Winter Ride to Kolli Hills, Valparai & Munnar

Plan:

Day1: Blore-Hosur-Krishnagiri -Dharmapuri - Thoppur-Salem(A2B)-Sendamangalam-Kollihills-Halt (287kms)

Start at 5am


Place to Stay: SKGV Lodge, Kolli Hills.
http://skgvlodge.com/tariff.php
Reservation : 91 96590-55699, 91 04286-294383

ATMs and Petrol Pump only at Semmedu(foot hills)

After Salem, Childrens theme park "Paravasa Ulagam" located on the left side of the road. Take Left turn here.  approx 19-20KM from the Seelanaikampatti circle in Salem. There's also TNSTC Rasipuram bus depot here.

Take the right turn at "Pirivu road" and continue towards Kalapanaikampatti.
As you reach Kalapanaikampatti town, start looking for the temple(in the picture) on the right side of the road. Just after the temple, take the left turn for Kolli Hills. Keep following straight all the way upto Semmedu, the town in Kolli Hills.

Places to see in Kolli Hills:
Arapaleeswarar Temple,
Must Visit Place -Agaya Gangai(300ft high water falls 1 km from Arapaleeshwarar temple)
Seeku parai View Point, Selur Nadu View point
Boat House, Botanical Garden,
Water falls: Namma Aruvi and Masila Aruvi

Stay Options

Name	Address	Contact
Nallathambi Resort	Semmedu  - Kolli Hills	94432-09842, 73736-12555,90479-12555 reservation@nallathambiresort.com
Kolli Hill Resort	Semmedu – Kolli Hills	04286-247487 / 9444404220 / 9626700897
PA Resort Holiday Inn	http://www.paresortkollihills.com/contact-us/	94440 33440/ 94452 96481/ 94452 96483 reservationatparesort@gmail.com
Youth Hostel	Near Arapaleeswarar Temple	P04286-247425

Day2: Kolli Hills- Pollachi - Valparai (halt)


Route: Kolli Hills-Kangeyam-Palladam-Pollachi-Valparai


Valparai:  

http://www.valparaionline.com/bestspots_valparai.html
http://www.valparaihotels.com/traiffreservation.php
http://www.valparaitour.in/valparai-resorts/

Places to see in Valparai:

Sholayar Dam
Aliyar Dam
Athirapilly Falls (Must Visit)
Chinnakallar Falls (South India's Sirapunchi)
Nallamudi View Point

Day3: Valparai-Athirapally-Valparai-Other Places-Valparai (halt)

Athirappilly Waterfalls – Vazhachal – Malakkappara – Upper Sholayar Dam – Uralikal – Valparai

Day4: Valparai- Bangalore or Valparai-Top Slip/ Parambikulam via Anamalai-Pollachi-Blore.

Route1: (fastest) Valparai-Pollachi-Palladam-Kangeyam-Perundurai-Bhavani-Salem-Thoppur-Dharmapuri-Krishnagiri-Hosur-Blore

Route2: (Not bad) Valparai-Pollachi-Sultanpet-Somanur-Annur-Puliampatti-Sathyamangalam-Anthiyur-Mettur-Thoppur-Dharmapuri-Krishnagiri-Hosur-Blore

Route3: Valparai-Annur-Puliyampatti-BhavaniSagar-Chamarajanagar-Kollegala-Malavalli-Blore

Route4: Valparai – Attakatti – Aliyar – Pollachi – Palladam – Tiruppur – Gobichettipalayam – Anthiyur – Karkegandi (TN-KA Border) – Hanur – Kollegal – Malavalli – Kanakapura – Bangalore

Route5 (slowest): Valparai- Pollachi- Annur-Mettupalayam-Kotagiri-Ooty-Gudalur-Bandipur-Gundlupet-Blore

Read More

Trail Blazers, Ride to Hogenekkal - I

Read More

Hogenakkal- A Splendid Ride!

Will post the details peppered with pics and video soon..

Few Teasers for now:

Read More

My First Travelogue- The Unforgettable Bike Trip to Ooty & Munnar :)

Happy to post my first ever triplog ;)

This was a well planned trip that could be best described as "A perfect, Super Cool Adventure".
Everything went as per the plan, thanks to ppl from BangaloreBikers for their inputs on Routes, Places etc.

Overview
Distance covered: 1300kms approx
Riders:  Vinay, Nithesh
Duration: 4 days. 28th March-31st March, 2014
Imp Places visited: Ooty (Ooty lake, Doddabetta, Emerald, Avalanche), Munnar (Mattupetty dam, Kundala lake, Echo Point, Top Station)

Routes most enjoyed: Ooty-Avalanche, Ooty-Kotagiri-Mettupalayam, some state highways on the way to Munnar from Ooty (Mettupalayam-Annur-Sumanur-Sultanpet),
Munnar-Top Station, Munnar-Chithirapuram (Kochi highway), some Forest route on the way to Bodi (from Poopara may be, not sure), Dindigul-Salem etc

Planning Thread: http://trailblazervinu.blogspot.com/2014/02/ooty-munnar-trip.html

Will post the details soon.. Some pics for a Start:-

Intro & Prologue

Disclaimer: This is going to be long. Please bear with me.. its my first write up.

It all started with our growing interest and passion for Bike Rides. Me and Nithesh(@niteshnairy) are from the same College and we bought our Bikes almost at the same time (april-may'13). Ever since, we've been going on Rides every now and then with friends.

We usually plan for rides/trips on gtalk. So Nitesh once showed me a map, a Route spanning the whole of South India, i mean the coastal region.

