This gang was totally terrific. They were responsive to every minute detail during the trip.

Friday 13th is always very special day to me from my college days. I would always have some bad instance or the other.

This August 13th Friday was nothing different. There were few SMS coming along from our fellow xbhphians that they were unable to join the trip.

I was all spine chilled that it leaves only few who would be part of this ride and wondered if that make it any fun. Well, I was wrong!!!

14th August Saturday, alarm woke me up at 3 and also dear Amit messaging that he can't sleep anymore and wanted to ride!!

Soon I was all geared up to head towards CTC, then there was a call from office requesting to just meet up to discuss forthcoming office trip.

Started off to office (which is in the same area as I reside) discussed and started off to CTC with lot of happy feeling.

There I saw Ragav waiting even though he was not part of the trip.

The new riding jacket did make me to sweat rivers during the trip, but the same one also was the best when were riding through the rains.

The roads were beautiful that traffic seem to be very little as we proceeded towards Chithoor and beyond. So the entire road was to us to make good run without having to face too many hurdles.

Madanapalli was the destination where we all of a sudden saw the crowd, traffic and even worst roads to ride on.

Soon when we regrouped after finding Rajesh who we missed in the busy town. The journey was again pleasant when we got off the town.

The road towards the Horsley Hills was well laid and yes, at few places the road repair works were being carried out.

There was an entrance leading to the ghat section. There was a person who was collecting money for the vehicles entering the ghat section.

The short width road was well laid and it was butter smooth. Soon our riders could not resist anymore and started of their driving skills on the twists and turns.

Mid way we stopped for a photo shoot that one could not say no. The cool breeze took my breath away when I removed the helmet off. Ah! What a feeling.

There was very little vehicles movement on the ghat section and roads were hardly polluted with non-degradable wastes.

Talking about the resort, never thought Govt. controlled resort would be maintained so well. I was amazed by the neat and clean campus.

I do not mind doing another trip and I'm sure that many would volunteer to give company.

The best part of the whole trip is that the bike did give me some trouble but it did not let me down completely. (This reminds of Rajni's dialogue from Baasha....lol)


Picasa link:

Picasa Web Albums - Sriram Krishnan - Horsley Hills

This thread is getting interesting to read!!! Where're the pics from Avanaa Inn? No one captured is it? Where's this located? Some details are appreciated.

i doubt we captured it. its very near to vellore CMC hospital. from chennai its some meters before CMC. But we missed the opening route to town in NH-46 and went ahead and reached from other end.


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Lunch we had at HH was spicy. Typical AP style. After lunch all slept and when i about to sleep , got call from Tarun asking what route to take to reach chitoor and after talking with him i dint feel like sleeping and also i was not tired or something.

Took my cam and started roaming around. After some 4-5 rounds of HH when i crossed Zaphod cottage it was open . i went in... i saw him in full gears asking me shall we leave ? this guy thought he overslept or something as we all decided to ride @ 5 PM after some small nap.

With his company we rode again HH

Around 9.30 got info from sriram that Tarc has reached. All said hats off to this guy and immediately we finished our dinner partly in restaurant and partly in our cottage.

Is it on the highway written in some kinda silver or bronze letters?

Nope. you have to take the first left entry into vellore, and ride for about 1-2kms. It is just before CMC, on the opposite side.

regards
srinivas

It it the road one that leads to Saravana Bhavan or a different one?

Its on the same road but on the opposite side.

@ all: Looks like you bikers had a balst. The Ones left behind had our own share of fun on sunday morning with Ananth,prabhakar,ace(),aargee,kiran and apar meeting up at Bessy for a beautiful discussion on cars,bikes,rains and ended it with a breakfast after getting drenched in the rains, followed by a bit of on-off roading..

It was fun to have aargee,kiran and apar around. We hadnt met in a long time and thanks to the rains we had a 3hr long chat...

I'm going to make up all these missed rides by doing them solo sometime soon ...

Keep em coming guys!

Planning for another Horsley Hills ride sometime in October/November 2010.

What I heard from the guy in the Resto was, Sept-Oct is the best time to visit HH. In december, it rains and hence, you will not get a chance to get hold of the beautiful surrounding in the offing.

I feel, even Jan should be a good time to visit, considering the comfy climate thats on the cards for that month.

Update:
Pictures posted.

Picasa link edited on the post.

Day 2: Sunday August 15

0600: I had asked to Tarc to wake me early on sunday morning so that I could accompany him for some early morning shoots. But when he woke me up I remember to have said something along the lines of, "zzzzZZZ wha zZZzzz yo carzzy on" . I do not know what happened between 6 and 8.

@Others, please post your logs/stories during this period.

Srini and Tarc, on the other hand were enjoying an early morning ride.

Pandi.. Bullet Pandi


This is one of my favorite pics of the lot. The sunlight kissing the exhaust


Two completely different bikes


Around 0820: After waking up I proceeded to get ready for breakfast. Alas, there was no power and I saw myself facing a task that required heavy balls of steel. Shower in Cold Water! Something that can make even the strongest of men out there go whimpering behind their mom. I just said, 'Fsck it!', and took a bath in cold water with a loud wail! By now everyone had gotten ready for breakfast.

