[mjothi]

WoW, very nice report and pictures. And many thanks for those details about the places to visit and stay.

[RajeshK]

@Nitin, Thanks a lot for providing such a detailed information.

Few days gone with working from Home excersices. The South-West Monsoon is just starting with its all glory, so defenitely the sea will be roaring like any thing. We decide to explore Bekal fort. I have visited this place many times, but never in monsoon.

We started from my home by 12noon, pickedup friends from KK Residency Payyanur.

The route is Payyanur - Nileswar - Kanjangad - Pallikkere - Bekal. Its 35km away from my home town.

We reached Nileswar at 12:30 and stopped at Nalanda resort for our lunch. We had Fishcurry rice and Karimeen pollichathu. The resort is a good scenic place on a river side in the sides of NH-17. For details about the resort -> Nalanda Resorts Kasargod Kerala,Kasargod hotels,kasargod resorts,Budget Hotels in Kasargod,Accommodation in Kasargod

By 2pm, we reached Bekal Fort. As expected the sea was rough and waves are hitting many parts of the fort so we couldn't enjoy the beaches around.

The official portal for Bekal -> Welcome to Asia's Finest Beach Destination
If any body interested in Boating around the backwaters, house boats are available. Here is one resort providing those facilities -> Home Page-Bekal Boat Stay, Kerala, India---Houseboat service provider near Bekal Fort

Here are some snaps from the Bekal Fort. My camera was not capable to capture the full beauty of the fort and sea, pls excuse...

[HappyWheels]

wonderful travelogue, Rajesh!

Beautiful photos, does justice to Kerala's beauty! :-)

[RajeshK]

On 27th July'08, we started back to Bangalore after the 2 weeks vacation. We started by morning 07:45am from Payyanur. The route is Payyanur - Srikantapuram - Iritty - Nedumpoyil - Manathawadi - Sulthan Bathery - Guldalpet - Mysore - Bangalore.

When we started from payyanur, there was a slight drissling. The previous night it rained like cats and dogs so the roads became little ponds here and there, enjoyed driving in these clogged water, splashing all over.

We stopped at the side of Pazhassi Dam reservoir near Irrity to have our breakfast. The reservoir was almost empty as rain were less, may the delayed monsoon fill this reservoir soon..

As soon as we start after breakfast break, it started raining heavily. Wiper motor was running in full speed, still not able to get a clear road view.Rain got stopped almost after 40 minutes

After reaching Peravoor, we decided to take Nedumpoyil route even though the route is bit longer. Reason to avoid the Kottiyur - ambayathode - boy's town was santro got fully loaded with coconuts, and other goodies/freebies from the home town. Kottiyur route is very steep climb with sharp turnings but it will save almost 15kms.

Few turnings after Nedumpoyil, road started getting misty. Vehicles are started coming with head/fog lamps are on.

Here are the snaps..

[Jammy70]

Rajesh,

These are excellent photos! The road and the surrounding look lovely in the monsoon...

Thanks for the effort!
Cheers

[nithinnarayanan]

Rajesh. what is the accident in the pics.
You did not mention about that. Anybody hurt ? can you please explain

[RajeshK]

Nitin, I do have the details about that. When we reached there, the recovery van was pulling the Lorry from accident spot. I hope its a minor accident, Lorry might have collided with some road side rock. That area always has mists in nights.

[vnabhi]

Good pics, Rajesh!
BTW, you forgot to mask your number plate in one of the snaps!

[nevertouchme]

Rajesh, These pictures are awesome. So 2 weeks of fun, rain, good food and drive huh? I envy you.

So how did you feel on the 14th day when you wanted to come back?

[RajeshK]

@vnabhi, appreciate your observation.

Originally Posted by nevertouchme

So how did you feel on the 14th day when you wanted to come back?

Realy true.

We had our lunch at Sulthan Bathery, once we left the kerala border human voice inside the car was almost null. It was quite boring afterwards. This increased the driving speed and we reached bangalore by 5.45pm, exactly 3hrs45min after leaving from Sulthan Bathery.

On the next day after reaching Bangalore visited the work shop and corrected the break.

Next week, ie, 06th August'08 I am traveling again to this same place and same route. But this will be an overnight trip directly from Bangalore new airport to home town. I will try if I could post few more snaps.

Thanks all for the support and appreciation

Rajesh

[MadhuG]

Rajesh,
This is excellent stuff. I also belong to Kerala - Kalady near Aluva - infact and I am planning to drive to kerala in Dec. I belong to chennai and plan to start at 5 am and reach my native at 7 pm. I plan to take the Chennai-krishnagiri-coimbatore-palakkad-trissur route. Is this the correct route. Also can someone tell me the the points where I can take breaks - places where there would be decent hotels, COCO pumps etc.
Thanks

[benbsb29]

@MadhuG : This is not the right thread to be asking these questions.
There is a seperate forum for the Route Queries, where this question would already have been answered, or will fetch you more responses. This is one such thread :
KeralaRouteQueries

[kuttapan]

The pics of St.Angelo fort brought back some old memories. As a kid(early 80's), we used to be taken to this fort for picnic from school and we used to sit on the cannons inthe picture. It was mostly a negelected fort at that time, no gardens etc. It used to be deserted in the evenings, so much so that a newly married bride was raped when she went to visit the fort with her husband. Other memories are playing football at the ground beside the fort in the mid-90's. Since the road was usually deserted, I learnt my driving on this stretch. Military guys used to warn me for speeding..LOL..

Thanks for taking me back down the memory lane...

[RajeshK]

Hi Kuttappan,

I too visited this fort during my school days, but never tried learn about the history of this fort till recent. This is the fort where Kunhali Marakkar was hanged and shown to public. There was some real blood shed wars for this fort, and thousands persons died in one day itself in one of the battle. Earlier the sea route via Arabian sea was very important to reach to India for spices for the arab and western sailors, but after the British invation entire India became under one ruling and this route lost its importance. Still it is worth reading the history of this fort

[saleem_k]

Hi Rajesh,

Great pics of rain soaked roads and the greenery around. That's my idea of an exciting and memorable drive. Thanks so much for the lovely pics!