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Its exactly one year since this trip completed. MG, our moderator, was part of this ride. You might have read about this trip in xBhp magazine last year in MG’s words. This trip story and the pictures are from our perspective. Yeah! Its very late, but better late than never.
Dates:
July 11, 2011 – Hyderabad to Bhadrachalam (Riders Ravi, Krishna Prasad, and MG)
July 12, 2011 – Bhadrachalam to Araku via Sileru and Paderu (Riders Ravi, Krishna Prasad, and MG)
July 13, 2011 – Araku Valley to Tuni (Riders Ravi, Krishna Prasad, and MG)
July 14, 2011 – Tuni to Hyderabad via Maredumilli and Bhadrachalam (Riders Ravi and Krishna Prasad)
Bikers:
MG departed us on Day Four at Katthipudi and continued down the coastal Andhra area as per his plan of the trip. One me and Krishna Prasad (KP) rode from Tuni to Hyderabad via Maredumilli on Day Four.
I never visited Araku so far, and when I planned one last year, thought of doing this trip via the less-known Sileru and Paderu route (the regular route is via Rajahmandry and Vizag), which is a thick forest and is infamous for naxalites. This route is via Eastern Ghats, which is located along border of Orissa and Andhra till the Godavari river down. At this same time, MG proposed a plan of Andhra exploration, which included this route, and immediately I said lets do it. Enquired for almost a week about the routes and seems no one knows about this route. A few of my relatives who knew this territory said us not to take this route. But, we decided to do it anyway. My best friend Krishna Prasad (xBhp ID: HydBiker) joined at the last minute somehow working out of the busy schedule at the office.
MG started from Pune on June 10th, Saturday, and reached Hyderabad very late by midnight (he was supposed to reach by evening) due to heavy traffic and rains. Unfortunately, MG accidentally bit his tongue few days before this trip and had few sutures to his tongue. At the time of the start of this trip, he was barely able to take solid food, and it improved as the tour goes by.
Day One:
Route: Hyderabad – Jangaon – Tirumalagiri – Thorrur – Mahabubabad – Yellandu – Bhadhrachalam = 330 kilometers
As MG was preparing an article for xBhp magazine, we had to start very late on Sunday and it was almost noon 12 pm when we started from Hyderabad. It was very hot that day and we were fried in the city traffic for almost 1.5 hours. Shabbar (xBhp ID Shabbarak) gave us send-off at St. Ann’s school at Secunderabad. There were many routes to Bhadhrachalam and as we came to know that the regular route via Suryapet and Khammam was bad and under construction, we planned alternative routes and finally we selected Warangal-Pakal-Yellandu route. Four-laning work going on between Uppal and Yadagirigutta. We stopped just after Bhuvanagiri for our lunch and ate regular Andhra meals. It was 2 p.m. already and had to push ourselves from there to cover good kilometres. The road was two lanes from there and it was nice with less traffic. We were able to do 90 kmph speeds.
The historical and famous Orugallu ‘silathoranam’ (arch) welcomes us at Warangal district border.
We reached Jangaon in no time, and I asked a local guy there about a route that I enquired before and he was very positive about this and we took Tirumalagi route. The road was surprisingly excellent and we were able to do 90 kmph speeds.
KP posing..
A dry rivulet due to less rainfall in that region.
The happiness that the road was good disappeared when we were stopped by police just infront of Tirumalagiri. It was strangest police check-up we ever faced. They asked us to come inside and put us in queue for the check-up. The police took all our papers. They called somebody in Hyderabad to verify the genuineness of the RC and Licence. They put many questions as to why we were in that route and where we were going. When they got to know we were genuine, they taught us about why they were doing all this deep investigation. Finally they let us, and again they called us, and took photographs of us individually. :O Lot of time wasted there and it was already 4:30 p.m. and we were yet to cover 200 kms from there via unknown route.
We took left turn from Tirumalagiri and the road was single lane but decent. We were able to ride at 70-80 kmph. There were rice fields on either side and we started enjoying the scenery and the cool ride.
My bike getting blessed from sunset.
MG stopped somewhere to click pictures, and we had to wait for around 10 minutes with anxiety, before Thorrur, for him.
It was getting dark by the time we reached Mahabubabad. Took us sometime to wade through the traffic in side the town. The road was two-lane from there and as we went away from the town, it was less traffic and we were able to do good speeds. As we were nearing Yellandu, we entered forest and the roads were really good.
