Ride Logs: Ooty Coonoor revisit

Ooty and Coonoor revisit
7th and 8th of June 2008

Bike: Chingismo :)
Agenda:
Ride through the Bandipur forest once again and of course the mountains roads of Ooty and Coonoor
See some of the tourist attractions- Pabbu wanted it.
Accommodation: At Ooty Gate. They hold the award for the lousiest service provider in the entire subcontinent. Only rate seems BIG at the gate.
I can’t forget Pabbu walking to the reception lobby where ‘distinguished’ guests wait, asking for a mug in the bathroom after waiting in the room for more than half an hour. This can be called ‘heights of escalation’.
Food included accommodation package got changed for some technical, hidden reasons. Anyway we did not want to pay them for food. Instead, explored Ooty town and could find some real nice biriyani and mutton.
Two “nuts” crossing the town on Bike to find a particular restaurant in the middle of the night, wearing shorts and T shirt, ignoring Ooty’s cold weather…. that cop on duty at the signal wearing a no. of sweaters, but still shivering… I’m sure he wouldn’t forget the scene for a long time.

Started from Bangalore at 4:15am, this was the earliest start I’ve ever had. Pabbu was a decent, calm and quiet pillion. Thankfully he does not add much weight to the rolling (thunder motorcycling) system and alter the center of gravity much.

I took the roads through inside the Mysore city for the first time and had a glimpse of the Palace after a very long time. It’s really a charming view in the early hour of the day- golden sunrays of early morning reflects on the golden minar of the palace.

I did not forget to stop at Kalhatty and have a look at the Dutchy’s den. It is newly painted and seems that the road to there is repaired. Proof is the Innova seen on top. Once again I felt the Mudumala route a steep climb- this time because of the extra pillion weight on the bike. Anyway Chingismo did a fantastic job giving no issues on the entire ride.

Pykara lakeside visit was just for the sake of it. Lousy crowd have destroyed the charm of that place. But the trek in the forest from the drinking water reservoir site was the experience of the day. On the way, from some spots the Dodabetta Peak is visible. But we could never go closer to it, coz finally there wasn’t any idea on which direction we were walking. There was the first time monsoon rain decided to pour on us. Anyway wet chickens could return to the base without much causality, but chingismo’s one slip and slide for few meters at the unused most slippery forest road (well, almost a road) and a near fall was inevitable.

Security cops sent us back from the Dodabetta Peak’s entrance check post. They shut at 5pm and opens only at 8 in the morning. So we had to go back in the morning again. Aha, what a traffic in that narrow road… and the smell of burnt clutch plates and break shoes. The atmospheric temperature at that narrow strip of road is much higher and doesn’t come par with Ooty climate at all.

Coonoor railway station and loco shed were revisited again… and the 1904 railway tunnel and bridge too.
Sunday afternoon:
Lamb’s rock and Dolphin’s nose- two good view points and decent enough places to spend some time because of very less no of visitors.

After a real good sleep we started back to Bangalore on Monday morning at 6:15 and reached home at 11:15, just took a half an hour break for food. No rain and no sun- the ideal climate for a ride… Thankfully the rear breaks improved after the slopes in the wet morning conditions when it was a real big concern.