Over the Hills and not so Far Away

15Oct10

I had been itching to go on a motorbike roadtrip to Kerala. Sitting in the back of the car isn’t exactly my idea of a fun and fulfilling roadtrip.

Therefore from Oct 2 – 10, I was on my motorbike riding through some diverse terrain and landscapes that included arid countrysides, coastal plains, villages, forests, hill stations and plantations of cardamom, sandalwood, rubber and tea.

The 2118 odd kilometers was done on my little 150cc Yamaha FZ16 laden with saddle bags and supplies. Given a chance, I’d gladly re-do the same roadtrip again on a more powerful machine.

The Short Way Round - The route

My itinerary for the trip was as follows

Oct 2, Sat: Home – Salem – Avinashi – Coonoor
Oct 3, Sun: Coonoor – *crash in the mountains* – Ooty – Gudalur – Sultan Bathery (Wayanad)
Oct 4, Mon: Sultan Bathery – Kalpetta – Calicut
Oct 5, Tue: Calicut – Thrissur – Chalakudi – Athirappally/Vazhachal falls
Oct 6, Wed: Athirapally – Unknown shortcut through rubber plantations – Kaladi – Muvattupuzha (Rendezvous with my friends here and was no longer alone) – Munnar
Oct 7, Thur: Munnar – Marayoor – Chinnar – Offroading at Anaimudi – Munnar
Oct 8, Fri: Munnar – Idukki – Elapara (with lots of detours taking us to awesome spots)
Oct 9, Sat: Elapara – Vagamon – Parunthumpara – Pambanar (Goodbyes over a heavy lunch and was all alone again) – VandiPeriyar – Kumily – Theni – Madurai
Oct 10, Sun: Madurai – Trichy – Home

It was a long, wet weekend with rains lashing through Kerala rather heavily. Nevertheless, I was having lots of fun except for the crash in the mountains near Ooty. That was not fun AT ALL. Detailed logs to follow soon.

En route Wayanad

Crashed 5 minutes later

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Filed under: Biking, Life | 6 Comments
Tags: fz, idukki, kerala, roadtrip, triplogs, yamaha

6 Responses to “Over the Hills and not so Far Away”

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1 magesh on October 15, 2010 said:

Awesome.. How many accompanied you?
and what do u mean by ‘the crash in the mountains’?

Reply
- 2 sudharsh on October 15, 2010 said:
  
  Was solo till Munnar. And from Pambanar.
  Had a little accident near Ooty crashing into mountains . My kneepads and jacket protected me from injury. Unfortunately, my bike took some damage in the form of a bent toe lever and a slight fork bend.
  
  Reply
3 sagarun on October 16, 2010 said:

Did you meet ‘jesse’ ??

Reply
- 4 sudharsh on October 18, 2010 said:
  
  Naww
  
  Reply
5 Gyan Prakash on January 16, 2011 said:

hey hi!
i also own an FZ and was lookin for saddle bags for my bike. the cramster guy in blore told me that cramster ones won’t fit the FZ etc..but i see that u have used saddle bags.. what make are they. where did u get them and how much did they cost?

please do let me know.

thanks

Reply
- 6 sudharsh on January 16, 2011 said:
  
  I have the Cramster Colt.
  The reason why Cramster says the bags won’t fit is that they can come in contact with the rear tyres when cornering. Since there is no proper ‘frame’ to hold the bags in position.
  
  However, I solved this problem by using two bungee chords and making the bags rest on them for support instead. This way, the chords prevent the bags from touching the tyres while cornering. Run the bungee chord diagonally from the grab rails to the loops near the rear foot pegs. This should form a nice ‘frame’ to hold the bags.
  
  The height between the exhaust and the right bag is a bit low, so be wary of that. Other than that, Colt works wonderfully for my FZ.
  
  Reply