Heavenly Hampi (12th-14th August '06)

The pics for the ride can be seen from my yahoo album here

Travel Log
The touring bug had bitten me even before I bought my bike ...and that's one of the reasons why i decided on Avenger. The tour to Bidar proved to be the catalyst. I had done 195kms when i did the ride to Bidar but it only left me asking for more.
15th August was a tuesday and immediately i spotted a golden opportunity for touring. 12th and 13th being saturday and sunday, I only had to take a leave for 14th. I had two trips in mind, one was Pune/Mahabaleshwar and the the other was Coastal Andhra. I posted about these on various forums and groups looking for some tourers from Hyderabad. Unfortunately the response was not too good but frankly, I wasn't looking at 10-15 bikers... I wanted just 2-3 good, serious and responsible riders to do the tour. Around the same time I had a crash on 23rd July ...didn't break any bones but got badly bruised. Still undeterred, i was hoping to recover by the time of the trip.Finally I found 3 guys, Sudhakar and Harsha from xBhp.com and Abhiraj from Hyderabad Avengers. We met up a couple of times and decided to do Coastal Andhra but just one week before the tour dates there were heavy rains and bad floods in that region and we had to drop that plan. The next best options on our minds were Bangalore and Hampi. Hampi was a unanimous decision because it looked like a brilliant combination of cultural heritage and natural beauty. It is an ancient city which has been excavated. It is said to be the kingdom of Kishkindha, mentioned in the Ramayana, which was ruled by Bali and it is now a world heritage site.
All of us are working with software companies and we don't get any time during the week. We could meet just once on Monday, 7th Aug where Ashish (of The Great Indian Roadtrip fame) also met us and shared his experience about touring. He proved to be a big boost to our enthusiam. After this meetup, all the coordination happened on phones. Anyway, that was how it all started... now coming to the real thing -

Day0 - Friday, 11th Aug 06
I left home at 9:30AM and went straight to Rahul Bajaj Showroom in Secundrabad. After getting my bike checked and basic things like clutch and brakes tightening and chain lubrication done I bought a spare clutch and throttle cable, just in case I break any of them on the way. After that I went to an optician to get my shades fixed as they had lost a screw. Then i attended office through the day and in the evening went around the city hunting for a pair of riding gloves. Ultimately I realized that i won't get proper riding gloves in Hyderabad... at least not at such a short notice. So, i bought a pair of leather gloves with some basic knuckle protection. With that, my shopping list was complete. Then at 10 in the night Abhiraj called up and told that he won't be able to make it for the trip. He had some personal reasons and frankly, I didn't want to force anyone. I was absolutely fine in a group of three. So, the final group was Sudhakar (on a beautiful black Karizma), Harsha (on the legendary Bullet, 1977 model) and myself (on my lady in red, Avenger). Harsha and Sudhakar had talked to me and it was decided that Sudhakar will come to my place at 5 in the morning and we'll meet up with Harsha at the turn for Bangalore Highway (NH7) from Mehdipatnam. Packed my bags and uploaded some music to my new phone (Nokia 6270, which was also the official camera for this trip) and slept at around 12 in the night.

