[lancersfx]

Battling against odds of getting the entire family on this trip, the final participants – my mother and I. Recent upgrades to my GT40 – Hello 700ff, new 2 Good Year tyres, new Amaron flo battery. I start the car with just one crank. Earlier it took atleast thrice to let the engine heat up with battery power. Now with the “FLO” juice powering the Endura it was all time to make that road trip The V- Tour.


How – A hand on heart decision as I love to sit by the beach during the sunrise/sunset. Give peace to mind and soul.
Why – Staying confined to 3x2 cubicle in front of a 14” laptop for 8 hours and continue for more hours back home ain't saying anything good. Time to take a break for a “Close-up” with Nature.
When – June 1st to June 5th.
Where – Kanyakumari.


Deciding where to go has always been a challenging task for me, as I have to consider the options for stay, my leaves, jot down the places of interest... in short, a detailed planning is required. I'm known to be a great planner but when it comes to executing the same procrastination kicks in.
Anyhow, after spending quite a few hours on google and help of “hvkumar”. I decided the route and I must say Google maps is very good and reliable to 90%. Though the road conditions ain't a feature included yet, the options provided by google maps and the flexibility it offers is simply a quintessence of what the new age has to offer. The night before the departure I spent the entire day in the workshop getting to install the Hella 700ff projectors and the new Roots ( Skoda ) type horn. Time to teach those Nasty Truckers a lesson!!
So the countdown was set to 1st June 04:00 hrs. Hit the bed early as I had a long day of driving ahead of me.
First leg of the Journey ::
Bangalore >> Hosur >> Krishnagiri >> Dharmapuri >> Thoppur (Right towards Mettur/Bhavani) >> Mecheri >> Bhavani >> Chitode >> Perundurai >> Chennimalai >> Kangeyam >> Dharapuram >> Alangiyam >> Palani.


2:30 AM and I'm still in bed with an orchestra playing in my mind only to realize it was the phone alarm!! Hooray!! Got ready in 20 mins, loaded the car with all the necessary baggage. Took off the the covers off the Hella Projectors thinking This is going to be one Helluva trip..! Tanked up at BP at BTM layout and headed for silkboard and from there on it was the NH-7. I have been travelling for almost 3 years and have been following the progress on the NH-7 when there were a lot of diversions. Now with the NH-7 lifeline nearly complete (except for the last bit in kanyakumari) it was all smiles when as soon as we took a right at silk board. Time to test the the power of Hella. I flick the switch and nothing. My heart missed a beat. This worked fine yesterday. I tried flicking the switch a few more times but it only aggravated my disappointment. The only consolation was the new horn. With a heavy heart I reached Dharmapuri and about 10 kms from there I had to turn right to take the mettur. It is from here I desperately wanted to use the Hella. It was after the first trucker passed that my mother realized why I went in for a expensive projectors and she in turn flicked the switch and Voila!! the Hella's came to life and it instantly changed my mind and I had the next hour sharing the road with other buses and trucks obeying the highway rules :-P.


Reached Palani at 08:45 Hrs.


Road condition + my working Hella's ::

YouTube - DSCN1951.AVI

To Be contd....

[benbsb29]

This is pretty much the same route i take to get to Kerala, except that u proceed towards Kumily and beyond. I've never done this route during the night, since i like to avoid dual carriageways when dark. You never know whats lurking ahead.

[lancersfx]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

This is pretty much the same route i take to get to Kerala, except that u proceed towards Kumily and beyond. I've never done this route during the night, since i like to avoid dual carriageways when dark. You never know whats lurking ahead.

Yep.. You're right. I wanted to cover during daytime. So I started early to reach Palani. If the destination was Kanyakumari then I'd have started the same time but taken the NH7 all the way till KK. with a diversion by not entering Madurai.

[lancersfx]

Route Taken :: Palani >> Vilpatti >> Kodaikanal road >> periyakulam >> Vaigai puthur >> Andipatti >> Usilampatti >> Kottaipatti >>Peraiyur >> ( This road follows through on SH 59 and bypasses Madurai City and will connect at a point beyond tirumangalam. >> Rajapalayam >> Paruvakkudi >> Sankaran kovil >> Devarkulam >> Tirunelveli >> Mundra Irupu >> Pannankulam >> Avaraikulam >> Karungulam >> Vattakotai >> Pambankulam >> there is a deviation at Kavalkinaru to go to Kanyakumari.


