Ride from Hyderabad to Kanyakumari on Dominar 400 covering 5 states and 7 cities - 3200kms + 10 days

04 Jan, 2019

Started from Hyderabad at 7:30am towards Bangalore. The iterinary was to reach Krishnagiri, Tamilnadu via Kurnool, Bangalore route.

Day was excited as hell as the mega ride has just started. We have been planning for it since two months.

Changes made in the bike for the trip:

Installed Handlebar raisers from Bikerzedge as it is a very long trip and this was very much necessary to make my ride comfortable. Installed top box rack and Studds top box 35litres.

Accessories and electronics carried:

Biking Brotherhood Ladakh riding jacket, LS2 helmet, BBG knee guards, Scoyco gloves, Noise Play 2 action camera, Sena Bluetooth intercom, Oneplus 3T phone, Canon 1200D DSLR, 6 bangee cords, JBL Bluetooth speaker, a portable laptop to backup data everyday, a jacket for winter purpose, sufficient clothes and shorts.

We crossed Kurnool by 12 noon and took a lunch break at 2:30pm close to 100kms from Bangalore and had a nap for 30 mins.

We crossed Bangalore and were passing through villages and it got dark by the time we crossed Bangalore. The journey through the villages and narrow roads reduced our speed a lot. By 9pm, we reached a place called Shoolagiri, Tamilnadu and we decided to stay there for tonight. Krishnagiri was 40kms ahead on our way but we were tired and decided not to go forward.

The ride distance was around 680kms which was majorly the Hyderabad-Bangalore highway. It felt a little boring as this is a large stretch of highway ride and you don't have anything to see than just the straight road.

The journey has been through Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and finally night stay at Tamil Nadu. This is the first time I've been through 4 states on a single day.

05 Jan, 2019

The ride started towards Coimbatore which was around 380kms from Shoolagiri. We took the route Dharmapuri, Salem, Tiruppur.

Had yummy breakfast on the way and the idly, chutney and sambar was worth it.

This was one of the best roads with 4 and 6 lanes all over. We got to meet a lot of riders on their Harleys, Choppers, Goldwings, BMW, Kawasaki etc.

We reached Coimbatore by 5pm with multiple breaks in between and enjoying the ride.

We directly headed to the 112 ft Dhyanalingam statue which is 20kms beyond Coimbatore.

This place was surrounded by hills on all its sides with plain land in between and paddy fields. As it was evening, the sunset in between the hills was just awesome. The place was well maintained and view of the statue in between the hills was scenic. The place was so calm and beautiful.

We again went to Coimbatore for the night stay. Clocked around 400kms that day.

06 Jan, 2019

Started from Coimbatore towards Munnar which was 180kms via the Annamalai Tiger Reserve.

This was a challenging road as it was a tiger reserve and you need to follow extra care and rules so that you don't disturb any wildlife there. Luckily no tigers spotted. 😅

We entered Kerala through the Tiger Reserve and met other Dominar riders who were heading towards Coimbatore from Munnar.

After we crossed the Tiger reserve, we were astounded by the beauty of the ghat roads and hills leading us to Munnar. The roads were good with all tea plantations on either sides and the greenary made us feel like were entering the heaven.

It took a complete day for us to travel 180kms through that beauty with multiple stops to enjoy the nature.

The temperature in between the hills started falling from 3pm. We can feel the chilly weather while riding in between the ghats. Sun has no affect there and it feels like the hills are more powerful than the Sun. 😂

We reached Munnar town at 7pm when the temperature was as low as 14°C.

The ride ended after a 200kms ride with a lot of surprizes and amazements.

07 Jan, 2019

Today we planned to stay at Munnar experiencing the beauty of it.

We have been to the Mettupatty lake which was 25kms from Munnar. The greenary all around and the curvy ghat roads was a deadly combination.

I just realized that Dominar 400 is the king of ghats. Handling the 182kg heavy bike on ghats was butter smooth.

Mettupatty lake is a fresh water reservoir with the accumulation of water from the top of hills surrounded by it.

From there we have been to Kannan Devan Hills which was full of Tea Plantation. We have found that all those tea plantations were under the brand ownership of 'Tata' and the localites are the share holders for those tea estates.

We spent a major time in the tea plantations and also had a mini trekking session uphill. The more you climb the hill, the beautier scenery it was. Later in the evening we moved to Munnar again and visited the local Tea Museum and the Ripple Chai Bazar. We bought different flavours and types of tea powder and tea leaves for ourselves.

The day ended with extreme fun and beautiful sceneries and sunset that day.

Next day, heading to Kanyakumari.

08 Jan, 2019

It's the day 5 of our ride and we have planned to reach Kanyakumari today. We have already clocked 1350 kms away from the starting point. Kanyakumari was 380kms from Munnar.

