[amg5610]

Greetings fellow BHPians,
Wish y'all a very happy and prosperous 2024 with loads of smiles per gallon.

Prologue:-

A long inter-state road trip has always been one of my bucket list items since getting syska and couldn't have asked for a better time to tour Kerala than in Christmas season.

2045km round trip in 8 days starting from Chennai covering diverse landscapes of Kerala starting from Munnar through to Thekkady and Allepey before ending the Kerala leg in Trivandrum.

I would like to thank BHPian greyhound82 and All roads to Kerala thread for assisting me in planning the route and giving valuable suggestions.

Here's the route!



The Plan

23/12
Chennai -> Munnar (578km)
Chennai - Trichy - Dindugal - Theni - Munnar

24/12
Munnar local

25/12
Munnar - Thekkady (105km)
Munnar - Devikulam - Santhanpara - Kumily - Thekkady


26/12
Thekkady - Alleppey (140km)
Vandiperiyar - Mundakayam - Pala - Cherthala - Marari

27/12
Alleppey local

28/12
Alleppey - Trivandrum (146km)
Ambalapuzha - Karunagapalli - Kollam - Attingal - Trivandrum

29/12
Trivandrum local

30/12
Trivandrum - Chennai (767km)
Kovalam - Nagercoil - Madurai - Trichy - Chennai

A little day by day recount:-

Day 1:- A long day to Munnar




The entire city decided to leave along with me quite literally, Highway filled with cars till trichy and adding to the woes the highway section near Villupuram is undergoing a massive restructure resulting in the traffic being diverted through the town which resulted in a bottle neck. There was nothing eventful until Dindugal.

That's where things took a turn for the good, The road from Dindugal - Bodi has been paved fairly recently, Despite being a two lane road it is decently wide which enables overtaking and add to it the the twist and turns along with a beautiful evening weather in the foothills.

Engaged sport mode and the car came lively with a quick throttle response and the little sound of the engine being heard inside the cabin, it was simply wonderful to drive and make overtakes.

With sun slowly setting in the background, our climb up the hill from bodi started, slowly started getting into the grew of the taking Hairpin bends. Though we missed admiring the scenery due to lack of daylight, the houses and churches on the way up adorned by Christmas decorations was a sight to behold and probably the best part of the day as things started to go downhill thereafter, the homestay denied our booking saying our phones were not reachable but atleast the caretaker made amends by arranging an alternate stay just down the road.

It was already half past 8 before we settled in and just went for a walk around the streets and finished dinner.

Day 2:- Lost in the sea of green

We explored anachal and it's surroundings in the morning by engaging a local jeep safari which involved a fair bit of off-roading and driving through some trails to reach the destination . In the afternoon we made our final ascent towards Munnar town and further up to the top point and boy oh boy was it a thrilling experience.

Top point was around 30km from Munnar and along the route are most of the tourist attractions of Munnar. We decided to go to top point first and all was smooth until the final 5km, when mist started settling in the visibility started going down drastically and so did the temperature. The final 1.5 km was probably the most terrific stretch I've ever encountered with the roads getting worse and visibility basically next to nothing. Noticed a bottle neck starting to get created at the point and decided to turn back and park somewhere safe and soak in the view (more like mist). Had a cup of tea in perhaps the most picturesque setting in all of Munnar, surely one of the highlights of the trip.

With the sun setting my luck didn't last long, if traffic on the way up wasn't bad enough, on our way down was worse, Took more than 2 hours to reach anachal for the night...Holiday session eh!
Never appreciated auto hold feature enough before, it really is a god send.











Day 3:- NH85, that's it that's the caption.

What a piece of road, just one of the most scenic and breathtaking high range road in all of country and most certainly in kerala. The route from the outskirts of Munnar to Poopara, the elevation and camber changes of the turns surrounded by the most incredible of views really makes you choose between driving non-stop without interrupting the flow or stop every few hundred metres to get down and soak in the views, I for one couldn't resist from doing the latter.

The roads from Poopara are typical kerala roads, twisty narrow lanes running through numerous villages but very well paved. Deserted roads (makes you think if you are really taking the correct road) surrounded by multiple small scale tea plantations and large pine trees. Made me appreciate driving slow for more than a few hours.

It was late afternoon by the time we reached Thekkady and following a quick break, we did a impromptu tour of the town for the evening. The traffic was much less and situation was well handled compared to munnar.







Day 4:- From dense forests to back waters.

Early start to the day and the forenoon was all about Periyar National park and it's famed boating. Though the rush didn't make it easy, it was one of the most blissful things to experience albeit missing out on seeing any animals along the banks of the lake.

In the afternoon we started en-route Alleppey, the first descent towards sea level after spending 3 days in the high ranges. The roads were smooth for the most part passing through numerous villages and little towns along the way surrounded by greeneries throughout the way.

