Grand Tour 2009, Stage one - Days 1, 2, 3
Well, I didn't quite manage to avoid the opening salvo of the north-east monsoon. My last night at home, I awoke at 3am to thunder and rain. We had a good downpour, which started clearing up about 9am. I finished my packing, and left home at 9:30, not quite the early start I had intended, but I didn't want to start out by driving in the rain.
Made a stop at the Royal Enfield service shop in Adyar to get a couple of things adjusted and checked before hitting the highway, and was driving west on NH 4 by noon. Stopped for a stretch break at the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial at Sriperumbudur, and walked around the grounds. A light rain started, so I put on my new set of raingear for the first time. Turned off the highway at Vellore, and drove to the Golden Temple at Sri Puram. Couldn't find a suitable place to stay near the temple, so drove 6 km back to Vellore to take a room for the night. About 200 km today.
Wednesday morning I drove back to the Golden Temple, and joined the queue. They are certainly set up to handle crowds there, with grilled-in walkways and holding pens. You can bypass those by buying one of the special darshan tickets. The grounds and gardens are remarkable, and the temple itself is magnificent. Left there about 10:30, and took the older road, SH 122, instead of returning to NH 46.
A pleasant drive, road in pretty good shape, but I had to stop to kit up with my rain gear. It was raining when I passed the turnoff for Yelagiri Hills, so I'll save that for a drier time.
On to Tiruppattur, then Krishnagiri where I stopped for lunch. It was raining lightly as I left, and got onto NH 7, but half an hour later it really started to pour. Got to Hosur about 16:00, and took a room for the night. I had to unpack completely and put my stuff and bags out to dry. 200 km today.
Lazy start next morning since I wanted to get to the outskirts of Bengaluru after the worst of the morning rush. Not a very warm welcome in terms of road conditions when you cross into Karnataka -- NH 7 turns into a construction zone most of the way to B'luru, down to a single unpaved lane in a few places. It'll be great when it's finished, but now it's a pain. Lots of slow, bumper-to-bumper traffic.
After passing Electronics City, a huge new overpass is being constructed, and a couple of kilometers later is the bypass highway turnoff to the west. It's a great road -- for a few kilometers. Then there's a poorly marked diversion through a semi-urban area, until you can finally rejoin the expressway. From there it's clear sailing, right around to the NH 4 to Tumkur -- which is also a construction zone. Toll is Rs 30 for a bike.
Missed my turnoff on NH 48 and had to backtrack a few km (no signage for the turn is my excuse, and I'm sticking to it). NH 48 is being four-laned too. Reached Sri Adichunchanagiri Mutt mid-afternoon, my first staging stop (Vellore and Hosur were "technical stops"), and took a spacious and spartan room at the guest house, with a great view to the west. I was here a year ago on my last Karnataka tour, and really liked it, so I'll stay here a few days before heading to the coast.
This was another 200 km day. If I came direct from Chennai without the little side trips, it would be about 500 km, so I could easily do it in a day -- once all the highway construction is complete.
Made a stop at the Royal Enfield service shop in Adyar to get a couple of things adjusted and checked before hitting the highway, and was driving west on NH 4 by noon. Stopped for a stretch break at the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial at Sriperumbudur, and walked around the grounds. A light rain started, so I put on my new set of raingear for the first time. Turned off the highway at Vellore, and drove to the Golden Temple at Sri Puram. Couldn't find a suitable place to stay near the temple, so drove 6 km back to Vellore to take a room for the night. About 200 km today.
Wednesday morning I drove back to the Golden Temple, and joined the queue. They are certainly set up to handle crowds there, with grilled-in walkways and holding pens. You can bypass those by buying one of the special darshan tickets. The grounds and gardens are remarkable, and the temple itself is magnificent. Left there about 10:30, and took the older road, SH 122, instead of returning to NH 46.
A pleasant drive, road in pretty good shape, but I had to stop to kit up with my rain gear. It was raining when I passed the turnoff for Yelagiri Hills, so I'll save that for a drier time.
On to Tiruppattur, then Krishnagiri where I stopped for lunch. It was raining lightly as I left, and got onto NH 7, but half an hour later it really started to pour. Got to Hosur about 16:00, and took a room for the night. I had to unpack completely and put my stuff and bags out to dry. 200 km today.
Lazy start next morning since I wanted to get to the outskirts of Bengaluru after the worst of the morning rush. Not a very warm welcome in terms of road conditions when you cross into Karnataka -- NH 7 turns into a construction zone most of the way to B'luru, down to a single unpaved lane in a few places. It'll be great when it's finished, but now it's a pain. Lots of slow, bumper-to-bumper traffic.
After passing Electronics City, a huge new overpass is being constructed, and a couple of kilometers later is the bypass highway turnoff to the west. It's a great road -- for a few kilometers. Then there's a poorly marked diversion through a semi-urban area, until you can finally rejoin the expressway. From there it's clear sailing, right around to the NH 4 to Tumkur -- which is also a construction zone. Toll is Rs 30 for a bike.
Missed my turnoff on NH 48 and had to backtrack a few km (no signage for the turn is my excuse, and I'm sticking to it). NH 48 is being four-laned too. Reached Sri Adichunchanagiri Mutt mid-afternoon, my first staging stop (Vellore and Hosur were "technical stops"), and took a spacious and spartan room at the guest house, with a great view to the west. I was here a year ago on my last Karnataka tour, and really liked it, so I'll stay here a few days before heading to the coast.
This was another 200 km day. If I came direct from Chennai without the little side trips, it would be about 500 km, so I could easily do it in a day -- once all the highway construction is complete.
posted by IndiaJP at 5:06 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home