December 18, 2010
Mostly down from Ooty
Mattupalaiyam
The French-speaking alarm on my Chinese-made watch announces it's eight o'clock, but I lay in bed for another hour as my legs need a rest after yesterday's exertions and it feels cold out there today. I'm still wearing my silk vest and wool top and a pair of socks.
Breakfast is scrambled egg at the same place I ate last night - just across from the hotel's entrance, as is the Internet place - and I try to email, but after one successful click the power goes off again in the whole of Ooty, so I return to my room and pack my panniers. It's almost noon anyway.
There was a bit of blue sky about 20 minutes ago when I peered out from my balcony, but that's history as I get my bike loaded up.
The receptionist jots down some directions on a piece of paper that gets slipped into my map case after being asked for the quiet route that the English couple mentioned yesterday - pointing out that I should avoid the Connor Road when going south because it'll likely be busy.
I can hardly read his writing, but it seems to say 'Malladyam > Annur Road > Palgat > Soman Nore. I've never heard of them and they don't seem to be on my Nelles map but he says there's a hotel in Palaghat.
How far is that? That's well over 200 kilometres away he reckons, so I point out I'm cycling and it's already noon. He doesn't seem to get it.
The road goes up and my legs are not too bad; last night my left knee was giving me some real pain when I climbed the stairs. (I got hurt it when I collided with that oxcart, if you recall,back in Bangladesh.) It's fine this morning, thank goodness.
There are five kilometres of climbing to do and my blue jacket is on together with a long-sleeved wool jersey. The jacket comes off after a kilometre and Ooty is spread out on the slopes on my right as the road goes higher and it looks better from a distance. Close up it was drab and too busy for me, and a second night would have been one too many. I didn't bother seeing any of the sights.
A bit higher and the fir trees near the road are mossy and there's not a lot of traffic.
It's 26 km to go to reach a place called Kotagiri, another hill station, and after five the tarmac levels out and it's a wonderful cruise along a ridge.
Tea plantations are all over the area and mist is rolling across the fields, so I put my jacket back on for the descent.
The clothes -- gloves, jersey and shorts -- that were wet with sweat from yesterday are stuffed in a plastic bag in my panniers as they felt even wetter this morning when I packed up. I'll wash them when I get a chance - hopefully tonight if I get somewhere warm and less humid. I doubt there are many clear days up here - maybe in summer. It rains a lot then, so it must be uncomfortably humid.
There doesn't appear to be a place to eat in Kotagiri, so when I reach the end of the main drag I ask and get pointed inside the bakery nearby. Hidden in the back is a café and it's warm and cosy due to the blazing gas burner that's got a large wok on top of it, frying something or other.
I order what the waiter suggests and he puts a square piece of banana leaf 12 inches by 12 inches on the table in front of me and I copy the man sat opposite by using some water from a steel tumbler to wash it with. I then get served a few rotis and some dal-like veg dished out of a small steel pale. It tastes yummy with a glass of sweet tea.It is 42 rupees for the lot.
While buying a piece of cake from the bakery (a kind of chocolaty Battenberg) I ask a fellow customer about directions and show him my written notes and he says go right at this junction and adds that there's a nice hotel in Mattupalaiyam, which is 20-odd kilometres away, so that's my goal now. It's all downhill from here he says. Nice!
I climb for a little before cruising as the quiet road goes slowly and gently down. There are a couple of stops to take snaps and each time a car pulls over and men get out and ask the usual questions.
Eventually I stop at a hotel (café), as I like the window decoration and decide to have tea as the woman owner sees me and it seems rude not to and once I'm up in her ramshackle place I notice she has two silver ankle-bracelets on and I take a photos of them as well as a catapult that's on a table, then also one of her holding her kitten.
She laughs a lot and I feel like the archetypal snap-happy tourist and no doubt she's thinking this is a one hell of a nutcase and maybe she's not far wrong.
At a hairpin my watch says it's already 5:30 and the man on a motorbike who has stopped to ask me where I'm from watches me take a couple of self-timed photos and seems impressed with my camera, but I'm not really interested in conversation as there are 15 kilometres to go and I want to get to Matta-what's-its-name before dark, which is what I do as it's all downhill.
One blue pannier bounces off my front rack like it did a while ago and so I adjust the clips so it won't happen again. I hadn't noticed this time either until some people shouted.
In Mattupalaiyam my jacket comes off as it's balmy even though the sun has gone. I find the EMS Hotel okay despite the traffic and the man outside the bakery was right -it's nice and coast me 700 rupees tonight. That's 200 less than in Ooty and this room is nicer.
Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 1,903 km (1,182 miles)
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