It all started when Abhi and I were raking our brains for place to head for our honeymoon. All the wedding frenzy had left us with very little time and energy for any kind of planning for this one. Abhi then reluctantly asked me if it would be fine with me to ride to some place nice. Ah! Why dint I think of that! I said that would be perfect since this would be our first ride after wedding :) and so it was decided that we would ride. But then there was a catch. The bike was in the garage getting a complete revamp from engine to paint and we weren’t sure if it would be ready. Since we had just a week’s off left, we wanted to head out as soon as possible. A few calls and a late night stay by Abhi and Yousuf in the garage worked and we finally got the bike on Dec 1. Now the question was where do we head to? Both of us were not too keen on doing the routine destinations and we surely needed some peace and quiet after all the hustle and bustle of the wedding. I thought somewhere in Kerala would be good and since both of love the forests, Abhi remembered a place that Santhosh had mentioned. And thus was decided that we would head to "Fringe Ford" in Wayanad district, Kerala.

It was planned that we would head out on Dec 3, stay in Fringe Ford till 6th, head out to Kakkabe in Coorg on the 7th and get back to Bangalore on 8th evening. Abhi took the bike on a test ride on the 2nd, since the engine was new and he wanted to make sure everything was fine… after all he would be taking his wife on the ride for the first time and he had to be pretty sure that everything was perfect :D

Dec 3: It was a chill winter morning when we hit the Mysore road. Could not afford to go above 60 kmph since we were running-in. After the breakfast stop at Kaadu Mane we continued the mellow riding. Misty winter air combined with the running-in made me sleepy :-| We just got to the town of Ramnagara when the bike went ‘bhhukk…bhhuukk’ and then conked. Argghhh! Yousuf Bhai! What did you do to the bike :D. While Abhi was busy trying to figure out what the problem might be, I was hoping that it wasn’t something major! It was over an hour in a nearby garage, and we had begun to wonder whether this ride would happen at all! :D It turned out that the electric coil wasn’t alright and after some makeshift arrangement, headed back to Bangalore to get that fixed. Gosh! What a start!

Managed to get back to Bangalore without any breakdown, and got the bike fixed. Grabbed some lunch and headed out again. Thanked Abbas Bhai on the way in Ramanagara where we’d got the bike fixed earlier and rode on, sleepy, hungry and hoping that the bike stays put. We decided to continue riding the rest of the way next day and rest for the night in Mysore. Went straight to Hotel Dasprakash, had dinner and crashed for the night. Phew! What a relief that was!

Dec 4: Woke up to Abhi ranting that he wanted to go to the zoo. I wasn’t very keen since personally, I hate to see those poor animals caged. Agreed that they are well cared for, protected and healthy, and many are even bred successfully, but still it’s not the jungle, where they are home. Imagine being in a cage 24/7…sad thought ain’t it? Anyways, we started riding after breakfast, took a break for tea in Nanjangud, refueled in Guadalupe and hit Wayanad. After an initial patch of pot-hole filled roads, we got to the bio-reserve. We were stopped at the check post by the cops and the conversation went something like this:
Inspector: Hmm..KA number..License Iddiya? (Hmm KA Registration. Do you have a license?)
Abhi: Ide saar (Yes) [me wondering: now what!]
Inspector: Ellige hogta iddira? Tourista? (Where are you headed? Are you a tourist?)
Abhi: Wayanad kade (To Wayanad)
Inspector: Yaake?
Abhi: Maduve aagi ondu vaara aitu… (Got married just last week, Abhi said all smiles) [me: grinning through the helmet :D]
Inspector: Oooooo..hoogi..hoogi..Kannada keli bahala santosha aitu..(Oooh carry on! Was good to hear you speak in Kannada) [me: whoa cool! :D]
Abhi: Thanks saar! (saar = sir)

Waved them goodbye and entered the bio reserve. Abhi had mentioned that he got to see a herd of Pachyderms and also a lone Tusker the last time he rode that way. I was anticipating seeing some wildlife, but on this front, I guess luck hasn’t been on my side. But, the weather was pleasant and perfect for riding. Bandipur is denser and greener here, than on the other side. The road slits the thick tree line, forming silhouettes in the soft sunlight. The silence of the forest is broken only by the “dub-dub” of the bike, and occasionally disturbed by a bird or animal somewhere in the trees. We rode on, and got to the town of colorful buildings: Sulthan Bathery. Abhi thought the town looked red, but there were mitai pink, fluorescent green/orange, mauve and purple buildings too along with red. I am yet to come across another town which has had such a splash of colors :) and the overall effect was truly fantastic!

