A Ride To Toy Train #ThatLongWeekend

HIGHLIGHTS

Place :- Ooty-Coonoor

State :- Tamil Nadu

Distance :- 325 km

Duration :- 3 days

Season :- Winter (Mid February)

Mode of Travel :- Bike Ride

Terrain :- Mountain and plateau

Type of Ride :- Group

Road Rating :- 8/10

Expenditure :- ₹3000

If you are fed with the busy schedule of your life and are looking for an extended weekend trip 

OR 

if you wish to escape from the increasing heat of Bangalore and want to wake up at a place where you will have to put on your sweater, skull cap and gloves

OR

You wish to go on a romantic drive/ride with your partner 

OR 

Are exploring South India, 

then you must definitely make a visit to Ooty and Coonoor.

Ooty is a hill station in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Ooty is known for its variety of home made chocolates, fresh carrots and some fantastic tea. For a couple of reasons out of the numerous reasons mentioned above, I planned a trip to Ooty ad Coonoor. 

PREPARATION

The ride to Ooty-Coonoor from Bangalore is of a considerable distance and the entire itinerary cannot be done in a day. The ideal duration for a visit to OOty and Coonoor is 3 days. This being the situation, one needs to make certain preparations so as to have a comfortable journey.

Things to Carry

1. All the gears

2. 2 pairs of Clothes

3. Lubes and a puncture kit

4. Some cash

5. Downloaded map of the Place

HOW TO REACH

There are multiple ways of reaching Ooty and Coonoor. You may reach here by road, air or by train. However, there is no direct flight or train to Ooty from Bangalore.

By Road

I prefer travelling by road and upon having a long weekend I decided to ride all the way to Coonoor. There are 3 routes to go to Coonoor from Bangalore. The route that we chose was via Channapatna-Mandya- Mysuru-Bandipur-Ooty-Coonoor. The distance that one will have to cover depends on the route he/she chooses.

It was at around 5 in the morning when we started our journey from Silk Board. We were 16 of us on 12 bikes in total. Almost all of them started from the meet up point at Silk Board, however the remaining few became part of the ride from electronic city.

Once we crossed the NICE Road corridor, we took to Mysore road to continue our journey. Mysore Road is not the best of the routes to take, but many of us wanted to go through Bandipur Forest. By the time it was sunrise we reached Mandya and took a small halt to make sure that no one was left behind.

Once we left Mysuru, the roads further were good. One of the differences that I found was that the roads in the Tamil Nadu are better that the roads in Karnataka. With no further stops except for breakfast, we reached Ooty by 12:30 pm.

BY AIR

Those who wish to travel by air need to take a flight to Coimbatore. The airport in Coimbatore is the closest airport from Ooty. It is about 90 Km and one will have to take a cab to reach Ooty and Coonoor after arriving at airport in Coimbatore.

BY TRAIN

There is no direct train connectivity from Bangalore to Ooty. Though Ooty and Coonoor have their respective railway stations, but the train that run in Ooty and Coonoor are meter gauge trains. The nearest that a person travelling from Bangalore can reach is to Mysuru. After Mysuru, the option available is to ravel by cab or by a bus.

HOTEL AND STAY

We were 16 of them so we found it reasonable to book home stays. We had scheduled to stay at Great Window Resort. The resort was in Coonoor with great aesthetic appeal. The resort had great view and had connectivity to the town too. Each home-stay had about 3-4 rooms and had a common dining area. The bathrooms and the toilets were clean and appeared hygienic.