Ride to Pachalur, Kodaikanal and a visit to Christian fellowship Hospital.

Tentative itinerary

 25/04/2019 Thursday

3.30 am Start ride from Vellore
9.30 am Pugalur, Karur for breakfast at my friend Sudha's home
12 pm Oddanchatram CF hospital, lunch at my friend Titus home
4 pm to Parapallaru dam
5.30 pm to reach CF Ashram, Pachalur.

26/04/2019 Friday

6.30 am start Ride from Pachalur towards Kodaikanal
9.30 am breakfast at Altaf restaurant, dolphin nose
12 pm Kodaikanal lake
1 pm lunch at Tibetian brothers
2 pm riding back to Pachalur
4 pm dolmens site Thandikudi
5.30 pm reach CF Ashram rest

27/04/2019 Saturday

3.30 am start ride from Pachalur towards Vellore
reach home Vellore as early as possible

Christian Fellowship Hospital 

Christian Fellowship Hospital, Oddanchatram, is 299 beds, multi-speciality hospital located in Oddanchatram, a small town between Dindigul and Palani, 28kms from either side) in Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu. The hospital with its team of 135 doctors sees about 1700 outpatients a day. There are radiology, clinical, biochemical and microbiology labs and adequate diagnostic equipment.

The Christian Fellowship Hospital (CFH) is run by the Christian Fellowship, a charitable society that was established by a small group in 1955. It has grown into a unique setup where the poor are given the best medical treatment without discrimination simultaneously maintaining high levels of academic standards. It is a community where simplicity is practised and the love of Christ is shown in action. Students here strive not only for academic excellence but also are taught Christian values.

http://www.cfhospital.org/

Courses offered

• DNB-General Medicine & Family Medicine
• DNB Post Diploma Family Medicine
• Diploma in General Nursing & Midwifery
• Diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology
• Diploma in Radio Diagnosis & X-Ray Technology
• Diploma in Medical Records Technology

Facilities at CF hospital

• At present, the hospital has 299 beds with major speciality departments. The outpatient department has an average attendance of 1200-1500 patients daily. The hospital Labour Room and Operation Theatre happen to be one of the most enterprising arenas, conducting over 2500 deliveries and 7500 surgeries annually.

Back to the Ride

The night before the ride I attended an area fellowship meeting and rushed back home to have a good sleep.
Packed the Rynox tank bag with DSLR and snacks. The Viaterra claw bag was filled as per the need and a little more for the sake of right and left side equal distribution of weight ( a toolbox on right and an extra water bottle on left).

But I was only able to sleep from 10 pm to 2 am. 

APRIL 25TH THURSDAY 2019

Took bath and got ready. Loaded the via terra claw bag to the bike which took me solid 10 minutes.


Started riding from Kasam, at 2.45am. The odometer reading was 39,153 km.

unfortunately, the Pallikuppam railway gate was closed and it delayed me another 5 min. reached Katpadi meeting point and waited for Samson. he arrived within 2 min and we kick-started our ride after a short prayer by Samson for a safe journey. I said to Samson that I need to fuel in another 50 km and that would be the first pot stop. But at 39,199 km the bike hit the reserve and I filled the tank for 10 litres at ₹ 776 in a hp petrol bunk. Samson told me that he hardly slept one hour the previous night because of the sudden visit of relatives at home. He desperately needed a tea break and we stopped right after the Vaniambadi toll plaza. Had tea in glass tumblers ( say no to plastics, and of course taste better and more quantity as well )



We started riding and just after Dharmapuri, we had another tea break. Surprise to hear when the vendor said the cost of tea is ₹ 6 ( when did I last hear that price ..... 1998 ?!! )

