Coimbatore to Calicut

jeevmenon · 19th July 2010, 20:00

Oops! All snaps got posted at one shot. The tooltip on the snaps is more descriptive of the place it was taken.

So, we reached Gudalur and there was a distinct left to Calicut which we took. Had a cuppa at a mallu joint (1975 estd - snap on the inside wall of the hotel.) From here it was 51 km to Nilambur.

Post Nilambur, the route taken was like you mentioned BigZero: Areekode, Vazhakkad and bridge over the river and then connected onto Mavoor road. At this junction, I did see the straight road which would take us to Vazhayoor and also a milestone which said Farook College - 12km. Remembered BigZero when we saw this milestone. However it was post lunch time and we thought of going to town for lunch and hence took the Mavoor road. Quite some crowd at around 2:00 pm at the junction of Focus mall - Mavoor Rd junction. We went around Corporation stadium, Mananchira and landed straight into Paragon for our lunch. This place is crowded man! At 2:30 pm we could see lots of people waiting outside for a seat.

ampere · 19th July 2010, 20:13

I am willing to wait for a full TL.
Teaser pics not enough.

jeevmenon · 19th July 2010, 20:18

We had fish meals and Kareemeen fry (was ok!) We then took the fly-over next to it straight into Beach road, turned left till the end going past Beach Hotel and at the end turned left and hit the dead-end compound wall, took right on a narrow road close to the railway track. Now we reached a railway crossing beyond which we got connected to the Kallai area. We further proceeded on this road - towards Ramanattukara via Meenchanda, Feroke.

Coimbatore to Calicut-treecutonferokeroad.jpg

We stopped by at Ramanattukara market for some slipper shopping. All three females got their pair of footwear and were happy about it.

Coimbatore to Calicut-ramanattukara1.jpg

Coimbatore to Calicut-ramanattukara2.jpg

Bigzero · 19th July 2010, 20:18

Paragon - lunch - why do you have to torture me?

I second ampere - full trip report pl! :-)

jeevmenon · 19th July 2010, 21:53

A few snaps of Puthukode (Malappuram district) close to Ramanattukara on the bypass.

Coimbatore to Calicut-aroundputhukode.jpg

Any idea what are the uses of Eenth (below)? Wifey says - dry powder dumplings of the same with the kadala (Bengal gram) makes a meal in itself. Is the rippened fruit edible just like dates? The tree is from the date family. Correct?

Got some rain on Sunday morning.

Btw, we with relatives went to Calicut Gate for dinner. Kaduka olarthiyutthu. Very good!!

jeevmenon · 19th July 2010, 22:06

All in all a good day from the Nilgiris to the Calicut beach. And a good night sleep and the night rains pouring down. We shall be making our return trip back to Coimbatore the next day to board the Alleppey-Chennai express at 10:05 pm. Will we drive down thru Walayar or will we be bold enough to test a monsoon lashed Attapadi-Annaikatti road? Only time will tell...

Coimbatore to Calicut-17jul2010onwardroute.jpg

Bigzero · 20th July 2010, 08:27

That rain photo is very very nostalgic! Waiting for more!

btw how much time did you take from CBE to CLT? section by section?

jeevmenon · 20th July 2010, 20:47

6:00 - CBE
8:45 - Ooty
9:00 - 9:25 - Breakfast
10:10 AM - 122 km from Covai
X:X AM - Tea at Gudalur
12:00 - Mural paintings
12:35 - Past Nilambur
2:30 - Calicut

== There were quite some breaks as we were five in the car and wifey and kid needed breaks for bouts of nausea. Interesting fact in that was that the hairpins till Ooty did not create any issues. It was the winding roads in Kerala which created the problems.

jeevmenon · 20th July 2010, 21:18

Day 2: 18th July:

Got up in the morning to the delightful sound of monsoon. I just had my thorthu on and went to the terrace and got drenched in the beauty, looking upwards and around - amidst the thengu, kovungu, and the thick vegetation. The rain was mist-like and the drops microscopic. Wifey bought a hot cuppa upstairs, which went exceedingly well with the ambience.

