Sunday, March 1, 2015

Nallamalla forest and Akkamahadevi Caves

A ride to Srisaila

Prelude:

Skip if in u aren't enthusiastic reading the entire blog. Experimenting on writing a looong boring detailed travelogue. If you are in a hurry, just skim through the pics and pick some random passages to read :D

One of my friends showed up with his brother's new Duke 390 (2015 version) on the 19th evening. He told me that he was stressed out in office that day as his manager had him work on something no-so-interesting while sitting right next to him for most part of the day. Frustrated, my friend had decided to give it back by skipping work the next day(Fri).

We decided to go for a ride (1/2 days). I had 3-4 plans roughly ready. We narrowed in on Bangalore - Coimbatore - Ooty - 43-hairpin bends - Emerald lake - Ooty - Mysore halt. Yes! All in one day. And decided to start at 2 in the night and cover the highway (bang-coimb) by Sun-up.



My friend went back home to switch bikes and get his CBR and all the gear! His dad wasn't very happy with him starting in the night. So, we decided to start early morning. And as usual, we did not wake up on time. It was 6.30 when we woke up and 8.15 by the time we met, thanks to my friend's perfectionism in tying his luggage-bungee cords. The prospects of this plan(1-day) looked quite bleak.

We altered the plan a bit and decided to do a relaxed ride to Ooty and stay at Coonoor; and do the emerald lake and 43 hairpin bends the next day before returning home. Finding accommodation in Coonoor/Ooty did not enthuse me! I did not like the idea of spending a lot just for a night halt.

Well then came the other options (1 day Yercaud ride, Nallamalla forest/Srisaila … ).

The boring 370km of NH-7:

We blindly narrowed in on Srisailam. Started at 8.45 and damn peak-hours-traffic all the way till Hebbal. Then came the big surprise- traffic congestion due to the Aero show! Having to ride 550 odd km that day, through some unknown forest roads, not being sure of the timings that vehicles are allowed in that route; for once a thought came to me that we should just pull out and do the Nandi hills ghat a few times and return :D

After some struggle, we managed to get past the crowd. Next stop- Kamat Upachar(15km after Chikkaballapur). Well this branch is one of the worst, we call it Kha-Mat (read in hindi) in our friends' circle. With no other options, we settled for Kha-Mat and it’s usual service delays meant we lost 45min. Our “Ride Code”, no matter what, is to stop at every toll gate and sync up. We did that all the way till Kurnool. Had lunch at Kurnool and it was 3-ish when we took the deviation to Srisailam.

Post NH-7 Deviation:

Kurnool – Atmakur:
The roads were pretty ok. 5-10 km bad roads. Quite a few town-limits when you can expect to get stuck, especially if on 4-wheels. One interesting pic here. A mini Gandikota by the side of the road.

A Gandikota-like gorge






















Some more pics:


Sagar in full gear
In full gear


A pond by the side of the road

Free tractor wash




























A few km after Atmakur, once the forest stretch starts, the roads were narrow- one lorry width. The sides of the road was at a much lower level, completely dusty and uneven. It was a Friday and probably so, there wasn’t much traffic. There were HTVs only from opposite side and I could squeeze my bike past the HTVs without leaving the tarmac. I was in ‘Request’ mode. Slowing down to 40s when encountering the HTVs all of whom acknowledged me with decent space. My friend was in ‘Command’ mode, forcing his way past the HTVs and expectedly was pushed off the road a couple of times :D

On 4-wheels, overtaking would be very challenging (SUV) if not almost-impossible (fully loaded Sedan/Hatch).

We started thinking- Are the roads like this throughout? Did we come so far (riding all along the boring NH-7) for this dust-bowl?

NOOO ...

Relief = Broader roads + Twisties



There came some relief with the road widening itself and some awesome curves! :)

Pano of the rides

Sunset + Mountain Ranges + heaps of red chillies
We started taking frequent stops for some pics, which until this point was almost never. As we came close to Srisaila, the road and the surroundings got better, albeit the last 7-8km (from Shikara) which was bumpy on the side we were riding! Loss of light slightly compounded the problem.

Finally at around 7.30pm we reached Srisaila. After about 10min of scouting, we found a room at Mallikarjuna Sadana. 800 bucks for 24 hours. We chose this over the 200 bucks for 12 hours dormitory. Luggage and riding gear needs half a room you see! The room was fantastic! Wardrobe, Chairs, Balcony, spic and span clean!
Freshened up, had darshan. Temple complex was quite big and it was amazing. Had dinner in some place near the temple. Time for some rest! Goodnight!

Unexpected turn of events:

We woke up the next morning and Sagar had already been deliberating not riding through the Nallamalla forest stretch. I was too adamant as I that was the main reason I had come so long. So, we kind of decided that I do the stretch alone and come back and we ride back to Bangalore. With this plan in mind, we freshened up and set out for breakfast. After breakfast, I suggested that we go to Shikara(8-9km away). I had just gazed through quite a few steps when we rode past the place the previous evening. So, I thought the riding gear would be a hindrance in climbing the steps. With quite some self-persuasion, committing not to take the corners enthusiastically i.e., switch to commuter-mode, we decided to go there without the gear. Just after half a km, I realized that we might not be allowed there in shorts! Deciding to go back, I suggested we at-least go around the town. My tired reluctant friend was hesitantly following. I told him to go back to the room and rest and that I would be back in 15 minutes. 

