Rajahmundry-Pune

This was my last leg of the journey. I was really sad this 1 week spent at village was really good with no tension of work and good food through out the day. The ceremony went really well and my dad was free from the responsibility. Finally he went to temple after 1 year as it was the custom that he should not go to a temple in the first year after my grandma died. The D-day arrived and was shocked to see that the front fork was leaking oil. The oil seal got damaged and I didn’t saw that. There were tensions around Andhra because of the separate Telangana movement and I had to leave AP asap. So went to one of the hero Honda service stations and he said that I can drive the bike without issues for the next 2000 kms as the oil leak was took minimal. Go changed the engine oil and got the tank full as I might not get fuel because of the disturbance going around.


2:00 pm: After having lunch and some rest got back on the bike. Started back and the plan was to reach pune by 7 or 8 in the morning. Again as it was almost 1000 kms ride I took my first break after crossing Vijayawada at 4:15 pm and after 200 kms. I saw the amazingly big lord Hanuman idol and took some snaps.

6:45 pm: Reached Suryapet and it was time to have food as it’s known for tasty food. It was dark by the time I finished my so called dinner and as the entire section till Hyd was a single lane I knew that the journey will be a little tougher. By this time I covered exactly 300 kms and more 140 kms to go.

10:15 pm: Reached Hyd and then felt that I should take a break as my little sister called me and wanted me to spend the night at her place. So took rest at night as the next day was Sunday and I can afford that. So the plan was to leave early morning 4 am for pune and reach by 12 noon. but got up at 5:30.

6:15 am: started back, but the traffic has already started and I knew that I have to cover the first 300 kms in the least possible time as the road from Sholapur was not in a really good shape. So covered the first first 100 kms in 2 hours and had breakfast in Zaheerabad.

Some where after zaheerabad

11:00 am: Reached Sholapur after covering 293 kms with the bike ripping between 100-120 kms/hr. But because of the traffic it was really tough to maintain a constant speed. But still I did well and took a tea break there. After covering another 130 kms saw an accident which got the shivers run down my spine. 2 guys were on the bike and it slipped, one of them died on the spot and the other was serious. After this my speed reduced and the was driving more cautiously. Also the road conditions helped me as the last 150 kms before pune was in a really really bad shape with lot of bigggggg pot holes. Finally saw that the govt has waken up and the 4 laning of the road has started because of lot of accidents happening.

3:15 pm: Finally reached Pune (hadapsar) and met Chaitanya whom I had to return the tank bag which was really helpful during the journey and reached home at 3:45.

Covered a total of 998 kms in this final leg of the journey covering a total to 2698 kms on the entire journey.

Route taken
=========
Rajahmundry—Vijayawada—Hyderabad: 445 kms
Hyderabad—Sholapur—Pune: 575 kms

Time taken: 17 hours and 45 mins (night halt in Hyd)
Avg speed: 58 km/hr
Total: 998 kms

Tirupati-Rajahmundry

As I came back from Tirumala my aunt had already prepared the lunch by then. Had lunch and it was time to take rest as I had to start for Rajahmundry. Slept for around 3 hours and I was all charged up to start the journey again. Got the things packed up and loaded them on the bike again. I was to ride slow as I had entire 12 hours to cover these 605 kms. I decided to make sure that my avg speed should somewhere between 80-85 kms/hr.

6:30 pm: Started from my aunt’s place and I was pretty happy as this route was pretty good as most of it consisted of 4 lane (500 kms). So got my tanked filled up after I left the city outskirts and started towards Srikalahasti. This part of the journey was not too good as the 4 lane’s will start somewhere near Nellore.

8:00 pm: Reached Naidupet where I had tea, this was pretty busy junction which also showed me Nellore towards left. But just to be sure I confirmed with the person at the tea stall and he asked me to take right which joins the 4 lane by pass (GQ section between Chennai and Vizag). By this time I almost covered 70 kms in 1.5 hours including the break.

11:30 pm: After riding for around 200 kms I was feeling hungry and had to stop by at one of the dhabas. It was ok types by the paratha’s he made were really good. Took almost 45 minutes of break and it was time to start again.

2:40 am: Reached Vijayawada and the odo showed 413 kms. All the shops were closed and not even a single tapri was open. It was really cold and there was fog all around making it tougher to see after a certain distance on the road.

4:30 am: Finally found a tea stall and immediately stopped with a smile on my face. The guy was amazed to see me and started enquiring, where I am coming from and going to etc etc. I was really feeling sleepy, so had a nice nap of 20 mins after having 2 cups of tea and got up at 5:15. I was still to cover 115 kms to reach my village.

6:15 am: Covered the last 115 kms in less than an hour as my constant speed was at 120 km/hr. Reached Podagatlapalli and was really happy to see my parents and all my aunts who came there for my grandma’s ceremony. The entire village and I can see people going to begin their daily routine. Covered 593 kms in just around 12 hours which and I was happy as it went according to the plan.

Route Taken
==========
Tirupati—Srikalahasti—Gudur: 95 kms
Gudur—Nellore—Prakasam—Guntur: 285 kms
Guntur—Vijayawada—Rajahmundry: 230 kms

Time taken: 12 hrs
Avg speed: 50 km/hr
Total: 593 kms

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:
=========
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