Day1 - Saturday, 12th Aug 06 - TripMeter => 0Km
I got up at 4:30 in the morning with a little over 4 hours of sleep. Sudhakar came over to my place at around 5:30AM and after having a light breakfast we loaded the saddlebags (my new Cramster Colt bags) on to my bike. With mom's aashirvaad, we left home at 6:00 AM and reached Mehdipatnam at 6:15 AM. Harsha was also there in a few minutes. So, this was the beginning. In a little while we were on NH7. The initial streach was not very good and there was some traffic but once we crossed that area it was a comfortable 80+ kmph ride till Jadcherla from where we were to leave NH7. We reached Jadcherla at 8:30AM having done 88Km. We had some really sweet tea and pretty bad samosas here and then took a right turn for Mahbubnagar. The scenery suddenly started changing after Jadcherla... right from the moment we turned towards Mahbubnagar. The hilly terrain had started to appear and it was getting more and more beautiful. This road was okay with some patch work done here and there. Usual speeds on this road were around 60. We didn't stop at Mahbubnagar as it was just 10Km from Jadcherla. Instead we went all the way till Marikal reaching there at 10:15 AM (139Km done). We had breakfast at this place. Ate some dosas and idlys at one of the roadside thelas. From then on we were going at a good 80+kmph speed but with caution at the accident prone zones and near villages. The road is also not great. There are a few potholes here and there, especially on the sides of the road. We stopped for taking pics at a few places on the way and we were at the AP-Karnataka border at around 11:30AM. AP and Karnataka are separated by the Krishna river at this place and at the moment, this river is in a mighty form. The areas near the banks are flooded and the river currents are really strong. We took some pics at the bridge. We could also see the Raichur Thermal Power Plant from there. We entered Karnataka after crossing the bridge onto SH18. The road quality improved by a huge margine and we could speed up. After another 20Kms we were in Raichur where we stopped for tea. At this point we were half way (200Km). Then we took a righ on to SH20 and carried on for another 11Kms and then took a left on to SH23 which would take us to Sundnaur via Manavi. Karnataka roads were simply amazing. The only bad part about these roads are the speed breakers which are frequent and many in number. I would agree that these are required for safety near the roadside villages but the problem is that where there could have been just one bump, there is a rumble strip of 5 to 8 bumps... and that really shakes your bones. Anyway, the road is such where you can easily do 100 but with heavy crosswinds we could only cruise at 90. Few times Sudhakar and I crossed the 100 mark in a crouching position. This road is fairly beautiful because of the hills around. We reached Sindnaur at 3:00PM and 294Kms. We had lunch at a restaurant here. In fact, they served pretty good food. Then we went further on SH23 till Gangawati where we reached at 5:30 having done 340Kms. From here Hospet was around 40Km. We took the route mentioned in the map we were carrying. This one went through a village called Kampli and was a narrow road in a bad shape. So, we kept going slow and steady but now it had started getting dark and I was beginning to worry as we were on a bad and unpredictable road going through hilly terrain. I wanted to get to Hospet as soon as possible. We just stopped once for taking pics and from then on it was too dark to take any pics. So, we just kept going. We would also ask for directions from the locals. Though all the boards in the area were in Kannada, we knew we were close. Then one of the guys there made a "mamu" of us. Took a lift and took us 5Kms off track... that too when our butts had almost gone numb :D, Anyway, after the 10Km detour we reached Hospet at almost 8:00 PM. We found a lodge which would also give parking space for the bikes. The room rent was 300 bucks which was pretty reasonable for the room we got. At that moment we were too tired to do anything. We just had our dinner at a nearby place and went off to sleep. Though the road from Gangawati via Kampi was pretty bad, it had two distinct advantages. First, that streach was very beautiful and second, it went through Hampi to Hospet. So, we had already gotten a trailer of how big Hampi was what all could be the places of interest. Inspite of everything, it was a new personal record for all three of us... 400Km on a bike in a sigle day.

Day2 - Sunday, 13th Aug 06 - TripMeter => 400.2Km
The previous day had left us fairly tired. So, we took some rest, got up late and were good to go by 11AM. After breakfast at a South Indian cafe, we left for Hampi at 11:30AM. As we had seen the area the day before and we knew the road, we decided to do a rewind. We went back 25Kms on the same road and at a picturesque location we parked our bikes on the roadside and climbed up into the rocks. It was one hell of a view from there - the winding road, banana plantations all over, lush green fields, some ruins here and there, rocks, hills and the mighty Tungabhadra river and its channels. After spending some time there we headed towards Hampi and starded visiting the monuments one after the other as they came on our way. The first one was the Raghunath Temple - built on a hill this was a beautiful temple. We also witnessed a wedding ceremony going on there. Then the next halt was an unkempt Venkateshwara Temple. Then we went to the royal enclosures. There were many tourists including foriegners at this place. This was the place where the rulers used to live. They had a brilliant water system in place. The octagonal baths and moats could clearly be seen. The enclosure itself is in the form of a flat topped pyramid with buitiful carvings on it. From there we headed towards the Lotus Mahal and Elephant Enclosures. There was a minor entry fee of Rs.10 for these places. However, for non-indian nationals it was 5$ or Rs.250. We then went to the Ranga Temple, which is almost in tatters. Then we were back on the main road and next things on the agenda were the Laxmi Narasimha Statue and the Badavlinga Temple. The Laxmi Narasimha statue is a huge 6.7 mts high monolithic statue of Narasimha, Vishnu's avatar. This one's really grand. Along side this, is the monolithic Badavlinga, which is a massive Shiva Linga. With this, our Hampi Agenda was over. The next thing on our minds was the Tungabhadra Dam which is about 6Kms from Hospet. We decided to skip lunch and after reacing Hospet, which is some 10Km from Hampi, we headed straight to Tungabhadra Dam. Now, this place makes you feel so small and insignificant. The reservoir and filled to it's capacity and all the gates of the Tungabhadra dam were open. We could see massive amounts water gushing out with raw force. There was so much water in the huge reservoir that it almost looked like the sea. Due to the water being released from the dam, the Tungabhadra river was flooded and had a mighty currents. So, we didn't dare to go anywhere near the treacherous waters of the river and its channels. We took some pics of the dam from a distance, but with due respect to the security of our nation and the "photography strictly prohibbited" boards put up on the dam, we refrained from taking any pics of the reservoir. There were also some nice looking public gardens near the dam. We went to this place on a sunday, so it was awfully crowded. Added to it, we had walked so much through the day that we avoided going to the public gardens and came back to the lodge by about 6:00PM. We hadn't eaten anything significant after the breakfast. So, we had an early dinner and then spent the rest of the time on the terrace of the lodge enjoying the cool breeze and watching the town.