Left Palani by 10:30 and stopped just before tirunelveli. The route from Rajapalayam to Tirunelveli is probably the worst part of the entire trip. No doubt the roads were awesome but there is no shelter no tress where you can rest for a while and no shops. It is a dry expanse and swealtering heat makes you dizzy looking at mirage constantly. I was actually planning on stopping at tirunelveli for the "halwa" But as the heat and the dry expanse had taken a toll on me, I couldn't muster enough energy to drive in to the city to buy an halwa. The consolation of the travel via the dryland finally came in the form of strong gusts of wind. As we took a left devition towards Kanyakumari we were surrounded by windmills. IT was so beautiful. About 6 months earlier my mother and I had been to guruvayur and we had seen a similar sight on the way to pollachi. But the sheer numbers of windmills makes one realise what nature has to offer to switch to renewable resources.

I rolled down the windows and with the wind in my hair set the car in cruise mode ( 50 kmph) all the way to kanyakumari.
The sight of the ocean sends such a sense of relief from the heat, the bangalore traffic, and from the techonolgy. The NH7 ends right at the lands end so you can drive all the way alongside the shore and step on to the beach in no less than 5 minutes. You get to experience the confluence of a Bay, an Ocean and a Sea. Best time to visit the first thing in the morning. So my mom and I checked in to Hotel Singaar international. Amazing ocean-view, very neat premises and well maintained hotel. I would rate it 5/5. Once refreshed we left for the beach strolled by the number of shops selling shells and artifacts. Then took a few snaps and visited the Kanyakumari temple. REtired for the night and had a peaceful sleep and dreamt about "things to do" for the following day.

Day 2 :: Kanyakumari Sightseeing.

Started early by 5:45 and walked to the beach. Sipped on hot black tea and waited for the sun to pop up. Nature's true colors revealed at 6:10. Sun rising ever so beautifully over the Bay of Bengal. This lasted for about 15 minutes and we sat on the shore for about half hour enjoying the cool morning breeze. Decided to finish up with the shopping. ( BIG MISTAKE ). Ended up with a carton full of shell caricatures and artifacts. and two handbags. With all this luggage we entered hotel Saravana on the way to ticket counter for Steamer to Vivekananda Rock memorial. This starts at 8AM and we were the first batch to board the boat and this is the best time to visit the rock memorial. The weather is pleasant and the ocean is gleaming on one side due to the morning sun. The premises are maintained very neat and inside the memorial is the statue of Swami Vivekananda and opposite to that are his guru's Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Saradha Devi. We spent close to an hour on the rock. There was also a statue of Tiruvalluvar but the ferry services were stopped temporarily due to low tide. But we got to know that there are only inscriptions inside and nothing else to see. We headed back to the shore and it was time to decide the next pitstop. As per google maps my plan was to cover Tiruchendur as it was on the way to Rameshwaram. My mom liked the idea and so we started of at about 11:30AM and followed on the route ::

Karungulam >> Vijayapatti >> Uvari >> Kulashekara patnam >> Tiruchendur . The road conditions I would rate 4.5 / 5. Little did I realise that this temple too was alongside the beach. The good part was at any point if I had decided to visit the ocean i just had to take a right through a small village and out to the sea..!! (However this did not happen). Visited the Tiruchendur temple and there was a good crowd but we managed to finish darshan in an hour. We were off to Rameshwaram from the temple on the following route ::

Tiruchendur >> Kayalpattinam >> korkai >> tuticorin >> Tharuvaikulam >> kulaththur >> Right towards Maandhai >> Sayalgudi >> Kadaladi >> Mudukulattur >> Ramanathapuram/Ramnad >> Mandapam >> Pamban.

