FSR#6 - Little England, Thally Ride

FSR#6 - Little England, Thally Ride Well well well, 6 Rides strong and going on.....Cool!! The FSR was slated for the May 06 and the route was to be Madiwala - Anekal - Jigani- KanakPura Road and back.The day dawned bright and early for me, I woke up and got ready in a jiffy and went to Coffee Day on 100 feet Road, Indiranagar which was supposed to be the rendezvous point for SRK,Screech, Mangesh, Indi and your truly. I was the last to arrive and we took off towards the Silk Board Flyover, it was early and the roads were empty and we reached there in about 10 mins. The rest of the gang were already there and finally Indi on the outer Ring Road directly arrived bringing up the number of riders to 10.

We decided to ride to Attibele and then proceed to Anekal, which turned out to be a good descision, we all started off on Hosur Road and headed out, there was a lot of traffic on Hosur Road we finally reached Attibele and the turn-off towards Anekal.Satya's bike had gotten rich and didn't start, so he was running a little late and finally everyone landed up and we headed towards Anekal. A few hundred metres of getting off the Highway the landscape immediately changed for the better and the cool morning air was wonderful.Lush green fields, Mangalore tiled village houses, Coconut Groves and the sounds of nature, it was beautiful. A few Kms before Anekal ahead we saw Santosh had pulled up and Satya and me stopped, Santosh asked us to watch his Bike as he had go and "see a man about a dog". We were only too happy to stop and bask in the greenery around, finally Santosh came back and we headed towards Anekal which was a short distance away.

On reaching Anekal we ascertained, through a few locals, that the best place to eat breakfast in Anekal was Hotel Ashok opposite the bus-stand and we promptly headed there.As usual the line up of bikes outside the Hotel Askok attracted a lot of attention from the locals, and after a bit of bantering with them we ordered breakfast, the idlis and vadas, Satosh was the only brave one to order a jamoon which he immediately put down just after a bite.Post breakfast, we decided to head for Thally, Little England, which we heard was beautiful. The village roads were winding and dotted on both sides with small farming hamlets and fields. The ride was great, we saw some amazing vistas and a huge mango tree with hundreds of Mangoes, whose branches were almost touching the ground.A little ahead we came to an intersection of sorts where we decided to take a snap of the line-up of the bikes, we all rode up and parked our bikes across one of the lesser travelled roads from the intersection and crossed the road to admire them, while the guys with the Cameras were busy clicking away.

Post the photo session we headed towards Thally, which b.t.w is in Tamil Nadu, I found this out because I got an SMS welcoming me to Tamil Nadu from the BPL Mobile service there. The country side had changed from the flat plains to a verdant rolling one and roads were winding and going up and down.Finally we were riding on a tank bund which was astride a small lake, half-filled up and on the otherside was Thally, which is a rustic, dusty pleasant village with a few of the boards proudly proclaiming "Little England Thally", I can imagine the place after the rains, it was pretty green all around now, but the same route would be mind-blowing post the rains.From Thally we decided to ride to Maralwadi, and then hook up with Kanakapura Road at Harohalli.

The road from Thally to Maralwadi was beautiful and winding and was full of ups and downs and the terraced fields on either side and the rolling landscape, we passed a banyan tree which looked a hundred years old. There was a temple on a hillock in the distance, which looked like a good climb on foot, but for a later date.As we crested the hill ahead, the road ahead was downhill and twisting and the view was beautiful, all the bikes stopped under the shade of a Banyan Tree close to the crest and we parked up. We relaxed here for a quite a while, taking in the sights and sounds and trying to capture the moment.The banyan tree was a cool shelter and we were sitting around taking snaps and generally chatting, finally we decided very reluctantly to move from there, Santosh promising us to stop for tea at a tea-shop just before Maralwadi. The road from here on till Maralwadi and beyond, till just a few kms before Harohalli was a series of twisties, the downhill twisties were really awesome and we were all bunched up together.The landscape was beautiful and noone was really in the mood for any kinda speeding, we were just enjoying the ride.

Finally we reached Harohalli and turned towards Kanakapura with a heavy heart, the ride was almost over. Anyways it was getting hotter and it was time for a chilled one, as Indi kept on hinting :-). We headed to Green Park Dhaba just on the outskirts and parked up there, the sun was at it's zenith and we were soon entrenched in the shade with a coupla chilled ones. Thus ended FSR#6, it was one of the most picturesque rides by far and it was a great experience and anyways looking forward to meeting the gang for the TSB#1 (Third Sunday Breakfast ;-) ) at Airlines Hotel and plan for the next ride. Cheers, Suru