Day3 - Monday, 14th Aug 06 - TripMeter => 469.3Km
Once again we were up by 4:30AM and by the time we packed and got ready to leave it was 5:30AM. We checked out of the lodge and after strapping the saddlebags back on the bike, and a round of morning tea, we left for Gangawati at 6:30AM. This time we asked a few locals for the way and they recommended us to take the highway instead of the village roads through Kampli. So, we went some 25Kms on NH13 and then turned right onto some state highway to Gangawati. Now this road needs a special mention. We were 26Kms away from Gangawati and these proved to be the best 26Kms out of the 862.3Kms we did on the entire trip. This was a wide road between the hills. The bends weren't sharp and there were very few speedbreakers. This was an absolute ripfest - the clutches were given rest and throttles were maxed out. Sudhakar hit 131kmph on his Karizma, I did 115kmph on my Avenger and Harsha did 105 on his bull. We had all broken our personal speed records on this flawless road. If we had time, we would have loved to do this road back and forth again. It was also very beautiful... hills on both sides and sunflower fields. The early morning sunlight added that extra bit of glow to the entire scenery. We stopped at a couple of places to take pics too. We reached Gangawati at 7:30AM, in one hour as opposed to the two and a half hours it took while going. From then on, we were travelling the same roads but at a comparitively higher speed (85-95kmph) because there crosswinds were not there. We stopped for tea and biscuits at Pothnal (about 120Kms) and then at a roadside dhaba about 11kms from Raichur, for brunch. We had done about 190Kms by 11AM and were almost half way through. Immediately after crossing Raichur, we were faced with massive crosswinds. This was the area near the Krishna river. The winds were so strong that it was scary taking the bike above 70kmph. The winds coming from the left were pushing us toards the oncoming traffic on the right side. So, we were riding pretty slowly and carefully. While crossing the Krishna bridge, we noticed that the river's flow had increased over the past two days and it had engulfed more land than before. Anyway, we entered the AP state boundry and once again the roads weren't that great. The crosswinds had mellowed down. So, we were doing around 80kmph. But with the quality of roads in AP, it was a little scary going faster than that. The road was comparitively narrow, unmarked and had occasional potholes too. We didn't stop at any of the bigger towns. We just kept going, stopping for a while at small places for a tea. Around 4 we reached Jadcherla and took a left onto NH7, the Bangalore Highway. We were going at around 80+ speeds when we noticed a swarm of honey bees on the road. But it was too late to do anything about it. Wearing helmets with visors closed and gloves proved to be the saviours. They bees hit us like bullets but luckily none of us was stung. The next stop was Shadnagar, around 50Kms from Hyderabad. We stopped here to have dosas and badam Milk. This was around 5:00PM and we had started to get the feeling "Ab Hyderabad door nahiin". From Shadnagar, the streach on the Bangalore highway was really bad. Bad roads and lousy traffic - we battled both these demons for the next one hour and finally took to left to get off the highway and headed towards Mehdipatnam. At 6:20PM, We stopped at Mehdipatnam for a while to do all the hisaab kitaab and after congratulating each other on completing this tour safely and for the fun times we had together, we parted ways and headed towards our homes. I reached home at 7:00PM. No matter how awesome the tour was, it was good to be home. At the end of the tour the trip meter read 862.3Kms!!

This was my first "real" biking tour and I'm glad I lost my virginity to touring in such a beautiful manner. Few things I learnt the hard way about touring were - 1. Never wear jeans while touring. The stiches and the fabric literally bruises your butt over such a distance. 2. Always carry cash, especially for buying fuel. None of the petrol pumps on the highway accept cards. 3. Always wear a full sleeved shirt and apply sunscreen lotion lest you should end up having massive sunburns just like i did ;).
Overall, this tour was an amazing experience and has left me addicted to biking and asking for more. I did grab some 200+ shots in my phone, and did try write about what I saw on the way and at Hampi. But, I still think I've failed at both, for what I saw and felt can neither be captured on film nor can be put in words. It was an amazing sense of pride and achievement when people on the way gave "that" what-is-this-creature look. Actually we realized that this was happening for two reasons. Firsly, they weren't used to seeing Karizmas and Avengers. In fact, we did not see another Karizma or Avenger through the entire tour. Secondly, they weren't used to seeing riders wearing helmets and gloves. Everywhere we were met with amazement. Cruising on the highways was in itself a great experience. We would take turns to head or tail the group. This would keep us together and relaxed. The person heading the group had the responsibility of letting the others know of an oncoming speed breaker or pothole by raising his hand. The person in the middle would slow down or stop if the person tailing the group got left behind and the person tailing the group would do that for sometime and then speed up to take the lead making sure everyone is safe. It was the "one for all and all of one" kind of feel... we were like the three musketeers!!

The pics for the ride can be seen from my yahoo album here