The road after Tutircorin till Rameshwaram was simply Superb. I would have spotted hardly about 10-15 vehicles the entire strech till ramnad. and it is 4 lane heaven. It looked like newly laid tarmac. Again set to cruise mode but at 80kmph and Rameshwaram -- Here we come !!!
I remember the bike trip from Ramnad to Rameshwaram a couple of years ago and it was amazing. The oceanic breeze was so powerful that one had to ride the bike tilted against the wind direction. Soon by late evening ~ 5:45 we were on the Pamban bridge. The sight of a train going throught the ocean would have been a bonus but nevertheless we entered Rameshwaram and checked in to Hotel SeaView and visited the temple the same evening. We got to know that it was end of season and hence less crowd. The surprising part was there were two passage flyovers (walkway) constructed within the temple for the devotees. Finished darshan in an hour and retired for the night after a heavy dinner. Zzzzz..!!!

Note :: If you are going for sight seeing in Rameshwaram you can fix an auto for Rs. 150-200 max for a visit to 7 places.
1. Rama Theertam
2. Seetha Theertam ( a pond but they have a small curtained box with a tub of water (teertham) )
3. Pancha-mukha Anjaneya (hanuman) Right opposite to Seetha Theertam. This is where they have the floating rocks (used by Ram to cross the ocean).
4. Ramar padam. An impression of Lord Rama's Feet.
5. Sri Krishna temple. This has an north indian touch to it.

6. House of Abdul Kalam and Kalam's so called store. DONOT be fooled they are actually expensive than the market by the beach. The reason autodriver might take you is he gets about 10% of commission.


Let some pics do justice to the second part of the journey.

[MX6]

Is the gauge conversion work over on the Pamban? Train services were stopped due to the guage conversion work. A friend of mine had the great opportunity to go up and down that rail bridge on a trolley! He said it was heavenly.

[lancersfx]

Hi MX6. As far as I could see it seems to be over because the day I left rameshwaram a cop on the pamban bridge said we weren't allowed to park on it but he also said if you wait for another hour the train will pass by the bridge and you could capture on video.

[Lukeskywalker]

Wow, nice travelogue, am waiting for your posts, this is just in time for me as i am waiting for an opportunity to do the same stretch sometime soon.

[lancersfx]

Woke up by 5:30 and we were ready to bathe with water from the 22 teerthams (22 wells). Adjacent to the main entrance of the temple, to the left is a the Grill/barricade for people to buy ticket for the bath in 22 Wells. There will be a single person who will be responsible for a group of 10/15 people. He will be guiding the group within the temple to all the teerthams. Best option is to carry a water proof bag with a set of clothes to change because after the last teertham you will have to change clothes (as you aren't permitted with wet clothes) and will also get a special entry for darshan. But I had to return to the hotel and change and then get back in for darshan. With Darshan over in an hour we headed straight to the beach (Keezh Vaasal). I'd say the shore by the rameshwaram temple was dirty but because of holiness, just stood by the shore and then we arranged an auto for sight seeing. The list of the places of which I have already posted earlier.

After sight seeing we headed out for the pamban bridge took a few snaps and then it was off to Devipattinam to the Navagraha temple.T his temple had the deities of 9 planets immersed/underwater. The water is waist-deep and one has to get down inside the cage like structure to go around the deities. One kind of an experience. I entered with my pants folded ( Did no good) and it dried up on the way to Trichy.

NOTE :: If you are using your own car, then you can visit all the places in your car rather than take an auto and save Rs.200/300. The reason I say this is because all places are on the highway NH48 and all are within 3-4kms from temple. I have attached the places of interest as a schematics diagram. Hope you find it useful. You only want to hire a jeep if you plan on visiting Dhanush kodi. It's going to be a bumpy ride nevertheless you will be astonished by sight of being surrounded by the ocean. It is about ~ 20 kms from Rameshwaram.

I took a day's rest in Trichy and left for bangalore on Day 4 so I can get another day's rest before starting work on sunday. I was surprised by the FE given by my car. Looking at the calculation, I got 630kms for half a tank double that 1260 for 45 lts. ( 28 kmpl). ( full tank + top up). I had to fill up only twice.. Actually only once for the entire trip. The second was considering the gas prices in bangalore, I refuelled at hosur. Even 20 kmpl would have been amazing. My GT40 truly surprised me on this trip.

