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-   -   Hyd - Munnar (A Well Planned Trip Went Bad, But Still Enjoyed) (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/72827-hyd-munnar-well-planned-trip-went-bad-but-still-enjoyed.html)

Hi All,

First , let me convey my thanks to Dream-Diesel for providing an excellent travelogue on Munnar and helping me through his PMs. My thanks to chevy_lover for inspiring me to write the travelogue.

The Plan:

I have done numerous short drives from Hyd-Warangal ( warangal being my father-in-law's place) and also many near by places around hyderabad. I was confident on my driving skills and on return from Japan, a long trip was planned from Hyd-Munnar. Well this trip is my first on Ghat roads. The trip was planned between Sep 26 - Oct 4 and following is the planned trip.

Sep 26 ( Saturday) - Hyd - Blr ( Stay in Blr)
Sep 27 ( Sunday) - Blr - Munnar ( Stay in Munnar)
Sep 28 ( Monday) - Munnar Sight Seeing ( Stay in Munnar)
Sep 29 ( Tuesday) - Munnar - Kodaikanal ( Stay in Kodai)
Sep 30 ( Wednesday) - Kodaikanal sight seeing ( Stay in Kodai)
Oct 1 (Thursday) - Kodaikanal - Ooty ( Stay in Ooty)
Oct 2 (Friday) - Ooty sight seeing ( Stay in Ooty)
Oct 3 (Saturday) - Ooty - Blr ( Stay in Blr, Sightseeing in Mysore)
Oct 4 (Sunday) - Blr - Hyd

Plan is to start the drive early morning ( by 5 AM) and reach the destination before 8 PM ( including breaks) as I dont want to do night drives for such a long trip. Vehicle is our beloved Indica ( Diesel NA). It has done 18K KMs and not yet completed 1 year :D.

Pic of the car taken near Medak Fort (Medak trip was done in Feb,09).



Initally me and my wife decided to do the trip, later thought that it will be better if we include some friends to make the trip more enjoyable. We informed the plan to several colleagues and asked them if they would like to join. Most of them had some other plans ( Well its 2 long weekends back to back)..and some of them are shcoked to hear that we are making the trip in a Car. Some even adviced to go on a flight to cochin and then hire a cab for the trip.


Finally, as no one turned up, wifey asked her father,mother if they would like to join the trip...They said Yes, but there is a condition from them. We can only start on Monday, Sept 28, after celebrating Dussera Festival.

The plan needs to be changed now. Since it will be too difficult to cover Munnar, Kodai and Ooty in 7 days ( I need to return to Hyd on Oct 4 evening) we decided to remove Ooty from the list ( May be we can have a Ooty trip in 2010). So here is the updated plan....

Sep 28 ( Monday) - Warangal - Hyd - Blr ( Stay in Blr)
Sep 29 ( Tuesday) - Blr - Munnar ( Stay in Munnar)
Sep 30 ( Wednesday) - Munnar sight seeing ( Stay in Munnar)
Oct 1 (Thursday) - Munnar - Kodaikanal ( Stay in Kodai)
Oct 2 (Friday) - Kodai sight seeing ( Stay in Kodai)
Oct 3 (Saturday) - Kodai - Blr ( Stay in Blr)
Oct 4 (Sunday) - Blr - Hyd

I was busy with searching google maps, taking prints of Dream Diesels travelogue, Calling up resorts, hotels in Munnar etc..On learning that most of the resors are vacant, I felt that it is better to go to resort/hotel directly without any reservation. Also my friends told that Munnar has lot many accomodation options..

Gave my car for a regular servicing and checkup a week before at Malik Cars. Packed all the bags and started off to Warangal from Hyd on Saturday ( 26 Sept). Reached warangal and took some good rest and looking forward for the journey on Monday. I insisted that we start early from Warangal ( so as to reach Hyd by atleast 11 AM) so that we can reach Blr by night and stay there...

Wifey was concerned about my Ghat Road driving skills ( as this is my first) and insisted to hire a driver in warangal. I was against it and assured her that I can drive the hill sections without any problems. Confirmed with dream diesel and he said the ghats are not at all steep in Munnar and I can manage it easily. I got some confidence after this..

The Journey Starts ......

