Rain, Mist and More...

Rain, Mist and More

Riders and their steeds 

Abu Zainab (Me) - Royal Enfield Bullet 350cc 1990
Fawas - Royal Enfield Bullet 350cc 1969

Route: Atholi - Balussery - Thalayad - Vayalada - Panangad - Balussery - Atholi

Distance covered: 70km



Prologue

Sundays are usually dedicated for sleeping. Even this Sunday wouldn’t have been different if my cousin Abul Akhlas (Akhi) did not mention this place called Vayalada- A serene, untouched location near Thalayad- Calicut. I enquired about the place with Fawas and the response was: "Mind-Blowing." I was glad to hear that he would also like to tag along. He told me to wait till Sunday. "Cool," I said.
Fawas is a real good partner in riding; Except for his "unbeatable" speed. I always wonder how in this world can a person ride below 25 kmph for hours :-). Apart from that, he is an understanding and co-operative riding partner. We both never concentrate on covering maximum distances; rather we enjoy each mile we come across. 
My "Bull"- The mighty Royal Enfield Bullet (Made 1990) just started running a few days back after a long "Engine Therapy" treatment at Mani's garage. Hence I didn’t want to give him a hard time; at least for a few weeks. But Allah had a different plan for us. By the time Fawas was also grooming his Royal beast made in England back in 1969. That one is a fantastic machine I should say. Ma Sha Allah.

The Ride
Fawas was planning to start early around 3:00 am so that we can be there before sunrise. Even though I had a different idea, I didn’t discourage him. My alarm was set for 3:30 am. By 3:45, I dialed Fawas to find out that he was sleeping. As I expected. Do I not know my buddy? Anyways after the routine procedures, we were on the road by 4:15 am. #whispering: “Just as I planned” shhhhhhhhhh………….By the time it started drizzling too. I took out the poly bag I was carrying and covered my camera bag with that and kept it freely on the fuel tank. Didn’t bother to take a bungee cord as the distance was too short. The BIGGEST MISTAKE of the trip……
My bike was running low on fuel as I was not able to fuel up the previous night due to some other issues. So we decided to fill up at IOC, Estate mukku which we thought was open for 24 hours. Well, Bad luck; they open only at 5:00 am. We were there by 4:50 am, and had to try hard till 5:20 am to wake up the dreaming staffs. After the fuelling, we were rushing towards Thalayad to get the Fajar Salah with the congregation. But, missed it by a minute or two. But we offered separately and was out of the masjid by 6 am. Streets were still dark except for a few lamps.

I badly wanted a morning tea, but couldn’t get it since all the shops remained closed. “Whatever, let’s move,” I said and followed Fawas who took a left turn towards Vayalada. Hardly two kilometers ascend and the visibility factor started descending. This mist was too intense that visibility decreased to just a few centimeters. I could even see my shadow formed on mist due to Fawas’s headlamp. Now please don’t ask me the phenomenon behind that; I’m seeing that for the first time. Did I mention that my battery was very weak and I had to keep the acceleration high to save it from being drained out? Especially when the lights are ON. I had to ride in 1^st/2^nd gear throughout the climbing session. Covering blind corners and hairpin bends in such low visibility conditions was a tough task, but was Fun. A few kilometers and we arrived at Vayalada.
Fawas waved me to stop at the junction where we had to take a right turn towards the view point. He asked me: “Are you ready to climb?” I said: “Of course Bro. We are here for that itself right?” He nodded in affirmation and warned me to be careful while climbing. I was wondering why the hell he was warning me for climbing the road.
A few meters passed, and I realized what he was warning me about. That idiot didn’t mention that we’re going to do some hardest OFFROADING. There were no roads, just huge slippery rocks paved the path; I was on those rocks before I could realize a thing. A few factors were making my Ride up the road very tough:

·         No roads, but just huge rock pieces

·         Those were slippery

·         A slip towards the corner and I’ll be on roofs of some houses down the valley.

·         My rear break was nearing Zero

·         My rear tire was almost as smooth as polished marble. (Hardly 500 more km)

·         Battery was too low

·         My Camera bag was kept freely on the tank

·         Left Side break was something new to me. I’ve not even ridden a 1000 km’s that way.

·         Mist was too intense

·         No sunlight around

·         The climbs were too steep

Then came a steep climb of almost 70-degree inclination and as you guys expect, the bike stopped right at the center and refused to climb, but the engine was on. Despite my hard efforts, the bike just stood there, roaring loud in tandem with the throttle. And the worst part was my camera bag was slipping down from the tank. I had to support the bag with the right-hand ankle and accelerate with the same hand. Since no front break, I had to keep the left foot constantly on the rear break. That supported the camera bag from the left. I wanted to shift the gear down to neuter so that I can leave the clutch lever and put on my bag on my back. With utmost care, I lifted my left foot off the rear break for a second and that scared the hell out of me. The 200 kg machine moved backward that steep curve and I struggled hard to get the bike back in my control. Thankfully the rear tire got stuck on a huge piece of rock, and the bike came to a halt.
Alhamdulillah. A sigh of relief!!!
I took the camera out of the poly bag, mounted the bag on my back, kicked the neutral bar and kicked the bike back to life. Forgot to mention that the engine turned off during the whole process. After starting the bike, I lifted my butts off the seat and accelerated, and the machine started moving. All this time Fawas ahead of me and knew nothing. But I could see him coming down on feet after the whole drama was over. He parked his bike somewhere and came in search of me. Thanks, buddy.
But something slightly went wrong with the clutch cable. The bike was moving only if I released 90% of the clutch lever. Man, I have to put down my weight!
Anyways I was back in action. I got the rhythm of climbing such steep curves. Now the climbing turned relatively easy. Finally after a few more steep ascends and muddy paths, we arrived at the gate towards the viewpoint. My camera bag was getting wet in the drizzle. But that didn’t concern me much as the camera and lenses were weather sealed. But once we arrived at the gate, it started pouring heavily, and I had to cover the bag again. That means no photos.
We crossed the gate and walked towards the viewpoint. Here comes the next surprise. Short but hard trekking session. Steps, rocks, slush and bushes. Crossing those was fun. We both were panting like anything. Especially me. Carrying this 100 kg body is indeed a tough task. It took us a good 15 minutes to reach there. Now here comes that for which we’ve crossed all these hurdles. The splendid view of the valley took our breath away for a few seconds. That view was indeed worth all the efforts. No words nor photos can describe the beauty of that place. Simply mind blowing. Let the pictures speak...

We spent almost an hour there taking snaps and enjoying the serenity. After the moments of tranquillity apart from the civilization and mad rush, we descended the hill. Since the slopes were dangerously steep, we had to climb down in 1^st gear till Vayalada. Vayalada is a small village with a small restaurant, post office, School and a few houses. We stopped at the restaurant and had some yummy Appam and Kadala curry. We planned on having a short shower at some waterfalls en route. Fawas bought some massaging oil. We were returning through a different route and had a nice bath of 1.5 hours at some beautiful waterfalls. 

That was for the day. We were back home around 11 am.