[dijeesh]

It was on a easter lunch visit to my friend’s place,we bounced the idea of visiting Ooty.
Next week I got an invitation from my cousin for their house warming ceremony at Kottathara,Attappadi(cousin works as a teacher at Arogyamatha Highschool).

I had heard about a route from Ooty to Attappadi from my cousin earlier.So thought of exploring that route.I live in Bangalore and my home town is Mannarkkad,in Palakkad district.I normally drive through mysore-bandipur-mudumalai-gudalur-nilambur route to reach my home.

Since I wanted to explore a new route and our intention of visiting Ooty coupled with the need to visit my cousin’s house at Kottathara,Attappadi made me think about this route.
After extensive search in the net I found this route,but didn’t have any route report about this route from Ooty to Attappadi,Kerala.


Many reports were there from Ooty to Coimbatore via Manjur.

Google maps also didn’t show about this route.After careful research we found that there is route from Ooty to Kottathara,Attappadi via Manjur-Mulli.

11th April was a holiday due to Ugadi in Bangalore.So me and my friend decided to leave Bangalore as early as possible on 11th morning to reach Bandipur when the gate opens for traffic ,which is 6 am.Me and my wife left our house at Cantontment at 1.45am and reached my friend’s house at Rajarajeshwari nagar at 2 pm.

We started our journey in my friend’s Swift zxi at 2.15 am.The route from Bangalore to Mysore was good except the speed breakers.Mysore to Bandipur route was well laid and we maintained a speed of 80 kmph.We reached Bandipur gate at 6.30 am.We could see elephants,langurs,peacock(saw peacock dance first time).

We took the Gudalur route at Theppekkadu junction as we wanted to visit the scenic places enroute to Ooty via Gudalur.Had our breakfast at Gudalur and we started climbing the hills.It was honey harvest time I guess,we saw lot of honey combs in trees inside Bandipur,Mudumalai forests.We saw people selling honey on road side with honey comb.

Visited Pykara lake and did boating there.Even though it was summer the lake ride was very chilling.We reached Ooty at 1.30pm and had our lunch there.We didn’t waste much time in Ooty as we needed to reach my home before night.Since we heard about this road as deserted we didn’t want to take chances and finished our lunch quickly and started driving down viat Love dale to Manjur.The drive was so refreshing as we witnessed the unseen faces of Ooty with tea estates.The road proceded from one hill to another with majestic views of tea estates all around.The road was well laid and driving through those hills was an amazing experience.There some 10 + hairpin bends on the ascend and we saw couple of dams at Kundah and Geddai.

We had read about 43 hairpin bends at one stretch from Manjur to mulli and was very excited to drive through these bends.The road was freshly laid and we drove down these hairpin bends with ease.Saw elephant dung all along the drive down but couldn’t see elephants.Saw may birds and the locale was simply awesome to say the least.We stopped in between to have tea at a place called chamaraj tea center.This is the highest tea estate in India ,they have displayed the Limca book of records for this feat.

We reached the Tamilnadu-Kerala checkpost.Here the road spits to two.The left hand road goes to karakkal to Coimbatore, we took the right route towards Kottathara.There was no road for 3-4 kms full of stones.We could drive only in 1st gear.This is the only patch which was bad,infact very bad.We saw a bus plying with full of locals in this route.

After this stretch of bad road the road goes inside the village.we reached Kottathara(Anakkatty-Mannarkkar road) and visited my cousin’s house and left there by 6.30 pm towards Mannarkkad.More hairpin bends greeted us before reaching Mannarkkad (Palakkad-Calicut highway).All in all we would’ve drove through more than 60 + hairpin bends.My desire to drive the route less travelled paid off with majestic views of nature and the freshness it offered.We reached my home at Thachampara at 8.30 pm.

Next day we took rest.Saturday we visited Siruvani dam which is 25 kms away from my home.This dam is constructed across Siruvani river and is for supplying drinking water to Coimbatore city.The dam is covered by dense reserve forests.Evening we visited Malampuzha dam.

Next day morning we left my home for Bangalore via Nilambur Gudalur Mysore.

Overall the drive was comfortable and drive from Ooty to Mannarkkad was so exciting.

I heard the rough road at Mulli will be laid soon.Once that happens one would get neat roads all along.
I am planning to drive down this Ooty –Mannarkkad route once again to fully explore the beauty as we could not stop frequently as the daylight was fading and we had a 2.5year old kid with us.

[maju]

very nice trlogue dijeesh. waiting for some photos. long time i was waiting for this route, but i didnt have any idea from where to start. your travelogue tempted me to do it soon.one more thing, is it safe to travel this route with family?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by dijeesh

Overall the drive was comfortable and drive from Ooty to Mannarkkad was so exciting.

This is really bad. You go through one of those most refreshing terrains and don't put any snaps? Must have been awesome driving from Manjoor-Mulli to Attapadi.

