It was a long four day weekend in May from 1st to 4th coupled with Maggi’s Wedding at Waynad, Kerala. We had planned for this ride from quite sometime and we were all set to go. We started a bit late as usual and thought that the rest of them would have covered quite a distance. But as we were nearing Kadumane on Mysore Road, Sukku called Abhi that they were waiting near a small roadside breakfast joint at the deviation towards Eagleton. Had a good breakfast of tatte idlis and spicy chutney along with hot tea.

The ride for the most part was pretty uneventful, probably because we have done this stretch from Bangalore - Mysore so many times. This would be my second visit to Wayanad and I was looking forward to get there. The plan was to get to the resort that was booked for us, for lunch. But as we rode on, we got pretty hungry and stopped at a restaurant called Coffee Stoppee. While Abhi made calls to Poo and Chenthil, I was trying to figure out what to order since the menu card indicated that they supposedly had a lot of things made of ‘Gopi’; ‘Chilli Gopi’, ‘Aloo Gopi’, ‘Gopi Manjuri’ :-P Decided to play safe and order something that was spelt right – Chapathi and Egg Bhurji. As we waited for the food to arrive, we had some free entertainment from a huge group that had managed to fit into an Innova. Jeez! They just kept pouring out of that car! And what attire! Salwar kameez coupled with panama hats, fat fingers filled with gold and dark ray bans. Throw in some noisy kids who act like they have never seen metal chairs before and you have complete ‘thubhai returned’ stamp allover! :D

The boys finally got to the place and after they finished lunch we started riding again. As soon as we got on to the bike, we realised that it was punctured. Abhi got the puncture fixed and we finally headed towards Waynad. From there on it was a relaxed ride with breaks whenever and wherever we wanted. We were in no hurry to get to the place and the pace suited us just fine. We crossed Sulthan Bathery and got to Mananthavaady.  Poo called to find out the directions and we got to Abhirami Farm Resorts in the town of Panamaram, a few kilometers from Mananthavaady, where our stay had been arranged.  Dumped our luggage in the room and waited for the beer to arrive with the rest of the guys :)

There was a nation wide bundh the next day.  North wayanad was a stronghold of the political party that had called for the bundh and and we were told that commuting for Mahendra (Maggi) and Sindhu's reception in Kalpetta might be problematic. A lot of discussion later we decided that all of us would drive down to Manathavaady where Maggi would meet us and then proceed to the reception hall.  After a nice drive for about 40 odd kms, we reached the hall with Maggi.  The moment all the cars were parked, a group of monkeys started prancing all over them, checking for open windows to steal food or whatever was available! People had a hard time chasing them away, and some of them got pretty playful too :) After a sumptuous lunch we got back to the resort, relaxed and partied into the night.

Initially, the plan was to leave after the reception and ride to Coorg, but due to the bundh we rode out only the next day. We got to the Tolpetti Reserve at around 9-ish riding through Mananthavaady and Kartikulam.  The weather was nice and cloudy which made the ride through the sanctuary enjoyable but got a bit warmer as we reached Kutta. As usual the roads got quite bad.  This part of Karnataka has always got a bad deal when it comes to the state of roads.  Added to it,  the torrential rains makes it even more worse.  Kept riding, as we were not sure of the route to get to the place.  Tried calling the home stay, but due to bad signal could not get through.  Moreover, the bike was causing a bit of problem with its 'I wont start unless you kick me a hundred times' attitude.  Finally we figured out the route after some enquiring and rode non stop through Srimanagala, Gonikoppa, Virajpet, Kadnoor and reached Kakkabe.   From here, getting to palace estate was another thing, since there were no sign boards indicating the direction.  We decided to get to the follow the route to the Palace first and then figure it out. We got to the palace where we got to see the directions to Palace Estate which was just some 50 mtrs ahead.  We were there for a day and we managed to visit the palace, hear its story, ride to the Padi-Iggutappa temple and walk around the estate, all of which is recounted in the article here.

We left coorg early afternoon on the 4th of May, and rode back to Bangalore.  I have never enjoyed riding back to Bangalore after a trip and this was nothing different. The bright red may flowers on the Mysore Bangalore highway and fantastic roads were the only respite from the thoughts of getting back to the usual grind.  My brain was already scanning the calendar for a big weekend when we can ride again, get away and feel free!

All images are shot with a Sony Point and Shoot Camera