Chennai – Mangalore – Udupi – Bekal Fort

Day 0:

This was a well planned trip more so because of the wedding we were attending. Mangalore has long been a plan for a drive and visit the nearby places; however we wanted to do the same post monsoon to enjoy the beauty of the place. Since the wedding happened in May we decided we will just drive it down for a couple of days.

Started home at 04:15 AM on a Saturday morning. Since it was a new route we were driving to, we were not much aware of the traffic conditions of the route. We wanted to start early so that we reach the city before dusk. The idea was to cover as much distance possible to stop for a break. Unexpectedly as we were nearing Vellore there was some humming sound we started to hear from the left side of the car. It initially started when the vehicle was moving on a left curve and slowly happened to come even with the vehicle going on straight roads. It caused a lot of worry and distraction as the noise levels started to increase. It was more so worrying because we make it a point to check the car completely before heading to the highway and in spite of doing it this noise was something very disturbing.

I called my friend who also owns a garage to check with him and we were contemplating if it was the wheel bearing getting weak or any mis alignment or if it was because of the new set of tyres that we changed just a week before the trip. It was rather confusing since this was happening for the first time in all our drives and the sound kept increasing with speed and at one point of time started coming at very low speed too. 

We found a hotel en route to Krishnagiri and stopped for a short 15 min break, assessed the wheel condition, had a coffee and decided to move on. The noise initially was not there and started all over again. I was searching for any company authorized centres in Hosur so that we could get the vehicle checked as we were worried about taking the risk of driving such a long distance with this constant noise that kept fluctuating.

We stopped for breakfast at Hotel Saravana Bhavan in Krishnagiri at 07:45 AM. Took a half hour break and resumed our journey at 08:15 AM.

I finally decided to call upon chief H V Kumar and pinged him not wanting to disturb. Then till about a certain distance there was no noise and everything seemed perfect. However I spoke to him and explained the noise and he was in turn explaining the possibilities of the noise. He was talking about air passing through the hair like edges on the new tyres, or the outer cap of the wheel being not fitted well, or the mud flaps not in good condition or any small crack in the rubber, etc etc. He clearly explained that if it was a wheel bearing problem it would be there irrespective of the speed of the vehicle and since the noise was fluctuating we could rule out that option.

Our next halt was after Nelamangala. (11:15 AM to 11:30 AM) We stopped at a small joint on the highway and while I was checking the tyres once again I got reminded of HVK mentioning about mud flaps. I saw the mud flap being loose on the left rear side and pulled it and threw it. We resumed our journey and found a significant drop in the noise however there was still little noise here and there.

I asked my husband to stop the vehicle for a moment and pulled out the front mud flap too and wanted to see if that helped. Bingo!!! After that there was no noise. So all this confusion was because of the air passing through which created a complete chaos for us for almost 3 odd hours.  I was happy I spoke to HVK. If not for his idea we would have wasted our time diagnosing nothing at the service centre in Mangalore and wasted out time.

Our next stop was for lunch for half hour at Sakleshpura just before the ghats started. (Between 01:20 PM to 01:50 PM)

We had a simple meal and resumed our journey and went non stop till we reached Mangalore. Reached our destination at 04:50 PM. 

Had to attend the function and we decided to take a rick for the short distance instead of driving in an unknown city after a long drive.

The function was held in a hall inside Sri Gokarnatheshwara temple, Kudroli. It was a beautifully maintained temple and it was glittering in golden colour. It was more of a tourist attraction than of a temple. Had to call it a day post dinner.

 Of course I have to mention that the greenery at this time of the year was least expected and was eye soothing throughout the journey!!

The beautiful two laned roads towards Mangalore

 

Beautiful glittering Kudroli Gokarnath temple

The huge fountain inside the temple

Day 1:

Woke up late after a good much needed sleep. The first half of the day went for the wedding. In the evening decided to visit one of the beaches in Mangalore and zeroed in on TannirBhavi beach which was supposed to be best to view the sunset. We had to take the NH 17 and deviate a little to reach the beach. We reached around 05:15 PM. Being the west coast the sun was no where seeming to go down. We had a nice stroll along the beach before the crowd came in and were ready to shoot the sun going down.

It was a beauty watching the sunset as we do not get that opportunity very often.

The Tannirbhavi beach - Sheer beauty

There he goes! Waiting to go down - finally at 06:50 PM

He does look beautiful when he sets!!

And he is gone finally

Day 2:

Started early and drove towards Udupi. NH 17 was the route. It was about 60 odd kms from Mangalore towards the north. 

Reached Udupi in an hour with all the diversions due to 4 lane work going on. The temple was relatively empty as it was a Monday morning. Had a quick breakfast in one of the small resto inside the mutt area and went for the darshan. Darshan was quick and then we walked around the temple area for a while. Having read about this hotel Mithra Samaj inside the Mutt complex we decided to try it out. I would say it is not as great as it is exaggerated about. The service was poor even it being a Monday morning and sparse crowd. 

