[dadu]

As usual planning for the Christmas Holidays had started long back and finalized Tellicherry & Kannur but still we were not able to get booking at the Mascot Resort in Kannur(Supposed to be the best in Kannur). Had looked around and between Pearl regency and Palm Groove, finally booked Palm Groove (will write review in the end).

The Route:

As you can see, there are three possible routes into Wayanad and then onward into Kerala.(The shortest one not shown here from Gonikoppal is under repairs). I took, route A. Picked up my wife's colleagues family from near my house and started at around 10PM from bangalore.

Bangalore - Mysore - Hunsur - Nagarhole - Kutta - Tholpetty - Kattikulam - Manandvady -Nedupoyil - Kuthuparamba - Kannur (356)




In this route ( that is , Route A ), the road from Mysore city to Hunsur (State Highway 88) is amazing, took the Ilawala bypass from Ranganathitty just after Srirangapatna, joining at Yelwal. You can drive faster as SH 88 is not having as much traffic as compared to SH 17 and It's 4 lane all the way, just watch out for some humps inbetween, one is right at an ascend and visible only once you have completed that ascend, very little braking distance.

As you near Hunsur the highway makes a Y fork. Take the left ( rather straight fork, as the highway bends righward ) into the town. You'll reach the crowded Hunsur bus station area. Lookout for a narrow road on your left right after the bus stand and between it and an open ground. You will spot a signboard showing direction to Nagarhole and Iruppu Falls. Drive straight and inbetween you will get one Y-Fork again, go-on straight towards your right. The road condition is ok in the begining but then improves as you close on the nagarhole national park.

Now comes the Karnataka Forest departments check post and the gate across the road. The gate won't open automatically. You've to stop the car go to the tiny shed next to the gate to register your entry. Details like vehicle number, your name, from, number of passengers etc has to be entered and finally you need to sign in the register. A small tip is expected, a board is written for it.

Here I had a discussion with the guard who was trying to tell me that this is not a public road and only meant for people coming to national park and also I should be taking the Gonikoppal route to goto Kannur, I asked if everyone was going for the " Jungle Safari" and then he mumbled and let me pass.


Spot the elephant here, it was a small herd, ran into the bushes on hearing the engine noise.




The gate opens and we were in the Nagarhole reserve forest. The road is in good condition with humps built across the road every few kilometers. One is expected to drive slow as wild animals may cross the road at any point across the road. We spotted an elephant bathing and safari elephants and some spotted deer(Cheetal) on the way. Road inside nagarhole forest. Though not vey wide, the road is well maintained.





A few things : Traffic is allowed to pass through Nagarhole forest only from 6 am to 6 pm. You've to pay no fees to cross the forest. dditionally , do not park vehicle anywhere in the forest , do not stray into the forest , as it is against to rule and can be dangerous. Just drive carefully along the designated road and cross the forest , you would be fine.

Once you are out of Nagarhole, a few turns later and lots of bad patches we reached Kutta. Between Hunsur and Manathavadi , Kutta is the only place where you can find some shops and water, food etc in the town. Look for a steep left turn as you enter Kutta and the Kutta Police sation on your left. This is the road that goes to Manathavadi , again though forest though not as lonely as Nagarhole forest range. If you want to take a break, go straight into Kutta town without taking the left fork mentioned above. The town square is about half kilometer from the crossing.

You enter Kerala soon after Kutta. A signboard in Mayalalam/ English announces that you are entering Kerala. A police checkpost and details like Origin and destination of your trip might be asked + a peek into your Car.The roads till Manathavadi is like full of pothholes you cannot avoid and slows you down considerably.



Shortly we crossed Tholpetty and reached a small town called Kartikulam. At the T junction turn left towards Mysore, turn right towards Mananthavadi town ( 10 kilometers ). We decided to break journey here for lunch right on the junction we found a small shack and ate good amount of fish/ Chicken, Rice and Kerela parantha, although once we started we also saw a KSTDC restaurant just on the left 500m ahead, should be a good place to eat too.



The road gets better from here and soon we were in Mananthavadi with a big junction and one-ways, take the left, the road slopes down with the Bus stand on the left and then immediately take the right and then you will find yourself at a Y-fork, take a right again, till you seem to cross a market and reach a T(sort of)-junction , take the left towards Kannur (ask if confusion persists).





Again the road winds into the scenic plantations and few junctions, thumb rule being keep to your left road, till you cross Nedupoyil and reach Kuthuparamba, with few bad patches inbetween.

Now you can go straight onto the NH17 into Tellicherry and then into Kannur at right angles or cut across to Kannur using a shortcut, once you reach Kuthuparamba market, take a right onto the shortcut that will take you directly outside Kannur and join NH17. There is one stretch of road inbetween which is like a Tyre shredder, I think they forgot to put the top layer of road.

Palmgroove heritage retreat is located near the Army Cantonment and close to the Govt guest house and therefor easy to ask for directions, Kannur itself is a very small town and all amenities are within minutes reach of each other. So we asked 1-2 people on the road and reached palmgroove.



