Have you ever felt Excitment, Discouragment, Lost, Frustrated, Daunted, Scared, Mesmerized, Amazed all in a single day?
If you have then you will know how we felt in our trip from Bangalore to Coimbatore on Bike.
Google Maps showed that if we took the Bangalore-Kollegal-Sathyamangalam-Coimbatore Route then the total distance will be around 320kms. My friend Shubhro has a 2009 model of Pulsar 150 cc. The max we have gone on this bike is 600 km round trip from Bangalore to Coorg. We expected this trip to be around 670-680 kms since we decided to return via Ooty. But when we reached Bangalore our trip meter read 780.2 km.
Bike: Pulsar 150 cc 2009 model.
People: Shubhro (Rider) and Alok (Still a pillion).
Route Taken: Bangalore-Maddur-Malavalli-Kollegal-"Lesser Known Road"-Sathyamangalam-Coimbatore
Trip Meter Reading in Bangalore: 0 km
Trip Meter Reading in Coimbatore: 346.4 km
Date: 24 July, 2010
Started: 5.30 am, Reached: 4 pm
Duration: 10.30 hrs
Recommendation: Maddur-Malavalli (SH-33) route is not good. Dont make the mistake that we made. SH-17A (Lesser Known Road) between Kollegal and Sathyamangalam is to be taken at your own risk.
"Jai Hanuman, lets rock..." and we hit the roads at 5.30 in the morning. We knew that the Kanakapura-Malavalli stretch through NH209 is a nightmare for any biker. So we had already decided to take the Mysore road route till Maddur and then turn left to Malavalli. Bangalore to Maddur (80kms) was a pretty decent ride. Early morning, no traffic, decent road, cool weather. We halted around 6:15 am at Kamat restaurant in Ramanagara (around 30 kms before Maddur) for breakfast.
At Maddur we took a left toward Malavalli Main Road (SH-33). This stretch (around 20 km) of the road was pretty bad. Lots of pot-holes, cattle on the road, etc. It took us more than an hour to cross this stretch.
At Malavali we hit the NH209 towards Kollegal. This was a pretty decent road (compared to what we came through), but still it didn't seem like a National Highway. We reached Kollegal around 9.30 am and halted for a tea break.
Here we asked some locals the direction for Coimbatore. BIG MISTAKE. They showed us a road which will take us directly to Sathyamnangalam and then we could go to Coimbatore. We took their advice and followed the "Lesser known Road". BIGGER MISTAKE. Never deviate from your decided route unless you are fully prepared to take the risk. What came next was totally unexpected. We were on SH-17A. The width of the road started decreasing and pretty soon we were on the worst road I've ever seen. Shubhro however disagrees with me. According to him there was no road at all and we were just riding over muddy paths through layers of dust.
The road was full of pot-holes. Or rather we can say there were only pot-holes with patches of muddy roads in between. Motorcross Madness bikers would really love this road. There were Dogs, Cows, Goats, Sheeps roaming around freely on the road. Then came a stretch where even birds like Crows, Sparrows, Mynahs were walking, literally walking on the road. And the funniest (rather frustrating) part was that even this road had speed breakers on it. You'll have to be daring enough to take your bike over 25 kph speed on this road. We had to suffer this road for another 3-4 hours which seemed like ages. Every nut, bolt and bone ached for a proper road!
The scariest part was that we had already crossed the rural area of Karnataka and for the last few hours we were going through the forest area of the ghat section. There was no settlement to be seen anywhere at all. And we didn't had any provision with us. No toolkit to repair our bike, limited petrol, no food, nothing at all. Whats worst? The GPS was not able to locate us on Google Maps and hence we were directionless. (Note: SH-17A is not on Google Maps. Later we found this route in OVI Maps as you can see in the picture). On top of that the area was full of signs telling us "Elephants Have Right of Way. Do Not Obstruct". We were lucky enough not to meet one. Going back was out of question so we kept following the road.