View of the Udupi Mutt

We were contemplating between visiting Murudeshwar which was 100 Kms north of Udupi or Bekal fort that was 120 Kms south of Udupi but half way to Mangalore. Finally decided we would keep the return shorter and decided upon Bekal fort, and started our drive at 09:30 AM. Assuming we were going on the NH throughout we didn’t bother checking the road conditions. Between Udupi till the KA border the roads were the same, motor able however with diversions due to 4 lane work happening.

Once we entered KA – KL border the roads were 2 laned till Kasaragod and it was beautiful, however there was lot of traffic. 

Post Kasaragod, the NH diverted through a smaller route and it led on to some completely muddy tracks where roads didn’t exist at all for a distance of almost 15 – 20 Kms. That distance took us almost an hour and fifteen minutes to complete. It was extremely frustrating as there was no work going on and no roads either. We cursed ourselves for having decided to visit the Bekal.

By the time we entered Bekal it was 12:50 PM. We were already tired because of the drive however still managed to see the fort and click some pictures. 

 The non existent roads on a NH

Entrance to the Fort

This was supposed to be the observation tower where they got the entire view of the coast and the neighboring cities!

View of the coast from the Fort

The fort walls

A huge well inside the fort

Once again we had to get ourselves ready for a nightmarish drive along the same route to reach Mangalore. We stopped by at Kasaragod for lunch and headed towards our destination to give ourselves a much needed rest. 

Day 3:

Left Mangalore at 05:30 AM and reached home at 05:45 PM with an hour and half break in between.

It was a little painful in the morning as all of the private buses were entering Mangalore at that time and they were coming at killing speeds.

Two trips yet to be published here. In the month of March did a trip to Ooty, and just got done with a nice long drive to Mangalore, visited the most famous Udupi Sri Krishna temple and The Bekal Fort.

Will be posting my trip travelogue in a couple of days!!!

The dense forests of the Anamalai Ranges - Valparai

Yet another pre planned road trip. Have been wanting to do this trip for long by car though we have done once in the past by other modes. So was pretty much excited about the road trip and as usual I started planning things well in advance. Got to know from a friend about a homestay and got ourselves booked there. There was confusion initially regarding the mixed reviews about the place where we were deciding to stay. 

Day 0: Started from Chennai (Adyar) around 5:00 AM and took the Vellor – Krishnagiri – Dharmapuri – Salem – Kangeyam – Pollachi – Valparai route instead of the usual NH45. (For some reason my husband hates to go on NH 45 may be because he travels to work almost till Chengalpet on a daily basis). So we decided to take our much liked route though it is a few kms more.

 Enroute Valparai

 View of Azhiyar dam from the hills

 View of criss cross roads amidst the dense jungle

 Monkey menace

 Lion tail macaque on the roads

Reached Valparai around 3 ish. We had lunch at Hotel Gowri Shankar, Pollachi. And started our drive towards Valparai. We called the owner of the home stay and he clearly guided us on the route and got ourselves introduced and decided to give a short break before we proceeded for our evening walk. This evening walk was suggested by the owner who also happens to be a naturalist. He was kind enough to accompany us inside the tea gardens which also happens to be the territory of many wild animals. So we went for a nice long walk in the tea gardens and it was one of its kinds as it is not allowed for normal tourists. It was quite an adventurous experience considering that wild animals are there on the prowl. It was a good experience walking and it started getting dark.

Since it was a full moon night we had a beautiful sight that day amidst the mountains. We saw a small light from a distance and suddenly we realized that it was the moon rising. That sight is something that cannot be explained in words. It was absolutely breathtaking. Unfortunately since it was very dark we couldn’t get the camera settings right to capture the same.

The path to walk was a very small single line where you literally have to go one behind another. A little slip would take you down the tea gardens in a jiff. The best was the return walk where except for the lights at some distance we couldn’t see anything. If we had gone alone we couldn’t have got back to the homestay at all. Thankfully since the owner accompanied us he was thorough with the path and we were just trailing him. That was a very simple evening and yet a different one.

 Moon rise amidst the hills

 Captured around 9 in the night. View in the moon light

Day 1: We didn’t make much plans, wanted to go for some bird sightings, however we missed it. Went for a nice long drive along the Sholayar route and the scenery was just breathtaking everywhere. We went for a nice long drive and then headed to a small mess for breakfast. My husband had been long time talking about this place called Chinnakallar. This place apparently is supposed to receiving the highest rainfall in Tamil Nadu. It requires ticket to visit this place. Though my husband has been telling a lot about this place, I was very skeptical because of the leech factor all over again. I have mentioned enough and more about these tiny slimy creatures in my previous blog. But I thought I would take the courage and visit this place as I have heard that its nature at its best.

