The complete pictures can be viewed here- Pics
Prologue-
I came across a post from Manas on xbhp, a bikers forum inquiring if anybody in and around Hyderabad, would be interested in a trip between Aug 12-15, 2006. Having a holiday on the 15 of Aug, it being the Indian Independence Day and 12th and 13th being a weekend, I eagerly joined in. We met up a few times getting the group together and finally had 4 people in the group. On the eve of
the tour one guy had to drop out due to some personal reasons.
The trip was initially planned to be a tour of coastal Andhra Pradesh but due to heavy rains and flooding in some regions it was changed to Hampi. After the trip to Hampi I was glad we shifted. The final riders were – me i.e harsha, sudhakar and manas. The bikes were the Royal Enfield bullet, Hero Honda Karizma and an Bajaj Avenger respectively.
On friday the 11th of august I got my bike seviced and brought a rucksack and a footpump. I eagerly packed and was ready to go.
Day 1- Off to Hampi
We woke up early and met up at around 6:30 at the Medhipatnam Ring Road Signal. We started our bikes and zipped away, happy to be just riding. The weather was very pleasant. Cloudy but not chilly. Perfect in biking terms. And so it remained all the way. Boy were we glad about it when we came back with wind burned skin and thanking our lucky stars that we werent sun burned as well!
The road was flat and invited us to zip along at a pleasant 80-90kmph. till we reached the actual Hyderabad-Bangalore Highway where it deteriorated into a pot holed, obstacle course( the obstacles being, the illegaly parked trucks and other traffic also on a collision avoidance plan). Just missed banging into Sudhakars Karizma by a few feet when he braked suddenly for a huge 3 feet deep ditch.By the time we were past the bad strech it was already 7:30am. We breated a huge sigh of releif and as soon as we the good roads started we were back to merrily zipping along. We stopped about 10 km from Jedcherala which is 85 Km from Hyderabad.
The surroundings were a verdant green and we stopped to take it in and enjoy the scenery and take a few pics.
We continued to Jedcherala and stopped right opposite the bus stand for some tea and snacks. The tea was too sweet and the samosas salty but we were in too good a mood to be bothered.Here we would leave the National Highway and get on to state highways. From Jedcherala we turned right for Mehboob Nagar hardly 35 Km away. The road was smooth and twisty. We had a lot of fun playing tag on this road. we continued past Mehboob Nagar and stopped another 15 km away for some rest and pics. This is when I discovered my cellphone battery indication at half mast. It had been full the previous night, which was why I hadent charged it. I assumed all the 3 of us having Nokias somebody would bring one and they were compatible anyway. But much to my surprise I discovered that only Manas had bought his and it was the new version. Oops,So I switched the cell phone off.
We decided to stop for breakfast in Marikal. We reached Marikal at 10:15 am There was a roadside stall selling fresh Idly’s and Dosas and we all had some. We chatted for a while and slowly moved off towards Raichur.
Raichur was the centre point of our journey and being equidistant from both Hyderabad and Hampi. Manas was riding ahead and around 30 kn from Raichur he went over a speed breaker at 60 kmph. He heard some sound from his bike and we all stopped to have a look. Finally figured it was a combination of the stand scraping the bump and the shocks bottoming out.
We turned this into an impromptu break. We continued on and reached the AP – Karnataka border. We stopped by the Krishna Bridge around 11:30 to see the River Krishna rolling by. The water level was high and a lot of the surrounding fields were submerged. In the distance we could see the huge towers of the Raichur Thermal Power Plant.
We continued to Raichur and stopped for some tea. After tea we rode on to State Highway 20(SH20) and after 11Kms took a left turn on to State Highway 23(SH23) which would take us to Sindnaur via Manavi. The roads were smooth well marked and wide. We were merrily cruising at 90-100kmph when we began encountering the rumble strips( a series of small speed breakers, in a quick succession). Sometimes these were well marked but at other times hardly visible. They would badly jar us if we went over them at any speed over 20kmph. We hated them but agreed that they were necessary for villages along the road and certainly better than the huge speed breakers from AP which could be called Bike Breakers instead. so we bagan taking turns being in the lead and indicating the rumble strips for the benifit of those behind us. This scheme worked remarkably well. On these rumble strips my bike decided to show it was not very impressed with these by squiring some oil from the shocks right on to me.