It was already like 7PM and we checked-in and freshened up to move out for Dinner to "Mascot beach resort" which was at a walking distance. Palmgroove doesnt have a running restaurant and they operate like a guest house with food made to order and require some time. Although there is a very good Chinese joint just outside its gate.

We were lucky to find a table along the seaside (they dont serve inside the restaurant in the afternoons) but then the real fun began.



To get someone to take the order took 15min, to get water and glasses 20min and the food a good 40 min, eaten in only 30min, well the deserts were brought in faster emmm, in 10 min. We soon realised that it was a time killer restaurant and if you didnt have anything to do come here, enjoy the seabreeze and the same happenned for the next dinner too, except 20 more min to get a table and we had a good laugh about it, although its a small town and the service understandable during peak seasons. We came at 7:00PM left at 10PM after a simple dinner.

Next part, touring Tellicherry

[HappyWheels]

So this is what was cooking over the holidays!

I always wanted to take this route but the 6am-6pm constraint did not let me!

And a 'simple' dinner that takes 3 hrs, man, talk about killing time!!! I hope at least the food was worth it.

[maddy42]

O cool so Dadu good you took this route. Hope you enjoyed your drive. Waiting for more.

To get someone to take the order took 15min, to get water and glasses 20min and the food a good 40 min, aten in only 30min, well the deserts were brought in faster emmm, in 10 min. We soon realised that it was a time killer restaurant and if you didnt have anything to do come here, enjoy the seabreeze and the same happenned for the next dinner too, except 20 more min to get a table and we had a good laugh about it, although its a small town and the service understandable during peak seasons. We came at 7:00PM left at 10PM after a simple dinner.

Well this is what one is supposed to do holidaying i guess.

There is this good hotel on the way to kerala in one small town. My mom loved the food and cleanliness there. Will get the name of it soon.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

nice pics.
dadu, have you changed your face?

[smsrini]

Aha! The Safari Brigade's travelouges've started!

Kannur is a wonderfully quaint town. I was told that there's a big villa somewhere close to Mascot belonging to the Leela Hotels Chairman. The villa had a very quaint sitout halfway down the cliff facing the sea.

Kannur beach also is pretty good.

Did you visit the Muthapan temple in Parssinni Kaduvu ?

cheers!
Srini

[snaronikar]

Good write up and well supported by pics. Candle light dinners along sea side with cool breeze are the things to dream for. We had this opportunityin Goa during our recent visit. Waiting for your next edition...Tellicherry

[JMaruru]

Nice write-up! 3 hours for dinner at the restaurent! Must have been some meal!!

[jkdas]

Its like someone jotted down what a voice guided GPS said .Phew.

Muthappan and kallu . Heard lot of stories about Muthappan. Have it in my should visit places one day.

[dadu]

Woke up next day, ordered some tea/ coffee and told the palmgroove staff to prepare an Idli/Vada breakfast. Ate the breakfast and we were out of the hotel by 9:30AM.

Thalassery/ Tellicherry Fort

It took us good 15-20 min to locate the fort as its in one narrow lane and we had to take a full circle of one way in the city to come back and locate the fort, everybody screamed, "there's the fort", this time. Parked and its not big, let the picture speak for themselves. We also hired a guide from here, first it was only for the fort and then we took him for the day for the sightseeing.


The Main entrance


Old Road Roller


Storage place for spices


Light House


St. John Church just besides the fort


Muzhappilangad Beach

A long clean beach, its enchanting. Its Kerala’s only drive-in beach and one could drive the entire length of 4-5 km. There is an unpaved road winding through coconut groves, leading to the beach. The beach is about 5 kilometers long and curves in a wide area providing a good view of Kannur beach on the north. To the South and about 200 metres away from the beach there is a beautiful island called the "Green Island" and our guide was hell bent to take us to this island, which is in the sea and not by boat !!!, I thought he was mad. But this is where most of us enjoyed the most and wished the safari could also swim


Road to the beach


Surrounding Coconut farms


The beach


Fun with Safari and the Sea












Let the water drain now



This is the island he wanted us to visit, I told my wife, we cannot go there water is deep, but the guide insisted and I was still very unsure.


The Island

Mind you, all beaches were extremely clean and well maintained.


Sea birds




Caught the Fishermen with their boats


CPI logo on the beach

To be contd....

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by dadu

This is the island he wanted us to visit, I told my wife, we cannot go there water is deep, but the guide insisted and I was still very unsure.

You can actually walk across when the tide is low.

[snaronikar]

Great pics Dadu..I think you might have washed the car after the salt water (sea) shower to it. Otherwise the parts might get corroded. BTW, who was driving the car and who took the pics in the beach.

I think you forget to mask the no. plate in one of the pics.

