Winter ride to Valparai (2 – 4 December 2022)
Hey Ananth, It’s been a long time. How are you doing?
Hey buddy, I am doing good. How about you?
I am also doing good. I want to ask if your motor biking group had undertaken any rides since we last spoke.
Yes. We, The Knight Ryders recently went on a winter ride to Valparai on 2 – 4th December 2022.
Nice to hear. How far is it from Chennai and which route did you take?
Valparai is approx. 600kms from Chennai. On route, we went via Ulundurpet – Aatur – Salem – Erode – Tiruppur – Pollachi and Valparai. On return we came via Pollachi – Dharapuram – Karur – Trichy – Chennai. Overall we covered a distance of approx. 1300 kms during this trip.
OMG 1,300 kms? That seems to be a bit of stretch. Isn’t it? How did you manage to cover the distance without getting exhausted?
Having done a few rides of more than 1000+kms, I think now we are accustomed to travel such distances during the trip. Further, the key factor is to take adequate breaks to relax and refresh so that you don’t feel the fatigue.
Got it. How was the ride organised? Can you throw some light into that?
On the ride day, we gathered at the usual assembly point in Tambaram at early morning (4AM) expecting a long ride ahead during the day. Since most of the riders participating in this group ride were fairly experienced with long distance rides, after a brief discussion on safety aspects, we immediately hit the road.
After an hour from start, we had a brief coffee break and proceeded to Ulundurpet around 7AM where we spent more than an hour having a quite good breakfast and relaxed a bit. From there, we proceeded towards to Salem. This road from Ulundurpet to Salem is quite challenging because of the switching of single and dual lane. Once we crossed Salem, the roads were much broader and 19 bikes were cruising towards the destination. After a few breaks in between we reached Palladam in Tirupur for our lunch break. We spent quite an amount of time during lunch break and the some of the riders even had a quick nap after a good meal. After a nice break, we proceeded towards Pollachi and then to Valparai.
Valparai is a hill station. Right? How was the mountain ride?
We reached the check post around 4:30pm and as needed we were purchasing the tickets needed for the bikes to be rode in the mountain. Suddenly, the rangers manning the check post made huge noise. We didn’t know what that was for and we were looking at each other for clues.
Then, one of the ranger, pointed to a small rock block just above the check post building where a single ‘musth’ wild elephant was standing there contemplating whether to get down or not. I have never seen such a massive elephant in such close quarters. The rangers swiftly swung into action to warn the onlookers and asked us to be ready to mount the bike and return if the pachyderm decided to be climb down as it could be dangerous to come face to face with a single wild elephant. The rangers were moving in their vehicle sounding the siren to distract the animal. That was a few minutes of pure spine chilling moments. Fortunately, the animal decided to stay put and the rangers allowed the vehicles to proceed with caution and warned us to be careful as there could be more animal crossings. They advised us not to bother wild animals in any way.
I am getting goosebumps hearing the experience. I can imagine how you guys must have felt through the situation.
Yes, it was a thrilling. The mountain route was adventurous with Aliyar dam on one side and the mountain on the other side. The higher we were climbing the view of the Aliyar dam was quite mesmerising.
After a few turns, we stopped at a nice view point where we spent some time enjoying the nature and taking some nice photos and videos. Then we started our ascent in the mountain and conquering 40 hair pin bends and numerous turns. The mountain ride is a different experience especially when you corner the machine on the curves. It’s a another ‘vera’ level feel.
We reached valparai junction after riding in the mountains for nearly an hour and half and by that the time the sun had already set and darkness was creeping in.
Oh. Nice, finally you reached your destination.
No, here we realised that our place of stay was further 25kms away and closer to the Kerala border. So we started riding in the night again encountering the curves on the small roads. In one of the curves, we saw a full grown huge adult bison nearly 7 foot tall standing in the corner. It was so close that if we stretched our hand we would have touched the bison. Fortunately, the bison decided to stay put till all the bikes passed the animal. It would have been a disaster had the Bison decided to jump on the road.
Later we understood from the team riding behind that they also encountered a huge deer in a similar manner. So the ride was super thrilling and finally we reached the resort ‘Whispering falls resort, Valparai’ around 7:30pm after 15hours since we started from Chennai. The resort was quite nice and located in the backdrop of the tea estate with a small falls flowing through the site. The day ended with a good dinner followed by some ‘gup shup’ between the riders.
Ok. Have a good sleep and we will catch up on Day-2 details.
Yeah. I am sure Day 2 is also going to be more thrilling than to-day.