Near Dharmapuri a place called ELATHUR - tea break 


We started again and cruising around 65 km speed because Samson's classic 500 had engine repairs done recently. The speed I was not as comfortable as my sweet spot is around 80 km speed. But as a team, we should never stress the fellow rider. A break down would cost the trip dearly to all riders equally in a team.
We rode past Salem, Rasipuram, and Namakkal. Samson filled his bike with fuel at Namakkal. I got frantic calls from two of my UG friends who wanted to know where am I as they were eagerly waiting for me in Pugalur, Karur with breakfast prepared. As my friend Sudha already sent the location in the WhatsApp, we surprised her knocking her door with all our biking gears. Karthik another friend of mine joined us from Karur taking time out amidst his busy physiotherapy practice. Pugalur is a small hamlet of Karur with Kaveri river on the side and with fertile lands. My friend Sudha's house had already filled with guests due to the local festival. They were splashing each other with turmeric water, as a custom of that summer festival. Good that they didn't try on us, as we looked more like aliens out of racing circuit with our riding gears.
We had idlis and Dosais with country chicken curry. My friends know that I'm very fond of non-veg. Sudha is a pure vegetarian but prepared non-veg for us. She got used to preparing non-veg dishes after marriage as her husband likes it.


After spending a lot of time chatting on college days, we had again muskmelon juice at 11.15 am. Sudha's husband came home to meet us. Finally, we left Sudha's house at 11.30am, a bit late to our stipulated schedule. Forgot to take a snap with Sudha's husband. but we did with her kids.





you can see the kids dress soaked in wet, playing by splashing turmeric water which is a part of a ritual during the local festival.


On the way from Pugalur to Karur, we stopped near a poultry farm to take a snap. Namakkal and Karur are famous for broiler chicken sales in Tamil Nadu.




we bid goodbye to my friends and family and rode towards Oddanchatram via Karur, Aravakurichi, Idayankotai. we missed a turn and ended up off-roading to get down from Karur - Dindigul road to Vadamadurai - Oddanchatram road just in the outskirt of Vedasandur. we did manage to reach Oddachatram by 2 pm. we had Lunch at Titus house who was my fifth-grade friend and a relative. surprisingly he too studied physiotherapy specializing in hand conditions and works as a physio in charge in CF Hospital Oddanchatram. We had mutton, chicken and beef curry with rice for lunch.

With Titus at the hospital entrance.


Samson took a short nap after lunch while I went with Titus to visit CF Hospital. Four of our MBKG Pannai children study here in this institution. (MBKG Pannai is an orphanage home for destitute women, grandmothers and children. I presently work here as administrator). Met three of them who are pursuing allied health and missed seeing one in nursing because of her odd duty time.
With one of MBKG Pannai boy, Alex who is doing a diploma in Radiography. Surprised him while resting in his hostel after his work shift.


After visiting CF Hospital, we came back to Titus home and got ready to leave for Pachalur on the hills of Kodaikanal at an altitude of 1600 metres. CF Hospital has a retreat centre called CF Ashram in Pachalur. it is available to cf hospital staff and relatives. It was a pleasant surprise when Titus said he would join us to Pachalur in his TVS Phoenix 125 bike. One more rider and who knows the village roads. super !!!
I filled a second time of 10 litres petrol in Oddanchatram at 4.30pm for the cost of 774 rs. the odometer reading was 39602km.

we left for Pachalur and I told Titus that I want to stop at Parappalaru dam at the foothills of the mountain.


you can see the warning board about wild elephants. its found in many places in this route. unlucky we did not spot any elephant other than big elephant shit ......fresh and dry all around
after taking a detour from Oddanchatram - Pachalur road, and riding for 3 km in loose gravel, with a fear of flat tyre, we came to the dam entrance and found closed. The dam employees simply didn't want us to and told us "elephants are drinking water now". 



we may not see the dam but we can always see the reservoir as it stretches along the road and was visible even after reaching CF Ashram, Pachalur.




Distant view of parapalaru reservoir from Pachalur


Samson in his cl5 near Pachalur


Titus in his TVS Phoenix 125




A new layer of road seen all around. Reminds me of the saying " smell of the soil comes the rain and smell of the tar come the election". As election just got over in Tamil Nadu, I saw this new road work on progress in many places in these villages.

View of the cf ashram from the ghat.


The CF Ashram is located in a scenic hilltop of Pachalur, 1km from Pachalur bus stop. Its also called Kavichi kombu. 