[dadu]

The Green Island/ Dharmadam Island

Had to exit Muzhappilangad Beach and them came back again for the way to the Island. Parked the Safari under the Shade and started walking towards the island.







I first told everyone to stay back and let me reece the path, lest we all drown with a mad guide.



Here's me coming back, was holding the phone in one hand and trying to save my Arse from the waves, water level was just below it. Mind you it was quite some distance in the sea, this pict has been zoomed a lot from the beach.


Yippee, everyone conquered the island, only children were left behind with me.


Muzhappilangad Beach from a distance


The whole beach landscape


Kids enjoying while waiting for others to return



Theyyam

Next, the guide took us to a temple where theyyam would be performed although the complete ritual is only scheduled for Saturday's.







Then we decided to break for lunch and we were off to the City Centre situated in the highway itself, just opposite to Hotel Pearl Regency. Since it was already touching 4PM and we were tired, planned for Kalari (ancient martial art) demo for the next day but found the rates too high for Demo, Rs.2000 for 30 min demo, so left it at that and moved back.

Next Part, Kannur/ nearby

[dadu]

Kannur

Later in the evening we decided to visit an ancient temple near the hotel in Kannur, it was a devi temple






Got up in the morning next day and had some puttu for breakfast, today we covered the following.


St. Angelo's Fort

Don Francisco De Almeida of Portuguese constructed this fort in 1505 AD. The Dutch captured the fort from Portuguese in 1663 they sold the fort to the king Ali Raja of Arakkal kingdom.In 1790 the British seized the control over this fort and became one of the important military centres of the British in Malabar. Fort is now under the supervision of the Archaeological Survey of India and found it to be bigger/better than the Tellicherry one. It is also believed that there is a secret underground tunnel in the fort that passes through the sea and leads to the Thalassery Palace, positioned 21 km away.


















Arakkal Museum

Palace of Arakkal Ali Rajas a Muslim royal family. The palace is located 3 km from Kannur, Kerala, India. The palace is located in what is now called Kannur City. The Arakkal family was the only Muslim royal family of Kerala that controlled parts of the coast and Lakshadweep. The Arakkal family did not discriminate between the male and female members of the family when it can to governing the land. The eldest member of the family was made the head and ruler. The male rulers were known as Ali Raja, while the female rulers were called Arakkal Beevis.

The part converted into Museum is mostly built with wood as is seen in the pictures.








The ernstwhile rulers





A Church enroute to Arrakal Museum



Kerala Folklore Academy

Its a govt of india undertaking constituted to preserve and spread the Culture and Art.










Next part: Concluding

[smsrini]

Wonderful snaps. Love the 6th photo of the safari splashing in the waves.

[dadu]

Parassinikkadavu Snake Park

Parassinkkadavu Snake Park is about 16 km away from Kannur town towards NH17 to Mangalore. The Snake Park is a famous landmark in Parassinikkadavu, which is 2 km away from NH 17, enroute from Kannur to Taliparamba. Although I was expecting it to be a exclusively snake, but its kind of a mini-zoo with cramped enclosures for the animals.


Misc snakes


King Cobra kept under glass A/c enclosure






Porcupines




Python


Python



From the snake park we tok the NH17 and ate our lunch at the KSTDC motel and decided to take some rest before going to the Payyambalam Beach close to the hotel.


Payyambalam Beach

Started at around 5:30PM and decided to walk (bad decision) from the hotel as it seemed very near, its a 20-25 min walk but with the kids it became torturous while coming back. We were able to capture some good old palatial houses on the way, amazing architecture.










Dusk


Bustling with people


Evening Sun


The beachline


Ladies enjoying the Sun and Sea


Today, we decided to buy dinner from the chinese restaurant outside, which was good and took the plates etc from the hotel and ate in the room. We also had to make a long drive around the city exploring for a Liquor shop, found one after much asking and driving around for 30min on the highway, as liquor shops are state owned and not many around.

Guide Details:
Mr. Ajaykumar NR, ajaymalabar@gmail.com, 9249993112, he was a jolly good middle aged fellow, laughing away at every opportunity, we enjoyed his guidance.

Palmgroove Review
Location: Good
Parking: Ample
Rooms: Spacious and clean, although sanitary fittings have grown old
Service: Dont expect anything
Food: Dont expect anything

IMO, if you consider this as a Guest house accomodation, that will be a more appropriate word to use for it.

Also I found no street dogs in the places I saw but more of Cats, seems to be unique to Kerala.

Next day we started at 9:30AM from the hotel to Bangalore, filled diesel and were out of the city limits by 10AM, crossed Mananthavady by 12:00PM, Kutta by 12:30, took a break at Kutta for some snacks and moved again by 12:45PM, crossed Nagarhole by 1:30PM and Hunsur by 2:15PM, Reached Indradhanush at Maddur by 5:00PM and had some Masala Dosa/ Neer Dosa before entering Bangalore by 6:30PM.

In total the run was 865 Km's Door-Door which brings me to the end of this travelogue, enjoy!!.