Demystifying Ooty!!!!!!

Sometimes, the destination is not important....how you reach it is...the weekend of November 27 and 28 was one such moment in my life. A hectic college life practically drains all the juice out of you and my college was no exception. I was longing to do a road trip to redeem myself and this weekend seemed perfect . With exams just getting over, I had some breathing space and decided for some adventurous ride. I remembered the unconventional road to Ooty from Coimbatore via Kerala which H.V.Kumar sir had told me a few months back and decided to take that on this time. A few hours in the Internet and with some valuable inputs from him, I arrived at a route plan.So, me and three of my other friends Jose, Vignesh and Punith Bhaiya joined hands in two very capable bikes Apache RTR and Pulsar 220. The original plan was to start early on saturday morning, visit Silent Valley in Kerala, then ride to Ooty via Manjoor. But as always,things never go according to plan. I had given my bike for service @ Castrol Bike Point near Brookesfield Mall, Coimbatore and they made sure that we never start the trip as planned and gave back my bike only @ 1 pm, Saturday. Half the day was lost but not our hopes. The plan was revised and promptly the visit to Silent valley was dropped. The route we finally decided was Coimbatore- Anaikatti- Agali-Manjoor-Ooty. We started towards Anaikatti by 1.30 noon with me riding my Apache with Vignesh as my pillion and Jose on his Pulsar with Bhaiya as his companion. We crossed Anaikatti and entered Kerala border;stopped at a place called Kottathara to enjoy some tea and snacks as none of us had had our lunch. A casual enquiry with a local jeep driver revealed that there was a road to Manjoor from Kottathara itself and hence we need not go till Agali to catch that road. We thanked him for the route but immediately started cursing him. The road was very narrow and winding and poorly surfaced. There was this moment when Jose's bike tried to off-road itself into a roadside house around a bend and the workers there looked petrified when they saw a black Pulsar moving menacingly towards them but luckily the disc brakes proved adequate enough. The route was scenic though and we were able to spot a quiet river on the way. Again we had to cross the border into TN again and the last 3-4 kms in Kerala was dead worst to say the least with a few hair-pin bends but our bikes chewed them away effortlessly. We had to pay 20 Rs. for each of the bike @ TN Forest Checkpost and the officer there told us to be wary of the route as it crossed through elephants and leopards zone!!!! Such a motivating speech!!!!Here, the Kottathara road joined the road from Karamadai and the roads became better once we switched borders. Praying to our family deities, we resumed the ride and the road was one of the best mountain roads I have done with virtually no traffic whatsoever for almost 30 kms till Manjoor and we encountered only two vehicles in the entire stretch. There were 43 hair pin bends on this route till Manjoor and the views were terrific. Promptly, we stopped at many places and snapped some pics. There was another check-post before Manjoor and the Police there noted our identities before letting us through. Here in Manjoor we stopped at the EB Office (PowerHouse 1) to get permission for our planned visit to Upper Bhavani. It was already past 5.15 pm and we half expected the office to be closed. Luckily we found some people coming out from the office and they warned us not to go to Upper Bhavani(UB) as herds of elephants were spotted on the route only a few days back and also there would be virtually no help out there, no shops, no inhabitation,no mobile towers. Also, since the next day was sunday, there would be no EB officials @UB office and the entry to the dam would be closed. He also told us to try the route at our own risk. Again,such a motivating speech!!!The time was already 6 pm and hence we decided to climb to Ooty which was still 35 kms away and retire for the night. It became dark in no time and we rode carefully uphill as there was some traffic heading down with their headlights blazing full glare. To add to our misery, it started drizzling slightly and the road become completely fogged. The last 20 kms of the day proved to be very tiring as it was damn cold to ride in that weather but we thoroughly enjoyed it. We were longing for something like that and were completely satisfied. We reached Ooty by 8.30 pm ahd had our dinner at a north Indian restaurant. This trip of us was a seriously budget trip and hence we decided to stay at the cheapest hotel possible. We enquired at a hotel Durga and found the rate to be 1300 Rs for 4 pax+taxes. Not within our budget.so we strolled further and found a building which could be barely called a Hotel. The rate was 500 rs. for 4 pax and we agreed immediately. The room was quite cosy for the amount we paid.A brief walk around Ooty and we saw a Mercedes SLS AMG with a WB registration parked near to our place of stay!!!! After a refreshing cup of coffee, we retired back to our beds. The next day was going to be a hell of a challenge and we didnt know that....(to be continued)