Although I was struggling with all the luggage - a backpack, a laptop bag and a bike bag, it felt good getting down at the
Trivandrum railway station. The 4 day kerala ride was now a reality. I spotted Manu on the station and we drove
down to his ancestral home, just couple of kms from Trivandrum
Station, where I would be staying that night.
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| Putting the bikes together. |
Abhi arrived the same evening.
Together, we set the bikes up, took them for a small test ride. We
were all set for the long awaited Kerala Monsoon Ride – A 4 day
bike ride through the Hills , forests, backwaters and beaches of
Kerala. We were all very excited!
Sumit , Ravi and Magin arrived by the
next day morning. After a very heavy breakfast at Manu's place, 6 of
us set of for the much awaited tour.
Rain Drenched Ponmudi
After shepharding us out of the town,
its was time for Manu to go back and make arrangements for his
Younger son's birthday party in the evening. With our luggage in the
panniers, the 5 of us set off from there. Destination Ponmudi,
around 50 km from there.
The initial plan was to have a heavy
breakfast( which we did have at Manu's house), skip lunch, and ride
on till the top of Ponmudi. The plan got altered on the way, and we
ended up having a heavy lunch as well. Nobody complained as everyone
of us started falling in love with the Kerala cuisine.
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| At one of the hairpins |
The climb started roughly 10 km from
our lunch point. For many of us, it was the longest climb we had
attempted till then (As Ravi acknolwledged later, first time in his
life he used the smaller chainring:-)). I tried to maintain a rhythm
which I thought will last till the top. I was trailing Abhi's
wheel. Ravi was a little ahead, but I could see him. Sumit was
behind me and Magin had already dissappeared ahead. With distance though, the gaps started increasing. After around 30
min of climbing, I saw Magin, Ravi and Abhi waiting at one of the
turns, taking a breather. That turned out to be one of the many
banana break's we had in kerala ( we always had one of our pannier's stuffed with bananas) . Started riding again. We were kind of together
till halfway into the climb, and then the gradient kicked off. And it
started pouring as well. The forest
around was breathtaking, and at each turn I could appreciate the
view from the top. It felt lovely climbing ponmudi in rain,
something you can only experience. I stopped a couple of times more. Ultimately, by around 6 pm, I reached the top, with the others
already waiting.
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| An attempt to get the wet clothes dried up for the next days' ride |
The Rubber Plantations
We started the second day with Ponmudi descent. Manu and Hari joined us midday as
planned. Even through there were no big climbs that day, the
terrain remained seriously rolling. To the extent, that Ravi
continued on the small ring most of the time :-) But the highlight of
the day had to be the road leading to the Chittar Dam .
It rolled
through the rubber plantations, the tall textured tree trunks of the
rubber trees providing sufficient contrast to the greenery around.
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| By the backwaters of Chittar Dam |
And then it was time to ride
down to Manu's house at Kulasekhara. The house was recently build by
Manu as a weekend getaway, and looked inviting. It was perfect
place for us to be after a day's hard ride.
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| In front of Manu's House in Kulasekhara |
The Terrace Barbeque
The plan was to have a terrace barbeque
at Manu's house. Tomatoes, Onions, Capsicum and Chicken were on
menu. And a barbeque is incomplete without beer. While Abhi, Manu and
a few others were busy litting the coal, myself along with Hari and
Sumit worked on the marination. Abhi took the charge of the grill.
After a wet day, it felt nice sitting by the terrace near the fire,
looking at the stars, sipping beer and catching up with
buddies. The hot food disappeared evrytime they were dished out of
the grills.
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| Grill Time |
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| The barbeque platter served on banana leaves |
Does Fish taste better after long
climbs?
On the third day, we had plans to ride
down to the Kodayar Dam. So after the first couple of hours of riding, we
entered the forests. The elevation was illusive ,the climbs
relentless. Road condition was patchy, but the
forest had its own charm. The dam was around 15 km from the forest checkpost. Around 1 pm we reached a small bridge and a view point.
The dam was still another 2 km to go and all of us were tired and
hungry.
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| Turn around point |
We decided to turn back and stopped at a tiny place for one
of the best lunches I ever had. The local fish fry was delicious and I
couldn't stop myself from multiple serving.
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| The group post the fabulous fish lunch |
The ride along the chittar dam 2
On the same day, on our way back from
the dam, we took a road that passes through what can be described
as a valley with pineaple plantation on one side and hills on other.
There was not a soul and it felt almost like a private road. The road
then led us to the Chittar Dam 2 and we couldn't stop appreciating
nature's bounty.
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| The backwaters of Chittar Dam |
The Tall Coffee glasses and the
Kadi's
The whole trip to
Kerala would be incomplete without a mention of the multiple snack
stops at the tea/coffee shops. I particularly liked the tall coffee
glasses. And all those mouthwatering snack items used to make us actually look forward to the stops. My favourite was the ripe banana
fry (pazham pori) - a slice of ripe banana, fried with coat of gram flour.
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| One o the many breaks |
Life is a Beach
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| One of those pristine, non touristy stretches of beach, a few km from Varkala |
After 3 hard days of riding, we hit
the beaches of kerala. . End of the day 3, we were at Kovalam.Its was
a different world. More touristy, less pristine . On the last day we
rode down to Varkala. Thanks to Abhi and his navgational skills, we
actually located a stretch of beautiful white sand beach where you
don't see a soul. It was right out from one of those movies.
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| Hari's Beach House, the place where we spent the last night in Kerala |
The Backwater Cruise
By the 4th
day afternoon, the Ride had ended, but Hari had one last bit of
surprise planned for us. Not far from Hari's ancestral home near
Varakala, the backwater connects to the old canal way to allepy. We
drove down to the Jetty and boarded the private boat rented out by
Hari. The next couple of hours were bliss. As the expert boatman
channelled the boat through the backwater, the vista changed. The
coast line was primarily compromised of forests , coconut
plantation, occasional old architectures .The boat felt like a
cradle , the serenity almost making you drowsy. It definitely was one of
the most memorable part of the trip.
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| The boat ride |
Next day we drove
back to Manu's Home in Trivandrum, from where we left for Hyderabad.
It was a trip that surpassed my expectation, a trip that would make
myself wait eagerly for the next one.