After the bath came downstairs just to be pampered with piping hot puttu/kadala/pappadam/nendra(boiled,) and the quintessential chaaya.

It was 9:00 am and we are all in our respective places in the M800 ready for the long trip back. It was drizzling. On our way on the NH17 southbound we stopped over to buy 4 kilos of nendra-pazham for Rs.20 per kg. He said he sells the whole kola for Rs.19 per kg. We wanted to buy small bananas but he would sell only kola-s of the same.

At 10:52 am close to Perinthalmanna we saw the inevitable CPI(M) demonstration:

At 11:00 am we were at the Vazhiyoram at Thazhekode for tea. We were expecting a nice Nair-kada kind of tea but disappointed to be served with vending machine tea.

Note the third snap below: Amma/wifey spotted it first. Dad/Me were tubelights in figuring it out.

Coimbatore to Calicut-vazhiyoramthazhekode.jpg

Coimbatore to Calicut-vazhiyoramthazhekode2.jpg

Coimbatore to Calicut-vazhiyoramthazhekode3.jpg

ampere · 20th July 2010, 21:21

The reverse clock! Nice. Very nice ....

Vending machine tea in Kerala is a disgrace!

jeevmenon · 20th July 2010, 21:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampere

Vending machine tea in Kerala is a disgrace!

+1 @ampere. Nicely put.

Bigzero · 20th July 2010, 21:48

Great going.

I have never been to any of these Vazhiyoram places - have seen boards while driving around in Kerala. Machine tea, ugh..

Incidentally I am making a quick visit to Kerala later this week to bring back my Santro. Its currently in Calicut - I have to make a trip to Ottappallam while I am there, so I will drive it to Ottapalam and then the next day will drive to Bangalore via Cherpalchery - Perinthalmanna-Nilambur-Gudalur-Mysore and then on to Hyderabad.

I am also considering Ottappalam - Cherpalchery - Sreekrishnapuram - Mannarkkad - Melattur - Karuvarakkund - Kalikav - Nilambur and then on to Mysore, let me see where my car turns at Cherpalchery ( or is it Cherpulassery? )

back to topic, do pl continue with the trip report!

jeevmenon · 20th July 2010, 22:31

Good, Bigzero. I am just excited by hearing that you are going through those places even though I was there a couple of days back. Being in Kerala and driving and exploring naadu is never tiring. Cheriyamma was in Kalikav and we had taken a bus from Palakkad to Kalikav via Melattur and have stayed there overnight once in Apr-2007. Very remote and down to earth crowd out there. I remember a boy's demise there due to lightning and one of the villagers coming to Cheriyamma's house and informing about it. Nice guys.

Once we had done Mundur-Cherpulassery-Perinthalmanna instead of Mundur-Mannarkkad-Perinthalmanna. However, I remember it had slowed us down (as compared to the normal NH213.)

Have a great/safe trip, Bigzero! And we would be awaiting your TL, logs, snaps, other small interesting things.

jeevmenon · 20th July 2010, 22:42

So at around noon we reach the Mannarkad junction and find the diversion beyond town towards the left which said Silent Valley. Ok, we said. Lets go. A couple of km and we are hitting the slopes and the jungle. The 10 Snaps below within say 45 min (~15 to 20 km) of drive from Mannarkkad.

Coimbatore to Calicut-mannarkadattapadi0.jpg

Coimbatore to Calicut-mannarkadattapadi1.jpg

Coimbatore to Calicut-mannarkadattapadi2.jpg

Coimbatore to Calicut-mannarkadattapadi3.jpg

Coimbatore to Calicut-mannarkadattapadi4wf.jpg

Coimbatore to Calicut-mannarkadattapadi5.jpg

Coimbatore to Calicut-mannarkadattapadi6.jpg

Coimbatore to Calicut-mannarkadattapadi7.jpg

Coimbatore to Calicut-mannarkadattapadi8.jpg

Coimbatore to Calicut-mannarkadattapadi9.jpg

jeevmenon · 20th July 2010, 22:46

30 more snaps and 70 more kms to go!