I set out wandering the small town. Reaching one of the dead-ends, I found something interesting!

View from the upper Ropeway tower






A Ropeway and a brilliant view of a gorge. I was thrilled. Upon enquiry in my broken Telugu, I found out about the different rides on offer (ropeway, boating, guided tour to Akkamahadevi Caves). I had known about the Akkamahadevi Caves(AKC) and Kadali Vanam Caves from some blogs online. I even had a plan to ride to AKC and had checked the road to get there on G-maps *.



Anyway, AKC tour was 4 hour long and the boat was just about to depart. I asked the person at the ticket counter to wait for a few minutes while I called Sagar giving him directions to reach the spot ASAP. We got the tickets, thanks to some extra cash in one of the inner compartments of my wallet!

Well yes, all our plans were thrown off. We would reach back Srisialam only by 2.30 in the afternoon. And we still had to ride close to 700km the same day. Do I care taking that risk at the cost of this boat ride? ;)


And was the boat ride amazing! Hell yeah. It was fantabulous! Reminded me of the boat ride to one of the islands in the Godavari river during the HVK All India Meet - 2014 (Konaseema). 

Reflecting my thoughts ... What was supposed to be a short ride to Shikara had turned into a town wandering exercise and finally had led us to this small tour. Wow! :)

We had to take the Ropeway till the base of the mountain, to the banks of the water-body, which I later came to know was the reservoir of the Srisailam Dam! The boat ride from there to AKC lasted close to an hour through the Krishna river wrapped by the stunning mountains on either side.

Waves in the water + the beautiful gorge (Imagine what it would be like during monsoon)
Yours truly


So many of these views ...

From the base of Akkamahadevi Caves



























The metal platform on which we alighted from the boat was fuming hot. I had no footwear as I was just roaming around the town with no idea that I would land here. The boat driver forcibly gave me his sandals.


A short trek of about half a km from the boat took us to this ... 

Akkamahadevi Caves
Sagar posing

The boat driver was our tour guide. He explained us everything about the history of the caves, it's link to Akkamahadevi etc.,

Boatsman :D

Upon reaching this point, we were taken 5 at a time inside the caves ruled by bats. We squeezed ourselves between the rocks, one at a time and had darshan of a Shiv-linga.

We were the second batch of 5s to go in and as we came out early, the trekker in me took over! I saw a path and wanted to tred it. Reluctant Sagar (who had a knee injury) followed slowly. I left him behind to reach the top of the mountain only to be treated with some stunning views and two separate paths. Curious to know where exactly I was, I looked for my current location on g-maps. Ah! It was same road-route that I had seen. Well it was no more than a cyclist path and *I don't think there was any way a bike could make till there*. I chose to go a little further and clicked a few snaps including a selfie :P

On the way up the mountain
From the top

I heard Sagar shouting that the boat is about to leave. I briskly walked down the path to reach the top of the caves for some drinking water. Then, to the boat.

View below from the Caves,

The boat started back to Srisailam. We had another briefing from the driver about the Srisailam Dam, it's history and the technology used among others.

Neelam Sanjjev Reddy Dam (Srisailam Dam)












We went back to our room at around 3pm, packed our bags and came down for lunch. After some rest, we finally hit the road at 5pm in the evening. Our plan now was to ride through the Forest > Munnanur > Achampet > Bijnapalli > Wanaparthy and meet the NH-7 at Kothakota.


Ride back home:

The ride was very slow paced as we encountered a lot of amazing views. We took turns to stop at alternate view-points :)

The other side of the Dam


The hairpin bends on either side of the Krishna river

Random click. Loved the tree.

Water flows through here as the flood gates open.

Close view of the Dam gates

In between all the time crunch, this road that I had noticed (the hairpin bends in the pic below) during the boat ride lingered on in my mind. Found from the g-maps that this is some 4km, probably an off-roading stretch from Domalapenta, 23km from Srisailam on the way.

A road travelled by HTVs spotted during the boat ride

Road in the map
Met Sagar at the end of the Munnanur town. Had coconut water and enquired about the route to join NH-7. We were told not to go via Wanaparthy but instead go straight at Bijnapalli to join the highway at Bhuthpur.

Night ride on the NH-7:

We reached the highway at around 9 in the night. Took some much needed rest at a temple on the highway. After about 45min, we hit the road scouting for a place to have dinner, which we found in a couple of km.
  • Started at 10.30pm after dinner. We were 485 click from home.
  • Stop at a BP bunk a few km from Kurnool.
  • Stops at every toll gate.
  • 30min nap at Anantpur toll gate.
Zzzzzzzzzzz >> Deep sleep!
  • Reached Bnagalore at 7.45 in the morning.
All in all, 1222km in 47 hours. A wonderful experience and if I may use the word- a priceless adventure.



Hope you enjoyed the travelogue.

++ Srivathsa