Republic day ride with Old friends

I think this ride with avenger and blue fish was being planned since the 19th century or something, really. Am just so glad that things fell in place and we set out!! A big thanks for the boys not in the game for making this ride!! :) To add to the anticipation, I could not wait to load those new cramster colts and roll :)


Day 1          : Mysore – Nanjangud – Gundlupet – Kalpetta - Pookote lake - Kalpetta
Distance      : 168 Km

I hardly slept the previous night! Mulling over loading the saddle bags, did a dry loading, to check out the way to secure the harnesses and stuff. Republic day began early, at 06:00 Hrs, and me and blue fish headed to the junction near avengers's home. It was cold, but Rakshith's full hand Pro rider gloves saved the day for me. Thanks man!!

So the classic 350, the avenger and my 150 Dts i headed out on the ring road. Somewhere near betta we felt that we must stop for a bike photoshoot, here are the results:

Fish's ride

Fish and his classic bask

I am out of words!

One picture is reviewed

 Avenging the sun

I think we spent an hour here, and clicked bucket loads of pictures!! As it was the golden hour, it was a great time :)

Traffic was sparse. By the lake in Nanjangud, we longed for another stop and more pictures :) hey, we were in no hurry

Fish does a bane :D

Spot 7 differences :P

After a few more clicks, we headed to Nanjangud for a good breakfast, and set out to Gundulpet. I had done this route two weeks ago, and it was a true pleasure to ride on this stretch :) Open stretches, sparse traffic, enchanting surroundings.

We stopped past Gundulpet for a butt break. And headed out towards Bandipur! This stretch is wonderful too! With glimpses of the hills around us, we zip through the  long winding roads. It does not seem like we are heading to a forest - there are many open spaces, and the mind and eye wander.

Bandipur was calm, beautiful, and surprisingly brown! Was a little surprised. Summer must be coming close soon?

Bandipur roads - please do not over speed!

Three musketeers

At one place, there was a long queue of vehicles waiting ... for a herd of elephants to cross the road. I was very happy that people actually heed to the signs 'Elephant crossing', and 'wildlife has the right of way' :) Complete and utter respect for the pachyderms, and very rightly so!!

Mean biker boys!!

Framed!

Once we enter Kerala, the roads get a little bumpy. Here we are somewhere along the way:

Status update ;)

While I fiddled with tungsten balance:

Does this compo work?

Once we enter Kerala, we go on the NH 212 road to Calicut. The landscape changes again from forests to greenery tamed by man. We get some pretty farms and fields on the way. Quite a scenic ride. Roads are pretty nice, too. We reached Sultan Bathery, and headed to Kalpetta, our luggage dump point. We reached Kalpetta at noon, and checked into Hotel Affas. Decent place with no frills attached. The plus point being, it is a complex a little away from the highway, with a secure parking area. Very important point! Oh, and for all you veggies, fear not. We have an Udupi hotel right next door!

We dumped our luggage in the room, freshened up, and went to hotel PPS to satiate our growling stomachs. Food was excellent! There was a strong possibility of overeating and crashing back in the room later :) Somehow will power lured us beyond. We set out with an aim to visit at least one tourist place now that we were in Wayanad!

 The beautiful tea estates begin to appear as we ride past Kalpetta. The rainy season is the best time for this area, when green would be in abundance and the beauty, alluring. We could not control not taking a detour to this estate. Beautiful place.

The estate and the dream

Detour

Pookote Lake
              Beyond Kalpetta, Pookote lake is a picturesque lake, with hills surrounding it, and with a pathway to walk around the lake. Being a long weekend, it was really crowded! And I mean, really crowded! Fish had a heart - in- gill moment, when a chap in a zen scraped his Bullet, while the zen guy decided to take an abrupt reverse! We gave him a not-so-zen earful.

Pookote lake is pretty

 We walked around the lake and exercised photographic limits and boundaries to the extreme. Fish also learnt a lot from the photowalk. Results:

Gravity?

Me clicking the above pic :P

Tea time lapse

Post pookote , it was time for another tea break at a roadside stall. After all that's the real deal, is it not?

The machines

There is someone on avenger's shoulder!!

And just a few turns after tea:

I love my helmet,bike and this pic a lot :D Thanks to  blue fish for clicking!

After this, we got back, listened to some good music, spoke about life, and called it a day in high spirits ;)


Day 2          : Kalpetta - Gundlupet - Nanjangud - Mysore
Distance      : 139 Km

Got up, and there was a lot of mist outside, which was nice! Cleaned the bikes, gobbled good breakfast at the Udupi hotel in the complex and set out to Mysore! Just out of Kalpetta, a beautiful coffee and pepper farm tempted us, so we did some off-roading and went into the farm :)

The farm, the path and the holy Trinity

Ze peppers

Just trying to get some good light

Throughout the trip, fish had shown us this Black and white picture of a biker, helmet on, next to his bike. Looked like it was clicked somewhere in Leh. And it was beautiful! We went crazy drooling over it. We decided that to recreate the picture would be the ultimate tribute. Just before Bandipur, we found a spot which would do justice to this noble purpose. Avenger rode through the woods and we happily devoted the next hour perfecting this art. Results are good, i'll say :

A befitting tribute

In the woods

Add caption

After this we headed towards Mysore. It was a great trip to catch up with old friends. It is really surprising that this is the first two-day trip with these fellows! Road trips, especially with friends whom you have known for ages, are truly liberating. We really should do more of such stuff, people! Don't grow old so soon :)