As we decided on opting for a day cruise on houseboat, Homestay by Marari beach was chosen as the location for that night's stay. Watching the Sun go down at the end of a long day was a sight to behold.






Day 5:- Swapping Car's wheel for Boat's wheel

Another early morning start, this time chasing sun rise along the shores of Marari and Arthunkal before it was time to get on-board Kingfisher to explore the backwaters of Alleppey.

Such an unique experience, my maiden voyage on a houseboat didn't disappoint, as stradman would say "Views on Views". Lying on the bed and starring out of a window all day has never been more vivid.

The season time meant more boats on the water, a new hobby 'Boat spotting' exploring the types and shapes of house boats. Watching golden hour from the balcony of the houseboat was just exceptional.

The evening had in store another impromptu drive through the streets of Alleppey.


















Day 6:- Four lane roads...what?

A 150km drive in a NH between two cities Alleppey to Trivandrum in this case reminded me of Chennai - Pondy route (usually takes ~2.5hrs) and wondered why is Google maps estimating a 4hr+ journey. Two laned roads for the most part and broken patches in the middle, this was probably the most average piece of road I experienced on this trip. The roads leading out of Alleppey is under the work of expansion which hopefully gets done in a few years enabling this route to much faster and hassle free.

The roads got better as we neared trivandrum and the traffic in the city wasn't too bad compared to what we experienced before in Munnar. After a quick pitstop at our stay, it was time for another beach visit. Something about this trip and the final km to the destination has always been an event, Be it a traffic bottle neck or bad roads or zero visibility. We took a speed boat ride to explore the surroundings which included a light house, port and a couple of other nearby beaches.

Watching Sunrise in Alleppey and Sunset in Kovalam on the same day...Not complaining!



Day 7:- Embracing the warmth of Trivandrum

First spot of the day was Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Admiring it's architectural brilliance and soaking in the atmosphere of the area surrounding the temple. The itch to watch wildlife in it's natural habitat led us outside the city to Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary. The drive was pretty uneventful for most part until the final few kms where the views were pretty, Caught a glimpse of couple of elephants and deers and to our disappointment there were no more lions or tigers left in Neyyar.

In a bid to atleast get a view of some Wild animals if not in it's natural habitat, we made our way back into the city to visit the Zoo. After spending some quality time in the zoo and the park around it it was time to take an early sleep before embarking on our way back home.







Day 8:- Highways of TN>>>

After spending close to a week on mostly 2 laned roads, it was finally time to stretch the legs of the car. The NH out of Trivandrum via Kovalam continues for a good 35km before abruptly leading to a diversion through to Nagercoil.

And that's where the real party starts, the stretch from Nagercoil to Madurai has been freshly paved coupled with the sight of windmills on either side of roads and sparse traffic is just music to the ears. Made rapid progress till Madurai after which again there are several diversions on the Trichy - Vilupuram stretch due to ongoing road projects.

We reached home by early evening following a week full of miles that turned into memories.



Epilogue:-

Covering north of 2000km in varying terrains with changing altitude and temperature without a single niggle was a totally positive experience. Munches miles effortlessly be it on the high ranges of Munnar and Thekkady or the coastal regions of Alleppey and Trivandrum, all it needed was refuelling and one tyre needing a puncture repair. If I already haven't raved enough about the combination of 1.5 TGDi and the DCT and how incredible it is to drive. Avg mileage of the entire trip was hovering around 15kmpl as per the MID.

Now it's back to normal routine with the odo inching past 14,000km in the span of 9 months.

Hope y'all had a great time reading my first travelogue here as much as i had documenting it.

Ciao!

[seawolf]

That's one good looking car mate.

[FAIAAA]

Congratulations amg5610 on your car and trip - lovely pictures and write up. Yes the new Verna Turbo petrol DCT is a great tourer combining driving pleasure with passenger comfort, safety and practicality. My only grouse is the head light throw at night on highways, happy with the rest of the package.
We seem to have clocked similar mileage in around the same time, mine having done 2 3500km+ cross country road trips and a few smaller ones during the last 8 months.

[amg5610]

Originally Posted by FAIAAA

Congratulations amg5610 on your car and trip - lovely pictures and write up. Yes the new Verna Turbo petrol DCT is a great tourer combining driving pleasure with passenger comfort, safety and practicality. My only grouse is the head light throw at night on highways, happy with the rest of the package.
We seem to have clocked similar mileage in around the same time, mine having done 2 3500km+ cross country road trips and a few smaller ones during the last 8 months.

Glad to hear it! 3500+km trips that too twice, that is epic! This has been the first proper road trip in mine apart from that it has been a run to hometown twice and once to kodaikannal.

Regarding the headlights, Yes it is just inadequate. It is just acceptable with high beams on when it is pitch black and no opposite traffic. Actively looking for an upgrade, heard that they are testing aux fogs (motofocusz chennai) next week which hopefully solves the issue.