[Turbosailor]

Mountains, twisty roads, mystique beauties kept on calling and finally we set sail to witness those scenic beauties which created everlasting memories.

Prologue

The inspiration to pen down my 1st travelogue came from reading all those beautiful travelogues in our forum. Kindly pardon for unintentional errors and lengthy write up.

I was very fortunate to be born to a petrolhead father, he was posted in rural areas, so from the 80's itself he was using motorbikes. I still remember him coming home with his brand new Red RE Bullet unfortunately that association didn't last long, his cousin wrecked it so he had to sell it off, then came many Yezdis like RoadKing, CL II & Yezdi Classic. I still remember that day when he had to sell his last RoadKing for just RS: 4500/- in 1999 to buy a Hero Honda CBZ but it didn't work out and had to settle for a preowned HH CD 100. My 1st solo riding experience started with it and that was his last motorbike. He sold it after a fall and started his car journey, same as bikes many came like, HM Ambassadors, Esteem, Ford Escort, Indica and now settled with his beloved Honda Mobilio. It was my uncle who taught me many valuable things about life, including in depth knowledge about safe driving and riding on his Suzuki Samurai and Esteem.

In 2011 I was able to buy my 1st bike, a Hero Honda Hunk and went on many trips on it. Years passed and in 2015 I got married to a lovely girl who's last motorcycle ride was when she was a 6 years old kid. So you all might have guessed my next move. Yes, our 1st outing after marriage was to the mountains on my hunk, a sweet one day trip without the knowledge of our parents, to let her experience the pure emotions bundled up with riding and to feel those cool mountain breeze which mellow us when we are up there. She got baptised by that ride and now she always insists on going on bike to explore beautiful landscapes rather than being caged in a car.

I used Hunk for almost 6 years and had to let it go with a heavy heart due to less usage and a desire for upgrade to a twin cylinder bike. That time RE was testing twins and many spy shots were popping up. I even booked one in 2019 but cancelled after several test rides, mainly due to spoke wheels, tubed tyres, pillion comfort and chrome, I am not a chrome person. Then lookout for multi cylinder bikes continued and when RE launched updated twins in 2023 March went ahead and booked the new all blacked out variant "Black Ray" in the opening day itself via RE website. Got delivered on 23 May 2023 and christened it as "Black Ray" itself. The delivery experience was wonderful. My dear friend and few close relatives were there and with the help of Arun who is in RE Sales & Spare Support, we managed to give a surprise unveiling for my little boy. I use it only for midnight rides or to explore some beautiful lonely roads. First mode after delivery was to install a pillion Footpeg lowering kit from Hepco & Becker and later upgraded to RE deluxe touring seats, so my lady bird is now more comfortable as pillion.

Now being a father of a sweet little boy and a beautiful little daughter gave me that blessed opportunity to pass on what I inherited and learned.

Nurturing Jr

Have to mention a phrase my uncle often emphasise
"No one is an expert rider or driver, everyday we will be learning something new while we are on road. The day when we think we are expert chances of accident are more. As always remain Humble and compassionate"

Passage Plan & Preparation

The very purpose of getting a 650 twin was for long rides, but due to various reasons it took almost a year for executing a long ride. And few weeks before this ride my Int 650 was giving a wired wild jerk when engine is warmed up and cruising above 60+ kmph. Often feels like it's out of breath or not getting enough fuel / air for combustion. Took the bike to company run ASC at Edapally and after painstakingly troubleshooting for 5 days and with intervention of CRM Amal who was very helpful they were able to diagnose problem Fuel Contamination. When they opened throttle body it was in a terrible condition and it was stinking. Luckily after cleaning it and changing spark plugs and it's related cables the bike was back to previous glory. Cost incurred was NIL, as all covered under warranty. I had used only power petrol from HP and one time XP 95 from Indian oil, don't know which fuel was the culprit. Anyhow the problem was fixed and now strictly only on normal petrol. But I was a tad nervous before the ride and had a contingency plan in mind.

Look what contaminated fuel did to my throttle body

We had booked our stay at Kannan Devan Hill Plantation's Lake View Cottage at Mattupetty. As in most riding groups at the planning stage, 5 of us were supposed to ride to Munnar via Mamalakandam, Devikulam, Anakulam, Letchmi estate plantation road to Munnar. But due to various reasons my evergreen childhood friend and another good buddy couldn't join.

During Black ray's 6 days service center stay due to food poisoning, installed new OEM LED trafficators. Its really a worthy upgrade.





Chain cleaned and lubed, touring seat on, did mandatory checks and ready to roll.




