BHPian masterChief007 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:Ride to Tranquebar – Rameswaram – Ponmudi : 1900 km and 19000 km odometerThis ride was good and bad both. As pure motorcycling goes this ride was as good as any, but as a travel/tourism goes this was not too memorable one. Nevertheless I enjoyed the whole trip, but a major part of any of my trips is the food I eat of that place, which was a thorough disaster in this trip Having got a pinched finger on my recent bronze academy, I started the ride with an already painful finger, a tennis elbow, knee bursitis and of course managed to pick up cough and cold too before my trip. I would have postpond this trip but all my accomodations in TTDC and KTDC were pre booked and were in the zero refund window. Tried my best to be a goodboy and did salt gargles and cough syruped my throat but the cough never went away. Though gladly the fever and associated physical discomfort was over. Any Bengalurean worth his salt must try to find alternate routes to escape the morning exodus from the city, and I have chalked it out finally !! The following map is of the whole trip, but to exit I used : Hoskote – Malur – Masti – Shoolagiri. This helped me bypass the lumbering truck pile ups near Hosur – Dharmapuri stretch. And I was too proud of myself on escaping the city with my sanity intact. And as the say, pride comes before the fall. Rode merrily along the NH44 and from krishnagiri diverted to the Thiruvanmalai road which was scenic with green cover. Had my fill of Muruan Idlis before Krishnagiri and was feeling smug in my Riese Pine air jacket which is a really good upgrade in heat management and weight from the Rynox Stealth Evo momo-maker. Reached Thirukadeyur (famous for 25th or 50th Anniversary re-marriages, a sort of refresher marriage for old couples !!) in afternoon and headed for lunch a typical south indian meals and headed off to the much overhyped Danish fort. Well this was a downer for me, sorry for putting it bluntly. First of all most of the areas are no-go with green scaffolding used for renovation, and the museum is ok. One can visit the fort for the beach, but then again I guess the neemrana bungalow and just riding in the danish town are much better options. And the suddenly got drenched in heavy downpour in evening with thunderstorm. I turned tail and ran off to the hotel as I was afraid of getting the fever back on the first day. At night the dinner options didn’t have chettinad cuisine so I decided to skip th dinner as don’t want to fill myself with junk calories. My struggles with food had already started, I just didn’t know then. Also at night a squadron of mosquitoes from the nearby flooded areas made my life hell. It was either the thunder or malaria I had to choose between. The TTDC Therukadiyur: 2.5/5 accomodation, 3/5 food Checked the imd satellite imagery and saw all the coastal Tamil Nadu marked orange, and was seriously thinking of staying put in the hotel and skip the ride to rameswaram. But I guess Lord Ram really wanted to see me so at night the clouds showed movement to north, so I decided to head to the next stop and that would be: TTDC Rameswaram Aalayam hotel : 4/5 accomodation, 2/5 food However breakfast in Thirukadiyur was good, good that I hogged it up here as my food troubles will haunt me throughout this trip. Started my ride purely on the ECR road and this is a stress free scenic ride, but wait stress free only till I noticed the handle wobble and saw that the rear tyre is flat again !! I guess the valve replaced in Chandigarh had given up again. So fixed a new valve but my tyre inflator gave up now. Somehow rode the flat bike to a petrol bunk and filled up with air which held up. At the pamban bridge made a customary click of the vibrant beach. I had already visited this in my Aspire with mom in tow earlier. Checked into the huge and very affordable TTDC Alayam hotel. Rooms are very nice with ample parking. However the food was equally horrible. The lunch time was over so I managed it as I was tired struggling with the flat already so went in for a quick shower and sleep. Decided to visit Dhanushkodi after breakfast next day as the weather was hot and humid here. At night my food ordeal didn’t end, again I tried my luck with porotta and some curry, which was not available but only item present was dosa and some fried rice. I ate dosa and paneer fried rice for dinner and were marginally edible with chilli and tomato sauce. Early morning I had my breakfast as soon as it opened and headed for Dhanushkodi. The ride