[alabjarus]

Work & travel has been keeping me away from family & Civic for too long and a break has been in the offing since a while. Hunt for destination finally narrowed down to Wayanad as driving holiday was one of my key considerations.

Dates were fixed - out on 26th, back on 28th - a 2 day trip. It will be a family break - wifey, son & me. Stay at Rain Country Resorts. All set to leave home at 6.00...however that was not to be...! A late night party previous night ensured that I got up at 8.00 am....so much for the planning...!

Eventually hit the road at 9.00 am. Decided to have a leisurely drive. The route: Blr - Mysore - Nanjungud - Gundlupet - Bandipur - Sultan Bathery - Kalpetta - Lakkidi. Being a Sunday, traffic was better than usual. However, we were traveling during peak traffic hours - holiday makers & truckers were a plenty. Reached Mysore at 12.00 and Lakkidi at 2.30 pm. Roads were good except for patches between Gundlupet & Bandipur. Enter Kerala and the roads are fantastic.



Drive from Bandipur to Wayand is picturesque to say the least. One is tempted to camp a night there - obviously, wild animals permitting the intrusion. Below are some snaps.







The resort is a good 4 kms drive into the jungle from highway. Clearly a 4x4 territory. Infact I was concerned that Civic will not be able to make it. However with some careful maneuvering we made it. This un-tarred road is so narrow that you are doomed should another vehicle come in your way...and I had that fortune bestowed on me. The good samaritan in the MM540 was kind enough to reverse close to 500 mtrs where we found the road wide enough where we could pass with 1 cm gap between the vehicles. Mind you, for most part of this road its valley on one side. Reached the resort at 3.00 pm. Pics of this section below.





The resort was terrific to say the least. Located in a 25 acre land (which includes hills & valleys) the resort consists of 16 cottages in a 8 acre clearing. Its wilderness at its best with a natural pond in between with swans swimming around. The cottages are wooden and is constructed in the traditional Kerala architecture. There is a small kids play area as well. The valley is covered in fog post 5.00 pm, an ideal setting for an evening walk. Careful though, there are leeches around. I got bitten by two - a minor inconvenience. They have camp fire in the late evenings and thats were you ought to be after a few Single Malts.









On day 2 we decided to leave the Civic at the resort and hired a Jeep for the day. First destimation was Pookode Lake...a lake with hills on all sides. (Pookode Lake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Boating is the main activity. You can hire a self-pedal boat or have the regular boat with the authorized guy at the oars. We opted for the later. In short - a great place and a never miss locale if you are in Wayanad.



From here we headed to Edakkal Caves, some 35 kms away from the resort (Edakkal Caves, Wayanad, Kerala, India). A major tourist destination...fortunately crowd was just picking up when we got there. The jeep we hired could go only till the car park. From there Govt. authorized jeeps will take you to the foot of the cave. Man....the caves are spectacular. Half the fun is in the climb...it was steep and difficult than I thought. We made it though.





Wound up the day with a rejuvenating ayurvedic massage at Kalpetta town.

Next day (Tuesday), we checked out at 10.30 am and took the same route back. Reached Bangalore at 5.00 pm. Had lunch Ramanashree in Mysore. Excellent food and good service.

Civic - the drive was uneventful with no hair raising moments. Maintained an avg of 80 - 120 through the trip. The max I hit was 140 in the Mysore - Gundlupet stretch. The entire trip was 638 kms and Civic gave me a mileage of 15.00 km/l. This is a little more than what I got on my first long trip (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...tml#post825647) .

The fundamental intention of this trip was to spend a few days with family and the Civic and thats precisely what we did. Until the next road trip....bye & thank you for reading.

[Lukeskywalker]

Good report and nice pics of Wayanad. Brings back memories of my trip to Vythiri.

[srikant]

Hey that was a great review pal and your civic looks awesome on those roads. Specially the roads after you enter kerala are awesome and picturesque. I have done trips along that road and clicked pics too but never came across such resort there. May be i ll find it and make it next time.

[Nutty Nair]

Nice pics & nice report, @alabjarus! Nice roads & a nice car to drive, looks like you enjoyed your vacation. Keep driving & keep posting travelogues like this, man!

[Jammy70]

Hey alabjarus,

Nice concise report. I did the same route (upto Kappad, though) during Dusshera, but am yet to log in my report. In fact, I have a pic of my scorpio in that same bamboo stretch (your second pic) - lovely stretch it is!

Hope to log in my report soemtime this weekend!

Cheers,

[vrvarier]

Hey, nice pics and reports. Incidently me with family was doing the wayanad trip during that week-end (sat-tue). Rains stayed away during that time and we were blessed with fantastic weather. We missed edakkal caves, but visited the other places (travelogue is coming soon..). BTW, you could have stopped at the Edakkal caves on your way to the resort. Its a diversion from s.bathery, I guess. regards,VV.

[shuvd]

Great pictures and nice writeup. Man, you are brave! I won't dare take my Civic over such roads!!

[csentil]

Great report. Been to Wayanad same time last year in my Civic. It was an awesome drive to say the least. Kerala roads were too good. I remember the drive from Sultan Battery to Kalpetta after dark. It was a great drive.