[Mr.Boss]

Everything started here https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...-valparai.html (Yamaha RX100: 300 km solo ride to Valparai)



Being skeptical about the reliability of 25+ years old bike, never took her for 100+ km rides earlier. With gut feeling and a miniscule trust over my luck and micro mini knowledge on the basic troubleshooting and repair took her to Valparai 2 weeks ago. Viola, that took me back to my teenage

How can we stop with a single ride when hills with decent roads are around us, so this time made a trip to Ooty. Last I visited 2 years ago on a RE-TBTS with my BIL & friends.

Agenda
Again the agenda is nothing more than Ride-Click-Eat repeat

Route
Plan is to take Coonoor route for the onward journey, get Biriyani from Hyderabad Biriyani House, visit pykara (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pykara) and return via Kotagiri route. But it happened other way round due to traffic jam at Metupalayam.

[Mr.Boss]

Start of the Ride
Started by around 10:00am on 19th Dec.

Odo reading


Took Karumathampatti --> Annur --> Metupalayam route. Roads are perfect with some on-going work between Annur and Metupalayam.
Opposite to Metupalayam bus stand I was stuck in traffic jam and bike ran out of breath. Switched to reserve mode and noted down the odo reading. Stopped at the HP fuel station few meters ahead of Kotagiri / Coonoor diversion. While filling the fuel calculated the FE after last reserve and quite surprised to see 50kmpl

Couldn't believe myself, seeing the traffic ahead in the Coonoor route diverted towards Kotagiri. Took the first break near Forest College and reassured the FE figures.

First break, start of Ghat section

[Mr.Boss]

Metupalayam to Kotagiri

Few km in ghat section


Almost zero traffic in this route




Fellow was happily posing and eagerly watching me clicking the landscape


This place can take a full size SUV, perfect place to click wallpaper material


Wish I had taken my DSLR






Welcome note from Queen of hills.
After this board we have the checkpost to verify the e-pass, also we have the medical team for on-spot Covid test for outstation (from other state I believe) visitors.






Some 20+ km from Metupalayam, one of a customary shooting spot for our friends






And the target achieved


This place is quite famous in FB & insta recent days

[Mr.Boss]

Kotagiri to Ooty

Reached Kotagiri and it was too early for Lunch, so decided to continue the ride towards Ooty, via Doddabetta. Some snaps enroute

2nd break






Roads are perfect throughout the stretch


Posing for the n-th time






Wish the sky was clear












That contrast scene

[Mr.Boss]

Lunch

Stopped for Lunch at Hotel Junior Kuppanna, had a not so bad Biriyani and continued the journey.

View of the hotel




Someone said, morattu (tough) foodie is a one who fail to click the food and how can I be not a part of that group? Last I clicked was the menu card.


Found an interesting old gentleman, a proper 4x4 van parked here for a long time

[Mr.Boss]

Lovedale

After the lunch started towards Lovedale, one of my favorite stretch in and around Ooty.

Landscape after diverting towards Lovedale








Over the small bridge after Lovedale railway station




at Lovedale station.

Lovedale railway station is a railway station serving Lovedale, a town located south of Udhagamandalam (Ooty), in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. A notable tourist attraction, it is one of the stations of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, built in 1908, and is a UNESCO declared World Heritage Site. It is one of the halts for the historic Ooty passenger. It is maintained and administered by the Southern Railway zone and comes under the Salem railway division. The station code is: LOV

Continued a little further and returned back


During return journey

[Mr.Boss]

Unplanned agenda

Lovedale area took me to the nostalgic thoughts about my first trip to Ooty, somewhere in the end of 90s and my uncle took us in his Jeep to Kunda Dam and other parts of Ooty. Last I visited their home was 7+ years ago and though why not visit them.

Diverted at Aruvankadu and reached my Aunt's home. They were pleasantly surprised to see me, nothing beats the warm welcome from the elderly couple.

REd candy taking the much needed rest




Pleasant view, I can sit here a day long looking at this landscape and enjoying the awesome weather


In-house farming, some beans, radish, etc




Spent a healthy 2 hours, with chit-chat, hot tea and started by 17:00

[Mr.Boss]

Return Journey

Coonoor junction






Mist started to spread








Somewhere on the way










Some road work and stuck here for a healthy 15 mins




The iconic bridge


Finally reached the foot hill

[Mr.Boss]

Couple of weeks back dropped my wife and kids at in-law's place, so diverted towards Coimbatore to spend the Sunday with them.

Here is the actual route I took


Google map shows 293km and my odo is 298km for the entire journey



Completed the trip without any issues with the bike this time (touchwood)
Hopping to complete the planned rides / drives for the Christmas and New Year weekend.

Thanks for spending your time, wishing you all advance Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[rex_varghese]

Great travelogue, @Mr. Boss!! Thanks for the beautiful pictures of the places and the ride.

It's always a pleasure to read Rx100 stories, especially when mine is going to be 27 in couple of months !

Regards
Rex

[Akash.D]

I really liked how you captured each moment in your camera and let the pictures do the talking. I also have a 20 yr old Suzuki Samurai but I am too paranoid to take it on long rides.

[mohansrides]

Mr.Boss,

Excellent trip it looks like. You are super lucky. a.) you have that brilliant RX100, and b.) you are optimally situated in the country. Superb. I also appreciated you stopping at your aunt’s place. I too try to touch base with my extended family members when I am near their homes.

In this day of big bikes and riding gear, your thread takes me back to the simpler days of elemental touring.

Nicely done sir. Enjoy that gem of a motorcycle.

P. S.

It has been so many decades since I have been to Ooty. The last time I was there, a song sequence for the Telugu movie, ‘Vicky Dada’, was being shot :-) In any case, my fondest memory of Ooty is that I saw Juhi Chawla in person before she became a star in ‘Qayamat de Qayamat Tak’; which by the way, I saw a record 18 times in 18 days in the now non-existent Sapphire theatre on Mount Road.

Cheers

[mallumowgli]

Great to see back to back travelogues from Mr. Boss. Awesome log as usual. Pics of the RX100 is super. Keep going!!

[androdev]

Lovely lovely lovely! Beautiful pictures and a great looking bike! Thank you for sharing. The sort of travelogue that makes me want to hit the road.