0900 - 0920: The breakfast was the usual South Indian fare. Idly, Pongal, Dosai, Chutney, Sambhar, Potato Masal with passable coffee and a slightly better tea rounding it off. I noticed that the cooks here have a strange fetish for Chillies. People with sensitive tummies, beware.

These guys OTOH don't have a sensitive tummy


From the left: Uncle Amit, CBZ_Extreme and Srini


The bikes having some rest in the parking lot


Nope, not taken with a DSLR


1000: We decided to go to the rocky slopes for some off-roading which Rajesh and I had ridden the previous evening. Being Independence day, Tarc brought tricolours for all the bikes (15th August btw is the day we got Independence from the British Raj). You can ride for about 50-60 metres of bare rocks after which the hills dip. As I said in Part 2, be wary of broken bottles. They are f'in everywhere. I think it was Srini, who was wondering on where the heck those 'sea shells' came from.

This is also an appropriate spot to test if you are in a dream by jumping off the hills .

The sun, meanwhile came down beating on the hills with dark cloud formations in the distance.

As Thiruvalluvar once said, "Enna koduma saar ithu?"


Our Parking lot


CBZ_extreme: "Guys, Is that Bangalore over there?"


From the left: Rajesh, CBZ_extreme, Sriram, Srini and Amit




The rocks aren't that hard to walk on as long as you are wearing a good footwear with a firm grip.

Mr.Bullet Pandi


If you want to show off your badass'ery there are some 'adventure sports' to try out. The hills have rappelling too, which is something I want to check out in the future. The others went to check out the view point and the swimming pool while I did one more quick sprint down the hills.

They seem to be safe enough


Zorbing: Wheeeeeeee..blerg.. baaarf


1200-1220: We were ready for the trip home after some tea and biscuits. The weather gradually turned overcast with dark clouds. We were certain that the rains would hit us en route. Our plan was to reach the relatively safer 4 lane highway after Ranipet before it gets dark.

Getting ready for the trip home


The route home was as follows,
Horsely - Palamaner (skipping Madanapalle) - Ranipet - Home.

There is a new by-pass which that can be taken to skip the busy town of Madanapalle. There are no markings, so its easy to skip this road. If it weren't for a friendly local, we would have missed this bypass. Just look out for the road branching off to your left, just before entering the median-split road to Madanapalle.

Deepak confirming the route as we look on. Note the ominous clouds


The road was freshly laid, with the open plateau on the sides. This road cuts down the travel time to Palamaner considerably. If only we had known about this road on Saturday. There are a few bumps on this stretch, but they are easy to ride over.

The rains coming towards us from the horizon


The C500 sweeping us


Near Palamaner it started to pour down more heavily! My underpants were completely wet within 10 - 20 seconds (No, I didn't take a leak silently).

Rains!


With only tail lights in front as our respective beacons, we took the ride real slow. By the time we left the outskirts of Chitoor, the rains had eased to a tame drizzle.

1845(?): At Ranipet, we had an early dinner at a cheap restaurant (The name anyone?) with good food. After gobbling the food ravenously we proceeded towards Madras.
Sriram's bike, however had plans of its own. The bike stalled just after the busy Ranipet Market and we were stuck there for almost an hour since all the mechanic shops in the town were closed for the weekend. In the end, it came to life and after some celebrations, we reached the GQ.

Group riding in the night is a completely different ballgame as opposed to riding in broad daylight since the bright headlights in the mirrors can be disorienting. There was some confusion when communicating about lane switching, but we worked it out eventually during a tea break after Kanchipuram. Srini took up sweeping and I must say, he had to ride hard for most of this stretch. The traffic was heavy with some insanely stupid drivers.

Goodbyes and tired handshakes:2200: We stopped near the Maduravayol junction and bid adieu to each other. Srini and Sriram would reach their homes via Porur-Guindy while CBZ_Extreme took the left to Perambur. Tarc, Rajesh, Amit and I took the Chennai ByPass.

After a quick goodbye, Tarun and Amit split from us at the base of the Irumbuliyur junction. I said my goodnight to Rajesh after MCC and proceeded towards 'home-sweet-home' where a hot shower, warm milk and a cozy bed would be waiting for me.

2320: Thought to myself, "That indeed was one heck of a weekend. The distance may not be huge and the destination may not be that exotic but it sure was fun riding in the rains and putting the legs down on the twisties. A weekend well spent with some good people". 20 seconds later I was sleeping like a baby, assured of the fact that my little red FZ was taking a well deserved rest in my garage as well.

Epilogue:

Monday Morning, Aug 16, 0900: The phone lets out a distinct hum of the alarm tone. Only this time it wasn't Amit's impatient SMS. It was the alarm giving me a gloomy reminder that I had to haul my ass back to work.

Guys, nice pics as usual. So any one had a dive on the pool?

Nice Snaps there Sriram !!!

Compact and to the point write up Sudarshan...good stuff

None enjoyed the Pool or the pool disappeared?