The only negative bit with this entire trip was the wheel alighnment was off the chart and by the time i was in Trichy I could see the steel mesh on the front left tyre. So I put the spare in till I could reach bangalore. Now that I am here I get to know that the strut kits have to be replaced. My biggest mistake was the last time( 1yr ago) I replaced the hydraulics with a gas shocks and they aren't able to cope with the weight of the diesel engine. Hence I am switching back to the hydraulic struts.

Let some pics do justice and finalize the trip.

Rameshwaram.Temple.schematics


Way.to.22.wells


House.of.Dr.Abdul.Kalam


Ocean.view


Ocean.view 2


Ocean.view 3


Pamban.Bridge


Pamban.Rail.Link


Rameshwaram.to.Ramanathapuram


Devipattinam.Navagraha.Temple


Devipattinam.Navagraha.Temple 2


Devipattinam.Navagraha.Temple 3

[mjothi]

Nice one. The route picture of the temple will certainly help others to visualize it better. Good job.

So, did you went to Dhanuskodi? Actually you can drive with your own car till the edge of the ocean, where you have the coastal guards office etc. From there we have tempos as public transport to get in to those places which was taken by ocean in olden days.

[lancersfx]

Originally Posted by mjothi

Nice one. The route picture of the temple will certainly help others to visualize it better. Good job.

So, did you went to Dhanuskodi? Actually you can drive with your own car till the edge of the ocean, where you have the coastal guards office etc. From there we have tempos as public transport to get in to those places which was taken by ocean in olden days.

Hi Mjothi, I didn't make it to dhanushkodi due to time constraints. One place I still could have visited was the Bramha, vishnu and Mahesh temple at Nagercoil (~15 kms from kanyakumari.)

[knp]

amazing trip with great info. I am planning a similar tip and these info really helps us a lot!!

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Nice pics,

Good to know that thuthukud road to rameshwar from kanyakumari is back to life.
Tsunami hit the road condition on this section badly and all vehicles started to go rameshwar through manmadurai[ something like that].

Originally Posted by mjothi

So, did you went to Dhanuskodi? Actually you can drive with your own car till the edge of the ocean, where you have the coastal guards office etc. From there we have tempos as public transport to get in to those places which was taken by ocean in olden days.

I still remember the dhanushkodi check post where cops demanded rs 50 from me for no reason.

Bibhishan temple along dhanushkodi road is also good one.

Entire road from rameshwar to dhanushkodi is scenic.

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by lancersfx

Hi Mjothi, I didn't make it to dhanushkodi due to time constraints. One place I still could have visited was the Bramha, vishnu and Mahesh temple at Nagercoil (~15 kms from kanyakumari.)

Its good though. You got one reason to take on for the long drive

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

I still remember the dhanushkodi check post where cops demanded rs 50 from me for no reason.

I am not surprised at all. Where ever you cross checkpost, this has become an habit for many officers sitting inside. Just for nothing, you pay something.

[ampere]

The "22 well ceremony" if I can call it that, I went through 3 years back. It was amazingly crowded with folks running all over, as if they had a train to catch. One needs to engage a guy who will take you along (almost drag you along), pull water from each of these wells and pour it on you. I got an amazing perspective of the place.

We also went to a place, where there was a well on the shore, which is supposed to have sweet water, though being on the sea. (Though I did not find it sweet).


Of all the places, views on the Pamban bridge and Dhanushkodi were the highlights of the place. BTW, after "22 well ceremony", one is also supposed to take bath at Dhaushkodi. I was rueful all over the journey to Dhanushkodi, as I had to sit on with wet clothes. But once I got a glimpse of the place all discomfort vanished. It was truly a heavenly experience.

Just got reminded of the old times!

[lancersfx]

Originally Posted by ampere

The "22 well ceremony" if I can call it that, I went through 3 years back. It was amazingly crowded with folks running all over, as if they had a train to catch. One needs to engage a guy who will take you along (almost drag you along), pull water from each of these wells and pour it on you. I got an amazing perspective of the place.

The time I went it was almost the end of season and now you should get more people with buckets waiting on devotees than the other way around. . Now would be a good time to make this NH-7 tour. I didn't do my homework enough on dhanushkodi as I didn't want to take chances driving at night so I just skipped that. But I'm going to visit rameshwaram the next time I'm in Trichy (hometown). That time I definitely plan on visiting dhanushkodi.