Juwal Bose Says

One thing that is good about Kothamangalam is that many of Kerala’s Tourist attractions fall close to it. The way to Adimali/ Munnar passes through here, Thattekkad Bird sanctuary, BhothathanKettu Dam, Kodanadu Elephant Krall, access to ThommanKuthu, Idamalayar and access to ernakulam. Last day we found out a new place to have a weekend getaway. Its called Ayyappanmudy and is just 7 kms off Kothamangalam enRoute Thattekkad. You need to really sk for directions here and there as there is not much visible directions or signposts to the place. The most I can let you know is that its near Chelad.

Last day when Aby visited us here at Kothamangalam me and Eldhose decided to go some where. The plan was Ayyappanmudy, we missed it on the way first and we headed to Thattekkad.

From Ayyapanmudy

The bird sanctuary was closed as it was off season. Bus full of tourists were coming and all were getting dissappointed at the ticket counter. We checked out a Toddy shop and found out that no food was available. We decided to hit Bhoothatahnkattu near which Popular rally was having its second last session. Reached there in the right time to see the flag off for last lap where lots of esteems and gipsies were trying their luck. Today I came to know that the MRF team won the rally.

From Ayyapanmudy

After seeing the rally and hitting toddy shop once again we started back to catch the evening sun atop Ayyappanmudy. It was a narrow inroad to the big rocky climb. Atop these rocks were one temple devoted to Ayyappan and hence the name. It was scenic, but we have been seing this all through Kerala, the good thing was that this was so close to home and yet we were making this for first time.

From Ayyapanmudy

The climb was nothing spectacular or tiresome, but the sun was beating down even when it was raining these days. We sat down for some time and decided to cover all the connected mountains as well. On our trek we had to face a lot of troubles including some severe words from local people who blamed us for intending to commit suicide. Local old men were stripped of their privacy when their open air toilets were being used as sight seeing places by us lesser mortals. We lay down below the sun for some time and when it was starting to be dark hit back to Kothamangalam where we found refuge at Mariya Intl.