Nelliampathy.

We knew it was waiting to happen. A long weekend, coupled with all of us at home, points to another wild adventure!So having decided to go to Nelliampathy (Well, the others did not have a choice, did they?) we started early in the morning, if you can call quarter to seven as early, and set sail towards palakad. It was not exactly the complete E-Street Band as Karthik had to go for work - what a bummer!. But, nonetheless, Shriram, Anand and I started on yet another journey to explore strange new lands.

Unlike the other trips, this was quite different as none of us knew the exact route nor did we have a map to guide us. So we had to stop here and there and ask for directions, but that was fun as well - especially with people giving us different directions each time :). After filling up the tank, we finally saw a few known signs (which we got to know after researching on the net) and the Nelliampathy Hills were soon visible. Though it was not much of a hill station, the place was almost a jungle by itself. After crossing Nemmara, which I believe was the last town for habitation, the mountainous terrain started and the road start to wind and had potholes which one might even mistake for a well!

At the base of the hills, lies the Pothundy dam, which has a good view of the mountains and has boating facilities for the few tourists who managed to find the directions to this place. From here the road was practically the width of a mid sized car and kept me swerving from left to right. Once we crossed the jungle, we were greeted by the numerous tea and coffee estates that were all over the place. In fact, it looked like the entire tea and coffee export came from this place :) Ofcourse, for Tea we do have Valparai for competition (one of our other trips, mentioned somewhere else in my blog!).

The First of our stops was SitarGundu, from where you get a 'google earth' kinda view of the palghat gap which separates Tamilnadu and Kerala. This was indeed a sigh to behold and I wonder if any camera can do justice by capturing every inch of its splendour. From here the trickling waterfall of SitarGundu can be seen in the distance, so we started our trek towards it. Halfway through, much to our dismay, Anand was not wearing the right kinda boots for trekking so it was pretty tough for him to walk- let alone climb! So sadly, with heavy hearts, we took a long look at the waterfall and then turned back.

The next place on our map (though, the truth is we had no map!) was another place, for which we needed a 4x4 which unfortunately we did not have - neither does my dad, so that idea goes down the drain, atleast for now ;). We just drove around through the forest for some time and then decided to turn back as the sun was getting too hot and we were all tired as well. By now, it was almost evening and so that seemed like a good idea too!

On the way back, there was another good view point which people said was worth it, so after a small walk through another man made path, we reached a place which resembled a huge plateau and ended in a sheer cliff. A drop from here would probably land us somewhere near Pothundy dam (if my sense of direction and the wind direction is good!). This gave us quite a good view of the dam and the surrounding hills.

Finally, after another long drive through the winding hills and then on the highway, we reached home (after hitting a few hotels and bakery's on the way!)

Another adventure on the E-Street Band's map!