[SRISRI_90]

Wayanad In the Citroen C5

I’m back with another short and sweet travelogue, this time a trip down to God's Own Country, read on.



More than a year has passed since my wife and I had been on vacation. But we didn’t have time to go on a long vacation, so we managed to plan a 3-day trip.
We decided to head to Wayanad, as both hadn’t been there in the past decade.
For us a vacation must include a Scenic drive, we generally don’t prefer planes and trains and drive to most places unless it is far off.

The Plan:

The idea was to cover as much as possible during the first half of the trip, chill at a nice resort for the other half, and drive back home on the last day.

The route proposed was Mangalore - Madhur temple - Bekal Fort – Kannur – Wayanad – Mangalore.
A trip to Kerala is incomplete without visiting the beautiful temples there, so we added a few must-visit temples that we could cover the route.

The Trip:

Day 1: 27/10/2023

We had a relaxed start at 6:30 AM as we didn’t have to cover much distance on the first day.
The idea was to Cover Bekal Fort and 3 temples across Kannur. We covered all and one more temple in Mattanur as suggested by our caretaker.

The first stop was Madhur Madhanantheshwara Temple



Seems the renovation of this temple has been going on forever, sought the blessings of the almighty, bought the famous Appam Prasada from the counter, and off we went to our next stop.

Bekal Fort was our next stop and the idea was to finish exploring the fort before the heat would become unbearable.
We reached there by 8:30 AM and spent the next hour and a half walking through the length and breadth of the fort.



Selfie with my Wife


Before we headed to our next POI, we had the biggest adventure of all in Kerala, i.e. Finding a decent Vegetarian restaurant for Breakfast, lol.
Stopped by a nondescript highway-side hotel called “ Green Park” " which had a "surprisingly" nice Dosa and some fruit juice, and off we went to our next destination.


The next temple on our list was the Taliparamba Rajarajeshwara Temple.
It has one beautiful deity and feels very different from the usual temples we see in Coastal Karnataka. We had a lovely darshan of the God and even had a sumptuous Lunch at the Temple itself.



Then we moved on to the next temple a First of a kind experience for me. Parassinikadavu Muthappan Temple. This temple is famous for the Theyyam event which happens daily.
Another specialty here is that the Deity is offered Fish and Toddy



By Now it was 3 pm and we were drained out by the hot sun.
We drove towards our stay for the Night "Saffron Stays Amaya" at Mattanur, near the Kannur Airport.

It was a Lovely 300 year Old Family home.


The Room.


After a nice bath and a solid power nap, we went down to the beautiful courtyard of the homestay and freshened up with some snacks and a cup of coffee.Also the Homestay has its own Pond, he said it would get full during rains and that we could even swim in it !



Our caretaker suggested we visit the Mridnagashyleshwari temple nearby, which has some unique folklore surrounding it.
It was an enjoyable evening drive through the curvy rural roads of Kerala.
The roads are excellent and the driving sense is pretty good, except for those KSRTC busses.

After a lovely Darshan, we headed back to our homestay for dinner.
We had an amazing spread of Vegetarian food choices, freshly cooked by the caretaker’s sister.
The food tasted as good as it looked.



After a hearty dinner, we signed off for the night.
We had an early departure the next morning as we wanted to cover the Tirunelli temple en route to Wayanad.

Day 2: 28/10/2023

The Plan for Day 2 was to start early as the Tirunelli temple would close at noon and it was a short 90 km drive away.

Woke up at 6, had breakfast and we were on the road by 8:30 AM.

The drive to Tirunelli temple took us up the western ghats through some pretty scenic roads, but the ghats had very minimal traffic and were scary at some places, as the recent rains had washed away parts of the road.
But apart from those patches, credit where it is due, roads in Kerala are sublime.
We had a lovely Darshan at the Tirunelli Temple, and we spent some time appreciating the beauty of the western ghats surrounding the Tirunelli temple.



We left there by 1 PM and moved back towards town and struggled to find good Veg food, again.
Had Lunch at a random hotel and moved towards our stay for the Day.

