Kothagiri Visit

We went to Kothagiri over the weekend to attend my friend Vanith's marriage. Took my M800 and drove from Bangalore. Sathyamoorthy was also there who shared the driving. We took the Mysore-Ooty-Kothagiri route while going. This is one of the most beautiful long drives I have done. The route went through Bandipur forest and continued with ride to the top of Ooty hills. There was 34 hairpin bends which were really sharp. My car some how climbed up the top. I was wondering how much powerful is a Mariti 800.

Since our agenda was purely marriage, we didn't spend much time in sight seeing. Plan was to return to Bangalore the next day. We reached Kothagiri in the night. Vanith had arranged lodging for us. Next day morning we went to his marriage. It was in a temple on top of the hill. After the marriage and lunch, we started back.

While returning we came through Mettupalayam- Sathyamangalam-Chamarajnagar-Kollegal route. The descent to Mettupalayam was good. Since it is a bus route, the roads were wide and the curves where not as sharp compared to the one on on the Bandipur side. This route was one of the most remote routes with no human habitation for most of the route. It doesn't seems to be safe to drive through this route in the night. On the way, at Bellari, just before we enter into thick forest, there is a temple which was worshipped by Veerappan. It is said that the travelers used to pray to the God here so that they could be safe during the passage through the forest.

The road through the forest was very good and wide. We managed to cross the forest before dark. Beyond that, the roads were not very good. It passes through many villages before we reached Bangalore. Really nice and some what adventurous trip.