With tons of memories, ride experience of winding roads and uncomfortable sore bum, we were proud of ourselves on completing the trip .
BHPian happymover recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
What do most of the 40+ years old bored men with motorcycles desire to do ?
Well, there are hardly many things. Right ?
We were joined by a bit younger, bit more adventurous friend, Sunil who owns Interceptor 650. True to his entrepreneurial instincts, Sunil was adamant that we will take lesser known routes and will not stick to just highways. He suggested that we take a route which cuts through – Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Aniamalai Tiger reserve, briefly touching Munnar and then reaching our destination Meghamalai, which also happens to be a tiger reserve. Yours truly was thrilled with this proposition with a little bit of apprehension. On the other hand, Bhaskar, who has a conservative approach in doing things, was in a denial mode over this “risky” route.
Precursor Trip – Dandiganahalli Dam
To conclude on the plan we thought of meeting over a small ride. Also, since this was our first trip together, a small precursor trip would help to understand our riding dynamics as well. So one fine Sunday morning, 3 of us visited “Dandiganahalli Dam”.
Myself, Sunil & Bhaskar
2 Bikes ride to Meghamalai
We finalized that we will complete this trip in 3 days, between Sep 14th – 16th and booked the stays for 2 nights. Our plan was to do a round-trip, rather than going & coming back on the same route, which we partly regretted post trip because of the road conditions at certain parts. One week before the trip, Sunil opted out sighting work commitments. This was the first time for Bhaskar to ride for so long and so far in a given day, while I have done Bangalore-Goa round trip twice. Needless to say both of us were thrilled for this ride and were looking forward to it.
Following is the actual timeline of the trip.
Day 1, Sep 14th – Bengaluru to Munnar Outskirts (500 KMs):-
First Leg => Bengaluru -> Kanakapura -> Malavalli -> Chamarajanagara (200 Kms, 6:30am to 10am)
Second Leg => Chamarajanagara -> Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve -> Palladam -> Udumalaipettai (190 Kms, 11am to 3:30pm )
Third Leg => Udumalaipettai – Anaimalai Tiger Reserve – Marayoor (50 Kms, 4:30pm to 6:15pm)
Fourth Leg => Marayoor -> Munnar -> The Hosteller Munnar (60 Kms, 6:45pm to 8:30pm )
Stay: The Hosteller, Munnar
Just before Chamarajanagara
We started ride from Hebbala, Bengaluru at 6:45 am and experienced weekend morning traffic till we reached kanakapura via outer ring road.
After riding for 2 hours(covering 100 Kms), we took a tea break at Halagur. Reached Chamarajanagar at around 10 am and stopped at a decently looking hotel near bus stand. The breakfast was below average. In the hindsight, we should have had breakfast before tea break itself where there were many good restaurants on the way. We filled our bikes and started second leg for the day which turned out to be a difficult one. The road was above average with potholes here and there, but we enjoyed scenic nature till Sathyamangalam forest.
Yours truly, Sathyamangalam forest in the backdrop
Bhaskar
From here we started to descend towards TN. Once we entered TN road quality improved. But, since we were crossing lot of villages and small towns, there was lot of traffic and too many speed breakers. This coupled with heat literally tired us. While Bhaskar had nothing to complain with his bike, my bum was paining, thanks to the “touring” seat on my GT650. We took a hydration break at around 1:30pm and reached Udumalaipettai at around 3:30pm and searched for a decent place to have lunch. We had a good lunch at “Hotel Sri”, Udumalaipettai.
Simple Anna-Sambar meal with some dal, veggies and egg burji .
After lunch we started third leg at around 4:30pm and reached Anaimalai Tiger Reserve Check post, entering Kerala. Just before this, I had refilled my GT650. We parked our bikes and bought entrance tickets. The guards were friendly and informed us the gate timings though we did not enquire. We started to ascend the twisty ghat road which was average with considerable traffic. I enjoyed riding on this scenic road.