We reached Yellandu by 7 p.m., and took a nice brake. Had few glasses of lemon goli soda. It was about to rain there, and KP and me changed visors from tinted to clear. As expected, we encountered heavy traffic but we were able to do good speeds. After we reached Kottagudem, the traffic became very dense till Palvancha that we had to crawl at 30 speeds. Road was being relaid at one place and it was all dust. We somehow were able to cross it, but we got separated. We met again at Palvancha. Finally reached Bhadhrachalam at around 8 p.m., and got a nice a/c cottage, thanks to my Cousin who is a resident there.
Refreshed ourselves and walked into town and had some nice dinner. MG did some shopping. We talked about our plan tomorrow which involves the main leg of the trip, the naxalite-infested deep Eastern Ghats. We thought of starting early by 6-7 a.m. We finally retired to bed with excitement filled minds, and in a/c comfort.
Day Two:
The route plan:
Bhadhrachalam – Chinturu – Motugudem – Sileru – Chintapalle – Lotugadda Junction – Lambasingh – Paderu – Araku valley = 335 kms
Bhadhrachalam is famous for the temple of Rama located on the banks of Godavari. Initially KP and me thought of avoiding visiting the temple due to time constraint. Me and KP woke up early by 5 a.m. and got ready by 6 a.m. MG said it would take at least two hours for him to get ready, so we thought of visiting the temple. Took our bikes near to the temple and had a nice darshan of Lord Rama and Sita. We came back by 7:30 a.m. and found MG getting ready still. We took our bikes on the pavement by the side of river Godavari. Had some photo session there.
Got Viashnava Nama for the first time at the temple and I was happy for that. The biker pose of me
And this is the cottage we stayed.
By the time we returned, MG was ready. It was around 8:30 a.m. by that time and were sweating due to humid weather. We told him to check the river Godavari and showed him the way. We waited there with our packed bags for almost half-an-hour with no signs of MG returning. He finally came back after 30 minutes. There was a miscommunication between us; MG thought we would also come along with him and had been waiting for us, taking pics of the river and the surroundings.
River Godavari.
After breakfast, we filled the bikes full, and by the time we started from there it was 10 a.m. :O I was worried a little as we have to cover more than 350 kms in deep forest and ghats with heavy rain weather prediction in the ghats. The weather in Bhadhrachalam was very hot and humid. As we crossed the town, the weather eased up and became cloudy. The road was narrow and single lane. The scenery on either side was beautiful and we started enjoying the ride and the beauty around.
After around 30 kms we entered forest with lush green on either side. We were elated as the roads were good too.
As we go further 40 kms, we entered a little thick forest, which had just-budding light green leaves. The weather was cool, cloudy, and little drizzle here and there. And we felt in heaven. The roads were also very nice though single lane. We were able to maintain 70-80 speeds happily. Took lots of pictures here and spent quite a bit of time.
Arrow straight roads in the forest.
We reached Chinturu, a junction, left goes to Orissa in a few kilometres.
One of the Rivulets of Godavari, the famous Sabari River
After this river, we encountered more beautiful roads with lush green on either side with slight drizzling here and there. At one point it stated to rain heavily, but luckily it subsided soon.
Time for more and more pics of paradise…
We reached a junction soon; right goes to Maredumilli and Rajahmundry and straight goes to Sileru.
We reached Donkarai reservoir and before that we encountered a canal that’s 15 feet deep. We stopped by there. The surroundings were green with mountains.
This butterfly sat on the wheel of my Dazzler for entire period we stayed there. It did not leave even after I scared it; it came back again and again.
I found a way besides the canal and I felt somehow interesting. It was full of stones and narrow road. Any slip would take the bike directly into the canal. A little after we found this aqueduct an overbridge for canal on a deep natural stream. It was first time I ever saw like that and saw it in awe. Took lots of pics there.
I was literally scared to cross the canal on the iron sheet, with fierce flow of the canal below.
Posing time for MG
It was around 1:30 p.m. by that time, and to our shock, the road became very bad and we were able to do very less speeds. After around 20 kms, the road is good again and we reached Mothugudem. We chose a wrong path there and went to a very bad road there, literally filled with stones. We were worried a lot then. After around 10 kilometres we encountered a junction we had no clue as to which route to take from there. A van passed by after sometime and the driver told us we took a wrong path and showed the right route. We were relieved to hear from him that the route is good from here.
Sileru was far away from what we expected. We were around 60 kms away from it at 2:30 p.m. We started to ride around 90 kmph through the dense forest road. Reached Donkarai reservoir there and took last pics before Sileru and reached Sileru by 3 p.m.