Finally, we reached Cf ashram around 6 pm. Mr Issac Raju who is the caretaker greeted us and showed the room options. we took the rooms in the building spotted from the ghat. we also had the option to stay in this old ranger bungalow but we declined as there was no option of an attached bathroom.


View from outside of our room


Ghat can be spotted from here.



Tired yet happy that we did stick to the itinerary on the first day.



The one in stripes is Mr Issac Raju, and his wife worked in gulf countries till his age of 40 years as mechanical engineer and architect. Now committed to doing mission work. He gave us evening tea and gave a testimony about how he broke the busy life (B-bound U- under S -satan's Y-yoke = BUSY). He told he is a happy man now leading a peaceful life as a caretaker of CF Ashram.

 

Around 7 pm we took a 1km walk to reach the parotta shop in Pachalur in the pitch dark.



Food is always the best part of travel. I love parottas in Madurai - Dindigul districts. It is thin compared to its north Indian cousins and comes out like thread. best to be taken along with Salna ( watery curry ) and coconut chutney. We had kothu parotta which is the minced parotta along with Egg, onion, tomato with cumin seeds and green chillies. We had "kalaki", where omelette is made more like jelly by mixing with salna while beating the egg.

This is the owner cum parotta master of Pachalur parotta shop near the bus stop next to the temple. there are two other shops nearby, but this is the best.


After dinner, both Samson and Titus wanted to buy sandals as they forgot to bring and they ended up shopping in a most remote village in Kodaikanal. they did buy a pair of crocks for each of them. The cost was 250 rs.





Around 9 pm we were star gazing at the top of the terrace in cf ashram. the night sky was beautiful in that pitch dark with no light pollution. But I was not able to capture vividly with my Nikon DSLR 18-55mm lens. pardon me I'm still learning the DSLR.


By 9.40pm after having some tiny bananas, we hit the bed. my mind was still planing....." tomorrow is Kodaikanal ride from Pachalur".

Today's route map


The final odometer reading was 39647km. the distance from Oddanchatram to Pachalur was only 35 km but some extra kilometres added with that hopeless Parapallaru dam visit. Total distance rode was 494 km.

Second day of the ride: April 26th Friday 2019

I had severe radiating pain from shoulder to the back of my fingers. Took a long time to sleep and I was constantly moving in bed to different positions to stretch my shoulders and fingers (Tried all ULTT1, 2, 3, and 4 - Medicos would know). Wondering who the culprit that caused this problem. Yes !!! two days before the ride, I wrapped the hand grip with a leather strip (similar to one sold in "trip machine"). I noticed the grip slipping from my gloves slowly while accelerating and I have to give undue pressure to have a firm grip) I removed it on the return ride and I did not face any problem. I remembered the Golden rule "Never modify". Each bike comes after time tested R&D of a company.

We got ready. water was bearably cold. Didn't ask for hot water. Strolled around and took some snaps of CF Ashram campus in the morning.

Me in my pink t shirt

Samson and I with our bikes

Titus had opted as a pillion rider with me today to Kodaikanal.

Entrance to CF ashram- view from within

Fallen wild violet flowers on the ground.

Road to Kodaikanal from Pachalur.

Tea break around 7am  at Kuppamalpatti, 12 km from Pachalur towards Kodaikanal. The village native people standing near the tea stall started talking with us. They were very eager to know what we feel about the recent MP election and outcome. We stirred away from the topic giving general statements and started talking about wild elephant menace around there. we had nice Tea, Paruppu Vadai and Uunda Vadai. 

Frying Vadai

Started off to Kodai

the road we travelled here had two white lines mostly on both sides which gave us a clue to reach our destination without much difficulty at crossroads

Random shot

the two white line stretch from Pachalur to Kodai

choose the road that will lead to K.C. PATTI 

choose the road that takes you to Thandikudi

the fencing of the road at deep cliff was good enough for a safe ride

you can notice sarees and bedsheets on the barb wired fence. This is a cheap technique to ward off wild elephants from the farmland as this sarees will be perceived as solid walls by the wild elephants.

The signboard was good enough as I hardly gazed at my mobile GPS.