The roads in Karnataka are a far cry from the past when they were potholed and in bad repair most of the time. Today they can compare with the best roads in the country. There were fields for miles around and the crosswinds were very high. It was funny to see the guys in front leaning sideways against the wind to keep the bikes steady. The bullet and me together being heavier had less problems with crosswinds when compared to the Karizma as it was a faired bike with the side and front pannels blocking the wind.
We reached Sindhanur late in the afternoon at around 3pm. And had lunch in a restraunt there.We had covered around 290 km by then. After a lesiurely lunch we went on to Gangavati where we reached by 5:30pm. we had tea there. and after some discussion decided to take the road to Hampi through Kampli, instead of the highway to Hospet, Which is where we were to stay for the night. The road from Gangavati to Hampi through Kampli was very bumpy and dusty. In turn it passed through a lot of villages. The only good that came of this road was that we had a look at Hampi on this day itself and knew where to go the next day to see the place. Just out of Hampi we came to an intersection and asked for directions. But the guy decided to have some fun at our expense and took us on a 5 km detour to his village where he got off. We asked some more people and they told us that Hospet was about 12km back the way we had come. We were pissed since we were tired and sore but decided to laugh it away. We finally reached Hospet at 7:45pm.We took a lodge pretty close to the bus stand.We were very tired and decided to rest for a while. We had a late dinner and were off to sleep shortly after. The trip meter on Manas’s bike was showing exactly 400km. We would have dreamed about the tour of Hampi the next day but were too tired and simply crash landed into sleep.
Day 2 – In and around Hampi
I woke up at around 8:30am and noticed Manas was already up and he gave me a cheerful grin. In turn I went right back to sleep. I woke up sometime later to find Sudhakar still dead to the world. We started getting ready and left the lodge at 10:30am and had breakfast at the nearest hotel we could find. We left immediately after and continued on to Hampi. we wanted to start the tour from the other end from where we had entered the previous day.
There was a spot in the hills from where you could look down into the areas immediately around Hampi and we wanted to shoot some pictures there. We reached the spot and after a few photos we decided to climb the nearest hill to get a better view. We climbed up onto the rocks and man, the view worth the entire trip!! we saw the entire place nestled in a valley and the entire place was lush green.There were Banana plantations all around and it looked like a scene from some flick about “The land that time forgot”. To one side there was the tungabhadra canal and one on side beautiful hills. We sat there for some time and then started towards the actual monuments.
We took a look at the map beside the road and proceeded to the “Raghunatha temple” where it is rumoured in ancient Kishkinda Lord Rama and Lakshmana stayed during their search for Sita.There was a marriage going on in the temple and it was quite busy.We then continued on to the actual city to see the “Public Baths” of Hampi. These were a marvel in themselves. They were fed Automatically by an aqueduct carrying water from the Tungabhadra river. The Baths were quite deep and there were steps the entire way down on all sides. There was also an octogonal bath.
There was a huge pyramid which had carvings all over. We climbed up for a beautiful view of the well maintained lawns and the Baths around the Pyramid. We also say the Kings audience hall. We then proceeded to see the Saraswati temple. Then in the main palace complex we saw the Lotus Mahal. It was a beautiful sight with arches inside arches till you lost sight of them on all sides. We also saw the elephant stables.
After this we continued to what we were really wanted to see the enourmous statue of Narshimha Swamy seated on the coils of Adishesha. The entire statue is 6.7mts high. On the right side of the path we had taken was the huge monolithic Shivalinga which was seated in a pool fed constantly by water from the Tungabhadra River. We decided we had enough of Hampi and wanted to get to Tungabhadra Dam which is on the other side of Hospet before dusk. On the way out we saw the Ganesha Temple.