 Early morning view from the home stay

The other concerning thing was about the elephant menace happening all over the town. We started post breakfast towards Chinnakalar and had to stop at a place to take our tickets from a forest officer. Apparently he told us about a tea factory that got in to shambles that night because of a herd of about 13 raging elephants near that area and we were told that those elephants have gone down on the same path that we were heading to and we were asked to be very careful. Though I was very scared about the whole thing, we still decided to move forward. Since it was a Monday there were not many tourists and hardly one or 2 cars we saw in that route.

We paid for the tickets and started our slow drive towards the Upper Nirar Dam first and then towards Chinnakallar. It was very calm and beautiful drive amidst the forest and we couldn’t speed either ways because of the poor road condition. We reached upper Nirar and we were the only ones there and the forest guard apparently told us about many more wild animal encounters. It all was sounding adventurous from a tourist perspective, however for the kind of facilities these guards get for living in a surrounding where there is no guarantee for life, I felt very miserable. I truly respect such people who work because they have to make those few pennies to survive. It was a matter of life and death for them. I admired that guy for the courage and for tough ordeals they go through.

Road towards Nirar dam

 View of the dam

It was good chatting with him. He showed us a little beyond the dam. He also warned us to drive carefully considering those elephant attacks. We bid him goodbye and drove towards Chinnakallar. It was a very different experience as there were hardly any humans anywhere lest we can expect any, because it was inside the forest. The drive was fun, though my husband noticed that I was very scared. I was not comfortable about that lone drive inside forests. End of the day we would be nothing in front of elephant’s power. I just wanted to reach my destination as quick as possible and move back to my homestay. 

After reaching Chinnakallar there was a guide who was awaiting us, we gave him the tickets and he escorted us inside. My fear was that of the Leech and immediately I questioned him about the Leech before I took a step forward. Thankfully that day it was not raining and hence the surface was not wet. He just warned me not to venture in to the marshy area and just walk on the designated path. I did what he said. As we walked I was astonished with the beauty that was surrounding us. We couldn’t talk. We were just silent amidst nature, the sound of the trees, birds chirping around,  the sound of water at a distance, fresh air around, the aroma of trees and bushes around, the green colour dominating all over and the thick dense forests around. {Some pics below of the dense forests as seen from Chinnakallar)

We had a good time enjoying the beauty around, and hearing similar survival stories from the forest guard out there. I was wondering what kind of protection the government provides for such people. They do not have guarantee for their life. Neither do they have proper facilities for staying. I was shocked to hear when I asked him about what he does when animals come around and all he had to say was run and hide for his life.

After seeing such people, after seeing the kind of life they lead I only feel one thing, that I have been blessed with abundance.  I feel blessed for everything this life has given me and I thank life for the same. I cannot do anything to help them but all I can do is I can pray they live a safe life.

After a very nice and memorable morning we were returning towards the town. I was very anxious till we reached the main area. Once we arrived we headed to a hotel for a nice lunch. There are not many great places around to eat in Valparai, but lot of eateries to make sure you don’t stay hungry.

After a simple meal we went back to the room to rest a while. In the mean time the owner of the place informed us of elephant menace in a place called Nallamudi Poonjolai. He said if we were interested we could drive over to that place as he knew people out there and we can get a good view of watching elephants in their own terrain. We were pretty excited about the idea and around five ish in the evening, we drove towards that place. Our friend spoke to the forest guard there and the elephant caretaker and he was told that the elephants are roaming around in that area.

We reached the spot and were exhilarated beyond words. Seeing animals in their own habitat is something I always keep dreaming about. There are quite a few of them with two small elephants as well.

It started to drizzle and the whole place looked beautiful. The caretaker mentioned to us that if not for the rains he would have taken us much closer to the elephants. That day we learnt more about this sublime animal and its characteristics. Nature is so beautiful and so are its creations. I always used to admire elephants for their majestic looks but that day on started appreciated the gift of nature, the gift of god. Most beautiful experience we had that evening. Post which we drove to a small tea shop on the end of the road and had a hot cup of lemon tea and started our drive back to the room. If not for our friend there we could have never experience such beauty.

The alluring Nallamudi Poonjolai

We headed back and the drive was pretty challenging being in the hills, the rains and it was already dark. On our way back we heard some daunting stories of animal encounters and spent the rest of the evening hearing more and more stories before we hit the bed just before mid night.

Day 2: Next day started our journey back home with loads of memories of the trip with each trip different from the other.

Reading a travel blog can make you travel along

I love writing my travel experiences. Off late have been reading quite a few blogs from trekkers and travelers and am completely awed by their writing and of course the final destination.

India is such a beautiful country and it has got something to offer that I guess no other place in this world can. I haven't stepped out of India and not sure if I can make this comment, however after reading, seeing innumerable posts of various destinations I feel that the country is so rich in fauna and flora and has so much to offer.

Some of the blogs I have read, have taken me along and created an impact on me. I am inspired by such writers and hope some day I would be able to write as beautifully as possible. I am trying to improve upon my way of writing with every blog and hope it becomes better with time.

Coming up next is about my road trip to Valparai - The dense and lush green beauty of the Ananmalai Ranges.