1st leg passage plan Kolencherry to Mamalakandam




2nd leg passage plan Mamalakandam to Anakulam




3rd leg passage plan Anakulam to Munnar via Latchmi Estate




4th leg passage plan Munnar to Mattupetty

The D Day 4th Oct 2024

Our plan was to leave from home as early as possible to escape traffic congestion on NH 85 due to the road widening project and enter Mamalakandam forest road as early as possible in the hope of spotting wildlife. Excitement was sky high and slight hay fever, I don't remember what time I crashed onto bed yesterday. So woke up early and left home at 4:30 hrs. On the way my cousin brothers joined on their Apache RTR 160 V4 and another friend who just came back from another trip will be joining us at breakfast time at Mamalakandam with his Himalayan 450.

By around 6:30 hrs reached forest road entrance to Mamalakandam via Thattekad. The morning mist was caressing mountains and the adjacent Idamalayar river

.

The concrete road through the forest is narrow and some stretches are broken, but the good thing is traffic is near non-existent until we reach the village. The road was getting closed for maintenance from 7 Oct and would have remained closed until end of October, so luck was on our side we made it through.

Inside Mamalakandam Forest Road

We reached the human inhabited part by 7:30 hrs and my brother's friend Mr Akhil who is a native of Mamalakandam was waiting for us. Such a lovely soul, amazed to see how they treat visitors to their village.
So until my friend who is trailing us on his H450 arrives, we went for a Jeep safari on Akhil's pristinely maintained 1991 M&M CL 500 DE. OMG I was blown away by experiencing what this 4x4 beast is capable of when its with right person. It was conquering all those steep mountain paths with ease, sometimes the approach angle was too steep its rear number plate was scrubbing the ground. He took us to a beautiful mountain valley which is situated at an elevation of 1300 mtr above sea level. There are many more off the grid beautiful places to visit here but due to time constrains we couldn't explore it all on this ride.

Photos can't justify how challenging these terrains are

There is a river crossing and a steep mountain path while on the way up to Mountain valley view point.

View Point

A stone shelter at the view point. Don't know how old it is, but it's really fascinating how in olden days they managed to cut and place these 15 ft single piece marble as a roof on top of a stone wall. Due to age or some other factor, the roof structure is cracked now.

If you enlarge below image you can see current security in charge of Stone Shelter a common green tree snake.

Me capturing the above pic.

Mesmerizing view

In the below pic; The guy walking casually in his short's is Akhil. And my brother checking his riding boots.

Meanwhile me on the phone, checking ETA of Himalayan Sailor. Can you guess when was the last time I saw him ? almost 16 years ago on our passing out day. But we were always in touch even though separated by many seas. The fondness for cars & bikes, tripping and many more created special bonding between us.

Akhil's Beast. 1991 M&M CL 500 DE




By 08:30 hrs we came back to the rendezvous point and my friend was already there waiting for us.

Mr Sreeram with his Mighty Himalayan 450

Breakfast was arranged by Akhil in a homely eatery named "Mamalakaran" A great breakfast consisting of Puttu, Egg curry and Chicken Fry. Even though it was surrounded by jungle have to appreciate the hygiene and quality of food served in the eatery.

Puttu & Egg curry

We didn't spend much time in the eatery, checked the route again,put on riding gears and we moved towards the 2nd stopover of our trip "Anakulam". It's a small village famous for regular gathering of wild Elephant herds in large numbers on the exact same spot of a shallow river tributary .

Let's see if we are lucky enough to witness that Elephant Party !

[Turbosailor]

So around 09:30 hrs we moved from Mamalakandam towards Anakulam. The 15.5 km road from Mamalakandam to Irumpupalam is a beautiful well laid rural road with many beautiful landscapes and very few human settlements in the jungle again with no traffic. We didn't stop anywhere in between because we had to reach our cottage in Munnar at least by 16:00 hrs. So I missed the opportunity to take some memorable pictures. Then we rejoined NH 85 where lots of construction activities are going, cautiously made it to Machiplaue and from there took rural roads to reach Anakulam. These roads were narrow with intermittent potholes, then started to encounter crazy driving skills of local auto rickshaw drivers especially on blind curves and hairpin bends, they just assumed that no one would be coming and would ride on the wrong side of curves. We reached Viripara around 10:20 hrs and the lovely view of tea plantations started to creep in, so we stopped here for water break and stretching out.

Tea Plantations in Viripara

By around 11:30 hrs we reached Anakulam village. The name Anakulam means "Elephant's Pond" there were few friendly locals who briefed us about Anakulam, then only we came to know more about this place and about the elephant herds. Elephants often come only after 14:00 hrs. and spend the evening drinking water from the tributary playing around. Locals say they drink only from one exact spot of the stream, which might contain some useful minerals. A day before, there were around 32 wild elephants playing in and around this spot. Here wild elephants do not attack humans unless we cross that stream and go to their territory.

Deserted Anakulam

So disheartedly decided to move on and continue our ride towards Munnar because we had to clear plantation road in daylight to witness the beautiful landscape and to avoid possible non friendly wildlife encounters. Around 12:30 hrs. we entered plantation road. The whole demography changed, it was pleasant chill weather and the road was going right through the tea plantations.

