Chennai - Sathuragiri - Thiruchendur & Tirunelveli

I had to attend my college friend's marriage function on Feb-3 Sunday at Tirunelveli. My initial plan was to roam around Kanyakumari for the 1st day and to head towards Tirunelveli for the 2nd day. Then I realized that pradosam falls on Saturday, so I thought of visiting Sathuragiri. My friend said that he also would be joining for the 1st day. As we were only able to visit till the gate of Sathuragiri last time (we went 2nd day after no moon), this time we wanted to plan better. We confirmed the timings with our friends and we decided to go. Our tatkal train ticket booking attempt on podhigai failed. So we had a thought to go in unreserved ticket.

Day Zero:

We left office by 2.30 PM and got a moffusil bus to Guindy from Tidel Park. We purchased a ticket to Madurai thought of going in Tiruchendur express. But on our way to Egmore, we noticed that there is a kollam express which is starting by 5.00 PM and it will go to Srivilliputhur around  3.15 AM.When we reached Egmore by around 3.30 PM, Tiruchendur express was fully packed. So we thought of taking Kollam express.  Once the announcement of platform commenced we went to starting point of the platform and we were able to get window seat easily. The diesel engine train was running in its constant speed, making its own sound at times.In the midst of the buzzing sound we  manged to get some sleep in the night.

Day One:

The train reached Srivilliputhur by around 3.30 AM (I had to say it. perfect timing!). We took a walk to reach Ramanuja madam (We visited to the same madam last time) near by Srivilliputhur temple to get ready. It's just Rs.30 to get refresh, in which you can rest, bath, charge your phones for sometime and also you can take the drinking water with the bottles you have. Trust Me !!. As we visited the Srivilliputhur temple and had tasted palkovas last time, we skipped this time and we decided to go Sathuragiri as early as possible. We reached the bus stand after getting refreshed at around  4.45 AM. It seems there was one bus to Watrap or Vathirayiruppu (from there it seems Autos are running) earlier and we missed it. However we got a bus to Thaniparai itself by 5.30 AM. The bus was filled with pilgrimages, men & women workers with their tools and ambience was too pleasant. Cool breeze was slapping our face in a way reducing all the stress hormone. We reached Thaniparai at around 6.45 AM. and we started our walk to Sathuragiri top by 7.00 AM.

It was a modest trail. There is no water flowing across the trail paths as it was not a rainy season. It would have been a bliss if water was flowing through the valleys. When we reached the top after around 2 hours of walk (just in 2 or 3 places it was little difficult and rest of the trail was normal)  we could feel the chillness. On our way we also witnessed one different kind of bird and  Monkey (singa muga kurnagu). We spent some time on the top in  the two temples(sundara mahalingam & santhana mahalingam).

We had free breakfast  and spent time in the shops around. It seems there is a cave and temple (periya mahalingam/kasi parai) on top and local people said it has been not allowed for years for some reason, so we started walking back. We came to know there is another trail which will take to varsanadu, but local people use that only during Aadi ammavasai, due to high risk of missing the trail and animals attack, so we didn't attempt that one. Also it looks like there is an another jungle route from Saptur, and it has been closed nowadays. 

We were amazed to see the local men & women were carrying heavy goods(rice bags, vegetables etc) from base to top. No other transport option was available it seems. As you might have seen in the tamil movie "Merku thodrachi malai" still people transport goods by their own in western ghats. We reached the base(Thanipari) by 1.00 PM.

We took an Auto to Watrap as there was no direct bus from Thaniparai. From there my friend started going back to his home via Madurai & Salem. I had a great confusion about which direction I should take next, is it towards Madurai or Theni or Tirunelveli? As one of the local guy suggested I decided to go to Tiruchendur. There is no direct bus, I had to go to Srivilliputhur, then Rajapalayam and then Tirunelveli and finally Tiruchendur.  After 5.15 hrs of travel I landed in Tiruchendur by 7.15 PM. I expected a less crowd but it was not. However I finished my Dharshan by 8.00 PM and had a slow walk in the beach for around 30 minutes. It was nice to see a temple on the sea shore with people always. It had given me the divine feeling.

Then I thought staying there itself for the Night. The rooms maintained by temple (they are very cheaper than others, ranging from 100 to 300) was filled by online booking. After my light dinner, when I inquired about room, either they were costly or not worthy. When I saw people were sleeping in the open space mandapam in front of the temple, I also decided to sleep there itself as I didn't have to wander around finding room and I didn't have any valuable things.

I put my towel on the floor and had a bed sheet, so I slept nicely by positioning myself between two pillars.My long day of the trip came to an end.

Day Two:

Though my sleep was interrupted twice in between by the sounds of group of pilgrimages (musical bands/drums) who were circulating the temple, I slept well that I even missed the alarm at 4.30 AM. Somehow I managed to wake up by 4.45 AM and took a round at temple and a slow walk in the beach. I boarded a Tirunelveli bus by 5.20 AM and I reached around by 7.00 AM. I took a local bus to reach Nellaiappar temple from there. I would say if you are at Nellai it should be in your must watch list. I was impressed especially by the lotus style stone works (thamira sabha).

The piece at the temple gave me pleasure in the morning. After spending sometime I went to my another friend's house who's native is also Tirunelveli. We got ready and had a nice breakfast. From there we went to the marriage function and bought halwa at Santhi sweets and spent a wonderful evening at my friend's house again (skipped the plan of trying a ride for Tirukkurankudi/Papanasam). We boarded Nellai express and reached Tambaram at next day morning.

Please Note, If you have a plan to visit:

The famous irutu kadai is only open for Monday to Saturday between around 4/5 to 6/7 in the evening.

Tiruchendur Murugan temple is open for all days between 5.00 AM yo 9.00 PM.

Sathuragiri is open for Pradosam, Next day, full/no moon day and next half day.(3.5 days). They allow from early morning 6 AM to 4 PM. After that is not allowed considering the animal attacks. My suggestion would be to visit in the early morning. When you start early, your energy level will be high and before you get tired, you could reach the top. Also it would be awesome to look though the valleys in the Morning. 

How was it overall?

At the end of the trip, I felt like it was a nice relief from the machinaized life. Always the misty mountains does the magic to give immense peace to Mind !