Around 1 pm we reached a check-post at the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Chamarajnagar Wildlife Division (Well I couldn't remember this name. I copied from the picture below). There was a barricade stopping us from going furthur. This scared the hell out of us as there were no people to be seen around that barricade. What if the road is closed and we have to turn back!!! The thought itself was scary. There was a small room next to the barricade and we saw a person sleeping inside. We woke him up and asked if we can go forward. The look on his face told us that he rarely saw any traveler in that area, that too bikers. He assured us that the road will be better and Sathyamangalam was only about 30 kms from there. We were relieved.
The road ahead was much better that what we came through. At least we can call it a proper road. Even the scenic beauty of the area improved a lot.
The only good thing that happened in the last few hours was that the weather was not bad. Pretty soon we crossed the Karnataka border and entered Tamil Nadu. Automatically you can feel the difference in the quality of he road in these two States. Tamil Nadu's roads are far better that Karnataka, and we were still going on SH-17A. The density of the trees also started increasing and we were properly into a forest now. We even saw deers and peacock too on this road.
After riding for another hour or so, we finally hit NH209 and then going through some hairpin bends and pretty curves in the ghat section we finally reached Sathyamangalam. This was a welcome relief for us. There was this sense of achievement which we cant mention in words.
We took a short break there and hit the road again toward Coimbatore. It was already past 2.30 now and we still had another 70 kms to cover. But the rest of the journey was pretty cool with no tension at all.
Sathyamangalam to Coimbatore is like a racing circuit with fast straight lines, S bends, Z bends, curves and strictly two lanes. Shubhro could easily cruise at an average of 70 kph on NH209 with no obstruction. We hit traffic only after we reached Coimbatore around 3.30 pm. It took us another half an hour to reach our friends house which was another 8-10 kms from Coimbatore.
Route: Coimbatore-Mettupalayam-Coonoor-Ooty-Mudumalai National Park-Bandipur-Gundlupet-Mysore-Bangalore
Trip Meter Reading in Coimbatore: 368.5 km
Trip Meter Reading in Bangalore: 780.2 km
Date: 25 July, 2010
Started: 7.30 am, Reached: 9 pm
Duration: 13.30 hrs
Recommendation : Coonoor-Ooty-Mudumalai National Park-Bandipur route is a treat to the eyes. The only frustrating part was the Sunday Evening traffic on Mysore Road.
We had breakfast in Coimbatore itself and then at 7.30 in the morning we hit the road. Early morning on a Sunday, there was no traffic in Coimbatore. So we had an easy time in cruising NH-209 but soon turned right to NH-67 towards Mettupalayam. The road was good and the weather ... beautiful.
We reached Mettupalayam in about half an hour. After Mettupalayam the hilly region of Nilgiri (Queen of Hills) started. As the ascent started our speed decreased automatically.
After about 1.30 hrs we reached Coonor. The place is beautiful. We halted there to enjoy the beauty of the place.
We moved on towards Ooty (Udgamandalam) and were awestruck by its beauty. What can I say about Ooty!!! Its a place to fall in love with. Once we reached there we really didnt wanted to leave. But we didnt had enough time to stay there. The only place we went in Ooty was the Lovedale Station. We reached there around 11.30 am. Ooty is also famous for its toy-train which halts at this station. The station master said that the next train will come around 2.30 pm. We took some snaps and roamed around in Ooty and then moved on resolving to come back to Ooty some day with more time in hand.
As soon as we left Ooty is started to rain. The road was good, but slippery. We decided to wait for the rain to stop. The road was slippery and a bit muddy along the side and our bike skidded while stopping and both of us were on the ground. Damn! We travelled more than 100km on the worst possible road and didnt fall, but we fell on such a beautiful road.
Well no harm done. Both were back on our feet and after halting for 10-15 mins we were back on the road.
