Travelogue #1 - Chennai to Trichy/Munnar/Wayanad

Putting up this travelogue here has become something on the lines of perfecting a sculpture. Though the basic structure was framed much earlier, sometime in early June to be precise, giving the finishing touches to the story have taken so ridiculously long, just like the sculptors take time to give final aesthetic touches to their creations. Whether the end product is as impressive or not is left for all of you to decide.

After a month long planning, the places to be covered were decided as Trichy, Munnar and Wayanad, the former being my native and the latter two, being very popular hill-stations in Kerala, more popularly referred to as God’s Own Country. The full trip was divided into three distinct phases – Chennai-Trichy, Trichy-Munnar-Trichy & Trichy-Sultan Bathery (Wayanad Dist.)-Erode-Chennai.



The route followed, the quick facts and the snaps are given right here:

 

ROUTEMAPS:

FACTFILE:

• Total No of Days – 9 (22.05.2010 ~ 30.05.2010)


• Vehicle Make & Model – Hyundai Santro Xing   

• Odometer Start Reading – 50420 km 


• Odometer End Reading – 52827 km 


• Total Distance Travelled – 2407 km 


• Total Quantity of Fuel filled – 166.92 l 


• Average Fuel Consumption – 14.42 km/l 


• Net Worth of Fuel filled – 8673 Rs 

• Destinations Covered – Trichy/Munnar/Sultan Bathery (Wayanad Dist.) 


• Route Followed: 


• Part-1: Chennai-Tindivanam-Villupuram-Trichy 


• Part-2: Trichy-Dindigul-Batlagundu-Periyakulam-Theni-Bodinayakanur-Munnar-Trichy 


• Part-3: Trichy-Erode-Sathyamangalam-Mettupalayam-Ooty-Gudalur-Sultan Bathery-Erode-Salem-Chennai 

• Best Stretch in Plains – Villupuram-Trichy 


• Best Stretch in Ghats – Munnar-Echo Point & Bodi-Bodimettu 


• Worst Stretch in Plains – Salem-Ulundurpet 


• Worst Stretch in Ghats – Near Top Station (2 km stretch)

THE LANDSCAPE:

 

 

 

 

 

THE AUTOMOBILE:

 

 

 

Having seen and enjoyed Munnar and Wayanad, I would say Kerala stays true to its ad caption and is really "God's Own Country". Also, a special mention has to go the state of Tamil Nadu for its excellent roads throughout, except for a few stretches. Not to forget, the bullet-proof reliability of the Santro, which performed without a glitch like a dream for the entire duration of the trip. Now  I know why people swear by a Santro, even when there are many newer models available in the market. 



That, my dear folks, ends my first Travelogue. The full Trip Summary is available as a separate document and is not uploaded as it would extend this post to an unprecedented length. Happy traveling!