Day 2 - April 6, 2008
I was in deep sleep and my mobile phone alarm starts ringing. I get up and it was 6:30 am. Wifey just opens her eyes, gives an awful look at me and goes back to sleep again. I go to my dad's cottage and knock on the door. No response. Did not want to disturb my parents from their sleep.
The plan for the day was to land at Coonoor as soon as possible and finish Sim's Park, Lamb's Rock, Dolphin's Nose, Kotagiri and Kodanad Viewpoint, then back to Ooty and do some boating at Paykara Lake.
Finally, it was 9 am when we all get ready and I start my Sparky. We go straight to Hotel Nahar Nilgiris. We order Idli vada, vegetable uthappa, rava dosa etc. Guys, if you happen to be in Ooty, never miss Idli vada at this place. They give some 3-4 type of chutneys and yummy sambar. This is one of the "Kamath" group of hotels and true to their brand name, serve excellent food.
After satisfactory breakfast, we quickly reach Coonoor and head to Sim's Park. Me and wifey go for sightseeing inside the park while my dad and mom relax here
Some pics at Sim's Park, Coonoor
After spending an hour at Sim's Park, we head towards Lamb's Rock. This route is very scenic with tea gardens and mountain views.
And couple of pics at Lamb's Rock Viewpoint
After pleasant and scenic Lamb's Rock view, we move towards Dolphin's Nose. Couple of pics on the way to Dolphin's Nose:
The approach road to Dolphin's Nose is very narrow and in awful condition. We have to stop our vehicle at the side or negotiate carefully to give way for oncoming vehicles. I was riding behind one Toyota Qualis carefully. Suddenly, to my horror I see one TN state transport bus approaching very fast and he stops the bus right infront of Qualis. There is no way to pass and both of them start arguing with each other in Tamil as to who should take reverse. As the time pass, we have a long 'Q' of vehicles on both sides. After some heated arguments, the Qualis cabbie compromises and agrees to take reverse, and as I was right behind him, I put my Sparky into reverse gear.
As I look back through the rear windshield, I become very nervous. I had to pass 25-30 vehicles parked one behind the other on one side and on the other side there were big stones and tree branches. I stall the engine a couple of times while passing on these stones in reverse gear. A couple of times, I almost scrape other vehicles. At this time, some 10-15 cabbies and other drivers gang up around my Sparky to help me. Someone is shouting right vangaa... right and somebody is shouting left... ponga... left and inbetween I hear steady... steady irkada... steady... (Tamilian brothers, excuse me, thats what I felt I heard). I also hear somebody shouting "you are unfit to drive on this road !"
At this time, one Muslim cabbie comes to my rescue and offers to drive the car. He sits on the driver's seat and in no time drives some 1 km in reverse at super speed and parks my Sparky at a safe corner. I thank him wholeheartedly and sit on the driver's seat again. It took another 30 minutes for the bus and all other vehicles behind it to pass through us and we finally reach Dolphin's Nose.
Some pics at Dolphin's Nose:
We spend some time here and head back to Coonoor. Thankfully, there was no problem on the way back. Before reaching Coonoor, we stop at a place called Orchid Square, which is a shopping complex with restaurant.
As we were hungry, we decided to have lunch here itself. All the tables at the restaurant were full, and we had to wait some 15 minutes to get a table. It took them another 20 minutes to clean the table and take our order. We ordered for stuffed aloo paratha, stuffed paneer paratha, mixed veg curry, dal fry and plain rice. It took them almost 30 minutes to serve, but the food was very good.
It was 4:30 pm when we reached Coonoor. It was very late and we canceled the plan of Kotagiri and Kodanad viewpoint and instead headed to Ooty. We crossed Ooty quickly and hit Gudalur Road towards Pykara Lake. On the way we came across one small lake and stopped there for some time.
As we started from here, driving seemed never ending and still no sign of Pykara Lake. Finally, it was 6:40 pm when we reached Pykara and to our dissappointment a security guard standing there tells us that the lake is already closed. We have some tea at the roadside stalls and after some time, head back to Ooty.
As we get near Ooty, just in the outskirts, I see one BP "pure for sure" petrol pump with In&out shop. I stop here for petrol and air pressure check. It was almost 8 pm and we head straight to Nahar Nilgiris for dinner.
Day 3 - April 7, 2008
The plan for the day was to check out from the hotel as soon as possible, have breakfast, then visit Rose Garden, and from there to Bellikkal. But my parents were in no mood to visit any other places and wanted to reach home directly.
We check out from Hotel Lakeview at 9:45 am, and after breakfast at the usual Nahar Nilgiris, head straight to Bangalore. Finally at around 5 pm we reach home at Vijayanagar. Only highlight of the return jurney was "Jolada rotti oota" at Kamath Madhuban in Mysore.
This is my first long-distance trip with my parents on my Sparky. They enjoyed it as much as me and my wifey. Only disappointment was if we had planned properly, we could have covered Kotagiri and Pykara Lake ...may be next time.
Total Distance covered: 680 kms
Fuel efficiency 14.5 kmpl (80% of the journey done with A/c on).