But this time we had to be more careful while riding as the weather had turned a bit nasty for the bikers (well beautiful for a spectator). We were literally moving through the clouds which were raining most of the time. Visibility was very low and we had to move forward with utmost care. But the experience was beautiful. We went along NH-67 which was the safer and longer route instead of the shorter SH-67 which would lead us to several hairpin bends.
After about an hour and a half we reached the Mudumalai National Park. The weather was clear and the road was dry. We could easily cruise on this road.
After cruising for around half an hour we reached the Tamil Nadu - Karnataka border. Next we were cruising through the Bandipur Reserve Forest along NH-67.
Bandipur to Gundlupet was an easy ride, with good weather and road. We reached Gundlupet at around 4 pm where we halted to have some snacks (no lunch) and butt break.
From Gundlupet we went along NH-212 toward Mysore where we reached around 5 pm. We had decided not to halt there but luck was not at our side. Just as we were about to leave Mysore along SH-17 our bike started to wobble. We got down and saw that the back tyre was flat. We asked an auto-driver if any puncture repair shop is nearby. They told us that there was one about half a km from that place. The tyre was in a very bad shape but we were in no state at all to pull a 150 cc Pulsar. There was no way the bike could have carried both of us, so Shubhro went on the bike looking for a repair shop and I had to walk for around 500-600m with the back-pack on my shoulder. It seemed like miles. At the repair shop we found that the condition of the tube was really pathetic and we had to get it changed.
At around 5.45 pm we moved ahead. We decided to cover as much distance as we can till the day-light is there. We didn’t stopped for another one and a half hour. The road was good with no traffic. At around 7.15 pm we reached the Kamat Restaurant in Ramanagar and had dinner there. After dinner we moved on for Bangalore. Here we hit traffic as soon as we entered Bangalore. One should always avoid the Mysore road on Sunday afternoon if they can. It took us a long time to cross the traffic and we reached home around 9 pm in the night.
Overall we had an experience of a life time throughout the journey.
Thanks for going through this log. Happy touring to all.
Cheers.
Alok
Google Maps showed that if we took the Bangalore-Kollegal-Sathyamangalam-Coimbatore Route then the total distance will be around 320kms. My friend Shubhro has a 2009 model of Pulsar 150 cc. The max we have gone on this bike is 600 km round trip from Bangalore to Coorg. We expected this trip to be around 670-680 kms since we decided to return via Ooty. But when we reached Bangalore our trip meter read 780.2 km.
Bike: Pulsar 150 cc 2009 model.
People: Shubhro (Rider) and Alok (Still a pillion).
Bangalore to Coimbatore
Decided Route: Bangalore-Maddur-Malavalli-Kollegal-Chamarajnagar-Sathyamangalam-CoimbatoreRoute Taken: Bangalore-Maddur-Malavalli-Kollegal-"Lesser Known Road"-Sathyamangalam-Coimbatore
Trip Meter Reading in Bangalore: 0 km
Trip Meter Reading in Coimbatore: 346.4 km
Date: 24 July, 2010
Started: 5.30 am, Reached: 4 pm
Duration: 10.30 hrs
Recommendation: Maddur-Malavalli (SH-33) route is not good. Dont make the mistake that we made. SH-17A (Lesser Known Road) between Kollegal and Sathyamangalam is to be taken at your own risk.
"Jai Hanuman, lets rock..." and we hit the roads at 5.30 in the morning. We knew that the Kanakapura-Malavalli stretch through NH209 is a nightmare for any biker. So we had already decided to take the Mysore road route till Maddur and then turn left to Malavalli. Bangalore to Maddur (80kms) was a pretty decent ride. Early morning, no traffic, decent road, cool weather. We halted around 6:15 am at Kamat restaurant in Ramanagara (around 30 kms before Maddur) for breakfast.
At Maddur we took a left toward Malavalli Main Road (SH-33). This stretch (around 20 km) of the road was pretty bad. Lots of pot-holes, cattle on the road, etc. It took us more than an hour to cross this stretch.