Our stay was booked at the Beautiful “ Mountain Shadows Resort “. It is set on a small hill on the backwaters of the Banasura Sagar dam and is surrounded by the Banasura hill and a few other towering western ghat mountains.
The only 'fly in the ointment' in an otherwise flawless stay experience is the approach road to the resort, it is set 3 km inside the Forest Land and thus they don’t have permission to relay the ancient rocky road. It is pathetic and you will take forever to reach the place.



But once you reach the hotel you will forget everything else. This is what you are greeted with upon entering the resort.



Lovely stay, and decently decorated rooms, for the 5 Star hotel prices they charge you don’t get the feel of say a Taj or Leela. But then the View is worth more than everything.



By 4 PM it got cloudy and started raining as well. My wife & I decided to head to the swimming pool, as it had an even better 360-degree view. Spent the next 2 hours admiring the view and relaxing at the pool.



We wound up the day with a lovely Dinner Buffet, the food and dessert spread were excellent.
The rest of the night was spent sitting on the room balcony overlooking the backwaters and enjoying the lovely weather.

View from the room at Night, it was a Full moon that night.

Day 3: 29/10/2023

The agenda for day 3 was simple - Drive back home.
Woke up late, got ready and had a nice breakfast, checked out and by noon we were back on the road driving back to Mangalore.

I stopped by a nice curvy road to click pics of Our Beautiful Citroen C5,





Had a Déjà vu feeling and it turned out I was right, nearly 11 years ago I had stopped at the same place to do a Mini Shoot of my Duke 200.



It was lovely driving through the coffee estates of Coorg and the weather was great as well.
Stopped at Ponnampet for Lunch. Then Drove on towards Madikeri via Gonikoppal and Ammathi. From there on it is my usual route back to Mangalore.
With a stop for coffee at my regular watering hole CCD Sullia, we were back home by 8 PM.

Trip Log

A few words about the Citroen C5.

It performed flawlessly Throughout the trip, and never left me wanting for more power or comfort.
Despite Being Humid and Hot in Coastal KL, the car's AC kept us super cool and the cooled center storage was useful for storing water bottles.
Need not worry about road conditions, Good or Bad, The C5 just floats above it all and cocoons you in its comfort.

[gururajrv]

Sri, lovely write up. Crisp and beautiful I must say! You seem to have a good taste in photography other than bikes & cars.

Hope you're doing well! Your car looks damn good in that setting honestly. How're you finding the drive btw?

[TN20CQ5187]

Lovely pictures and well written travelogue mate!

The drive to thirunelli is indeed scenic, the temple itself has one awesome view around it.

And I must say, one should experience C5's ride quality over the rough roads. I had the chance to drive one for around 700kms within the villages roads of Kerala and It indeed left me mighty impressed.

[SRISRI_90]

Originally Posted by gururajrv

Sri, lovely write up. Crisp and beautiful I must say! You seem to have a good taste in photography other than bikes & cars.

Hope you're doing well! Your car looks damn good in that setting honestly. How're you finding the drive btw?

Thank you bro, good photography credit to Samsung S22 Ultra
Yeah, C5 is pretty Photogenic !

The Drive and the overall ownership experience has been excellent and has exceeded our expectations.
Just completed 2 years of ownership and the car has run 45K Kms, we are so happy with the Citroen C5, that we've bought another Citroen. A C3 Turbo.
Will be posting about in the coming week.

Originally Posted by TN20CQ5187

Lovely pictures and well written travelogue mate!

The drive to Thirunelli is indeed scenic, the temple itself has one awesome view around it.

And I must say, one should experience C5's ride quality over the rough roads. I had the chance to drive one for around 700kms within the villages roads of Kerala and It indeed left me mighty impressed.

Yes, the drive to Thirunelli was amazing and the Deity was unique too.
Citroen definitely Impresses with its ride quality.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by SRISRI_90

Citroen definitely Impresses with its ride quality.

