The entire reason for this elaborate road trip plan began when a meeting in Mysore popped up on my calendar. As there are no direct flight from COK to MYQ the idea for a road trip came to life, and as usual with any family trip going to Mysore just for the meeting would be a Big No No . And hence began the 5 day meeting/mini vacay plan.
For the trip I decided to take our new 2023 Q7 with the goal of doing a bit of off-roading in the Nilgiris on our return journey.
We started the journey from Cochin, Kerala at about 5am to omit the morning traffic and crossed Thrissur/ Mannuthy at 5:50 and I must say the scenery at dawn along this stretch (Mannuthy-Kuthiran) was absolutely stunning, with the small hills along the NH covered in fog and the sky in a bluish orange. Melodies pumping through the 3D Bang and Olufsen 23 speaker system enhancing the serenity further. Crossed the Kerala border at 7:30ish. We’d decided to take the Sathyamangalam-Dimbam Ghat road aka Forests once under Veerapan’s control. To get there the fastest option is to cross the Coimbatore bypass and go further about 13 km and take the left to Annur (wide smooth roads). From there I followed Google Maps to reach the ghats and it was smooth sailing. The ghat section is one of the steepest covering 27 hairpins in 14km, roads are butter smooth and fairly wide but a lot of blind corners hence overtaking is fairly limited and risky. Once you reach the summit there’s mini town with 2-3 shops and not so hygienic restaurants. The roads down the other end are smooth and flowing but have speed breakers every km or so to avoid speeding. We managed to see Peacocks, Deers and Wild Boars, unfortunately no tigers were seen at the infamous Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve. These speedbreaker filled roads do go on for about 25km. Once you exit the reserve the roads widen to fairly smooth 2 lane highway with a tad bit of traffic (probably just morning rush hour) and it’s one shot to Mysore via Chamarajanagar and Nanjangud. A few stretches here are being developed probably to 4 lane highways. The Q7 absolutely shined on these roads maintaining triple digit speeds meant just feathering the throttle and the undulations or patchworks on the roads were gobbled up with ease, cocooning us not making even the slightest judder or noise. We reached the Radisson Blu Plaza Mysore at about 11:30 and checked in. This was my 2nd time in Mysore the last being about 13 years back. The city is beautiful with wide roads (hence barely any traffic) and a lot of greenery unlike most other Indian cities nowadays.
After attending the meeting I decided to visit the Mysore palace which was made super easy as a friend was the Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Palace operations. The palace is vast and beautiful, the beauty and scale cannot be described in words. We sat for the laser show in the evening which was pretty crowded but well managed.
The next day was spend going around Mysore and exploring a few food joints that were recommended online. Pro Tip- Ask the locals and don’t trust these bullshit blogs/reviews. Evening we went to Chamundi Hill lookout view point a hill right on the edge of Mysore city and right next the hotel. It was pleasant drive with shops and telescopes for viewing at the top and pretty popular temple at the peak. Retired to the hotel early for an evening drink at the Lounge facing the golf course and Chamundi Hills.
The next day post breakfast at around 12 we left for Ooty. The route is straightforward via Nanjangud-Gundlupete-Bandipur-Masinagudi. Upon entering the Forest Reserves there are checkpoints with rules clearly stated. It’s the basics- no littering, drinking alcohol, stopping or stepping out of the car, speeding or honking. There’s a forest rest stop halfway along this route to take a break and use the restrooms available (not very clean unsurprisingly). The reason they insist on not stopping anywhere else is because there is a high chance of attack from wild animals hiding in the bushes along the road, there have been a few including tiger and leapord attacks. The drive is slow but beautiful and serene and definitely worth going once atleast if u can. At the Tamilnadu checkpost they check cars at random, ensure your not carrying plastic bottles and liquor as the Nilgiris is a plastic free zone and the cops will harass you for the liquor(asking you to buy it from the TASMAC shops in Ooty and not bring your own) especially if your car is registered to another state.
Do not forget to take a left from Theppakadu as u miss it with the Navigation not working as there is a lack of network. If you miss the left your drive becomes over an hour longer but the roads in that route are much easier to tackle. Reached Ooty at 3 at had great lunch at Junior Kuppanna, food here is great compared to their other branches (also could be because we were starving). Checked into Savoy and relaxed for a bit, enjoying the chilly weather and warm hospitality as always. Had a great dinner at Shinkows Ooty which is an age old institution serving up great Chinese food and tradition for us to visit every time we are in Ooty.
The next day we decided to embark on a bit of softroading finding these places as we go. The Q7 tackled it much easier than I’d imagined and the Quattro ensured the wheels never even slipped once. Send it up a steep hill and all I needed to do was put in off-road mode and the Air Suspension rose and the car did the rest of the work, sending power to the right wheels and just climbing up not breaking a sweat like a mountain goat. The V6 with its low end torque sure helps. Before getting off the main road my dad was telling me that we would be better off in a Defender if we were gonna do this but after the climbing up the hill he change his statement and said this might be the best of both worlds, great performance on the road munching miles and bit a off offroadability.
The next day we were on our way back to Cochin and stopped a Moody's chocolate shop in Kotagiri. They have the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had and serve great quality donuts and other bakery products for you pick up on your way back home. The drive via Kotagiri as always is serene amd smooth and a great drivers road if not for the entire family in the car, hence driving super sedately along the ghats. Once down it’s a 3hr stint back home putting the V6 to good use maintaining a good avg speed. I was maintaining 8kmpl avg throughout the trip which is good considering the ghat roads and hill climb.