The bus from Mysore was a little longer than anticipated. We took a stopping bus and not an express. This meant we saw a lot more of the rural countryside and it was worth it, really stunning views coming down from the Western Ghats. A local guy sitting opposite us next to his wife and 3 kids shared his lunch with us, a rice dish with fruit and chilies – yum! Something we have noticed is that the further south in India you go the friendlier the people get. We stayed the night in City Towers Hotel, a friendly big hotel. Left early the next morning with our free shower cap, sewing kit and loo roll! We had to catch the 06:00 train from Coimbatore to Mettupalayam to connect with the 07:20 Steam train there which took us up the mountain to Ooty. The steam train was like something out of an old film. We took first class because every other carriage was fully booked and slowly began chuffing out of the station with the whistle blowing. The little steam train had to climb 2,500 meters over about 50 kms so only managed jogging speed and took 6 hours to get there. We stopped frequently, every 40 mins or so, to get more water or coal for the steam engine. The views from our carriage were great as we were right at the front and the steam engine pushing all the carriages up the mountain from the back. We saw old colonial villas set in tea plantations clinging to the sides of the mountain and waterfalls cascading down steep gullies between them – it was quite idyllic. As we neared the summit, however, the temperature plummeted to 15 degrees and the rain began. By the time we reached Ooty we were in the clouds and the rain was torrential and horizontal. We decided to stay in nice accommodation as we didn’t know how long the rain would last so might be spending a large amount of time in Ooty indoors! So we opted for Regency Villas, an old colonial building a little out of town with big rooms each with its own open fire place. We took a deluxe room which cost a fortune – Double the price our guide book quoted but haggled a 10% discount and took it. The room was huge could have easily had a game of footy in there. It was cold though so we decided to have a fire and asked for it to be lit. It took some doing but the guys got it going – the wood was wet though and smoked badly. The storm picked up and howled down the chimney and it wasn’t long before we lost sight of the ceiling then the rest of the room! We had to open all the doors and windows to get rid of the smoke. This filled up the corridor around the hotels reception with smoke too. So smelling like a bonfire we caught a local bus into town and did a little shopping. Nik got a full rain proof suit – essential in the current environment. After a meal and a few kingfishers we caught an auto-rickshaw back to the villas the storm had increased and a few trees had come down one of them took out a pylon which we mistook for a firework display. We thought it was a bit silly at the time to be lighting the fireworks in the storm... Anyhow when we got back to the Hotel there were a lot more trees down, the drive was a torrent of a river and no electricity. By candle light we managed to get the wood to burn nicely – it seemed to have dried out or maybe the wind wasn’t blowing down the chimney quite so badly but the fire warmed the room and we had a comfortable night sleep. In the morning the room attendant brought a bucket of hot water for our shower but it wasn’t long before the fire had us smelling like a bonfire again. We looked outside and saw that the storm hadn’t abated and more trees were down. After a quick walk into town we decided Ooty was too cold and wet for us and that we liked the tropical climes far more. So checked out and shared a minivan down the mountain back to Coimbatore. As soon as we started to descend the mountain, the rain and winds abated and the skies cleared. Looking back the mountain peak was mostly the only place the clouds clung to! The train took about 6 hours to get to Ooty...our driver did the same trip down in 2 and a half, overtaking in silly places to get to the station on time for another passenger to make his connection..it was a hair raising experience!!! Happy to be in Coimbatore and back in the one piece we stayed in the same hotel as we had the time before and arranged transport to our next stop Cochin (Kochi) back on the Coast in Kerala.