A Pic from Munnar...

nice pictures. Munnar is always a great place to be. Please post more details.

just one pic...

you cant do this to us!!! NO!:Frustrati

PLEASE UPLOAD MORE!!

Hey Sri, very nice start to your log. Your Indi looks stunning!

If you don't mind, please add details of distances covered, timings, hotels, restaurants and road conditions to your log. It will be of immense help to future travellers. I did Munnar, Kodai, Ooty circuit ten years back.

I am waiting eagerly to see your pics. I am sure they will bring back a flood of memories! Keep going!

The Journey:

Day 1, 28 Sept:

Woke up at 6 AM hoping that we can start by 8 AM. Its 9 AM, still we have not started. I was so frustrated even I thought of cancelling the trip as planned and instead do a small trip nearby to Warangal. I was sure that we are not going to reach Hyd by 11 AM. I told the same to wifey about the trip cancellation. She refused this and told me we will start right away and go as much as possible till 10 PM and stay in that place. Ok, I thought its a good idea and we started off only at 1 PM :Frustrati from Warangal. On the way front left tyre hit huge pot hole and we heard a lound sound. I did not stop ( as wifey is no mood to get the car stopped), but proceeded a bit slowy ( 60KMPH). Hmm..my father-in-law, mother-in-law woke up and asked what happened and why we are moving slowly and asked to speedup. I have no option but to increase the speed to 100 KMPH.

Reached Hyd at 3-30 PM, and took the inner ring road from Uppal Jn and joined NH7 just 11 KMs before shamshabad.

NH7 till Kurnool was a breeze. I maintained a steady speed of 100KMPH and reached kurnool by 6-00 PM. It became a bit dark and also rain had started. I slowed down and proceeded. Right after kurnool, the road became a 2 lane and full of potholes. I wondered if it can be called as a NH ! ... There are so many diversions because of the 4 laning work and I passed through small villages with very narrow road. I thought we got lost somewhere and we are not on NH7...I stopped at one village and enquired a pedestrian is this NH7 and is this way to Blr ? He said yes, due to 4 laning work, Blr route has been diverted and you can join NH7 after some 25KMs.

Kurnool to Ananthapur road is very bad. At someplaces, even the road is 4 laned, we had to go on the opposite direction. I will not recommend this route in the nights. At some places I scared on seeing trucks coming in opposite direction when I go thorough the rightside lanes. I had to honk constantly and dip my headlights. Reahed Anathapur at 10-30 PM and searched a good hotel with car parking facility and unloaded luggage from car.

Could not click any photos as its getting late. In total we had done 580KMs. After parking the car, I checked the front left tyre and was shocked to see that the rim has bent and wheel cap is lost. With the rim bent we travelled around 550 KMs :eek:. Dozed off expecting to start early the next day. We are still 200 KMs away from Blr..

Day2, Sep 29, Tuesday:

As per our plan, we had to reach Munnar by end of today. Started at 7 AM from Ananthapur.. We reached a rail crossing at around 8 AM and had our breakfast there. Also I got the spare tyre fitted in place of front left tyre and continued our journey.

NH7:






By this time passengers in my car are getting angry and asking me when we are going to reach Bangalore. I said may be by 12 PM. They were so bored ( partly because of the road and the speed which i was doing - 60 - 80KMPH) and finally I reached Devanahalli at around 11-30 AM. I was using Google Maps on my Airtel GPRS and seen a route to Hosur from Devanahalli - NH 207. I thought it is better to take this route so that we can avoid Blr traffic. We had a small break at Devanahalli market as wifey wants to buy some fruits. By this time it was 12-00 PM and everyone in my car is asking whether we can make it to Munnar by today night!! They proposed to cancel the munnar trip and instead go to mysore and return back to Hyd as I was driving too slow. I said firmly that we can reach munnar by atleast 9 PM night..Also I said we can cover mysore next time as it is near to Blr. They convinced and started eating the fruits and calmed down a bit.

We started on our way to Hosur on NH 207 from Devanahalli at 12-00 PM.....

thanks suman, yes munnar is always a good place..

Unoczar, thats an introduction pic..more pics on the way..I was also following your hyd-ooty thread :)

Chevy_lover, good to see your reply...thankyou. Regarding distance covered and timings, wifey and her parents are not interseted noting these things. I was not allowed to note down as they thought it will slow down the travel. Road conditions i can give some details.