Sileru was a very small town and with a little search we found this ‘Sridevi Hotel’ to be the top one there and had our lunch, with regular Andhra meals.
MG brushing after the lunch, needed due to his tongue situation.
We enquired RTC drivers there about the route from there and they said its okay. As we came to know that people are not allowed to go on to the Sileru Dam, we avoided going near to that to save time. We started at 4 p.m. from there. The roads were not good for the initial kilometres.
Roads were good after some kilometres. Forest became very deep and we started climbing up the mountains and it became very chilled with mist. I was worried as it might rain and we just completed only half the leg for the day. We need to reach Araku at any cost as we don’t get any accommodation anywhere before.
It became darker as we went up due to mist. We found a valley point in the hills and stopped there to enjoy the beauty. It was very calm and chilly wind created an eerie atmosphere around there.
MG posing while enjoying the climate.
We started climbing down after that and entered very thick forest again.
We reached Chintapalle and started seeing people again. The surroundings were now filled with plain lands and mountains a bit far. The landscapes were beautiful, but there is little light left for good pics.
We reached Lambada Singh after Lothugadda Junction, and we took left from there towards Paderu. It was darker by then and took last pics of the day.
This route is surrounded by beautiful landscapes on either side. I guess it’s a valley with mountains on either side. We were not able to see the beauty of it as it became darker. The road was single lane, and with a bit of sudden traffic. It started drizzling and I became a little slow due to spectacles. We don’t know what was on either side of the road, but started riding with just the path shown by the lights of the bikes. The roads became very horrible after some 30 kms and the ride became challenging. We were stuck behind an RTC bus for almost 10 kms. At some point, we even got doubt as to whether we were going in right direction. Finally we reached Paderu by 7:30 p.m. Took some break there for 15 minutes and stretched my body and neck. Road became good after 15 kms from Paderu and it started drizzling again and it poured as we neared Araku valley. I was able to do only 50-60 kmph due to rain and stock headlight.
Finally we reached Araku Valley by 9 p.m. Luckily got a good room after some enquiry. Before checking-in the hotel, we first had our dinner at a restaurant as we were told it will be closed soon. Discussed about our adventure today, and everyone was happy to reach Araku safely through the dense forest.
Retired to bed by 11 p.m.
More adventure coming on Day Three and Day Four soon…
Dates:
July 11, 2011 – Hyderabad to Bhadrachalam (Riders Ravi, Krishna Prasad, and MG)
July 12, 2011 – Bhadrachalam to Araku via Sileru and Paderu (Riders Ravi, Krishna Prasad, and MG)
July 13, 2011 – Araku Valley to Tuni (Riders Ravi, Krishna Prasad, and MG)
July 14, 2011 – Tuni to Hyderabad via Maredumilli and Bhadrachalam (Riders Ravi and Krishna Prasad)
Bikers:
- Ravi Varma (xBhp ID ravi@17bhp) on Red Unicorn Dazzler
- Krishna Prasad Reddy (xBhp ID HydBiker) on Blue R-15 V1
- Gourab Das (xBhp ID MG) on Red P220 FI
MG departed us on Day Four at Katthipudi and continued down the coastal Andhra area as per his plan of the trip. One me and Krishna Prasad (KP) rode from Tuni to Hyderabad via Maredumilli on Day Four.
I never visited Araku so far, and when I planned one last year, thought of doing this trip via the less-known Sileru and Paderu route (the regular route is via Rajahmandry and Vizag), which is a thick forest and is infamous for naxalites. This route is via Eastern Ghats, which is located along border of Orissa and Andhra till the Godavari river down. At this same time, MG proposed a plan of Andhra exploration, which included this route, and immediately I said lets do it. Enquired for almost a week about the routes and seems no one knows about this route. A few of my relatives who knew this territory said us not to take this route. But, we decided to do it anyway. My best friend Krishna Prasad (xBhp ID: HydBiker) joined at the last minute somehow working out of the busy schedule at the office.
MG started from Pune on June 10th, Saturday, and reached Hyderabad very late by midnight (he was supposed to reach by evening) due to heavy traffic and rains. Unfortunately, MG accidentally bit his tongue few days before this trip and had few sutures to his tongue. At the time of the start of this trip, he was barely able to take solid food, and it improved as the tour goes by.
