This is part 2 of the Travelogue ‘Exploring Western Ghats’. Since it was a long road trip spread across 5 weeks, this Travelogue is drafted & published in parts. For Part 1 click here.
Route Recap
Hyderabad – Chennai – Kodaikanal – Marayoor – Munnar – Kochi – Vagamon – Thekkady – Munnar – Palakkad – Kalpetta (Wayanad) – Masinagudi – Ooty – Ananthpur (AP) – Hyderabad.
Hyderabad – Kodaikanal / Apr 23 – Apr 24 2016
I dropped off my wife at the airport on Apr 23 at around 4:00AM and continued my journey towards Chennai. Ideal choice for Hyderabad – Kodaikanal must have been NH-7 via Bangalore but I had never traveled on southern stretch of NH-5 (NH-16) before so I wanted get a feeling of that road as well. It was a solo drive and most of the day was quite uneventful.
Sunrise somewhere near Miryalaguda on TS-SH2
Hunt for a restaurant for lunch ended up with a pleasant surprise.
Food Plaza On NH-5
Ample Parking Area on both sides of the Toll Plaza
See http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-…ml#post3959488 (Hyderabad – Chennai : Route Queries) for latest road status.
Reached Chennai at around 4:00 PM. Slept the rest of the day and night except for the dinner.
Next day, woke up early at 4:30 AM. Got ready quickly and made myself some tea. Started around 5:15 AM from Vandalur, Chennai and reached Kodaikanal at 1:00 PM. Chennai – Trichy is one of the best roads I have driven on in south India. Properly marked roads with absolutely no potholes on the entire stretch.
To be continued here