled.
Ooty Lake
Loco Shed - Coonor
We drive out of Ooty station towards Wax museum which Ratan was mentioning a day before. It is about a km from Charring Cross signal onto Coonor road. IT was decent self maintained museum consisting of life size wax model of Gandhiji, Abdul Kalam, Shivaji, Tagore etc. We also purchased some designer candles at the retail shop inside the compound.
Being a South Indian Hotel, I had an amazing Paneer butter masala there; I can say some of the Punjabi hotels cannot make such paneer dish. Both the Thali consisted of 7-8Katoris. As I was hungry and the food was delicious, finished off everything at a go.
After the sumptuous lunch we head back to the guest house & slept off for a while.Got up leisurely in the evening and drove to Charring Cross for the regular shopping whenever we are in the hills. We bought some Honey, Cashewnut, spices, Chocolates etc and we roam around there for a while and start back from Charring Cross at 7:30PM.
We had a homely and hot dinner served with roti, rice, sambar, curry, omlettes etc. It was indeed very sumptuous. We again retire to bed by 10PM. The day folded very well.
Day-3 (1st Mar): Ooty – PykaraLake - Gudalur – Madhumalai – Bandipur – Mysore – Bangalore
Alarm rings at 6AM. In another couple of hours we have leave this wonderful place. The trip was pretty good so far and we enjoyed every moment of it.
we were by 8:30AM. We head directly to the dining hall and have nice hot idlies with chutney. loading the car, we finally move out of the bungalow at 9:30AM.
The plan was to cover the various view points along the Gudalur route. I took left turn on Golf Road which meets NH67 at HPF. Golf Road itself was very scenic. Another 7-8km from there we reach pine forest. Park the car there and move down a little bit. We did not go all the way to the lake, spent some nice time there. By now we were convinced that the road via Gudalur was indeed very beautiful. Every turn was scenic. You feel like stopping at every corner and click pics. We again stopped at Kamaraj Sagar Dam for pics. Add to all of this, Gudalur road which was not motorable a year back is an excellent ghat road now. We could cover the distances fast and enjoy the scenic beauty too.
Golf Road
Our next stop was a hill (I think it is called shooting point). When you climb that hill, you can see a beautiful valley at the other side. Many renowned films were shot there. Another round of pics we move again. The scenic beauty was just getting better.
Pykara Boat Ride: Within no time we were reached Pykara. We took the diversion from the highway to Pykara boat house. On reaching the spot I was amazed such a beautiful and huge lake, infact it is the reservoir of the dam and about 95ft deep and surrounded by all kind of vegetation right from tall trees to bushes. The scenic beauty was breathtaking. We had to take the boat ride now. Luckily we were approached by a 6 member family who booked a 8 seater boat and waiting for 2 more person. We happily joined them as 8-10seater rides were longer and to far off distance. The boat ride was best of the day. It was 11:15AM and very sunny day but the breeze was so chilly that at times we were thinking that we should have got the jackets from the car. It was an amazing experience.
Pykara Dam
Pykara Lake
Some pics from Boat @Pykara Lake
After a wonderful boat ride, we started our return journey from Pykara Boat house at 11:45AM. The road has lots of curves so you cannot do high speeds. I was doing like 5th gear/50kmph. I felt Masinagudi route not only shortest but also fastest as you can reach ooty very fast. But nothing beats the scenic beauty of Gudalur route.
Some pics Gudalur route
Spotted 3 elephants at Madhumalai Forest
Within an hour we reach Madhumalai forest range. It was so hot that I had to put AC in full blast inside the forest. We were passing Pugmark Restaurant at Bandipur at 1PM
Road after Gundlupet was empty and I could 100+ speeds and covered the distance faster. Luckily the kid woke up at Nanjangud. By that time I was also hungry now, I finally halted at Kamat Madhuvan for lunch at 2:45PM.
After a leisure lunch and the regular nappy changing session we finally left Kamat at 3:45PM. Crossed through Mysore and onto SH17 in another 15min. We could good speeds except inside the towns till we reach Ramanagaram at 5:30PM. After that it was regular Sunday traffic on Mysore all heading towards Bangalore. Last 50km to home took us almost 1.5 hours and finally reached out apartment at 7PM.
End a wonderful journey to the Nilgiris.
Total distance travelled: 628kms (home to home)
Signing off
Vijay