At Malavali we hit the NH209 towards Kollegal. This was a pretty decent road (compared to what we came through), but still it didn't seem like a National Highway. We reached Kollegal around 9.30 am and halted for a tea break.
Here we asked some locals the direction for Coimbatore. BIG MISTAKE. They showed us a road which will take us directly to Sathyamnangalam and then we could go to Coimbatore. We took their advice and followed the "Lesser known Road". BIGGER MISTAKE. Never deviate from your decided route unless you are fully prepared to take the risk. What came next was totally unexpected. We were on SH-17A. The width of the road started decreasing and pretty soon we were on the worst road I've ever seen. Shubhro however disagrees with me. According to him there was no road at all and we were just riding over muddy paths through layers of dust.
The road was full of pot-holes. Or rather we can say there were only pot-holes with patches of muddy roads in between. Motorcross Madness bikers would really love this road. There were Dogs, Cows, Goats, Sheeps roaming around freely on the road. Then came a stretch where even birds like Crows, Sparrows, Mynahs were walking, literally walking on the road. And the funniest (rather frustrating) part was that even this road had speed breakers on it. You'll have to be daring enough to take your bike over 25 kph speed on this road. We had to suffer this road for another 3-4 hours which seemed like ages. Every nut, bolt and bone ached for a proper road!
The scariest part was that we had already crossed the rural area of Karnataka and for the last few hours we were going through the forest area of the ghat section. There was no settlement to be seen anywhere at all. And we didn't had any provision with us. No toolkit to repair our bike, limited petrol, no food, nothing at all. Whats worst? The GPS was not able to locate us on Google Maps and hence we were directionless. (Note: SH-17A is not on Google Maps. Later we found this route in OVI Maps as you can see in the picture). On top of that the area was full of signs telling us "Elephants Have Right of Way. Do Not Obstruct". We were lucky enough not to meet one. Going back was out of question so we kept following the road.
Around 1 pm we reached a check-post at the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Chamarajnagar Wildlife Division (Well I couldn't remember this name. I copied from the picture below). There was a barricade stopping us from going furthur. This scared the hell out of us as there were no people to be seen around that barricade. What if the road is closed and we have to turn back!!! The thought itself was scary. There was a small room next to the barricade and we saw a person sleeping inside. We woke him up and asked if we can go forward. The look on his face told us that he rarely saw any traveler in that area, that too bikers. He assured us that the road will be better and Sathyamangalam was only about 30 kms from there. We were relieved.
The road ahead was much better that what we came through. At least we can call it a proper road. Even the scenic beauty of the area improved a lot.
The only good thing that happened in the last few hours was that the weather was not bad. Pretty soon we crossed the Karnataka border and entered Tamil Nadu. Automatically you can feel the difference in the quality of he road in these two States. Tamil Nadu's roads are far better that Karnataka, and we were still going on SH-17A. The density of the trees also started increasing and we were properly into a forest now. We even saw deers and peacock too on this road.
After riding for another hour or so, we finally hit NH209 and then going through some hairpin bends and pretty curves in the ghat section we finally reached Sathyamangalam. This was a welcome relief for us. There was this sense of achievement which we cant mention in words.
We took a short break there and hit the road again toward Coimbatore. It was already past 2.30 now and we still had another 70 kms to cover. But the rest of the journey was pretty cool with no tension at all.
Sathyamangalam to Coimbatore is like a racing circuit with fast straight lines, S bends, Z bends, curves and strictly two lanes. Shubhro could easily cruise at an average of 70 kph on NH209 with no obstruction. We hit traffic only after we reached Coimbatore around 3.30 pm. It took us another half an hour to reach our friends house which was another 8-10 kms from Coimbatore.