No problem, Sri. It was just a suggestion. But you can surely post the hotel details, I guess. I am looking forward to doing a Munnar trip soon.

The pics of the NH have come out well. Glad to note that your tyre had no damage after falling in a pothole. You had luck on your side! My tyre got a 4 inch tear within two hours of commencement of our journey to Kodai!

Any special reason why you drive at 80 kmph?

hey thanks buddy,

i'll complete that travelogue soon.. been busy with BBQ's and stuff this weekend:D

i'll be patient for your thing too.... but dont take too much time, i'm also waiting to see munnar etc. please:

I too was surprised that the tyre managed well without any issues. Till now its still lying in my boot as spare, as I was a bit lazy to correct it. Regarding 80 kmph, it is a self-imposed speed limit. I think at 80 control will be much easier in unexpected conditions. At max I will go till 100-110 kmph, but only for a minute or two on empty stretches.

Back to travelogue,

Hosur is around 80 KMs from Devanahalli. NH 207 is better than I thought. Its 2 lane but good, but nearing the TN border, there is no road at all..only stones laid around. I was crawling in 2nd gear for around 5-10 kms expecting the bad stretches to end soon. Hosur is still 40 kms away. Finally I got into TN border and immediately the difference is road conditions is noticed. TN side roads are much much better..

Border b/w Karnataka - TN





Reached Hosur around 2 PM and joined back on NH7 and continued towards Krishnagiri. Had lunch at A2B after Hosur.

NH7 after Hosur:








Wifey picks up the printout of dreamdiesel's travelogue and started to read it and estimate the time to reach munnar. By this time she knows that it is not possible to reach munnar even by 10 PM. She further reads and tells that most scenic part will start from Dharapuram onwards till Munnar. So we decided to halt at Dharapuram for the night. Father-in-law picks up the Sony PSP and watches telugu movies on it. Wife and mother-in-law enjoys chit-chatting in the back seat. I was enjoying the drive peacefully as there is no need to hurry to reach Munnar today.

NH7:





Wifey was also helping me in routing. Paid toll at Thoppur and filled Diesel at a HP Pump and exited NH7 towards Mettur. Road to Mettur was 2 laned with occasional bad patches. Spent some time near mettur dam. By this time it was 6PM.

Mettur Dam:







After the dam there is a small ghat road which takes to TN electircity board power house and there is a single lane bridge as well..Spent some time clicking photos at the power house and bridge. When we were taking photos on the bridge, a bus has passed on the bridge and the bridge was swinging too much..It was enjoyable..:)

Hey Sri, Nice to see your travelogue. Enjoying the narration. Really lucky with the bent rim incident. More pics please. Waiting for more!!!

Sri, Good start to travelogue. Good narration and the 1st picture of indica is superb. You are very lucky as you had no problems with the bent rim. I believe you must have felt some chatter/shaking of steering wheel at speeds above 80 kph. Do continue.

dreamdiesel, its glad to see your response. your travelouge helped me a lot in doing this trip. We blindly followed the route given by you. Your words on ghat driving gave me confidence. Thanks a lot :-)..

Hi Aquarian, Thanks for the appreciation...Indica does look good, if maintained properly. My daily commute includes travelling around 70kms. I zeroed in on Indica DLS based on my budget, otherwise I would have surely gone for the mighty Swift Diesel ...(Also the waiting time for Swift D is too long for me). May be I will conisder a new version of Swift if at all launched by Maruthi, in a couple of years..:D .. Yes was lucky to get away with the bent rim, some minor shaking is noticed on the steering wheel, but I did not speed much..so no probs...

Continuing the travelouge,

Pump-House:




Wifeys father & Mother:




Its gettign dark, we continued our journey towards Bhavani. Till Bhavani its a 2 lane road with many small villages..

Road towards Bhavani...




At Bhavani joined NH47 and continued. Exit from NH 47 to reach Perundurai is a bit tricky and we need to follow the signs carefully... Since it was dark , I missed the sign, but my wifey spots it and we reversed back and took the route to Perundurai.

