Balaji Darshan (Pune-Tirupati)

It was time for the long planned leave and the longest journey I have done till now. Got all my stuff on the bike (tank bag, saddle bags etc) and it was almost time to leave to seek god’s blessings followed by grandma’s ceremony. As the journey was long and I had to cover almost 1100 kms my plan was to cover as much as possible without taking my first break.


11:11 pm: Got the bike serviced during the day and the tank was filled to the brim so that I don’t waste time at night. Started from Pune after Ramya (my sister) took some pics and waved me off. According to the plan started almost at 11 pm (11 min’s late :P).

2:20 am: Crossed Kolhapur (235 kms) without taking a break and that too in just 3 hours and 9 mins. It was cold night and I can really feel the coldness in the air even from within my leather jacket, becoz of this I decided to maintain my avg speed at 90 kms/hr. Drove for almost 269 kms when I really felt that I should take a break at around 2:45 am. Filled up the tank after riding for 318 kms in Hattarki just to be sure that I have enough petrol to ride until all the pumps are back up and running.

5:00 am: Reached Dharwad after riding for almost 400 kms and was really feeling hungry as I didn’t had dinner because I had to ride. Stopped at one of the road side restaurants near Tegur and had surprisingly amazing hot wada sambar. The wada was so crispy from outside and soft in the inside that it just melts in the mouth. Started from there and then the roads played the spoil sport. Single road started after the odo showed 425 kms and then there was missing roads which continued till the odo showed 523 kms.

10:10 am: Reached Sira, took me more than 5 hours to cover the last 330 kms. The roads are being constructed and it’s a hell to ride that section. But it was not over, the worse was about to come. After I crossed Sira, the roads till Chik ballapur were all covered with speed breakers and pot holes. Because of the increasing heat and bad roads I lost my cool. Just wanted to ride the good roads again and god heard me. The roads after chintamani till madanapalle was amazing and I also entered into Andhra Pradesh in this section.

4:25 pm: Finally reached Tirupati after covering a lot of bad roads and some ghat’s with the odo showing 1047 kms. My Aunt (Sesha atta) was there to receive me when I reached home. Took bath and was dead tired because of the bad roads.

Just wanted to sleep but as I had to go to Tirumala, I boarded the bus at around 7:30. Reached to the top of the hills and took my room in the Sudarshan guest house which I booked 3 months in advance. Got my head shaved off the next morning 6:00 am after having a very good sleep and then met my elder sister (Aparna) who also visited from Banglore on the same dates.

Before:

After:

The rooms up there were pretty decent as they consist of a double bed with attached toilet and bath. Hot water is available and might be the best service available for Rs.100. 4-5 people can share the room easily.

On the way back down after the darshan which took me around 2 hours saw the amazing ghat roads. That was the time I started regretting that I should have bought my bike along. But its fine as darshan was the main think and it was pretty good.

Route taken:
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Pune-Belgaum-Chitradurg-Sira: 730 kms

Sira-Madhugiri-Gauribidanur-Chik ballapur-Sidlaghatta-Chintamani-Madanapalle-Tirupati: 315 kms

Time taken: 17 hrs and 20 mins.

Avg speed: 61 km/hr

Total: 1047 kms