was superb and there was mental peace wherever I stopped. Except at the Arichal Munai – the tip of Dhanushkodi where it was teeming with people, all other places were less crowded and I got the best of my snaps there. Arichal Munai: Just loved how peacefully this old couple was enjoying: The Adv posing: Returned back to the hotel, geared up and started my ride to Courtallam. First day I stayed in Courtallam as I had calculated that I wouldn’t have reached Ponmudi anyways before the Gates are closed by forest department, didn’t visit the courtallam falls and I have been there earlier. The food option for dinner was again dosa here so skipped that too. Ride to Courtallam again consisted of riding through the ECR which was blissful and then through state highways through scenic roads. Next day morning had the breakfast which was nice and filling. Pongal was really good. TTDC Courtallam : 3/5 accomodation 2/5 food. Today was the best riding day. Started in morning with chain lube and cleaning, last night there was heavy rain and thunder so it was hot and humid in morning. Got to some speed to get some air circulated, the road from Thenmala to Brimore and Ponmudi is awesome, so i rode liesurely through these twisties at 40-60 kmph. There is an entry fee of 55/- (40/- per person, 15/- per two wheeler). There is a waterfall where the slip was checked and the official was amused that I didn’t stop for the waterfall and rode straight up to the Brimore estate. The Brimore estate is nothing but I guess a logging camp. However the road up there is narrow and overgrown with foliage and it was an interesting ride up there. Enjoyed every bit of it and then made my way down for getting to Ponmudi again. Courtallam to Ponmudi: Towards Braemore: Towards Ponmudi: In between an Idea cropped up to visit the Bonacaud haunted house, but gave it up thinking that I will better visit the Ponmudi viewpoint today and start off for Bengaluru at 6 am next day, as that is close to 700 km. Thus I went in for checkin at KTDC golden peak. This is a wonderful property and with the worst possible restaurant in my whole trip. KTDC Golden Peak: 5/5 accomodation, 0.5/5 food. First of all, the lunch was supposed to be only biriyani, no kerala meals nothing. Ordered egg biriyani and got ghee rice with boiled egg and some sort of curry masala paste. I don’t know if you don’t cook the rice and ingredients together how it qualifies as a biriyani, and that too luke warm. Since I was hungry I didn’t protest. After that headed for the Ponmudi view point, it has ample parking. But one must be aware of it’s timings whicha re from 8am to 4/5 pm. one has to return before 5 pm. Views were good but having been to so many viewpoints there was no wow factor for me. View from the restaurant, and only thing good about the restaurant: Ponmudi viewpoint: However enjoyed my time with my thoughts interrupted by loud noise from visitors chattering. Returned back to room and had 3 cups of tea and read a fiction novel. At night my food ordeal didn’t finish, as the buffet was bad. The supposed “chicken thoran” the only possible kerala cuisine item was as if the chiken was beaten by Bheema with his mace !! And all the pieces were junk piece, bony with no flesh. I am not sure that how Thoran is made. Also there was no red-rice, a blasphemy on kerala cuisine. That restaurant was the worst one in my whole trip. Told the reception to settle my bill and informed them of my early checkout. Next day started off at 6 am and the ride through the early morning desolate jungle was awesome. Reached home by 7.30 pm with a painful saddle sore and angry tummy, which was even let down by an A2B near Dharmapuri which was not serving dosa but mini meals which I didn’t quite like. When I stopped at home realised my ears were ringing due to some shrill loose nut clatter in the bike which gotten loose maybe in some bike fall. So I came home and health be damned ordered some swiggy for some gastronomical delight finally !!! Going down the ponmudi hills: Highway before Dindigul: Trip Stats: Total: 1930 km Avg: 29 kmpl Longest day: 694 km, ~12.5 hours Odometer: 19000 km (7 months !!) Tips: TTDC and KTDC hotels, accomodations are okay/good but food one must eat before landing there. Else suffer like the way I did in this trip !! More so because I was controlling my food so that I can eat the chettinad and kerala cuisine on my trip with my heart’s content !! Overall: Excellent ride, Rameswaram was a delight, Ponmudi ghats were excellent Check outBHPian commentsfor more insights and information.