The signboard below showed Thandikudi but this time we took the road to Pannaikadu where the road will meet Kodaikanal - Battalagundu road. Notice the signboard showing regional research centre of the coffee board. somewhere near is where you can find Dolmen remains.

I took a detour in search of a dolmen remain at this point. climbed a 45-degree narrow cement road and ended at a syntax water tank supplying drinking water.☺

As I did not want to waste the precious time which was planned for Kodai we got back to Pannaikadu road leading to Kodaikanal.

I was telling Titus sitting as pillion to take random snaps so that when I post, travellers like us will be benefitted with roads and signboards.

 The roads were very good, 15 to 20 ft wide. In many places where there is stream crossing over the road were laid cement blocks as in park pavements. This prevents road erosion common with tar roads.

we spotted a bus too. the only bus we saw in that whole 2-hour ride.

The following pictures are near Marudhanadhi viewpoint located few kilometres after Thandikudi before Pannaikadu.

All three of us with timer mode.

This eagle was flying close to us or to say, steadily gliding just beyond our hand reach. I didn't have time to change to 70--300mm lens and hence a poor shot with 18 - 55mm lens.

We joined the Kodaikanal road at Moolaiyaar near Vivekananda Vidyalaya school.  From there Kodaikanal is 24 km. Just after the Silver cascade falls we stopped at an Indian oil petrol bunk and Samson filled his tank to the full and went for a leak. Meanwhile, I noticed his bike too, leaking petrol and I ran, saying to Titus to call Samson. Later we learned that since Samson filled his tank to the brim and left the bike in the side stand.......(yeah....why not???!)

Traffic was less from the Perumalmalai peak. Usually, this is the bottleneck as the two ghat roads to Kodaikanal from Batlagundu and Palani meet here and there is no alternative route available. People are demanding and expecting a new alternate route through Vilpatti to Kodaikanal by the new state government after the elections.

Kodaikanal Bus stand.

CSI Church near Coaker's walk 

Road to Dolphin nose, Vattakanal from Pambarpuram.

Liril falls, where the falls were named after the ad shoot taken for Liril soap in the late '80s.

The road to dolphin nose is narrow and also it's a dead end. So anyone wants to visit in four-wheelers has to reach early by 8am and leave at 10.30 am.

Here I am with my bike parking at a church near the dead end of the dolphin nose motorable road.

From here a 2km steep down trekking path starts. The difficult part of this trek is where you walk on the roots grown over the stones (whether climbing up or going down, this is the most difficult stretch). the trek is not advisable for diabetics, cardiac patients and weekend warriors.

At the start of the trekking path, is Altaf restaurant. If you are a foodie who loves to try multi-cuisine and particularly Middle-east, this is your place. you'll also find foreigners with smoking weed look (passport ? legit ? or not). But who cares. the food is good, the restaurant staff and service.

Altaf restaurant back yard looks

the restaurant displays artistic walls

There were three breakfast options: 1. Israeli breakfast (hummus)Rs 190 2. Indian breakfast (aloo paratha ) Rs 160 3. English breakfast (bread, butter, jam with egg omelette) Rs 100.

This is hummus made from chickpeas sesame seeds lemon and olive oil with salad and toast bread which I had

The entrance of Altaf restaurant on the trekking path to Dolphin Nose

We walked crossing a small stream to reach dolphin nose

The dolphin nose, becoming the most sort after tourist attraction of Kodaikanal. I believe this would also meet eventually the fate oF Guna caves in a few years, all fenced and sealed with few more deaths. so far in the last 40 years, the death toll here is two. This too happened in the last year 2018. The Guna cave was once called as Devil's kitchen known only to adventurers and locals. but when it was known to the public the death toll rose as all age group people visited following the Kamal Hassan movie "Guna".

This Dolphin nose, I would suggest it only for trekkers and adventurers and not for weekend warriors, kids and aged people. The cliffs are on both the side of the path leading to dolphin nose and the plants grow towards sunlight in the path at the edge of the cliff. On a fateful misty day if one may put the feet thinking that it is solid ground, may end up 200 ft down below at no time

On the way back from dolphin nose, we visited Van Alan hospital built in the early 1900s. It is situated adjacent to Coaker's walk. The medical superintendent is the friend of Titus and hence we visited.

our next stop was at Tibetan brothers restaurant since we were not really hungry we ordered a chicken fried rice and two chilli beef. Titus didn't like the preparation as it was less spicy and raw. For me and Samson, it was ok kind.