Anaimalai Forest
Anaimalai ghat Road
We reached Maryoor at around 6:45pm and decided to take Tea break for the evening. Needless to say we were already tired wanting to crash asap. It was getting dark and we started towards Munnar. Since it was dark and had started to drizzle we missed the scenic views of tea plantations enroute. We reached Munnar at around 7:45pm but were surprised to learn that our stay was 20 Kms further of Munnar towards Poppara. It was lapse on my part in not verifying the exact location while booking. Also, during our tea break at Marayoor, the network was bad, hence could not turn on the google maps. Anyways, we had to ride ahead of Munnar.
At 8:30pm, we finally made it safely to our destination of the day, parked our bikes, checked in and had a good dinner. The stay had a good vibe filled with mostly youngsters, chilling out. The cafetaria wall is filled with British era images of Munnar tea estates with each picture having its own interesting story to read. Post dinner we played TT with other groups and retired to our room later. We recollected our day since the morning and felt accomplished though we were tired.
The highlight about the whole day was riding the last 20 Kms on Munnar-Poppara road which has lot of curves and is excellently paved. Though it was dark, I had fun on this road in a safer manner .
Day 2, Sep 15th – Munnar Outskirts to Meghamalai (125 KMs):-
First Leg => Munnar -> Poppara (Hotel Taj) (10 Kms, 10am to 10:30am)
Second Leg => Poppara (Hotel Taj) -> Theni -> Chinnamanur (70 Kms, 11am to 12:30pm)
Third Leg => Chinnamanur -> Meghamalai (45 Kms, 12:45pm to 2pm)
Stay: Sandriver Cottage, Meghamalai
Riding in Day 2 was all about Twisty, curvy ghat roads. This was my favourite part of the trip where I was able to enjoy GT650 fully. After checkout, we started at around 10am towards poppara on this excellant road. I can say riding on this road is the highlight of the entire trip. The road is almost the same till we reach TN border going towards Theni. We had a good breakfast(Egg-Curry and appam) in Hotel Taj enroute just before Poppara and later crossed border to enter TN.
Morning view of Munnar landscape from Balcony
Parking
Checkout and ready to ride towards Meghamalai
Highlight of the Trip – Munnar to Poppara stretch
We had a tea break and fuel refill for GT650 at chinnamannur before entering Meghamalai ghat. At the Meghamalai checkpost, We signed entry book and were handed over a chit which we are suppose to return next day while coming back. After climbing for certain distance, we started to witness scenic beauty which became breathtaking once we reached top. The road is very good and we reached our stay at around 2pm.
Sandriver, Meghamalai
Since I am not finding words to describe the beauty of the place, I am posting the pictures.
We had a sumptuous lunch filling our tummies with Biryani and took rest for a while. At around 4pm we went for sight-seeing, along with 2 friendly housekeepers Rajkumar & Dibu. We visited view-point did light off-roading for some photography.
Venniar Tea Factory
Viewpoint
After returning to guesthouse, recollected the day’s highlights having a delicious dinner.
Day 3, Sep 16th – Meghamalai to Bengaluru (530 KMs):-
First Leg => Meghamalai -> Chinnamanur -> Theni -> Dindigul (140 Kms, 11am to 2pm, 3 Hrs)
Second Leg => Dindigul -> Karur -> Salem (Hotel ABD) (190 Kms, 2:30pm to 5pm, 2.5 Hrs)
Third Leg => Salem (Hotel ABD) -> Dharmapuri -> Krishnagiri -> Hosur (150 Kms, 5:45pm to 8:15 pm, 2.5 Hrs)
Fourth Leg => Hosur -> Bengaluru (50 Kms, 8:45pm to 10pm, 1.25 Hrs)
We started our day with a morning walk towards a nearby lake. Did one more round of photography since today was our final day of the trip.
Spotted pack of wild dogs devouring a deer.
Returned to guesthouse, got ready and had heavy and tasty breakfast. 
Bid good bye to our housekeepers and started back home at around 11am.
Today was a boring day to ride since it was all plains once we descended Meghamalai ghat. Reached Dindigul at around 2pm and joined NH44. We decided to skip lunch and just hydrated ourselves in the breaks. I refilled GT650 for the last time. Past salem we had some light evening tiffin of button idlis and Filter coffee at ABD.
Finally after taking one more tea break at hosur, we reached our respective homes at around 10 pm.
With tons of memories, ride experience of winding roads and uncomfortable sore bum, we were proud of ourselves on completing the trip .
Thanks for reading !!
Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.