My reaction was 'Omg. Its too much. Me n my bike are not ready for this yet'. Then we thought of hiring REs for the trip.. bla bla.. with time, we just forgot abt this. Then, when we were thinking, how nice it would've been if we had 2-3 more bikes with our classmates for company, we came across some groups- BangaloreMotorcyleclub, BangaloreBikers etc

Our passion got some much needed Inspiration :) We really liked the attitude of the ppl here(BangaloreBikers) and the fact that its not limited to any particular brand of Bikes. and in the Welcome Rides we witnessed the Riding discipline, the importance of Riding gears etc and we thought we'll first get some basic Riding gear and only then Go for such Rides. 

We got ourselves the Spartan Helios Riding Jackets from 'Lets Gear Up' just a day before the March welcome ride. Also checked the knee gaurds n Gloves in Orion Motors. Liked the Alpiensters Bionic knee gaurds very much. But it wasn't in our Budget(6k). Thought of settling for Thor/fox/axo. Ended up buying none :p

My Advice: If you dont have d budget currently, just get something in your Budget. bcoz 'Something is better than Nothing!!'

Anyways, we had to manage with just the ProBiker Gloves n Helios Jacket.

Got some Valuable inputs when i posted abt the trip on the forum http://bangalorebikers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2757

It was really helpful. Thanks to S. Martin, nisnth, rohithraghav, Phanikar,shshnk28, saibkrishnan n others. We felt we r among the Right Breed of Ppl :) any info on routes/places/plan etc, no need to scratch our head. just need to shoot the question n tan! we get the answers. This is why our trip turned out to be a well planned one.

Places were finalised as Ooty n Munnar. Somehow convinced Parents abt the Ride. Thts a difficult thing to do :witsend: Their concern- 'Munnar is ok. But why the hell on Bike?' My answer- 'After some 5-10 yrs, even if you ask me to Ride, i doubt i'll be able to. This is the Time, this is the Age.. bla bla'

Well, we booked the rooms in Ooty and Munnar

Fri-Sat: Green Apple Residency, Ooty (near to Ooty Lake)-Rs.959

Sat-Sun: Jays Tourist Home, Munnar town-Rs.900

Sun-Mon: Bella Vista Resort, Chithirapuram, Munnar-Rs.1481

all prices incl. of tax

Got print out of the maps, made sure our bikes are in good condition.(engine oil, air etc). Packed our Saddle bags, kept the Vehicle documents(including service manual). Got tank full. Set trip meter to 0 and were all set for the Trip. 

Came home early from office, thought of getting a Good Night's sleep as everything was ready. But as always ended up Sleeping late. Dont know if its the excitement of the trip or what, you never get proper sleep the previous n8. I was downloading mp3s of some item songs, putting it on to the mobile etc n then somehow slept at 12 or 12:30 telling Nithesh to wake me up in the morning :slp:

--to be continued..--

Read More

Kailasagiri- The Next destination

Route: https://goo.gl/maps/B4uBv

1. Kailasagiri is about seven kms from Chintamani/Kaiwara.
It has a huge man made Cave. There are idols of Ganapathi and Shiva installed inside the cave.

Ambaji Durga Cave temples:
You get a panoramic view of Chintamani.
Inside the monolithic man made caves you can view the idols of Lord Ganesha, Four faced Shiva (Chatur Muka Shiva) and goddess Jagadamba.

Ananta Padmanabha and Chenna Keshava cave temple:
Natural cave temple housing the beautiful idol of Ananta Padmanabha and Chenna Keshava.
To reach this temple you must take a right when coming down from Ambaji Durga hill.

At Kaiwara, the principal attraction is the Swami Narayana Ashram dedicated to saint Narayanappa. Kaiwara Thathayya or Narayanappa (1730-1840 AD) a famous saint who lived here wrote ‘Amaranarayana Shathaka’ and ‘Kaalagnana’.

2. Next to the Ashram there is Amaranarayana Swamy Temple.

3. Bheema-Lingeshwara temple: Opposite to AmarNarayanaswamy temple
Bheema-Bakasura Betta:
Opposite to Bheema-Lingeshwara temple you will find this hill. It is a 30 minute climb to the hill with around 700 stone steps to take you atop. At the top you can find the Lakshmana theertha, hanuman temple and a Chamundeshwari temple.

4. Sri Yogi Narayana Mutt, Kaiwara

5. Vaikuntha, Kaiwara:
Yoganarasimha Swamy temple: About 1 kilometer from Bheema- Lingeshwara temple is a small hill called Vaikunta. Atop this hill you can find Gavi AmarNarayanaswamy temple, Yoganarasimha cave temple and a meditation hall.

6. A small temple of Lord Rama in the forest known as Aranya Rama Temple.
The place has a natural cave in a hillock about two kms from the ashram.
Zoo and Meditation Hall.

7. Tapovan or Kaivara garden: Here you can find five cottages named after Pandava brothers and you can also find a mini zoo (mostly birds).There is also a mini herbarium.

Links:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/6954/in-caves-kaiwara-kailasagiri.html

http://arunthetraveller.blogspot.in/2012/07/kaivara-kailasgiri-kotilingeshwara-day.html

https://bangaloregetaways.wordpress.com/tag/bheema-bakasura/

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/2638-kaivara-weekend-getaway

http://www.travelingbeats.com/blog/trip-info-kaivara

Read More

Gotta take this route sometime during Monsoon

http://goo.gl/maps/gWIYc

Read More

Solo Ride to Thattekere, Basavana Betta

Read More