[Sankar]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

All the Best guys. I might be roaming around that side, if I decide to bite the bullet and I drive down from Chennai. How long? More than a year since I visited Mudumalai & Bandipur, the sacrifice I had to make while I shifted from Bangalore to Chennai

I don't know the distance from Chennai to Coimbatore. Distance from Coimbatore to Kalhatty is approximately 120km add this to the distance from Chennai to Kovai.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Originally Posted by Sankar

I don't know the distance from Chennai to Coimbatore. Distance from Coimbatore to Kalhatty is approximately 120km add this to the distance from Chennai to Kovai.

Actually am planning to stay at Thorapalli, and intend to take the Chennai - Krishnagiri - Mettur - Sathyamangalam - Chamarajanagar - Gundlupet - Mudumalai route. Should be similar distances, am planning to leave at 1 in the afternoon today, lets see. Cheers

[csentil]

If I remember correctly hvkumar's monsoon update, the road from Thimbam towards Chamarajnagar is not so great especially after the TN border. Even Gundulpet to Bandipur is bad.

You could probably try Mettur - Sathy - Mettupalayam - Kotagiri - Masinagudi - Mudumalai.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Originally Posted by csentil

If I remember correctly hvkumar's monsoon update, the road from Thimbam towards Chamarajnagar is not so great especially after the TN border. Even Gundulpet to Bandipur is bad.

You could probably try Mettur - Sathy - Mettupalayam - Kotagiri - Masinagudi - Mudumalai.

Am back, actually I checked with Kumar he was saying that Thimbam to Chamrajanagar was OK while Chamarajanagar to Nanjangud was bad. While going I went via the route I had given earlier while on the way back I had taken the route you had suggested after coming via Ooty. While I will try to put a travelogue, the road upto Aasanur is very good including the Thimbam ghats where except for a couple of places the roads are fine. But from Karnataka border onwards the road is bad, it looked like how it was when I had taken that stretch about couple of years back. Sathy - Chamrajanagar is a stretch that needs to be avoided at any cost unless you have one of those Mahindra Pick ups.

Gundlupet to Bandipur was bad as well, which has been the case for many years, but the good news is that the culverts have been done at all places except after Hangala where a new bridge is being constructed and trees are being cut in sides so hopefully that stretch would also see good times in the distant future.

Cheers.

[Sankar]

What a great trip it was!

Left from Tvm at 5.15 sharp.Halted at Ernakulam for quite some time then we had our breakfast and left by 1030. We made the mistake of choosing to go by NH17 which was heavily laden with traffic. We managed to reach Nilambur by 1545 had our lunch and left for Kalhatty jungle camp which we managed to reach by 1830.

The mother of all surprises were the steep descent we had to make on trail, with hairpin curves, just wide enough for a Jeep and the trail was pure Jeep stuff!! After the descent into the Valley of Kalhatty we had to again climb a steep ascent up to reach the camp! The only vehicles that traverse this route is 4WD Jeeps. Our 13 Bullets and the lone Pulsar 180 did manage to climb all the way to the top. I had a spill on the way up and i didn't pick up the bike because it would roll down. Friends came for the rescue with two holding the bike from the back to prevent it from rolling back then i climbed aboard and managed it up hill. Needless to say that i have burnt the clutch.

This was an amazing trip!

[pypkmsrikanth]

I saw a group of Bulls on Saturday morning around 10.30 while I was going from Mudumalai to Gopalswamy Betta, was it by any chance the group which joined you guys from Bangalore

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

I saw a group of Bulls on Saturday morning around 10.30 while I was going from Mudumalai to Gopalswamy Betta, was it by any chance the group which joined you guys from Bangalore

Guess so. He said some were riding from Bangy to meet them up.

[Sankar]

Yes it could be. But there were Bullet gangs around that area on that day few were leaving in the evening as we approached. Our guys were on 8 Enfields.

[redfire]

it was 9 bullets from Blore in total. 8 came together and one joined little bit later (10 chaps - 9 riders and one pillion) and 3 bulls + a pulsar (4 riders) from Tvm.

@ Srikanth - if the group you seen is pretty big, then it is our Blore chaps for sure. They reached the spot (Kalhatty) before noon.

Here are some pics I clicked at the camp Picasa Web Albums - jay - Kalhatty

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by redfire

it was 9 bullets from Blore in total. 8 came together and one joined little bit later (10 chaps - 9 riders and one pillion) and 3 bulls + a pulsar (4 riders) from Tvm.

@ Srikanth - if the group you seen is pretty big, then it is our Blore chaps for sure. They reached the spot (Kalhatty) before noon.

Here are some pics I clicked at the camp Picasa Web Albums - jay - Kalhatty

The TBHP Tri-state meet was held here