[nimz_blr]

Allow me to digress a bit first !

After my trip to various hill stations in Nilgiris (Wayanad, Ooty, Conoor etc.) towards end of 2024, haven't been on any longer trips. So holi in March'25 was a descent opportunity to plan a short getaway. And this was a family trip wherein my wife, furry friend (Eliz), parents and brother were all going together.

Also just a couple of weeks before this trip, my brother got his XUV 3X0 (Ax7) delivered. I wanted to have this trip on my bike (Interceptor), and it was ideal with brother joining in as well. Though Eliz clearly prefers riding on Bike, but it's much easier for pets in car in summers.

However, just a couple of days before the trip, I was feeling bit under the weather. So decided just 2 days before the trip that I too shall ride this time in my Car (Duster, turbo petrol automatic).

Like most people, we enjoy travelling a lot as well. And have been travelling for a long time already. But looking at some memories created by Google or Apple on my phone, I realized that I don't quiet ever revisit the pics or videos I take on my trips after it's over. Though, when I see these as travel memories, they do look beautiful .So last year only, I thought to start editing some travel videos and post them on youtube as well -- something I can enjoy watching as well after the trip.

Creating travel videos on bike rides is much easier, and given this time it was a car ride -- I thought of giving it a try. So ordered Neewer camera mounts from Amazon that very day, and these arrived next day, just on time to have some fun and getting some shots from my Action Cam and Insta. Not much difference anyhow in terms of how I use my main camera and drone, be it car trip or bike ride, so nothing different for this ride there. Some of these shots came out well, some didn't quiet as well

Deciding on kind of travel experience we wanted

My first trip to Coorg (from Bangalore) was around 10 years back. Infact this was literally the first highway ride with my better half, which developed the appreciation of travel in myself. On this trip, I did a lot of riding in my car in Coorg from norther parts of Madikeri (Mandalpatti, Abbey falls, Raja's set etc.) to southern part of Coorg (Iruppu Falls).

Since this trip though, have been to Coorg multiple times. But mostly stay was Resorts focussed and getting to enjoy some leisure time there before heading back home. This time around, I thought to get back to visiting some locations which maybe we haven't been to earlier, so that parents too can get the experience this part of Coorg. Also, mom had a preference to stay near the market area. Hence we decided to stay first day at a natural location (Jawa Mane), and book at villa for next 2 days of stay at Madikeri itself.

With the bookings and mode of travel sorted, we were all set to get on the ride !!

Let the Trip Begin !

We started in our cars bit later than I would have wished for. It was a 6:15am start, approx. And I just realised that I had missed a beautiful sunrise. Morning sky was looking wonderful and weather was quite pleasant as well in the morning.



For car rides, elevated corridor on Mysore Rode is probably the best option and saves us a lot of time. Ride to Mysore is literally a breeze with this. Anyhow, we did stop on a couple of occasions to capture some shots.



As the day progressed, the weather decided to return to norm of the season (as expected). Summers have clearly taken a toll on the greenery along the roads. However, as we approached Coorg, I was pleasantly surprised to see that greenery there still looked quiet fresh though the temperatures there were still quiet high.

Ride till Coorg was fine, real fun of driving starts as we reach Coorg and we start getting some winding roads going through scenic landscapes to drive on. The approach road to our stay was very good as well.









Last stretch of road, approx. 1km before reaching Jawa Mane is an off-road patch. Though it's quite manageable.



Jawa Mane homestay is in Suntikoppa town in Coorg. It's a big property, there's a stream of Harangi Backwater flowing right next to property (though not accessible). In this property, stay is in an Old family house. Given we were in a group, we had the whole stay for ourself !!





Later in the evening, I took out my drone to check out and capture the vicinity of our stay. Some of views I captured were beyond by expectations, totally humbled me with it's beauty. Thought, had to do with drone shots only, as with limited time, didn't really manage to find an approach to visit this spot myself.

Heading to beautiful locations in Coorg !

We had 2 more days to travel around in Coorg on this trip. In this weather though, exploring the place in day time was bit tough especially for parents. So we decided to go around either early in the morning or around evening, when it was still pleasant. Still all the locations we managed to visit in this trip looked absolutely fresh, something I didn't expect in the Summers.

After checking out next day from Jawa Mane and heading towards our next stay in Madikeri, we thought of visiting Harangi Backwaters -- a location I had never been to before. It's a huge backwater and dam, and approach road too is absolutely amazing. Any maybe given it was a weekday, only very few people were there when we visited. This was a good opportunity to capture some pics of my car along the backwaters..



Next day, early morning we headed towards Mandalpatti Peak. Though, I did not know that pets are not allowed there. Here only off-road capable 4x4 vehicles are allowed to be driven towards peak, and the driver there informed that due to this area being a forest range, pets aren't allowed there.

I thought that we perhaps missed an opportunity to witness and capture sunrise amongst clouds. And decided to head towards Abbey falls instead. Here too, we saw that the place opens up only later in the day (after 9am). However, we did manage to get some pretty amazing ariel shots -- which sort off took away the disappointment of not being able to visit Mandalpatty..







After spending some time there anyways, started looking at other options to visit. One thing that stood out for me was Gravity Falls, again a place I haven't been to before. But we thought of visiting here around evening instead, and headed towards Madikeri town. Had our breakfast here, then visited Omkareshwar Temple which is very close to Madikeri circle.



Later in the evening, we went to Gravity falls. This too seemed live a less visited place. Road leading to Gravity falls was absolutely amazing to enjoy a nice drive.





This place has a suspension bridge, and after crossing that over we can go towards the river bank. It's a very scenic picnic spot. Very few tourists visit this place probably. But I did see a campsite here as well, they provide camp stay here near the river.

Though I did not find any waterfall here, so wonder why this place is called Gravity falls... Maybe because few people may have fallen off after seeing how amazing this place looks

Ride back home !

After a wonderful stay at Coorg, it was time to head back home. We decided to have an early start, and have breakfast on the way back. On our drive back home, roads in the early morning were simply amazing to enjoy the ride. There was very less traffic, and fog was surrounding the road from Madikeri till we reached Kushalnagar, where we took a halt at Namdroling Monastery.

Having a nice stay, enjoying some good moments are all good and wonderful things. But for mean riders like us, ride matters the most . And getting a parting gift this this wonderful ride made this trip truly memorable for me.. And of course, this makes us crave to head back on roads and get to experience this all over again..

And on to the last bit I have grown to enjoy !

After returning from a trip, getting back to all the memories captured in cameras and putting together a video on that is something I have grown fond of as well. Here's a short video put together capturing the wonderful memories of this trip..

https://youtu.be/4oaIHVOacwo?si=k9O-kwLlbBjrqg7f

[Aditya]

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

[Dracarys]

Wonderful Travelogue and reminds of my trip, not too long ago to Coorg.
Excellent pictures and the cloudy sunrise shows nature at its best mood !!!

Cheers !