Day One:
Route: Hyderabad – Jangaon – Tirumalagiri – Thorrur – Mahabubabad – Yellandu – Bhadhrachalam = 330 kilometers
As MG was preparing an article for xBhp magazine, we had to start very late on Sunday and it was almost noon 12 pm when we started from Hyderabad. It was very hot that day and we were fried in the city traffic for almost 1.5 hours. Shabbar (xBhp ID Shabbarak) gave us send-off at St. Ann’s school at Secunderabad. There were many routes to Bhadhrachalam and as we came to know that the regular route via Suryapet and Khammam was bad and under construction, we planned alternative routes and finally we selected Warangal-Pakal-Yellandu route. Four-laning work going on between Uppal and Yadagirigutta. We stopped just after Bhuvanagiri for our lunch and ate regular Andhra meals. It was 2 p.m. already and had to push ourselves from there to cover good kilometres. The road was two lanes from there and it was nice with less traffic. We were able to do 90 kmph speeds.
The historical and famous Orugallu ‘silathoranam’ (arch) welcomes us at Warangal district border.
We reached Jangaon in no time, and I asked a local guy there about a route that I enquired before and he was very positive about this and we took Tirumalagi route. The road was surprisingly excellent and we were able to do 90 kmph speeds.
KP posing..
A dry rivulet due to less rainfall in that region.
The happiness that the road was good disappeared when we were stopped by police just infront of Tirumalagiri. It was strangest police check-up we ever faced. They asked us to come inside and put us in queue for the check-up. The police took all our papers. They called somebody in Hyderabad to verify the genuineness of the RC and Licence. They put many questions as to why we were in that route and where we were going. When they got to know we were genuine, they taught us about why they were doing all this deep investigation. Finally they let us, and again they called us, and took photographs of us individually. :O Lot of time wasted there and it was already 4:30 p.m. and we were yet to cover 200 kms from there via unknown route.
We took left turn from Tirumalagiri and the road was single lane but decent. We were able to ride at 70-80 kmph. There were rice fields on either side and we started enjoying the scenery and the cool ride.
My bike getting blessed from sunset.
MG stopped somewhere to click pictures, and we had to wait for around 10 minutes with anxiety, before Thorrur, for him.
It was getting dark by the time we reached Mahabubabad. Took us sometime to wade through the traffic in side the town. The road was two-lane from there and as we went away from the town, it was less traffic and we were able to do good speeds. As we were nearing Yellandu, we entered forest and the roads were really good.
We reached Yellandu by 7 p.m., and took a nice brake. Had few glasses of lemon goli soda. It was about to rain there, and KP and me changed visors from tinted to clear. As expected, we encountered heavy traffic but we were able to do good speeds. After we reached Kottagudem, the traffic became very dense till Palvancha that we had to crawl at 30 speeds. Road was being relaid at one place and it was all dust. We somehow were able to cross it, but we got separated. We met again at Palvancha. Finally reached Bhadhrachalam at around 8 p.m., and got a nice a/c cottage, thanks to my Cousin who is a resident there.
Refreshed ourselves and walked into town and had some nice dinner. MG did some shopping. We talked about our plan tomorrow which involves the main leg of the trip, the naxalite-infested deep Eastern Ghats. We thought of starting early by 6-7 a.m. We finally retired to bed with excitement filled minds, and in a/c comfort.
Day Two:
The route plan:
Bhadhrachalam – Chinturu – Motugudem – Sileru – Chintapalle – Lotugadda Junction – Lambasingh – Paderu – Araku valley = 335 kms
Bhadhrachalam is famous for the temple of Rama located on the banks of Godavari. Initially KP and me thought of avoiding visiting the temple due to time constraint. Me and KP woke up early by 5 a.m. and got ready by 6 a.m. MG said it would take at least two hours for him to get ready, so we thought of visiting the temple. Took our bikes near to the temple and had a nice darshan of Lord Rama and Sita. We came back by 7:30 a.m. and found MG getting ready still. We took our bikes on the pavement by the side of river Godavari. Had some photo session there.
Got Viashnava Nama for the first time at the temple and I was happy for that. The biker pose of me
And this is the cottage we stayed.
By the time we returned, MG was ready. It was around 8:30 a.m. by that time and were sweating due to humid weather. We told him to check the river Godavari and showed him the way. We waited there with our packed bags for almost half-an-hour with no signs of MG returning. He finally came back after 30 minutes. There was a miscommunication between us; MG thought we would also come along with him and had been waiting for us, taking pics of the river and the surroundings.
River Godavari.
After breakfast, we filled the bikes full, and by the time we started from there it was 10 a.m. :O I was worried a little as we have to cover more than 350 kms in deep forest and ghats with heavy rain weather prediction in the ghats. The weather in Bhadhrachalam was very hot and humid. As we crossed the town, the weather eased up and became cloudy. The road was narrow and single lane. The scenery on either side was beautiful and we started enjoying the ride and the beauty around.
