Madras to Valparai, Tamil Nadu, India. A substitute road trip!

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Road Trips / Vacations / Hiking / Trekking

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nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 04:07:37 +0500 #81

the smell of tea leaves everywhere

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 04:09:43 +0500 #82

a couple of kms to go before the main road...

tariqzaidi (tariqzaidi) 2014-10-15 04:10:22 +0500 #83

Awsome trip and clicks!!! thanks for sharing.

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 04:13:32 +0500 #84

nice looking cottages

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 04:15:45 +0500 #85

the last stretch before the main road

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 04:21:13 +0500 #86

after winding our way down 6kms of track with different views in every twist and turn i was thinking of how we drove this stretch in the dark and made it to our guest house with our nerves somewhat still intact.

driving on the main road to Valparai town and beyond to lake Nirar.

cya later...

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 16:41:07 +0500 #87

driving to lake Nirar

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 16:53:00 +0500 #88

driving in to Valparai town which was the only bummer of this trip. didn't expect such an unremarkable place. it's a bustling town with all amenities (brothels and liquor stores included i'm sure ) but clearly not part of the landscape. we just drove on...

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 16:55:59 +0500 #89

driving through Valparai town.

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 16:59:51 +0500 #90

driving outta Valparai town...

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 17:06:04 +0500 #91

enroute to lake Nirar

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 17:12:26 +0500 #92

a little bit of sun in the morning and gloom, mist and rain in the afternoon is what the weather gods serve up over here...

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 17:16:32 +0500 #93

now we're driving through forest and the condition of the road gets progressively worse and i start getting a wee worried in case we have a flat. there's nothing for miles around...

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 17:23:04 +0500 #94

i'm grateful it isn't rainy and foggy. that's for sure but after a few kms of tense driving through a forest we arrived at another tea estate and a small village too with people bustling about their daily lives. the road condition was still full of potholes, that didn't change , but we stopped for a bit before pressing on. i always thought of my WagonR as a flimsy city runabout but it took the climb and bad roads with ease this trip.

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 17:26:19 +0500 #95

takin' a break. the car would have welcomed this one given the condition of the road

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-15 17:29:32 +0500 #96

driving to see lake Nirar. the scenery along the way...

this also seems like a perfect place to pause this journey for now.

alkandar (alkandar) 2014-10-15 18:06:20 +0500 #97

Good Going...Nice Clicks and Narration.

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-16 16:26:22 +0500 #98

after the tense period while driving through the forest we came upon another tea estate that sprawled for miles and the road took a turn for the better before we hit another bad patch through forest to get to lake Nirar. my battery was running low at this point and i had to conserve for pics of the lake..

dark clouds started appearing all of a sudden which was a forerunner of things to come later in the day. the scenery as we were getting close to lake nirar..

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-16 16:28:50 +0500 #99

the road's nice at this point too...

nickatnite (nickatnite) 2014-10-16 16:34:59 +0500 #100

all of a sudden a cluster of dark clouds hover over us all. thankfully it disappeared as we reached near the lake, at this stage i had to stop clicking till i reached the lakedue to low battery, i barely managed to click a few pics there but nothingcan match for the sheer joy of seeing all this scenery with my eyes and that is the best camera of all.

the next pic was taken at lake Nirar...