A mandatory ride on the lake road around 2pm but we were not in the mood to go for the boat ride.

Bought a bomber jacket for my son and Titus too bought one for her daughter in the Fixed priceTibetan stores on the lake road.

Started riding back to Pachalur around 3.00pm. Samson and Titus bought some fruits like plums, passion fruit and avocado near Laws ghat road before sacred heart college museum. we reached the Pannaikadu crossroad junction at Moolaiyaar around 3.35pm 

On the way back we found the correct route to dolmen remains near Thandikudi. The road adjacent to coffee research centre will take to the dolmen remains. The pots and cisterns under the stone structure were damaged by time and people. If you are of my kind interested in ancient history and about dolmens, you may further read on this article to know how the original structure will look like:

 https://www.ancient-asia-journal.com/articles/10.5334/aa.12324/print/

We stopped again in our return ride at the Kuppammalpatti tea shop and the owner Mr.Murugapandi happily invited and served a nice tea.

we reached Pachalur around 6pm. I calculate that the actual ride from Pachalur to Kodai is around 80km and takes 1 hour and 30 minutes. The odometer reading was 39,812.

I took Titus along and went for a hair cut at Pachalur saloon. Surprisingly neat and tidy, and the barber Ramesh aka Meshak did a good job. Perfect crew cut for Rs 50/-. Had uthappam and omelette as my favourite Parata's were bought by one single person for that night for his family function. (👐😠)

we came back around 8pm and settled the bill with CF ashram. per head Rs 50/-day. free for Titus as he is the staff. Super. We offered a very meagre amount also to believers church in Pachalur towards their VBS celebrations were the local tribal children are enjoying their time. I packed my bags for tomorrow's ride - a long hot day ride back home. when I came to sleep after a shower, Samson and Titus were already asleep.

The third day of the ride: April 27th Saturday 2019

We planned to start at 3am as we do but the locals told never to venture in that time as the wild elephants are roaming freely and only will move to the forest after the first town bus come clearing the road from elephants. Taken aback we started at 5.30 am. Titus did a little prayer and we started riding back home.  we rode very slowly and cautiously as we didn't want to bump into the wild elephant herd which will look like tar road with our headlight liting up the 10 feet distance in front of us. After 30 minutes of the ride, an upcoming Jeep stopped at us and told to wait and go as they spotted elephants on the road. We rode without stopping but we only saw elephants large fresh poop where they said there were elephants. we picked up speed and we stopped for a tea break. we said bye to Titus at 7 am and left for ride back home.

we stopped at Sangeetha hotel in Namakkal toll plaza and had breakfast. we started back at 9 am and reached Salem. I hit the reserve again and searched to fill petrol. Two bunks in Salem turned down the card payment and I was die hard to put 10 litres of petrol and exact transaction for decimals in ATM card. Finally, I was able to fill petrol in an Indian petrol bunk in Sandaipet, Salem. they offered a free weekly magazine too. The time was 10.15 am. 

We stopped and had tender coconut, near Thopur Bharat petrol bunk. We were riding at a speed of 75 km on the return journey as Samson engine was somewhat tuned after 500km of the ride and he was ok to stretch the speed bit higher.

just before Ambur we stopped again and had ragi kool ( cold ragi malt with curd). this was our last snap for the day. 

we reached Ambur around 1.40pm and had biriyani at Samson's inlaws house. we started back again at 3pm and reached Katpadi around 4pm. We thanked God for the good trip and parted ways for our home.

The odometer reading on reaching home was 40281 km.

The Distance of the ride from Pachalur to Kasam, Vellore was 469 km.

Filled 30 litres of petrol and still got 100 more km to run to reach the reserve. On calculation, reserve to reserve with filling for 10 litres of petrol, the average mileage amounted to 40km / litre.

 The total distance covered in this trip on three days ride is 

1082 km. The fuel cost at a round figure of ₹2000.