The climb up to Ooty on the Kalhatti ghat road, with its steep climbs and curvy narrow roads is a challenge for all cyclists. A very tough route that served as training ground for my Manali-Leh cycling trip scheduled for the following month.
The Kalhatti Ghat (or simply ‘Steep Ghat’) also known as Sigur Ghat on State Highway 67 is a short-cut branch off the Gudalur ghat at Theppakadu, Mudumalai that leads to Ooty. This route saves approx. 30 km compared to the Gudalur route, though it is by far the steeper route with its 36 hairpin bends.
Joined in for a Ooty-Kalhatti ride organized by a bicycle tour organizer. With a group of 8 riders seated comfortable in the support van and our bikes secured on its top, we started from Bangalore on a friday close to midnight and reach the starting point venue MC Resorts, Bandipur at roughly 5:30am. We get just about an hour’s sleep, freshen up to have a filling breakfast and then to ride out after.
Day 01 : Kalhatti climb to Ooty
Sat, 24 May 2014
We begin to ride through forests of the Bandipur National Park and to the Mudhumalai National Park. At the forest checkpost, there was a strong security force checking all vehicles going through. Here we were stopped from going any further and so waited for the support van that had gone ahead to return back. We had to load the bikes onto it and drive until Masinagudi, where we got back onto cycling from here on. The climb up to Ooty really begins a little further from here up towards the Kalhatti Ghats and its was all climbs for the rest of the day.
An hour of climbing and we stopped for a short break reminding ourselves that what we just covered was just a trailer of what was still ahead of us. Having refilled the water bottles, continued on. Another hour past by and the sun was right up at noon, when we had our second break under the shade of a tree by the side. Refreshed ourselves with a slice of juicy watermelon to quench our thirst. We continued our ride from here with a feeling of confidence that we can actually do this. Hardly half an hour gone by than we came to by this hairpin bent that had a spectacular view which we could not resist ourselves to and so stopped here for a few minutes to take a couple of pictures.
It was 1pm and there was another 7 more hairpin bends to go. Reached a tea stall that was on a relatively higher plain by the roadside. The air was becoming cold and dark clouds was covering the sky above. Had masala tea here while all the riders regrouped. Soon, there was strong gust of wind, lightning and heavy downpour of rain that had us stuck there for a while. With no other choice, we hurriedly got into the support van and waited when suddenly a lightning struck a tree about 6 feet to our left, sending sparks in the air leaving us startled. The nine of us then got to dig into the two sets of make-do-plates of idly and dosas till the rains subsided to a drizzle. With the thought of just 7 more hairpin bends to go was a energy booster by itself, and so with renewed confidence we continued to ride on.
Passed the last hairpin bend, and heard air going out from the bike tyre. Looked down at both the tyres and seemed ok. Rode a bit further and felt the bike really dragging, while reassuring myself that despite the backache showing up, I wasn’t going to give up just yet. Looked at the rear wheel again and it was a bloody flat. Stopped and cursed out, having realized I had left my cycle pump in the support van back at the lunch point. Pushed the bike up to reach the top while Arpit, Raison and Sandesh who had reached before me looked on asking aloud as to why did I give up at the last. Having explained the flat, sat down to fix it while we waited for Jay, Sumedha, Guru, Tej and the support vehicle to turn up. Rode down to the 1/36 hairpin bend sign and back up to complete the climb giving a small sense of comfort from the disappointment of the flat tyre.
From here on, it was a rolling terrain up to the heart of Ooty. As we got closer, we realized the vehicles all lined up to a halt on the road leading all the way into Ooty. Snaked our way through the snail paced moving vehicles with much ease while the people sitting in the vehicles looked at us in envy. It was 5pm and we stopped by the side of the road close to a traffic junction to regroup. What was the traffic jam all about… it was due to 118th edition of flower show being held as a part of the Summer Festival in Ooty. After wading through more slow moving traffic and an hour later reached the destination of rest. Freshened up and toasting the success with beer, then dinner and good sleep.
Day 02 : Ride to Kunda Dam
Sun, 25 May 2014
Having packed up and having had a good breakfast, we set ourselves to ride out of Ooty by about 10:55am. Shortly stopped by the Eco-Awareness centre and spend a good 20 minutes there taking pictures of the green foliage amidst the tall trees there. We then rode into the countryside heading on one of the good roads leading to Kunda Dam. The last leg to Kunda Dam was another challenging stretch of 34 hairpin bends leading to the dam. If time permitted, we could attempt to ride back up, but at the pace we were going stopping at every possible place to take pictures of the lovely green landscape around, there was no way we had time to do the climb back up this stretch of hairpin bends. After taking some group pictures and having got our bikes back on top of the support vehicle, we drove back up to Ooty to have lunch and from there the long journey back with the pleasant memories of the trip and the gratification of one more item in the personal to-do wish list checked. Distance covered on the bicycle for the day was 36 km.