Coimbatore to Bangalore
The return trip was awesome. The road, the scenic beauty, the weather, all were good; in fact great. We had already decided to return via Ooty. We didnt had any time to stop there but going through it was also a good experience.Route: Coimbatore-Mettupalayam-Coonoor-Ooty-Mudumalai National Park-Bandipur-Gundlupet-Mysore-Bangalore
Trip Meter Reading in Coimbatore: 368.5 km
Trip Meter Reading in Bangalore: 780.2 km
Date: 25 July, 2010
Started: 7.30 am, Reached: 9 pm
Duration: 13.30 hrs
Recommendation : Coonoor-Ooty-Mudumalai National Park-Bandipur route is a treat to the eyes. The only frustrating part was the Sunday Evening traffic on Mysore Road.
We had breakfast in Coimbatore itself and then at 7.30 in the morning we hit the road. Early morning on a Sunday, there was no traffic in Coimbatore. So we had an easy time in cruising NH-209 but soon turned right to NH-67 towards Mettupalayam. The road was good and the weather ... beautiful.
We reached Mettupalayam in about half an hour. After Mettupalayam the hilly region of Nilgiri (Queen of Hills) started. As the ascent started our speed decreased automatically.
After about 1.30 hrs we reached Coonor. The place is beautiful. We halted there to enjoy the beauty of the place.
We moved on towards Ooty (Udgamandalam) and were awestruck by its beauty. What can I say about Ooty!!! Its a place to fall in love with. Once we reached there we really didnt wanted to leave. But we didnt had enough time to stay there. The only place we went in Ooty was the Lovedale Station. We reached there around 11.30 am. Ooty is also famous for its toy-train which halts at this station. The station master said that the next train will come around 2.30 pm. We took some snaps and roamed around in Ooty and then moved on resolving to come back to Ooty some day with more time in hand.
As soon as we left Ooty is started to rain. The road was good, but slippery. We decided to wait for the rain to stop. The road was slippery and a bit muddy along the side and our bike skidded while stopping and both of us were on the ground. Damn! We travelled more than 100km on the worst possible road and didnt fall, but we fell on such a beautiful road.
Well no harm done. Both were back on our feet and after halting for 10-15 mins we were back on the road.
But this time we had to be more careful while riding as the weather had turned a bit nasty for the bikers (well beautiful for a spectator). We were literally moving through the clouds which were raining most of the time. Visibility was very low and we had to move forward with utmost care. But the experience was beautiful. We went along NH-67 which was the safer and longer route instead of the shorter SH-67 which would lead us to several hairpin bends.
After about an hour and a half we reached the Mudumalai National Park. The weather was clear and the road was dry. We could easily cruise on this road.
After cruising for around half an hour we reached the Tamil Nadu - Karnataka border. Next we were cruising through the Bandipur Reserve Forest along NH-67.
Bandipur to Gundlupet was an easy ride, with good weather and road. We reached Gundlupet at around 4 pm where we halted to have some snacks (no lunch) and butt break.
From Gundlupet we went along NH-212 toward Mysore where we reached around 5 pm. We had decided not to halt there but luck was not at our side. Just as we were about to leave Mysore along SH-17 our bike started to wobble. We got down and saw that the back tyre was flat. We asked an auto-driver if any puncture repair shop is nearby. They told us that there was one about half a km from that place. The tyre was in a very bad shape but we were in no state at all to pull a 150 cc Pulsar. There was no way the bike could have carried both of us, so Shubhro went on the bike looking for a repair shop and I had to walk for around 500-600m with the back-pack on my shoulder. It seemed like miles. At the repair shop we found that the condition of the tube was really pathetic and we had to get it changed.
At around 5.45 pm we moved ahead. We decided to cover as much distance as we can till the day-light is there. We didn’t stopped for another one and a half hour. The road was good with no traffic. At around 7.15 pm we reached the Kamat Restaurant in Ramanagar and had dinner there. After dinner we moved on for Bangalore. Here we hit traffic as soon as we entered Bangalore. One should always avoid the Mysore road on Sunday afternoon if they can. It took us a long time to cross the traffic and we reached home around 9 pm in the night.
Overall we had an experience of a life time throughout the journey.
Thanks for going through this log. Happy touring to all.
Cheers.
Alok
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