So I guess you dont miss that Mini Cooper!

[gururajrv]

Originally Posted by SRISRI_90

Thank you bro, good photography credit to Samsung S22 Ultra
Yeah, C5 is pretty Photogenic !

Yes, the drive to Thirunelli was amazing and the Deity was unique too.
Citroen definitely Impresses with its ride quality.

Haha, l too have a S22 Ultra and I'm mighty impressed how the photos are so neatly processed. Thought they came out of a proper camera setup. It also depends on the user and you seem like a pro at it!

Picked up another is it? That talks volumes about the brand coming up the curve, albeit a bit slow. How's the performance been so far considering 45k in 2 years is a healthy number Sorry don't want to deviate too much from the topic of your travelogue.

[SRISRI_90]

Originally Posted by ajmat

So I guess you dont miss that Mini Cooper!

Except for its Stiff ride quality, I miss everything else about the Mini.
Especially its theatrics

Originally Posted by gururajrv

Haha, l too have a S22 Ultra and I'm mighty impressed how the photos are so neatly processed. Thought they came out of a proper camera setup. It also depends on the user and you seem like a pro at it!

Picked up another is it? That talks volumes about the brand coming up the curve, albeit a bit slow. How's the performance been so far considering 45k in 2 years is a healthy number Sorry don't want to deviate too much from the topic of your travelogue.

The C5 replaced our 10-year-old Audi Q3, and in the past 2 years not once did we feel like the Citroen was a compromise over the Q3. I Guess that speaks enough about its performance.
It's got a turbo diesel engine pushing out 180 bhp, 400NM and perfectly mated to an 8-speed AT. So you're never left wanting for more power!

[mugen_pinaki27]

Originally Posted by SRISRI_90

The C5 replaced our 10-year-old Audi Q3, and in the past 2 years not once did we feel like the Citroen was a compromise over the Q3. I Guess that speaks enough about its performance.
It's got a turbo diesel engine pushing out 180 bhp, 400NM and perfectly mated to an 8-speed AT. So you're never left wanting for more power!

I wish Citroen was more serious about its lower-end offerings just like the C5 Aircross. Truly, it's an underrated vehicle. I haven't come across many C5s in my area but whichever owner I've met or heard from, they had only good things to say about it. The fact that a French car made a suitable replacement for a German powerhouse speaks volumes about the former.

[Nanolover]

Originally Posted by mugen_pinaki27

I wish Citroen was more serious about its lower-end offerings just like the C5 Aircross. Truly, it's an underrated vehicle. I haven't come across many C5s in my area but whichever owner I've met or heard from, they had only good things to say about it. The fact that a French car made a suitable replacement for a German powerhouse speaks volumes about the former.

I also can relate to this at lower level. Just completed a 2 day 700 kms drive in the blazing heat of kerala in my C3 turbo. This car is even better in the highway with its phenomenal mid range punch, stable highway manners and excellent ac. For me , its behaviour was on par with my bmw 116i in japan. So in a way these cars are a match for German cars in a budget.

My friend who accompanied me on the travel was really surprised at the ease with which we overtook 3 to 4 cars in a row in kerala's single lane highways. And on the never ending roadworks sections, it cocconed us with its comfortable seats, ride and aircon.only minus is with heavy handed driving and constant ac , mileage overall was just 10km/l although in all fairness the car has just done 1000 kms till now.

[Flaneur]

Originally Posted by SRISRI_90

The C5 replaced our 10-year-old Audi Q3, and in the past 2 years not once did we feel like the Citroen was a compromise over the Q3. I Guess that speaks enough about its performance.
It's got a turbo diesel engine pushing out 180 bhp, 400NM and perfectly mated to an 8-speed AT. So you're never left wanting for more power!

Superb ! As a fellow C5 owner, have done a few trips fully loaded (5 adult + 1 child) in the ghats. Always a pleasure to drive. With the sports mode on, it transforms into a beast. What I also like is the almost flat rear foot-well, giving the rear passengers comfortable enough space.