Fairytale ride to Dolphins Nose: A Road Trip to Nilgiris - III
After a heavy and delicious buffet breakfast we left towards the Ooty- Kattabettu-Kotagiri Highway. Our destination for the day was Dolphins nose and the toy train. It was misty outside with less visibility, so we had a disappointing start.
Trust me this excursion was an out of the world experience with panoramic views of the beautiful valleys and tea estates throughout the journey. I couldn’t drive for more than ten minutes continuously without stopping my car, only to venture out and experience the beautiful valley views.
The mist started to reduce with better visibility as we proceeded, and our first stop over was just after a ten minutes ride.
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| Our first view point |
About 5km from Accord Highland hotel on the right side of the highway is another view point with amazing valley view. This is near the Neeli Malai Residency, T Mynalai and stopped for 10mins for snaps.
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| View of plantations near Neeli Malai Residency, T Mynalai |
Another 5min drive on the left side of the highway there is another beautiful view point with panoramic view of tea estates near Lynfields Leisure, Madithorai. This was our third stopover within 10km of our journey.
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| Tea estates near Lynfields Leisure, Madithorai |
About 15mins drive just before Kattabettu town there is another view point on the left side of the highway.
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| Valley view before reaching Kattabettu town |
The entire stretch from Accord Highland hotel to Kattabettu was picturesque. After Kattabettu town we stopped at a view point with a cone shaped hill and water stream flowing at its foothills.
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| Beautiful cone shaped hill on the Kattabettu-Coonoor Hwy |
Another ten mins drive near Ellithorai stopped for another spectacular view of the slopes of tea estates on the left side.
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| Tea estate Slopes near Ellithorai |
Nearing Coonoor the road conditions deteriorates and gets worst at times. After taking the Dolphins nose road, the condition of road improves but the road gets narrower and lacks safety railings. Sunlight was playing hide and seek through the track, sometimes covered under the trees with thick fog and suddenly opens up to tea estates. I don’t know why but we felt it like a fairy tale ride. We crossed several waterfalls on our way.
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| Different levels of slopes near Glendale estates |
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| Another beautiful view on the Dolphins nose road |
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| Perfectly trimmed, amazing Adderley estate, very near to Dolphins nose. Don't miss a small tea estate walk. |
The stretch near the Glendale estates covering the last few kilometers before the Dolphins nose was remarkable. The road ends at Dolphins Nose view point. From here the deep valley below can be seen, and at some distance Catherine falls can be seen from here. We were not much lucky as thick white fog was covered through the entire valley, so nothing was visible from the view point. We had a better view from the parking area though, we could hear the waterfalls, but was not visible as it was completely covered under fog. As the time travelled so was the white fog covering the valley from right side and from other side clouds started to cover, it actually covered the road with hardly some visibility. The moment when the white fog was touching the clouds with slight rain was out of the world experience for me.
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| View of the mist covered hills from the Dolphins nose point |
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| Valley view from the Dolphins nose parking area |
It was already 3.30pm when we left the place and started towards Coonoor railway station for the heritage toy train ride. We drove non-stop from Dolphins nose to the Coonoor railway station and reached 20mins before the train start time which was at scheduled at 4.30pm. We parked our car at the parking area and went on to search for the restaurant.
Nilgiris Toy train (part of the Mountain Railways of India - A UNESCO world heritage site):
We got our lunch packed at Venky’s near the railway station and occupied our pre-booked first class compartment, which was the first compartment and had better view than the rest of the boogies, since there were glass windows on the front of the train too.
The ride started as per the scheduled time, and it lasted about 90mins. On the route about quarter the distance covered we came across an uprooted tree on the railway track. The locals signaled the train, and the train was stopped at a distance till the tree was cut and removed off the track.
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| Aruvankadu Station |
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| Rail track, amid magnificent landscapes and countryside |
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| Toy train passes through numerous curves such as this one |
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| Tree uprooted on the track, our way for a while |
While the track was being cleared, I was out of the track to explore the surrounding valley.
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| Meanwhile off the track located this view of Nilgiris countryside |
We reached the Ooty station at 6pm and we decided to take back the same train to Coonoor, instead of searching for the bus. The return journey took lesser time, just over an hour. We went on to check-in at Sunvalley homestay.
The next morning was intended to be most thrilling.
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