I heard that most people visiting Valparai visit Athirapally as well due to the picturesque route. Have you guys also planned such ride?
Yes. In fact, that was the main reason for selecting Valparai as the destination. After reading and watching so many videos on the internet about the route from Valparai to Athirapally. Athirappally is the place where many iconic movies had been shot and it is known for it beautiful waterfall. To reach Athirapally from Valparai, there is only one route which goes through the forest which is also the Tiger reserve and many people had posted stories about wild animals sighting. It is most common to see wild elephants, leopard, tiger, bear, bison etc. during the route and you are allotted a specific time within which you are expected to cover the distance. No stopping was allowed in the route owing to the risks of encountering with wild animals.
Seems that this is going to be a hair raising experience. How did you tackle this?
We started from the resort and reached the Tamil Nadu side of the check post which was just within a few hundred meters from the resort. From the check-post personnel we understood that no vehicle movement were allowed in the route for the last two weeks owing to ‘Kabali’, a single ‘musth’ wild elephant has been chasing vehicles enroute and causing damage.
While we were talking, a car was driving from the opposite direction whose rear bumper was damaged heavily. The driver told that the car was attacked from the back by ‘Kabali’ just an hour ago. We could see the extent of damage ‘Kabali’ had caused to the car and were stunned to large extent.
The forest personnel explained that owing to these security concerns they are not currently allowing two wheelers inside the zone and the sound of the heavy vehicles might agitate the animal further. It turned out be a anti-climax with ‘Kabali’ playing spoil sport for the trip.
That’s quite scary to hear. So, what did you guys do then?
We decided that we would plan another trip to Valparai at a future date. For the day, it was decided to do some local sight seeing and exploring in and around Valparai.
Sholayar dam was a near by spot which provided a good location for the riders to pose for some beautiful photos and videos. You could watch the photos in the website (www.theknightryders.com). Later, the local peope told us that mostly during Mondays, leopard, tiger and bear can be spotted in and around the dam scavenging on the left overs meat from local restaurants thrown in that area.
The resort guys also mentioned that it’s common for them to see elephants, leopard, bear and hyena in the resort premise once a while. It seems the locals have got used to living with the wild animals in their habitat.
After spending quite a good time at the dam, we drove to Valparai town for lunch and then visited a Balaji temple. On the way back to the resort , we noticed a herd of Bisons (25 in nos) in variety of sizes comprising from calves to adult were grazing in the tea estate near the road. It was quite exciting to watch so much Bisons together.
Once we reached the resort, we relaxed a bit and assembled again to have the mandatory briefing discussion about the positives of the ride and the improvements. It was good to notice people sharing their experience and their feedback about the entire trip which was positively received by the team. Post the discussion, Raja Pandiyan was ‘knighted’ and every one congratulated him.
The evening was quite eventful with Naveen, Maddy, Raja Pandiyan, Chandru doing a karaoke session of some beautiful songs supported by Gopu on the drums. With so much entertainment, we didn’t realise how the time went so fast. It was quite interesting to notice varied talent with in the riding community.
With that happy note, day 2 of the trip came to an end with some nice dinner provided by the resort.
Quite an eventful day for you guys.
Yes. Tomorrow will be riding back to Chennai.
How was your return trip to Chennai?
The return day is mostly the ride and the excitement to get back to the family. After having the breakfast, we started at Valparai around 8:30 AM. The weather was pleasant and we expected the same through out the ride. However, once we were into the mountains, suddenly the weather changed its mood and its started drizzling and increasing the intensity to heavy showers.
We all changed to rain wear and managed to ride down safely. Since we were taking a different route from our onward journey, we didn’t know what was in store for us. Most of the time through Pollachi to Karur it was raining intermittently. Only after reaching Trichy we could get some break from the rains.
The ride from Trichy was quite a nice one cruising in the national highways. With minimum breaks the bikes were cruising in the evening traffic trying to reach the destination Chennai. Eventually, we reached Chennai a little before mid-night delayed by 2-3 from the expected time mainly due to the unprecedented rains enroute. Despite the difficulties, everyone managed to reach home safely.
It was indeed good to hear from you about the ride. Thanks for sharing your experience.
It was my pleasure. You can check the website www.theknightryders.com, exclusive honda bike riders club that includes details of past rides and you can also see some amazing photos shot at various locations during the group bike rides. You can also follow the bikers club in the social media accounts to get interesting and latest updates on the group bike rides organised by the club
Sure, I will do.
I will soon catch up with you on another interesting ride.
Adios Amigos till next ride (HaKuNaMaTaTa)
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