Reached Perundurai at 8-30 PM, it is a big city ( atleast for us)...Since it is getting late, we stopped and checked with a local guy about the accomodation in the city. He says it is better to stay in perundurai rather than to stay in Dharapuram..We gave a little bit of thought and decided to go ahead till Dharapuram, which is around 70 KMs. The route was superb with very less traffic ( may be its night). Increased the speed to 100kmph and continued steadily. Slowly, my father-in-law is getting into sleep, follwed by wife and mother-in-law. As usual I was enjoying the drive, but at times felt scary as ours is the only vehicle on the road and its getting fare behind our schedule..

We reached a big junction and enquired a local guy about way to Dharapuram..We took a left ( SH 21) and went staright into the town..At first, I was worried whether we can get accomodation or not..Finally ended up in a lodge (didnt remember the name) near to Bus Stand. Rates were cheap at around 500/- Per Room and the rooms were just ok...Finally after having some Parota at a road-by-shop went to sleep at 11 PM dreaming about the next day drive...

Day 3, Wednesday, Sept 30:

Started at 8 AM and I was excited about my first ghat drive..Reached Udumalaipettai by 9 AM...

Towards Udumalaipettai:




After Udumalaipettai, every thing around us turns green and we could see the hills ahead... The weather was perfect.







At Chinnar Forest Checkpost, entered the details in the register and gave 20/- :) ...From here Munnar is around 70 KMs. Drove through the forest slowly, but could not find any wild-life..I can feel the increase in road gradient..In chinnar forest at one place there are some steep hair-pin bends...( not many two or three I guess :-) ), Slotted Indi in 1st gear and done 1 bend easily, at the 2nd bend there is a quailis coming downhill and I was very much worried, but he stopped and give way to me ( maybe he might have understood that it is my first ghat road drive) and it was done easily..This gave me some confidence..

Soon we neared the TN and Kerala border. At both checkpost I had to enter the details and pay 20/-. There is a small bridge above a stream between the two checkposts..came to know that the bridge is in TN state and after the bridge towards Munnar is in Kerala...Parked Indi, went down the bridge through some steps and spent some time...

Some pics here,





next ....The watch tower....

Right after the Kerala entrance checkpost there is another chekpost on the right side of the road. I had to enter the details in that register also, and its free ( i mean no money given). Shortly after the checkpost ( around 500 meters), we saw a watch tower on the left side of the road, and a board saying that the tower entrance fee is 10 per person..We returned back to the checkpost and paid 40/- for tickets and 50/- for the guide for the trek..Then the guide starts the trek..The tower is 1KM from road and is uphill..We followed the guide. Its 11 AM now and we feel like too much tired.. Finally reached the tower. It has 2 levels and will be used by forest dept ppl to scan the surrounding areas..We could manage to climb till 1st level. heavy winds scare us to climb to 2nd level....

Climbing to the tower:




Views from the tower:









Notice the clouds covering the hill...Its very nice to watch...






The tower:




We head back into Indi, had some fruits and continued through the hills... I was driving a bit slowly, but confidently keeping the hill driving rules in mind ( learnt from TeamBHP clap:) . Wifey and her parents enjoy the beauty of Munnar hills, while I enjoy my drive ....

We stopped at a water fall, just before Marayoor and spent some time enjoying the nature...

Pics here:






Reched Marayoor at 1-30 PM and filled air for Indi tyres. Checked with some guys about food. They showed us some hotel/resort ( sorry guys could not remember the name). Parked our car and headed for lunch..The resort was good, but the food was horrible...While having lunch, heay winds are blewing and light rain started.






To be continued ...

Nice log there. Bringing back memories of my trip to Munnar three years back. In that trip, I too got a bent rim near Ananthapur due to left over stones on the road.

Waiting for the rest of the log.

Last fortnight, I did Hyderabad-Bangalore-Nagarcoil(close to KanyaKumari)-Trivendrum-Kollam(Ashtamudi backwaters)-Thekkady-Hyderabad trip.

On the last leg, I, my wife and my father collectively drove the car back to Hyderabad from Thekkady (with a 2 hr Scheduled second service stop at Salem). 1080 Kms without a night halt-was a personal milestone of sorts.

All in all, very enjoyable but could dfinitely do without the horrendous Kurnool-ananthpur stretch that becomes even more dangerous through the night because of unmarked road endings as well as random traffic and stones littered on the road because of careless road construction.