CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Cochin it runs 419 km to Cochin; allow about 9 h 16 of riding. On the way it passes Eravikulam National Park, Mankulam Range, Mannavan Shola and Grass Hills National Park. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,600 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 25 km this is Munnar Tea Country Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Kochi is the old spice port of Kerala, and it still has the look of a place where traders from many countries have come and gone. Arab, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and British merchants all passed through, and the old quarter around Fort Kochi keeps traces of them: Chinese fishing nets on the waterfront, a Portuguese-era church, a synagogue in Jew Town and colonial houses facing the water. The city itself is spread across islands and the mainland, tied together by bridges and ferries, with a lot of water around.
Read the complete Kochi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kochi is where the day begins. Next is Eravikulam National Park.
Anamudi is the highest mountain in India south of the Himalaya, and it rises from the Eravikulam plateau like a dark tooth. The national park, in the high Western Ghats near Munnar in Kerala, protects a landscape of rolling grassland, thick shola forest in the folds of the hills, and open skies, at heights above two thousand metres. It forms part of the Western Ghats World Heritage Site, inscribed by UNESCO in 2012, and it is the best place in the world to see the Nilgiri tahr, a stocky wild goat that lives on steep, grassy slopes.
Read the complete Eravikulam National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Eravikulam National Park comes up about 172 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mankulam Range.
The Mankulam range lies in the high country of Idukki district in Kerala, in the Munnar uplands that form the highest part of the Western Ghats south of the Nilgiris. The mountains here are enormous, rolling green downs of grass dotted with dark patches of shola, the stunted evergreen forest that fills the folds between the ridges, and the entire landscape is part of a protected block that includes Anamudi, at 2,695 metres the highest peak in India south of the Himalaya. The Grass Hills National Park sits here, with its sweeping slopes and strange, windswept look.
Read the complete Mankulam Range write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least about 208 km into the recorded legs you reach Mankulam Range. Next is Mannavan Shola.
Mannavan Shola is a patch of forest in the high hills of Idukki, in the Mankulam forest range, and the word shola is the key to understanding the whole place. In these mountains, the ridges are covered in open grassland, while the folds between them hold dense, dark, evergreen forest, the sholas. They are very old, a relic of colder times, and they trap mist and rainwater, releasing it slowly into the streams. The grassy hillsides and the sholas work as a single system, and it is the reason this part of the Western Ghats is so important as a source of water for southern India.
Read the complete Mannavan Shola write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mannavan Shola, about halfway. Next is Grass Hills National Park.
Grass Hills National Park sits at 167 km, about halfway. Next is back through Mannavan Shola.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mannavan Shola write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Mannavan Shola comes up about 211 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Mankulam Range.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mankulam Range write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 212 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Mankulam Range. Next is back through Eravikulam National Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eravikulam National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Eravikulam National Park, late in the day. Next is Kochi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kochi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 419 km.
Kochi → Eravikulam National Park is 172 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Eravikulam National Park → Mankulam Range is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mankulam Range → back through Eravikulam National Park is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Eravikulam National Park → Kochi is 174 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.