Started from Munnar at 6:30am and while crossing Munnar, we came across a lake which was giving out steam. It looked like there was dry ice mixed into the lake.

I have never came accross such a view till date. As soon as the sun started hitting the lake, the vapour looked like dry ice. It was said by the localites that the temperature went as low as -4°C that night.

We can reach the lake through the eucalyptus trees which were extremely tall. The Sun rays through the eucalyptus trees was another beauty.

After we have crossed Munnar, we came across a view point near Galaxy Restaurant which was the best of all. You will be able to see a wide view of the hills and tiny villages in between the valleys. The greenary was just outstanding. A panoramic shot had greenary all over the wide range captured.

Munnar was a heaven and has a lot to offer. 1 day was just not enough to witness the beauty of it.

Since Munnar was a hill station, we had to cross the hills on our way to Kanyakumari. This road had a lots and lots of curves. The road reminds you of a never ending snake. The actual beauty is that the road is almost covered with the trees and there will be no sun rays falling on you. And when you look down into the valley, it will be glowing green due to bright sunlight. I can say that this was the best adventurous road I have driven in my tour.

The road was 98% good and had some extensions and repairs going somewhere or the other.

We took the route Thodupuzha, Chenganoor, Kilimanoor, Trivendrum which was covering most of Kerala. Even the local roads were so well and neat. I was wondered the way they are organized. We haven't been through a single speedbraker in our ride of 300kms inside Kerala.

After we crossed Trivendrum, the road was completely coastal and it went dark by 6:30pm. We reached Kanyakumari at 8:30pm and checked-in to the hotel SunRock.

We headed to the Kanyakumari Beach immediately and had the wonderful experience of being at the tip of India. Also had a taste of local fish fry and that was sooooper.

09 Jan, 2019

The early morning feeling of being at the Southern most poing of India was exciting. We decided to stay at Kanyakumari today.

We woke up at 5am and rushed to the Sunrise point. This was worth watching. The Sunrise point has Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Thiruvallur statue in the sea and the Sun chose to rise just adjacent to the statue which was like an eye feast.

We chose a place and fixed our action camera for the timelapse of Sunrise. The footage was awesome than expected. I would love to show it to you but I'm unable to atttach the video here. You can watch it in my Insta.

After the Sunrise, we had breakfast and moved to Kanyakumari Pier where stones were arranged until 300mts into the ocean. We thought Sunrise will be better from here but we will not be able to get the Sun and the Vivekananda Rock memorial in a single frame. The Pier had cool breeze hitting us and ocean waves hitting the stones hard.

Then we moved to Kanyakumari beach and had a dip into the ocean for almost an hour. The beach was almost clean and the waves were pushing out and pulling in so hard. I had good footages with my action camera into the ocean.

We then moved to join the never ending queue for tickets for the Vivekananda Rock Memorial. Vivekananda Rock Memorial is an island inside the sea and is not connected to Mainland India. The only means of transport is the ferry. It took around 1 hour to get into the ferry from the time we got into the queue.

But the Vivekananda Rock Memorial(VRM) was so pleasant and had an open view of the ocean. This made the stress to just vanish. It was nice visiting the place which was not at all connected to Mainland India. We felt as if we have crossed India for some time. We spent around 2 hours there and had many more shots of the ocean and the waves hitting the VRM shore harder.

At the VRM, we met a guy from Bangladesh who is completing his all India tour and has already covered all the parts of East, West and North of India. He said he will be taking out 1 month every year and go around one country each year. He has been to many other countries and it was his 4th or 5th visit to India so far. He travels using public transport from one place to other within the country. He had very minimum luggage and was extremely simple as if he visited Kanyakumari for a day from a place 100kms away.

The line to board the Ferry was very long again and it took an hour to reach Mainland India.

We then went for shopping local handicrafts and this place was also very famous for spices. I bought two handicrafts made of sea shells and some spices of Biryani.

In the evening around 8pm, we just sat at the Sunrise point facing the ocean listening to loud music and played Pubg. It was an awesome feeling sitting at the South tip of India playing Pubg. Only Pubg addicts will connect to this feeling. 😁😁

Next day we will be heading towards Rameswaram.

10 Jan, 2019

Today, we started to Rameswaram which was 320 kms from Kanyakumari. We took the route Thirunelvelli, Toothukudi, Ramanathapuram, Pamban.

As soon as we crossed Kanyakumari, the road was completely surrounded by windmills. We could easily see a thousand windmills on either side of the road. The wind breeze was so heavy that we could hardly cross 80kmph on our 280kg (with luggage and rider) bike. The breeze used to push us out of the road sometimes. It was hard to ride and challenging. We faced the wind blast for more than 50kms on our ride.

The road to Rameswaram was decent and had a two and four lane road mostly. After we crossed the Ramanathapuram, we were heading outside of Mainland India via Pamban.