After around 30 kms we entered forest with lush green on either side. We were elated as the roads were good too.
As we go further 40 kms, we entered a little thick forest, which had just-budding light green leaves. The weather was cool, cloudy, and little drizzle here and there. And we felt in heaven. The roads were also very nice though single lane. We were able to maintain 70-80 speeds happily. Took lots of pictures here and spent quite a bit of time.
Arrow straight roads in the forest.
We reached Chinturu, a junction, left goes to Orissa in a few kilometres.
One of the Rivulets of Godavari, the famous Sabari River
After this river, we encountered more beautiful roads with lush green on either side with slight drizzling here and there. At one point it stated to rain heavily, but luckily it subsided soon.
Time for more and more pics of paradise…
We reached a junction soon; right goes to Maredumilli and Rajahmundry and straight goes to Sileru.
We reached Donkarai reservoir and before that we encountered a canal that’s 15 feet deep. We stopped by there. The surroundings were green with mountains.
This butterfly sat on the wheel of my Dazzler for entire period we stayed there. It did not leave even after I scared it; it came back again and again.
I found a way besides the canal and I felt somehow interesting. It was full of stones and narrow road. Any slip would take the bike directly into the canal. A little after we found this aqueduct an overbridge for canal on a deep natural stream. It was first time I ever saw like that and saw it in awe. Took lots of pics there.
I was literally scared to cross the canal on the iron sheet, with fierce flow of the canal below.
Posing time for MG
It was around 1:30 p.m. by that time, and to our shock, the road became very bad and we were able to do very less speeds. After around 20 kms, the road is good again and we reached Mothugudem. We chose a wrong path there and went to a very bad road there, literally filled with stones. We were worried a lot then. After around 10 kilometres we encountered a junction we had no clue as to which route to take from there. A van passed by after sometime and the driver told us we took a wrong path and showed the right route. We were relieved to hear from him that the route is good from here.
Sileru was far away from what we expected. We were around 60 kms away from it at 2:30 p.m. We started to ride around 90 kmph through the dense forest road. Reached Donkarai reservoir there and took last pics before Sileru and reached Sileru by 3 p.m.
Sileru was a very small town and with a little search we found this ‘Sridevi Hotel’ to be the top one there and had our lunch, with regular Andhra meals.
MG brushing after the lunch, needed due to his tongue situation.
We enquired RTC drivers there about the route from there and they said its okay. As we came to know that people are not allowed to go on to the Sileru Dam, we avoided going near to that to save time. We started at 4 p.m. from there. The roads were not good for the initial kilometres.
Roads were good after some kilometres. Forest became very deep and we started climbing up the mountains and it became very chilled with mist. I was worried as it might rain and we just completed only half the leg for the day. We need to reach Araku at any cost as we don’t get any accommodation anywhere before.
It became darker as we went up due to mist. We found a valley point in the hills and stopped there to enjoy the beauty. It was very calm and chilly wind created an eerie atmosphere around there.
MG posing while enjoying the climate.
We started climbing down after that and entered very thick forest again.
We reached Chintapalle and started seeing people again. The surroundings were now filled with plain lands and mountains a bit far. The landscapes were beautiful, but there is little light left for good pics.
We reached Lambada Singh after Lothugadda Junction, and we took left from there towards Paderu. It was darker by then and took last pics of the day.
This route is surrounded by beautiful landscapes on either side. I guess it’s a valley with mountains on either side. We were not able to see the beauty of it as it became darker. The road was single lane, and with a bit of sudden traffic. It started drizzling and I became a little slow due to spectacles. We don’t know what was on either side of the road, but started riding with just the path shown by the lights of the bikes. The roads became very horrible after some 30 kms and the ride became challenging. We were stuck behind an RTC bus for almost 10 kms. At some point, we even got doubt as to whether we were going in right direction. Finally we reached Paderu by 7:30 p.m. Took some break there for 15 minutes and stretched my body and neck. Road became good after 15 kms from Paderu and it started drizzling again and it poured as we neared Araku valley. I was able to do only 50-60 kmph due to rain and stock headlight.
Finally we reached Araku Valley by 9 p.m. Luckily got a good room after some enquiry. Before checking-in the hotel, we first had our dinner at a restaurant as we were told it will be closed soon. Discussed about our adventure today, and everyone was happy to reach Araku safely through the dense forest.
Retired to bed by 11 p.m.
More adventure coming on Day Three and Day Four soon…
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