After yesterday’s long day being driven around Wayanad, we stayed on foot today. There was a path from the homestay that steeply descended from our 800m starting point. We decided to explore it without knowing where it went. At worse, we’d backtrack.
The day started with another massive breakfast. I asked for toast and was able to use my Marmite.
There were lots of colourful flowers on the route. At one point, after the path rose, it seemed to peter out. Then we saw a narrow path leading to a house. We waved at the people living there and continued. The path ended up in the village (Puthukkad), which is about 1.5km from our homestay. This was a far more scenic route than taking the road.
In the village, we bought some provisions. We’d been told that the Ripon Tea Factory, like many places, was shut on Mondays. We walked up to it anyway. The staff working on the tea estate were very friendly. They opened the toilets for us and let us walk around the estate (but not in the factory). At one point, someone called the manager. He was less friendly. I asked if I could walk 100m to the front of the factory to take a photo. He said that would be Rs100! The factory was going to be shut the following day too. This was either for more maintenance or because there was no tea to process yet, depending on whose version was true.
We continued our circular tour back. Amongst the planted tea, we found a stream where we had lunch.
For the final climb, the sun was shining relentlessly. It was very hot. One woman, who couldn’t speak English, invited us to her house by making the gesture of drinking tea. We decided to continue. We weren’t that far from our homestay.
For the afternoon, we sat on our back balcony first. When the sun was setting, we switched to our front balcony area.
The homestay has two tree huts. You can stay at them. They have better views than the main building but are more basic. The view of the mountains is good. There’s also a viewpoint, which you could go to if the tree huts were rented out. We sat there and enjoyed the sky changing colour as the sun set. We saw a red-winged eagle.
For dinner, we talked to the owner, Rajesh. He said that they were carrying out various renovations. A new expanded Wi-Fi was being installed. The electrics for the rooms will be updated. He also mentioned that the viewpoint tree hut may be turned into a library. This change will allow people to read or relax while watching the sunset.