19th July 2010, 20:00	#31
jeevmenon BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: TN07 Posts: 472 Thanked: 23 Times	Oops! All snaps got posted at one shot. The tooltip on the snaps is more descriptive of the place it was taken. So, we reached Gudalur and there was a distinct left to Calicut which we took. Had a cuppa at a mallu joint (1975 estd - snap on the inside wall of the hotel.) From here it was 51 km to Nilambur. Post Nilambur, the route taken was like you mentioned BigZero: Areekode, Vazhakkad and bridge over the river and then connected onto Mavoor road. At this junction, I did see the straight road which would take us to Vazhayoor and also a milestone which said Farook College - 12km. Remembered BigZero when we saw this milestone. However it was post lunch time and we thought of going to town for lunch and hence took the Mavoor road. Quite some crowd at around 2:00 pm at the junction of Focus mall - Mavoor Rd junction. We went around Corporation stadium, Mananchira and landed straight into Paragon for our lunch. This place is crowded man! At 2:30 pm we could see lots of people waiting outside for a seat.
	() Thanks

19th July 2010, 20:13	#32
ampere Team-BHP Support Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 17,952 Thanked: 12,943 Times View My Garage	I am willing to wait for a full TL. Teaser pics not enough.
	() Thanks

19th July 2010, 20:18	#33
jeevmenon BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: TN07 Posts: 472 Thanked: 23 Times	We had fish meals and Kareemeen fry (was ok!) We then took the fly-over next to it straight into Beach road, turned left till the end going past Beach Hotel and at the end turned left and hit the dead-end compound wall, took right on a narrow road close to the railway track. Now we reached a railway crossing beyond which we got connected to the Kallai area. We further proceeded on this road - towards Ramanattukara via Meenchanda, Feroke. We stopped by at Ramanattukara market for some slipper shopping. All three females got their pair of footwear and were happy about it.
	() Thanks

19th July 2010, 20:18	#34
Bigzero BHPian Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Pune Posts: 447 Thanked: 522 Times	Paragon - lunch - why do you have to torture me? I second ampere - full trip report pl! :-)
	() Thanks

19th July 2010, 21:53	#35
jeevmenon BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: TN07 Posts: 472 Thanked: 23 Times	A few snaps of Puthukode (Malappuram district) close to Ramanattukara on the bypass. Any idea what are the uses of Eenth (below)? Wifey says - dry powder dumplings of the same with the kadala (Bengal gram) makes a meal in itself. Is the rippened fruit edible just like dates? The tree is from the date family. Correct? Got some rain on Sunday morning. Btw, we with relatives went to Calicut Gate for dinner. Kaduka olarthiyutthu. Very good!!
	() Thanks

19th July 2010, 22:06	#36
jeevmenon BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: TN07 Posts: 472 Thanked: 23 Times	All in all a good day from the Nilgiris to the Calicut beach. And a good night sleep and the night rains pouring down. We shall be making our return trip back to Coimbatore the next day to board the Alleppey-Chennai express at 10:05 pm. Will we drive down thru Walayar or will we be bold enough to test a monsoon lashed Attapadi-Annaikatti road? Only time will tell...
	() Thanks

20th July 2010, 08:27	#37
Bigzero BHPian Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Pune Posts: 447 Thanked: 522 Times	That rain photo is very very nostalgic! Waiting for more! btw how much time did you take from CBE to CLT? section by section?
	() Thanks

20th July 2010, 20:47	#38
jeevmenon BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: TN07 Posts: 472 Thanked: 23 Times	6:00 - CBE 8:45 - Ooty 9:00 - 9:25 - Breakfast 10:10 AM - 122 km from Covai X:X AM - Tea at Gudalur 12:00 - Mural paintings 12:35 - Past Nilambur 2:30 - Calicut == There were quite some breaks as we were five in the car and wifey and kid needed breaks for bouts of nausea. Interesting fact in that was that the hairpins till Ooty did not create any issues. It was the winding roads in Kerala which created the problems.
	() Thanks