We stopped for brief while for a butt break and some snaps en route to Meenangadi. When we were just about to leave, we chanced upon a Malabar Giant squirrel, happily jumping from one tree to the next, totally oblivious to our presence. We were so engrossed watching it that when we turned to get on the bike, we got a rude shock: Kerala Highway Patrol! Three of them got down and asked us what we were upto! Guess why?! Abhi was wearing his balaclava and what his appearance with that was, is any body’s guess :D. They left after making sure that we were harmless and idle chit chat… heh!

Mananthavady was another 40kms and we informed Fringe Ford where we were. We got to Mass Nursery owned by Mammooty, manager of Fringe Ford. From there his son, Shabeer, guided us the rest of the way to Fringe Ford. It’s a ride of 11kms to the place of which most is off-road. As we got closer to the place, the view changes from tea plantations to thick jungle with mountain ranges running parallel to the road we were on. When we finally got there, couldn’t believe my eyes; got off the bike and was rooted to the spot for a couple of minutes. We spent three more awesome days which I have recounted in a separate article all about Fringe Ford!

Dec 8: Repacking time X-( Had to head back to Bangalore. Decided to ride through Coorg instead of going back the same way. We missed a left turn at the fork once we got off the mud path and we rode to Talapoya. It dint really bother us much since we were anyway looking for a different route. Morevover, the ride was through some of Kerala’s most enchanting regions, with thickets and streams running adjacent to the road, keeping us company.

From Talapoya, we got to Mananthavady, from where we got a final view of the mountains around Fringe Ford. We continued towards Bavali, through Begur sanctuary, crossed the check post in Kartikulam, and got to an arch with writing in Kannada ‘Rajiv Gandhi National Park, Kabini’. We were doubtful whether we were in the right direction and 100mtrs ahead we checked with a local. Got to know we had indeed missed a turn just after Bavali. Rode back to the town and took a deviation towards Coorg. We rode through a different part of Begur sanctuary. Beautiful tarmac, clear sky, emerald jungle with carpet of fallen leaves, and cool afternoon made the ride smooth.

Kutta was the first town we crossed in Coorg. Initially, Abhi was a bit skeptical since the last time he came riding to Coorg, the roads were lousy. I kept assuring him that the roads towards Virajpet were pretty good. As we crossed Srimangala, Hudikeri and Ponnampet, I was busy filling in Abhi with details on every place I knew about who lives there, what they do, and why I had visited that place. Also the roads were good, the sights of the coffee plantations and paddy fields made me pretty nostalgic and excited :) We had lunch at Gonikoppa, and rode towards Virajpet. Since we were so close to the village of Nalavattokkalu, where my family’s ancestral house is, I thought Abhi should see the village at least, if not the house. Got him around the village with him complaining that I dint even offer him a kuppa with my house so close by... heh!

Passed Hatur, Gonikoppa (again), Ammati, Titimati and got out of Coorg via the Rajiv Gandhi National Park. It was already evening by the time we reached the Hunsur bypass. The road through Ilavala joining Mysore road at Pandavapura was the last place which was pleasant, green and peaceful. Hit the Bangalore – Mysore expressway as the sun set. The pollution, traffic and the noise got to us and we couldn’t wait to get home. What a difference it was between morning 9 AM where we were riding through dense jungle and evening 9 PM when we rode through the outer ring road! :)

Finally, we got home. Abhi downloaded all the snaps of the trip and looking at them made us feel much better. We had done ~700kms of awesome riding, walking, trekking and it was an experience that we vowed to relive again someday!