So after the rather longish outing at the farm we moved over to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. The place was empty and we were the only ones there. Food was good but they took their own sweet time to serve. Finally after wasting quite a lot of time we managed to make our move towards Palakkad.
Since we lost a lot of time already, next stop was decided for lunch. Some 20 odd mins into the tolled highway inside KL we get to know that it was just the start! Beautiful 4 laned tolled highway with traffic signals almost every 5 kms and full of civilization either sides. You hardly get open highway to stretch your legs and to make things worse were the sophisticated speed guns! Oh and not to forget the signals had very long red timings even for city standards. I could sense NHAI saying "Welcome to Kerala".
Traffic was continuously heavy and was only building up as we progressed.
Next stop was for lunch at Angamali. Again, good food with slow service meant we again lost couple of hours. Plus atm visits etc delayed us further.
We then asked Hari and Dhans to start early as they were to buy some fish for dinner at a market near Thodupuzha. We then start a good 1 hr later than them and by the time we reach Thodupuzha, they were done with the fish shopping and we were all set to hit the ghats.
We then see a diversion saying Vagamon. We all take right there and it was a very narrow road. There was hardly any space for 1 car and was hoping no vehicles come down. It wasn't just narrow, but pretty steep. Aravindh was driving my car and I kept on telling that this definitely isn't the route I took when I went to Vagamon few yrs back for the Mahindra great escape.
We continue on the same road and there were few cars coming down and they did make way for us. But the real pain was the numerous impatient autos. At one point we had to pull over and let them pass to drive peacefully. Few minutes into this road I was wondering should we turn back and take the proper road, this was not only very narrow and steep but deserted and we were off the mobile network too.
But then when we hit a corner, the sight of a might waterfall welcomed us and we thought that was well worth the drive in that stretch.
Now the roads were slightly wider and after a nice break at the waterfall we set off. Natural light was reducing and we push off from there. Naveen didn't stop and hence was ahead of us.
The route uphill was simply fantastic. The landscape were nothing I've seen before and now I was thanking our good stars for having taken this route instead of the usual one. We later came to know that this was a shorter route and hence steeper too!
Some random shots en-route:
Those 25odd kms were nothing short of refreshing and we reached the hilltop to witness the sun set. If we had done the uphill after sunset we would have missed those lovely landscapes. We wanted to stop at many more spots, but didn't do so due to time and also that Naveen was ahead and waiting for us.
Upon reaching the top, we pulled over to reach to the guy who helped in booking. Since there was no mobile coverage, we reached to the only shop there and the shopkeeper helped us with his mobile.
Our guy was waiting in the town for us, but little did we know that we were in the opposite direction some 15odd kms apart. To avoid confusion, we ask him to wait in the town and decide to go there ourselves.
By this time Dhans who didn't stop had reached Naveen and they both set off towards to place of stay with GPS for help. All this we were able to know after some frantic calls in the very feeble mobile network that we got.
So with all the family folks gone off, 3 cars with the stags set off towards the town and en route we see a diversion marked to Pilgrims Retreat. But we proceeded further towards the town and some 2 kms later visibility was near zero. It was cold dark and super misty! We pull over there and got out to experience the mist spread. The fog encountered can't be explained by words!
Now we get mobile coverage and reach out to out guy and explain our location and asked him if he can come back to us. He agreed and it was decided that we wait for him at the diversion which would take him close to 30 mins.
So we get there and manage to park the 3 cars safely (narrow roads with poor visibility). There was a tea shop and we head there and grabbed some tea. The chilly evening combined with tea and with absolutely nothing else to do was a perfect recipe for loads of chit chats! Did we have some fun or what? Those 30 mins were super fun, Manoj was sharing his house hunting experiences in Chennai, Pradeep was at his witty best on his forgettable experiences at CAI and what not!
We all did have a dig at KRS who was thousands of miles away in MY. After some time a CJ340 arrives and it was this guy. Once he exchanged warm bear hugs with Santhosh (only with him
![Wink](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/wink.png)
), we set off towards the resort.
The drive from there was very testing. Roads were mediocre with no signs of civilization. It took a good 40 mins for us to reach the destination.
We were all very tired by now. It was only the weather and the peaceful location that was keeping us up. Dinner was ready in a while and the feast was on followed by some non stop nonsense late into the night and slowly one by one we retired for the day.