Day 1 – And
the Ride begins – Bangalore to Palamaner 131 Kms 20-Dec-19
The day has finally arrived, I am at work and a
few hours from now I will hit the road, I can already smell the highway and I
can only think one way the Highway!
Christmas week has always been a lucky week , for many years now I have had some memorable trips. This year we had planned to
explore few places of the naturally gifted land of Andra Pradesh and Telangana.
Both the states are fed by biggest rivers of India the Godavari, Krishna and
Tungabhadra being the prominent ones. My travel to Andra and Telangana has been
restricted to mostly places near to Bangalore such as Belum Caves, Gandikota ,
Lepakshi and Tirupathi and this time we wanted to explore more.
Karthik and I planned the route and started our
ride on 20-Dec-19 6pm. We started our ride planning that we will either ride to
Palamaner or Chitoor and finally decided to stay at Palamaner and checked into
Hotel Charan Dhaba which is on the highway NH 75. Dinner was served at the restaurant
and the Phulka and Dal was very tasty. That’s for the day
Day 2 – The
Actual Ride Day – Palamaner to Pulicat Lake & Sriharikota 216 Kms 21-Dec-19
The day started early, we left
Hotel Charan Dhaba at 6am in the morning and our destination was Pulicat Lake
and a visit to Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. It was a foggy
morning and the weather was beautiful to ride. Road till deviation leading to
Tirupathi is top class but post that most of the highway till we reach NH 16 is
under construction which considerably slows down the riding pace. We had booked
our stay at Fortune MR Grand Sullurupeta the nearest town to Pulicat Lake Bird
Sanctuary. We checked into hotel at around 11.30am and after a bit of rest and
tasty veg thali lunch at the restaurant we went to see Pulicat Lake.
Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary is a famous
481 km² located in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh and Protected
area in Thiruvallur District of Tamil Nadu. Pulicat Lagoon is
the second largest brackish water lagoon in India, after Chilika
Lake (measuring 759 square kilometres (293 sq mi). Its hard to even
imagine how huge the lake is. The sanctuary is most noted for the many greater
flamingos seen here. It also attracts many migratory birds and
also is a feeding and nesting ground for aquatic and terrestrial birds such
as pelicans, storks,etc.
The road leading to Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC)
SHAR is one of the most beautiful road I have ridden, with Pulicat Lake on
either side and a very well tarmacked road it’s a visual treat. There are many
viewpoints set up on either side of the road to see the birds. I was very
excited to see and photograph the greater flamingos , I stopped at one of the
view points after I saw a folk of birds far away in the lake , the greater
flamingos , I met a gentleman from
Karnataka and he graciously lent his binoculars to see the flamingos ,
unfortunately couldn’t photograph any of them.
We
visited the information centre and got information about birds and then rode
till Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR. The day ended well.
Start of ride from Hotel Charan Dhabha
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Fantastic Roads of NH 75
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| A beautiful patch of road , after a bumpy ride post deviation towards Tirupathi off NH 75 |
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| First Look of Pulicat Lake |
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| The road I was referring to in the blog , one of the most scenic of the ride |
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| About Pulicat Lake |
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| Road less traveled takes you to beautiful destinations |
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| Posers |
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| Men with their machine , myself on my Dominar and Karthik with his Himalayan |
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| A Painted Stork ready to take off |
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| Hues of Nature |
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| With a Kill |
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| Ready to take a plunge |
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| Kapidwaja and Karthik's Himalayan at SHAR entrance. |
Day 3 – A
Long Day on road – Sriharikota to Rajahmundry 544Kms 22-Dec-19
A long day’s ride awaited us. To beat the heat
and traffic if any we started as early is 4.30am. The plan for the day was to
visit Doleswaram barrage and then head to Pushkar Ghat in Rajahmundry. We were
on NH 16 , road till Vijayawada was fantastic , from there to deviation to Doleswaram
barrage on the highway was good but with truck traffic. After the deviation the
road gets bad till we reach Rajahmundry Town. We visited the Dowleswaram
Barrage , the view of the sacred Godavari River is breath-taking , Godavari
rivers is one among the 7 sacred rivers worshiped in India along with Ganga , Yamuna , Saraswathi , Narmada , Sindu
and Cauvery. The Dowleswaram Barrage was an irrigation structure
originally built in 1850 on the lower stretch of the Godavari River before
it empties into the Bay of Bengal. It was rebuilt in 1970 when it was
officially renamed the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage / Godavari Barrage. After
clicking a few photos we headed to our hotel in Rajahmundry Town and reached
around 2pm. After a much need rest and lunch we decided to walk to Pushkar Ghat
to witness the spectacular Godavari Aarthi. After watching the aarthi Our mind
and soul was filled with gratification and we rested for the day.
