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| Travelogue > Of shortcuts, Hairpin bends, Biryanis, Rainbows and Butterflies..... Day 1 | ||
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Riders
from RTMC
Rocky
and Pallavi (T-Bird) |
Riders from Madras Bulls Bipin
(RE 500) |
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We all met up lazily
at Indiranagar RTO with all of us lumbering in after a long sleep and breakfast.
It was 9:00 in the morning and after doing this and that and buying this
and that we all started from Bangalore. Our destination would be Yelagiri
Hills. We had discussed that we would take an offbeat route and join Dodo
(Daniel) of the Madras Bulls who would meet us somewhere along the way and
then we would all go exploring the hills of Yelagiri.
The distance was approximately 190km and we thought that we would make it in good time. Karthik and Keerthi were planning to tent it out and we were all enthusiatic about it though I had my own reservations but I left it up to the time when we would reach there. |
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We carried on to Hoskote
and then reached Mallur continuing up the road and then some local guy informed
us that we should turn left to reach Bangarappet and well we took the left.
It was a nice road we could see Kolar on the signboards and it did not take us long to realise that instead of the shortcut we were taking a long long cut which would take us through the Kolar and obviously through the very road that we wanted to avoid to save time. So anyway since we were already on that road I took the time to catch some stills and appreciate the scenery. It was getting late and we had to hurry since Dodo would be waiting for us in Vaniyamwadi. |
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After some kilometers
we were back on the right track and stopped at the BEML area of Bangarappet.
We were quite famished and replenished ourselves with some refreshments
and decided to continue and stopped at a Shiva temple to pay our respects
from far. the Shiva Linga was one the biggest I had ever seen and we all
took some pics.
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While riding along
the way, at Bethmangala, Satish's tail light fell off and after fixing that
we were back on our way. We had entered Permampet.
The roads started becoming narrow and it was interesting despite the heat gradually seeping in. became narrower and we also passed a forest which as also names as Kouwndiyan Wildlife Reserve and typically the road started to curve and wind. We were riding down the Venkatagiri Kota. The view was scenic and it was a pleasure riding through the narrow roads since there was very little traffic. Satish was doing good speed considering that he was a rookie and he followed up really well. |
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Halfway down the mountain,
we meet with Dodo who was really good enough to come up and meet us when
he could not find us at the designated spot at the given time. We followed
Dodo who knew the route till Vayniyamvadi and then it was going to to ask
and find scenario.
We had entered Tamil Nadu well and good and by now the heat was awesome and it was a far contrast from the pleasant weather of Bangalore. |
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In the pictures above you can see the winding road leading down to Pernampet. The view was terrific and it was a good ride though here and there we had to be careful because the road was broken in the middle and there was some collection of sand which can be a disaster if you are riding fast. |
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| We were sweating profusely and we were making our way through the narrow and crowded village road in Pernampet. Just when we were thinking that we were doing great, a drunk old man decided to cross the road like a chicken and well before he could say Cluck cluck he was swooning under a light hit from Praveen's bike. Dodo and Karthik, the Tamil guys in this group had gone forward and knowing how the little thing would be magnified and how we would be harassed, rocky and myself rushed to these two guys and sent them there where they could make some sense. The old guy was drunk and there was a crowd of villagers who were making a hooo haa demanding for 1000/-. By this time we also reached this place and we saw that there was only one guy who was doing all the shouting and negotiating and he did not want to lose the opportunity of getting some money. It was almost an hour and after Dodo spent all his energy and body fluids in arguing with the crowd and Karthik being there with an attentive attitude and telling them that we would take them to the hospital ( to which this gentleman in white was not agreeing to) we saw Praveen negotiating quietly and exchanging bidis in that process and the crux of the deal was that they finally agreed on 500 bucks. |
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| We were eager to make the kilometres since it was getting late. Dodo was dying for a drink and so were we. There would have nothing better than beer and fish fry at that moment. We reached Ambur by 3:30 in the evening and we missed having the famous biryani in Ambur and had to make do with Kappachi Restaurant , a roadside Dhabha where we had some good fried rice and fresh lime soda and Ihad some curd rice. Any thing would have tasted like heaven since we were very hungry. |  |
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We had reached Vaniyamwadi and we left Srini off here where he would be going off to Vellore leaving the bike in Bumboo's capable hands. After asking here and there we finally reached the base of Yelagiri hills. We could see half of the hills and the other half of the hills was covered with huge rain clouds and a beautiful rainbow in front of it. As soon as we reached the foot of the hills we were welcomed with a showering of rain which continued as we started up the hills. The hills had 14 hairpin bends and it was already getting dark. It was dark and it was raining and we went slowly up the hill. We had to pass by nice little waterfalls which was formed by rain water flowing down the slopes of the hills. It was getting dark and we were just entering inside the rain clouds. To your left you can see the clear area where there was absolutely no rain and just when we crossed this portion we were showered with pellets of big raindrops which ceased as we went up the hill. |
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| We stopped halfway to appreciate the view and then continued up to find accommodation. The Madras bulls had already found accomodation in Hotel Hills and by the time we reached there we did not get any rooms there but yes we were referred to by Peter in Hotel Hills to Yelgiri Hills Country Club. We were kind of desperate for acco now and anything would do yet if there was an option why not ? This place seemed nice and Navin the owner also had just one room which could accommodate 2 plus one but we managed to convince the guy for six of us with extra mattresses. The cost would be coming upto 1100/- and hell we were happy that the six of us would be together. We occupied the room and as the night progressed Navin also arranged a campfire for us which was a great ending to that day and we had some nice drinks along with egg bhurgi and finger chips and exchanged stories with the Madras bulls (who had by that time reached our place to enjoy the space and the facilities Navin was giving us. | ||
The bonfire being lighted. They used anything imflamable in sight to lit it up. |
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 Camping by the bonfire... what more can you ask for |
 Myself and Rocky sharing a nice moment near the fire. By the way, Rocky was wearing his gumboots since his shoes and chappals were confiscated by the group ... |
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 The whole group including the Madras bulls and RTMC guys. Having a nice time by the bonfire. |
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got to talk to Varun and he was telling me tales of his Ladakh trip with
a couple from abroad and it was pretty interesting to listen to stories
by the fire. Karthik was urged by Keerthi to get his new tent out and presto
we had a tent.... Campfire, good company and a tent with rain protection
gear... what more could a person want ? Actually we were all planning to
tent it out but since it was raining we gave up the idea and had fun with
pitching the tent in the lawn by the campfire. We were all have a great
time when it was time for dinner. I was so tired that anything would do
and had a mixture of chicken noodles, biryani, chicken curry and veg curry.
While we were having dinner, we were entertained with horrendous music which could only termed as noise which was courtesy another group of people who wanted to enjoy themselves. As we were finishing our dinner, Harsh ( from the Madras Bulls) very brightly and doozily informed us that "well guys everything was done with, khaana, peena, "hic" but "hic" "i still have a quarter whishkey "... and to that Dodo was up and willing to share everything. Dodo was the one of the most active bull guys from Madras and they were a lively lot and it was great meeting up with them. They had come to Yelagiri after visiting Yercaud which it seemed was a disappointment for them. They also got a box of booze which everyone enjoyed. After dinner, I crashed off but from far away i could hear artificial fart sounds, and loud laughter coming from Keerthi and karthik . A fart and loud guffaws.... well your guess is good as mine as to what they were upto... Rocky was also having fun giving into light guffaws but i was too tired to comprehend anything.... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ |
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End of Day1 |
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