Pamban and Rameswaram are located on an island which is connected to Mainland India via the Pamban Bridge and a railway line parallel to the bridge. We were quite unlucky that the railway line was closed due to some repairs or else we would have seen the view of the train passing the bridge on the Bay of Bengal.

We reached Rameswaram by 6:30pm and checked into the hotel. We immediately rushed to the Agni Teertham which was close to our room. The place was not so good as people come there to have a dip into the divine waters. Place was much polluted and the water at the shore stinks.

We had dinner and the day ends after 320kms.

11 Jan, 2019

We decided to stay at Rameswaram as this place has a lot to visit around.

Early in the morning, we have been to Shiva Boating point. They took us into the ocean for around 40 mins and we got to have the beautiful view of the ocean and Rameswaram shore from the ocean. Rameshwaram has a big fishing harbour and a lot of boats have been into the sea near the shore for fish.

Next we had our breakfast and started to Dhanushkodi. This is my favourite place among all of the ones in our trip.

Can you believe a straight road of stretch 20 kms into the sea with Bay of Bengal to your left and Lakkadive sea to your right? 😍😍😍 Woaaahhh... What a view man! I have never dreamt of such a place. Riding the Dominar on that road was such a thrill and the view of two oceans on either of your path is just more than awesome. I can feel the goosebumps while I write this. ❤️❤️❤️

This place is worth visiting multiple times in my life. The tip of this road is the Dhanushkodi. Dhanushkodi is the place where you had the Ram Setu that was constructed during Ramayana to go to Srilanka.

This place was destroyed by the cyclone in 1964 and tsunami in 2004 and the remains can still be found on this beach. This is one of the most calm and peaceful beaches I've ever seen. Out of the 20kms stretch, around 10kms has a very calm beach where no one visits. The waves are not seen in the sea, but at shore, they have the strength of pulling you in. The finest granules of sand can be found in the Dhanushkodi beach. A lot of sea shells can be found.

This beach would take pages and pages of content when I start to describe it here. You must have estimated the amount of joy I feel when describing this in this article.

From the Dhanushkodi beach, we have been to the "House of Kalam" where the Pride of India Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam sir was born and brought up. The original house was demolished and a new house was built which was turned into a museum of the items, personal belongings, awards, achievements and images of Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam sir.

And then we have been to the Abdul Kalam Memorial which had the grave of Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam sir and the events, images of his life and his paintings.

The day ends at Rameswaram with fun and inspiration.

Starting to Chennai the next day.

12 Jan, 2019

We started to Chennai which was 600kms from Rameswaram. We took the route via Tiruchirapalli, Tindivanam.

The actual itinerary was to visit Pondicherry which will be 400kms from Rameswaram, however the next day was our last day and had to return to Hyd which will be around 800kms from Pondicherry to Hyderabad.

So, we decided to travel 600kms today to Chennai and 600kms to Hyderabad from there on the last day.

We stopped for lunch and had an hour sleep beside the highway post lunch.

The road was good and with frequent halts, we reached Chennai by 7:30pm. The evening traffic of Chennai made us reach the hotel at 9pm.

The day ends here.

13 Jan, 2019

The last day of a wonderful ride. Started from Chennai at 8am towards Hyderabad a total of 630kms. We took the route Nellore, Ongole, Miryalaguda, Nalgonda, Hyderabad.

This was the saddest day of the ride as it was the last day. I was not in the mood to return to Hyd.

We took the lunch break at Addanki and had a nap for an hour. I then made a friend there with the puppy of the dhaba owner. Pic attached. He was not allowing me to sleep shouting at us all the time as we were new to that place. But when I went to him, he was adorable. I could easily tame him and cuddle him.

We then started towards Hyderabad and met a guy from our Dominar group who just saw us passing on the road and joined our ride. He was coming back from the Golden Quadrilateral ride which was of 10 days covering 5000+ kms.

The Golden Quadrilateral is a national highway network connecting many of the major industrial, agricultural and cultural centres of India. It forms a quadrilateral connecting the four major metro cities of India, viz., Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.

The trio Dominar gang reached the Hyd by 10pm and dispersed to our homes with a warm goodbye.

This trip has given me the best riding partner - Santosh, extreme experience, memories to cherish, 64GB of images and videos, joy, fun, wonders, eye feast of landscapes, biking brotherhood.

The total cost incurred for the trip was around Rs.20,000.per person.

Rs.8000 for the fuel considering 3200kms and 30kmpl mileage of the bike. And Rs.12000 for the food and stay for 10 days.

Writing this blog helped me remember each and every moment that was lived and experienced in the 10 day ride.

I was fun sharing my experiences with you all. Hope to see you again in my future rides and travel experiences.

You can visit my Insta page for more ride updates and future escapades.

https://www.instagram.com/arshad.irfan19/