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| @ Dowleswaram Barrage |
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| When in Rajahmundry do not miss the rose milk |
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| Preparing for the evening Godavari Aarthi |
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| Preparing for the evening Godavari Aarthi |
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| A kid enjoying the sunset at Pushkar Ghat |
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| Sunset over Godavari River , Pushkar Ghat , Rajahmundry |
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| Railway bridge during the Golden Hour |
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| Railway bridge during the Golden Hour |
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| Elderly couple waiting for the aarthi to begin |
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| Beauty of Pushkar Ghat , Rajahmundry |
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| Beauty of Pushkar Ghat , Rajahmundry |
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| Beauty of Pushkar Ghat , Rajahmundry |
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| Vedic Chants before the Aarthi |
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| Godavari Aarthi |
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| Godavari Aarthi , everyday aarthi is performed to River Godavari starting 6.15pm and lasts for 20mins |
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Day 4 – The
Destination – Rajamundry to Lambasingi & Arakku Valley 270 Kms 23-Dec-19
We were back on NH 16 and headed towards our
next destination Lambasingi & Arakku Valley. Road till the beautiful
Lambasingi a Tribal Dominated area was good , I had heard a lot about
Lambasingi and its natural beauty , true to what I had heard Lambasingi was
indeed a beautiful place but the tourists have thrown trash everywhere and it
was very sad to see the irresponsibility of people. We tried an alternate route
to Arakku Valley from Lambasingi and the forest pass which passed through many
tribal huts was very nice and we reached SSN Prakruthi Resorts in Arakku Valley
around 2pm. On the way we visited the beautiful Kothapalli Waterfalls a
multi-tier waterfall around 80kms from Arakku Valley. Arakku had lots of
tourists but luckily we had booked our stay a good 3km away from the Arakku
City. It was very cold in Arakku and the view from our room was beautiful. Next
day was the much needed rest day and we relaxed for the day.
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| A beautiful sunrise somewhere in NH 16 |
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| Post Crop fodder |
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| Men going to work |
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| Somewhere in NH 16 , NH 16 connects Tamilnadu to West bengal |
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| Beautiful landscape of Lambasingi |
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| Tribal firewood collectors , Lambasingi |
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| Mother and Kid , Lambasingi |
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| Travel to road not travelled to see the places not seen |
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| Bikes resting near a beautiful lake in Lambasingi |
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| Kothapally Waterfalls , a multi tier waterfall |
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| Beautiful Kothapalli Waterfall |
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| Sunset , Train and Birds.. there is a subject to photograph if you have an eye for it |
Day 5 – Rest Day – Arakku Valley 24-Dec-19
I woke up as early at 6am to click a few
photographs and as I opened the room door I could hardly see anything. The
valley was enveloped by thick fog and I came back and sunk inside the bedsheet again , after all it was a day to relax. We had our breakfast and chai at
Star Annapoorna Hotel a famous eatery in Arakku and the hot Idli Vada Sambar
tasted lovely. Around 10.30am after the fog cover had reduced we went for a
short ride till the Arakku View point and also visited the tribal museum.
