Hey buddy, How are you doing? If you are free, I just want to discuss about the ride that I had recently completed with ‘The Knight Ryders’ (TKR)

Hey Ananth, I am doing good.  I am eager to hear from you.  So, where was the trip this time?   

This time we rode from Chennai to Kanyakumari, the southern most tip of India from 28 December to 30 December 2022.  The total distance covered was 1500 ++ kms and one way was 700 kms.  So far, this is the longest one way ride by TKR surpassing the ride to Munnar in May 2022 and Agumbe in August 2022.

Wow.  That’s interesting to hear.  I had been wanting to ask you this. Why do you choose to ride by bike instead of car which would have been more comfortable to cover long distances?

It’s not about the distance or the comfort.  Riding together is all about discipline and caring for one another.  It’s a pleasurable experience for various senses in the group bike ride, be it the early morning wind hitting the gears gives a sense of satisfaction, having chit chat with friends during the breaks, the beautiful thud sound of so many bikes echoing together when we cruise through highway is music to ears etc. The feeling can be felt only and can’t be explained.  Also, I believe, the car journey is suitable while travelling with family whereas bike trips were meant to be for riding with brothers.  

Nice. I notice a glistening in your eyes when you are explaining this.  I think the last ride was also 1000+ kms.  How do you manage to handle such long trips?

The trick is to start early in the morning to avoid the highway traffic.  Also, taking adequate breaks to avoid the fatigue that naturally comes with such long trips.  The breaks refreshes the mind and body to continue with the long journey.

 

The road after Nagercoil was a nice one with beautiful sceneries through out the route.  One side we could see huge windmills spinning and other side mountains and villages.  Just before Tirunelveli, there was a scenic road made by carving a mountain the middle where many movie scenes were shot.  We also had a small break there to get some nice drone pics and videos of the Group by Bart.       

Later around 5:30pm we reached Nagercoil where we had booked accommodation for the next two days.  In total we had covered 700kms during the day with riding time of approx. 9hours which was quite commendable and everyone supported this by following a disciplined riding.

We changed to casual attire and caught up with the riders for a quick chat and the briefing about the good and improvement aspects of ride.

What local attractions you visited during this trip?

Sunrise @kanyakumari

Kanyakumari is the only unique place on earth where you can see the Sun Rise and Sun Set from the ocean.  It is the only place in India where one can enjoy the unique spectacle of Sunset and Moonrise simultaneously on full moon days.  After a good night’s sleep, we got up early morning and proceed from Nagercoil to Kanyakumari to witness the sunrise.  Early in the morning at 5:30am, the place was thronged by hundreds of tourists who gathered to witness the spectacular sun rise.  Unfortunately, the sun decided to stay behind the clouds and come out only after a while. Still the view was mesmerising.  The orange sky and the blue sea water was quite a combination.  Fishermen were venturing into the sea for their daily catch at that point in time.

Vattakottai Fort

After witnessing the sunrise, we returned back to Nagercoil for a good breakfast at Hotel Aryas.  Later we wound up at the hotel for a quick break.  While the riders were relaxing, me and one of my fellow rider decided to visit Suchindram, a nearby village where there was an ancient Thanumalayan temple main statue of linga represent Siva (Sthanu), Vishnu (maal) and Brahma (Ayan). Later we proceeded to Vattakottai, a nice scenic fort along the beach side.  We spent some time there taking nice pictures and videos.

Mathur Aqueduct

We came back to Nagercoil for a nice lunch at a veg restaurant (Hotel Neelakandan Order Mess) where the riders enjoyed a wide spread variety of tasty south Indian meals.  After a short nap, we rode to Mathur Aqueduct an aqueduct constructed in 1966 over Pahrali river.  It was quite a magnificent structure with top of height 117ft and to reach the same we had to climb around 170 steps.  From the top, it was a fantastic view, with mountain and river on one side and coconut farms on the other side.  We took some great photos which has been hosted in the Group’s website.

We were planning to return to Kanyakumari to witness the sunset but due to some delays enroute we missed the time and could visit Sangathurai beach only after the sun had set.  Later we retired at the Hotel after dinner eagerly waiting to return to Chennai.

There are so many more places in and around Kanyakumari. Thiruvalluvar Status, Vivekanandar Memorial, Gandhi Mandapam, Bhagavathy Amman temple, Ulakkai falls, Padmanabha Palace etc.  Due to lack of time, we could visit only a few places.  

Nice to hear about the uniqueness of Kanyakumari and the tourist places around it.  Now I think it’s all about return trip to Chennai.

Yeah.  After a good rest, we started early by 6:30am so that we can reach as early as possible avoiding the night ride.  The route from Nagercoil till Tirunelveli was mesmerising with view of windmill farms through out the stretch.  One has to mention about the Aralvaimozhi Muppandal wind farm which is the country’s largest onshore wind farm which is the Asia’s second largest windfarm. This was stretched as far as our eyes could reach.

After a nice breakfast near Tirunelveli, with the enthusiasm of the team members, the bikes were cruising to reach Chennai.  We crossed Madurai and reached Trichy around lunch time.  As it was holiday season, all the restaurants enroute were crowded and we couldn’t find place.  Finally, we had lunch at Hotel Aswin’s in Perambalur.   Since, Chennai was within few hours drive from Perambalur, everyone was eager to return home at the earliest and we were cruising tackling the traffic and reached Tambaram around 7:30pm with a ride time of little over 9hours and covering over 1500kms in 3 days without any major untoward incidents. It was a fantastic ride on both ways and we had enjoyed thoroughly the ride and the company of the riders though we missed some of our key members like Captain Ramesh, Bala, Gopal, Jayapal, Jaga, RajMano, Varadan, Jithin, Harry, Mahesh, Vivek, Shankar etc. who couldn’t join this ride due to their personal commitments.

Adios Amigos till next ride (HaKuNaMaTaTa)