20th July 2010, 21:18	#39
jeevmenon BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: TN07 Posts: 472 Thanked: 23 Times	Day 2: 18th July: Got up in the morning to the delightful sound of monsoon. I just had my thorthu on and went to the terrace and got drenched in the beauty, looking upwards and around - amidst the thengu, kovungu, and the thick vegetation. The rain was mist-like and the drops microscopic. Wifey bought a hot cuppa upstairs, which went exceedingly well with the ambience. After the bath came downstairs just to be pampered with piping hot puttu/kadala/pappadam/nendra(boiled,) and the quintessential chaaya. It was 9:00 am and we are all in our respective places in the M800 ready for the long trip back. It was drizzling. On our way on the NH17 southbound we stopped over to buy 4 kilos of nendra-pazham for Rs.20 per kg. He said he sells the whole kola for Rs.19 per kg. We wanted to buy small bananas but he would sell only kola-s of the same. At 10:52 am close to Perinthalmanna we saw the inevitable CPI(M) demonstration: At 11:00 am we were at the Vazhiyoram at Thazhekode for tea. We were expecting a nice Nair-kada kind of tea but disappointed to be served with vending machine tea. Note the third snap below: Amma/wifey spotted it first. Dad/Me were tubelights in figuring it out.
	() Thanks

20th July 2010, 21:21	#40
ampere Team-BHP Support Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 17,952 Thanked: 12,943 Times View My Garage	The reverse clock! Nice. Very nice .... Vending machine tea in Kerala is a disgrace!
	() Thanks

20th July 2010, 21:48	#42
Bigzero BHPian Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Pune Posts: 447 Thanked: 522 Times	Great going. I have never been to any of these Vazhiyoram places - have seen boards while driving around in Kerala. Machine tea, ugh.. Incidentally I am making a quick visit to Kerala later this week to bring back my Santro. Its currently in Calicut - I have to make a trip to Ottappallam while I am there, so I will drive it to Ottapalam and then the next day will drive to Bangalore via Cherpalchery - Perinthalmanna-Nilambur-Gudalur-Mysore and then on to Hyderabad. I am also considering Ottappalam - Cherpalchery - Sreekrishnapuram - Mannarkkad - Melattur - Karuvarakkund - Kalikav - Nilambur and then on to Mysore, let me see where my car turns at Cherpalchery ( or is it Cherpulassery? ) back to topic, do pl continue with the trip report!
	() Thanks

20th July 2010, 22:31	#43
jeevmenon BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: TN07 Posts: 472 Thanked: 23 Times	Good, Bigzero. I am just excited by hearing that you are going through those places even though I was there a couple of days back. Being in Kerala and driving and exploring naadu is never tiring. Cheriyamma was in Kalikav and we had taken a bus from Palakkad to Kalikav via Melattur and have stayed there overnight once in Apr-2007. Very remote and down to earth crowd out there. I remember a boy's demise there due to lightning and one of the villagers coming to Cheriyamma's house and informing about it. Nice guys. Once we had done Mundur-Cherpulassery-Perinthalmanna instead of Mundur-Mannarkkad-Perinthalmanna. However, I remember it had slowed us down (as compared to the normal NH213.) Have a great/safe trip, Bigzero! And we would be awaiting your TL, logs, snaps, other small interesting things.
	() Thanks

20th July 2010, 22:42	#44
jeevmenon BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: TN07 Posts: 472 Thanked: 23 Times	So at around noon we reach the Mannarkad junction and find the diversion beyond town towards the left which said Silent Valley. Ok, we said. Lets go. A couple of km and we are hitting the slopes and the jungle. The 10 Snaps below within say 45 min (~15 to 20 km) of drive from Mannarkkad.
	() Thanks

20th July 2010, 22:46	#45
jeevmenon BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: TN07 Posts: 472 Thanked: 23 Times	30 more snaps and 70 more kms to go!
	() Thanks