Road running through Tea Estate. So they are know as Plantation Road.

A School right in middle of Tea plantation

When we were nearing the exit of plantation road it started to drizzle, didn't hesitate, put on the raincoats and continued full ahead. By seeing that we were fully prepared Weather Gods were kind enough, and blessed us with pleasant weather throughout.

RE Cousins taking a brake in Tea Estate.








Cleared Plantation road and joined normal Munnar - Adimali road. Didn't waste time, was straight heading to our cottage.



Below picture of Lake View Cottage overlooking Madupatty Dam.

This Cottage was build by Brits around 1920 and is still well maintained. We highly recommend for family stay. Very peaceful place, food offered was good. The caretake had called us and enquired what we need for dinner.



View from the cottage


That's Four of us having a hot chai in evening chill. We were fortunate to made it to cottage without any incidents. Only filled with good happy memories.




Next day wake up early and went for a ride inside plantation. The road condition inside this tea estate was horrible. But offered beautiful view of lake and Dam. Caretaker had warned us not to venture out before good day light due to presence of wildlife.



Elephant dung just besides our cottage. We just missed the Elephant sighting.












Madupatty Dam


Himalayan was gliding through all these bad patches




Building in the below picture is the R&D center of Ripple Tea.


Came back to the cottage around 8 am and our plan is to check out at 11 am so can avoid traffic on prominent location and ride peacefully to Gap Road.



Bidding farewell to Lake view Cottage and heading to Bikers Paradise "The Gap Road".

[Turbosailor]

The Gap Road

So we are on our final leg of the ride before returning home. And the most exciting part of it was to ride on the recently expanded 43 km road from Munnar to Bodimettu. This is one of the picturesque and well laid out roads in India. While riding we could see many biker groups from TN & KA. During last monsoon Gap road was closed due to frequent landslides and remnants of it were still visible in certain areas. Even at 12 pm some part of the road was still foggy and visibility reduced to 10 mtr. And as of now there is no road in Kerala like this and even doubtful if any other road will be constructed like this in future, absolute world class mountain pass road.


And I was waiting to reach Gap road to swap the bike and test ride the new Himalayan 450. IMHO RE did a good job, ergonomics was spot on for me. But found the bike top heavy so I was not so confident to lean more towards curves like I do in my Int 650. When riding Int 650 it's like sitting on the bike, but riding Himalayan gives a feel like you're sitting inside the bike, the massive tanks, tall windscreen and all that crash protection gives a different feel. Only downside was the engine refinement and low end torque. Which was not my liking, might be because I got used to the Int 650 way of power delivery. Apart from that all good. A perfect 1st go anywhere bike. I liked it more than the KTM ADV 390.

Its time to say bye to this beautiful place, people and this awesome road. Need to reach home safely and make a plan to get back here in next available chance. "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna"

[Aditya]

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

[nettooran]

Originally Posted by Turbosailor

The Gap Road

And as of now there is no road in Kerala like this and even doubtful if any other road will be constructed like this in future, absolute world class mountain pass road.

Very true. Gap road ride is like no other track. The sparse traffic (weekdays) , wide and smooth tarmac, and tons of corners with minimal blind corners make it a riders dream. I do regular Munnar ride from Kochi, just to enjoy the gap road.

The funny part is that even though I have done dozens of trips on the gap road, I still do not remember any of the beautiful views on both sides. You tend to automatically turn on to your race mode on this track and that means all eyes and ears are on the road.

[sf-24]

Beautiful Route/Roads. There are still so many unexplored roads like this in Kerala/TN. Thanks for sharing the detailed route break up.

[Turbosailor]

Originally Posted by nettooran

The funny part is that even though I have done dozens of trips on the gap road, I still do not remember any of the beautiful views on both sides. You tend to automatically turn on to your race mode on this track and that means all eyes and ears are on the road.

Happy to know that your frequent rider to that part. And I had to keep on reminding my self and my fellow mates to slowdown for enjoying these scenic places.

Originally Posted by sf-24

Beautiful Route/Roads. There are still so many unexplored roads like this in Kerala/TN. Thanks for sharing the detailed route break up.

Yes indeed. What we are knowing or heard is only the tip of iceberg. My only wish is to have good motorable road to these locations, so our journey will be much more enjoyable. Meghamalai in TN is one among them. need to explore there soon.

[nettooran]

Originally Posted by Turbosailor

Happy to know that your frequent rider to that part. And I had to keep on reminding my self and my fellow mates to slowdown for enjoying these scenic places.

.

Few videos from my outings.

https://youtu.be/4jDVxG8ERZQ?si=Dx0ZJCqhHbTUs1bU

https://youtu.be/2rWNyqBpnes?si=qLjVAAJKoKSreNCr