We continued on to Hospet and reached the Dam by 5:00pm . Unfotunately the day being a Sunday it was packed to the brim with locals taking a break and having impromptu picnics. Anyway since vehicles of non-employees are not allowed near the dam we walked nearly a kilometre to the main dam. Well before reaching even near the parking lot itself we could hear the thunderous sound that the water released from the dam was making. We were not allowed on to the dam itself but from the side we saw an enormous expanse of water. We could only make out the other edge of the lake created by the dam far in the distance almost at the horizon with great difficulty and that too only at the dam end the backwaters were too far away to even see. Seeing a feat such as this makes you proud to see what man can acheive when he puts his mind to it. This water helps irrigate an enormous amount of farmland and help provide water and electricity too. This place makes you feel small and insignificant. The waves lapping the shore themselves were 3-5 feet high.
We left the dam and tiredly crawled back to the bikes and back to the hotel. We got up on to the roof and chatted there for a while in the cool breeze basically about how good our luck was that it wasnt sunny but neither was it raining. The entire road from Hyderabad to Hampi was green. It was the perfect time of the year to visit South India.
We had an early dinner and were off to sleep.
Day 3- Back to Hyderabad.
We woke up early eager to be off and were dressed by 5:30am. We checked out and had some tea and left for home. On the return trip we decided to take the highway to Gangawati which we had avoided earler while coming towards Hampi. This road deseves a special mention. Around 10kms down the road we passed close by the dam on a bridge and took some snaps. We could see an older bridge nearly submerged in the water. Around 10km further on we turned right and were on to the straight road to sindhanaur. This strech of road around 25 Kms lonf is absolutely fantastic. The road passes through the start of the Badami Hills. It has both nice curves and straights. The time was early in the morning and the weather was just perfect. The sun rising upcolored the hills beautifully. We had great fun zipping on this road and decided that it was the best road in the entire tour. We reached Gangawati had some tea and continued on to Raichur. There were heavy crosswinds all the way back too and we were contantly on the alert and fighting our bikes.
We had lunch just outside Raichur and relaxed for a while. We then continued to Mehboobnagar. We bought some coke and chips there and had them on the picteresque strech of road between Mehboob Nagar and Jedcherala. We passed through Jedcherala and I was happily riding on when suddenly I saw a swarm of bees rising of the ground. There was nothing to do but hunker down and cluch the neck of my shirt with one had to make sure that one didnt get inside. Manas and Sudhakar were a bit behind me and fortunately none of us 3 got stung. We took a break, thanked our lucky stars and had some more cola. We decided to stop in Shad nagar which is only 50km from Hyderabad for some snacks as we were hungry and tired. Just as we neared Hyderabad the traffic dramatically increased and the roads worsened. When we finally got of the ring road we took a break and talked shop. We finally reached Medhipatnam at around 6:00pm tired but elated. We congratulated and thanked each other and decided to meet up later in the week to share the pics.
As I reached home, had a bat and colapsed into the bed, I realised this was my longest tour till date. I thanked god there were no breakdowns, though the Bullet’s clutch rod broke and started acting up around Raichur. We were fortunate as we were bikers at heart and all from the IT field.We really got on well together for people who had met just once before the trip. In fact I met Sudhakar on the day of the trip.
Some facts to note –
The entire trip was 900 kms and cost each of us approximately 2200I.N.R each.After leaving Hyderabad you will be hard pressed to find anybody who accepts Credit Cards and such. Carry cash but not too much. There are ATM’s in Raichur and Haospet where you can draw money. Petrol is not a problem. Food is. Plan your trip so you get to some major town at meal times.And Hampi needs more than a Day to fully appreciate. You should atleast plan for two days if you are interested in the archeological monuments, but if like us, you are going to just enjoy the ride- Enjoy it. You really do not want to go there in the summer though!
The complete pictures can be viewed here- Pics