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| Healthy Baked corn at Arakku Valley View Point |
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| Most popular dish of Arakku Valley , Bamboo Chicken |
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| A view point in Arakku Valley |
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| Tribal Museum , Arakku Valley |
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| Tribal Museum , Arakku Valley |
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| Sunset and the train , Arakku Valley |
Day 6 – The Return Leg – Arakku Valley to
Bhadrachalam 344 Kms 25-Dec-19
We debated a lot on the route to be taken to
Bhadrachalam from Arakku , while searching on the maps we found a route running
through forests of Orissa but when we saw reviews of NH 326 we were a little
skeptical of taking this route and finally we decided to take a chance and it
was a great decision. We left early at 5am ( not a wise decision ) and I could
hardly see anything , darkness and fog is a bad combination. We crossed the
Andra Pradesh border and entered Chatwa district of Orissa. The roads all along
was beautiful and we stopped for breakfast at Pangam at a roadside eatery which
served hot and tasty Poori and Dosa , on seeing us on bike the villagers
suggested not to the the Malkangiri Sukma route which we had originally planned
but to go to Motu and take a boat to cross the Godavari river and go to Bhadrachalam
, this would reduce the distance by around 60kms and also would save time. The
ride from Malkangiri to Motu is beautiful , the roads are great and there was
deep silence everywhere. We reached Motu and got to know road connecting from
Motu to Konta in Chhattisgarh was done but still it would take 30kms and an
hour extra and we decided to take the boat. It was a small fishing boat and
after a lot of struggle and help from the captain we crossed the Godavari river
and entered Konta District the border of Chhattisgarh and Andra Pradesh and hit
NH 30. After riding for about 2kms we were back in Andrapradesh and the road
till Bhadrachalam was beautiful. We had booked our room at Hotel Haritha
Bhadrachalam which is just 1km from the Sita Ramachandra Temple. We took a dip at the Godavari River and had darshan of Lord Sri Rama and Sita and felt blessed.
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| Village in Orissa , dada charged me 4rs for a cup of coffee |
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| Crossing over to Andrapradesh on the other side of Godavari in a Boat |
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| Before the adventure of boarding the bikes on to the boat |
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| That smile after myself and Kapidwaja reached the otherside of Godavari and entered AP without drowning:) |
Day 7 –
Solar Eclipse Day – Bhadrachalam to Hyderabad 311 Kms 26-Dec-19
It was Solar Eclipse that day, we were warned
to be careful while riding by folks back home. They were happy and even a bit
relieved of the fact that we had visited the Bhadrachalam Rama temple the
previous day and were ok with us riding during the eclipse time. We started
early at 5.30am , we took NH 30 there were beautiful roads and picturesque
agricultural lands and lakes all along. We had our breakfast at a road side
eatery in Suryapet , after belting the lip smacking breakfast was surprised to
see the bill was a mere 100 bucks. We reached Hyderabad around 11.30am and
checked into Hotel Central Park.
We took rest for a while and went to Hotel
Vivahabojanabulu for lunch , the hotel is in Jublee Hills Hyderabad and is
quite famous for its Andra style meals and has recipes of all of Andra food. I
felt it was a little overrated and expensive. After lunch we went to the famous
Charminar , it seemed like the whole of Hyderabad was there at Charminar , huge
shopping bylanes , colours , bargain , photos , selfies it was like madness.
Charminar is also famous for Pearls and I surprised myself by shopping pearls
for my wife, sister and daughter . We took an auto to come back to our Hotel
and the auto driver sounded like a wannabe astronaut or an astrologer he asked
so many questions about solar system and planets I am actually ready to give an
exam on the same as all of my knowledge was revisited and tested I drank the famous Irani Chai at famous Café
Bahar and lunch was so heavy we skipped dinner and went to sleep.
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| Charminar |
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| Pearl sellers , Charminar Market |
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| Charminar Market |
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| Charminar Market |
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| Charminar Market |
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Bridge across Krishna River
Day 8 - The Long Ride Back – Hyderabad to Bangalore 568 Kms 27-Dec-19
Started the ride at 6.30 am, NH 44 has beautiful roads all the way. Uneventful ride, sit and just twist the wrist. We reached the Nandi Hills junction at 1.30pm and had our lunch at Nandi Grand. Only thing interesting about the whole ride was the KIA factory I saw near Ananthpur , wow! It’s huge and out of nowhere we can see lots of Korean restaurants and also a Korean Resort! Reached home at 3pm after being on road for 8 days and for nearly 2,500kms.
Hope you had a good read. Do like , comment and share if you have liked it. Planning for the next is one and will be back soon. Till then wish you a very happy 2020.
Be Well and Namaskara
Santhosh
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PS : All the images are captured by me on a CANON EOS 77D and Samsung S9
Start of ride from Hotel Charan Dhabha
