9. The Road to Ooty - 26 December 2015

We were up early for the six hour journey to Ooty, a town in the mountains of Tamil Nadu, where we have booked a room at 'Sinclair's Retreat', a hotel at the astonishing height of 8,000 ft.

We had rented a car and driver for the day at what seemed a good price, but unfortunately our man was not having the best of days : The engine overheated requiring several cooling down sessions and then he had a puncture and then he discovered that his spare tyre was not only flat but lacked any visible tread.....   

Luckily this happened in a village just before we reached the hills and the locals all turned out to help. We decided to seek alternative transport and before too long, we were en-route in a robust jeep with good tyres for the long climb into the Masinagudi Tiger Reserve.


We had planned two to three hours in the hills with a Park Ranger in the hope of seeing a  tiger but arrived too late. Luckily we met some Australians who had been there all day and they kindly let us have a short clip of 'their' tiger.

The road up the mountain seemed endless and even the jeep showed signs of  stress as the driver toggled between first and second gears to maintain momentum through the hairpin bends.  Now at sunset, with the cooling temperature, the high cloud, like a mist, was descending slowly into the valleys below.



The mountain road to Ooty climbs at an angle of  35 degrees involving 36 hair raising hairpin bends.






 







 .......... when you get to No. 1 you know you have almost made it. 
The road is not for the faint hearted or those with a fear of heights but when you get to the top the views will take your breath away.............