I heard the rough road at Mulli will be laid soon.Once that happens one would get neat roads all along. I am planning to drive down this Ooty –Mannarkkad route once again to fully

I used to think there is no way to touch north of CBE. without touching the GQ. But looks like there is and it is beautiful. How bad is the road from Mulli to the Anakatti-Attapadi road? Looks like if a Swift can do, others can too. I was thinking of a route from regions around Guruvayur-Perinthalmanna to Mannarkad-Mulli-Karamadai-Annur and there on NH209 (Kanakpura road). May be you can try this on your next trip. Instead of Ooty take Kanakpura road till Annur and go via Karamadai-Mulli. It would be faster as it avoids Ooty/Gudalur/Bandipur.

But on the whole a great find. Snaps Please ! Also how was Siruvani dam? Would love to see those snaps too.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by ampere

This is really bad. You go through one of those most refreshing terrains and don't put any snaps? Must have been awesome driving from Manjoor-Mulli to Attapadi.

+1. Where are the pictures. The 43 hairpins are an absolute delight.

[lloydofcochin]

Dijeesh,

Thanks for the update

I have been itching to take this route since long but due to XYZ reasons it is getting delayed.

I have some plans and expect to take this route within a month's time

Btw, With an early morning start can we do Bangalore - Agali - Mannarkkad -Bangalore in a day?

[YaeJay]

I did that route ( manjoor - geddai - karamadai and back) in march. Roads seem to have been relaid. I did it on a bike. Bliss.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by YaeJay

I did that route ( manjoor - geddai - karamadai and back) in march. Roads seem to have been relaid. I did it on a bike. Bliss.

Great to see this. My other question still remains un-answered though.

How is it from Mulli to connect to the Attapadi road. Because if on Attapadi road, one has to drive all the way to Kovai (CBE) to take the Nh209. If its possible to avoid, then great.

[YaeJay]

Originally Posted by ampere

Great to see this. My other question still remains un-answered though.

How is it from Mulli to connect to the Attapadi road. Because if on Attapadi, one has to drive all the way to Kovai (CBE) to take the Nh209. If its possible to avoid, then great.

Also my confusion about attapadi! Guys from karamadai/ mettupalayam can help!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by YaeJay

Also my confusion about attapadi! Guys from karamadai/ mettupalayam can help!

Thats what OP also mentioned. At Mulli (Between Manjoor and Karamdai) he diverts and then goes on a road made of bed of stones for about 3-4 km and then takes a narrow road which comes and hits Kottathara on Anaikatti road. The route he mentioned I think is the following : Route Link

From the point B, he goes to Kottathara and there he is on the Anaikatti road. (Just a rough guess from my part). But must be brilliant at these locations.

[lloydofcochin]

Originally Posted by ampere

Thats what OP also mentioned. At Mulli (Between Manjoor and Karamdai) he diverts and then goes on a road made of bed of stones for about 3-4 km and then takes a narrow road which comes and hits Kottathara on Anaikatti road. The route he mentioned I think is the following : Route Link

From the point B, he goes to Kottathara and there he is on the Anaikatti road. (Just a rough guess from my part). But must be brilliant at these locations.

Ampere,

I had done some research and found that from Elachivazhy to Kottathara the distance is 11kms that is missing on Google Maps. Had heard about this route few months back on a discussion on the HVK Forum on FB.

You can find a Distance Chart below which gives you the distances on this route.



Also find some pics from that route that I found on a FB Album. Not sure if the privacy settings will prevent others from viewing it.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...2434879&type=3

[ampere]

Originally Posted by lloydofcochin

Ampere,

I had done some research and found that from Elachivazhy to Kottathara the distance is 11kms that is missing on Google Maps. Had heard about this route few months back on a discussion on the HVK Forum on FB.

Thanks. And wow! That chart is amazing.
So what I find is :

- There are two road to CBE from Mannarkad. One goes via Siruvani dam
- While the other more adventurous one goes via silent valley though Attapadi.

[lloydofcochin]

Originally Posted by ampere

Thanks. And wow! That chart is amazing.
So what I find is :

- There are two road to CBE from Mannarkad. One goes via Siruvani dam
- While the other more adventurous one goes via silent valley though Attapadi.

Ampere,

You are right! The one via Agali - Kottathara is 81km shorter by 5kms compared to the one via Siruvani Dam.

[hvkumar]

The Manjoor-Karamadai/Anakkati/Mannarkad road is an old one.

dijeesh, do they grant permits to visit Siruvani Dam nowadays & do they permit you drive from Mannarkad to Coimbatore via Siruvani?
Did you encounter wild life?
Where were the check posts - and did you notice timing restrictions (I don't think they allow anyone on this road after 6 pm)?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

dijeesh, do they grant permits to visit Siruvani Dam nowadays & do they permit you drive from Mannarkad to Coimbatore via Siruvani?
Did you encounter wild life?
Where were the check posts - and did you notice timing restrictions (I don't think they allow anyone on this road after 6 pm)?

HVK,

I assume you are referring to the regular SH? Never realised it has high wild life activity!

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ampere

HVK,

I assume you are referring to the regular SH? Never realised it has high wild life activity!

No, I am talking about the road that dijeesh took from Manjoor to Mannarkad via Agali & Mukkali, that has lots of wildlife.