Solo ride from Bangalore to Pondicherry via Chennai

When: 14th, 15th & 16th December 2012.
Destination: Chennai and Pondicherry
How and who all are: Solo ride(Apache 180 RTR)
Odometer reading: 1250Kms.
Route Map: Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Vellore - Chennai - Mahabalipuram - Pondicherry - Bangalore

Previous trip: Majestic view of Shivanasamudra

Short n Sweet description about trip:

           As this trip was to meet my best buddy in Pondicherry after a long time, I didn't visit much of the tourist places. I was able to cover Pondicherry's Rock beach and Chennai Marina beach. That's it.. 

Even though it was a trip to hangout with my friends, I had some experiences to share about the roads and weather of Chennai and Pondicherry.

Travelogue:

Day 1: 14th Dec 2012
    As I was suppose to be in Pondicherry by 15th Morning 9'o clock, I decided to leave on 14th afternoon itself and reach Chennai. I've planned to stay in Chennai for 14th night in my friend's room and leave to Pondicherry during early morning of 15th.

I have started from Bangalore at 2PM of 14th Dec. The weather was perfect to ride till I cross karnataka border. As I enter into the Tamilnadu, after crossing Hosur the climate was changing rapidly. It was very hot compared to Bangalore weather.

Except weather, the road till Kanchipuram by pass was very good. After crossing Kanchipuram  I could see uneven road with lot of potholes. On average since the road was pretty good I was able to reach Vellore by 5PM and Chennai city entrance by 8PM.

Getting into Chennai city was tough as I was hit by friday night traffic. Since I was riding in Chennai for the first time without having idea of roads I reduced my speed to 30-40KMPH. The funny moment was local drivers were overtaking me by their TVS champ ;) ;) :P. City drivers really are more crazy than highway drivers! It took me almost an 2Hours  to reach my friends room in Guindy.
 

 Day 2:15th Dec 2012
    I have left Chennai at 8'o clock to reach Pondicherry by 11 including stops. As pondicherry is 150Kms from Chennai, I roughly considered 2Hrs for riding and 1hr for breaks.

Riding through ECR(East-Coast Road) was my wish.. When I was studying in Chennai, I didn't get chance to go for a ride through ECR.. This time I utilized the chance.. I was aware of the route to Pondi from Anna university. From Guindy by using GPS I've reached Anna university and the remaining route was well known to me. While I was crossing Tidel park @ Thirunvamayur stn, I have re-collected my memories of studying in C-DAC which is in Tidel-park :)

As I reached city outskirts, I could feel my front disc-break was not very effective. I felt something wrong happend with it.. So I just parked and checked.. To my knowledge everything seems fine... after taking a small break of 15mins. I have started riding towards Pondicherry..

I could see the Sea parallel to the road. The feel of riding on ECR was hard to explain. Literally I fell in LOVE with ECR (If my lover read this line, she'll slap me ;) :P). It may sound bit weird, but it's true.. Every Biker definetly will fall in love with a road ;) by taking more than enough stops and enjoying the ECR road from Chennai to Pondicherry, atlast reached Pondicherry by 11.30. Post about rest of the day is missing (as it is personal ;))
 

Day 3: 16th Dec 2012

    Got up bit early as I have planned to leave Bangalore at 12'o noon, before that I  wanted to visit Marina beach. So till 11 I was riding through the roads near Marina beach along with my friend. After having lunch I have started to Bangalore at 2'o clock.. have taken the same route chennai - Vellore - krishnagiri - Bangalore. By 8'o clock I have reached Bangalore.

Some of the clicks at Rock beach(Pondicherry) and Marina beach(Chennai)

Sunset during on the way to Chennai

Sunset during on the way to Chennai

Near RockBeach @ Pondicheey

Rock beach @ Pondicherry

Near RockBeach @ Pondicheey

Near RockBeach @ Pondicheey

View of Sea under a bridge

Myself

Roads along the Rockbeach @ Pondicherry

My Machine

A boy on skating board near Rock beach

View of Sea

Local guys posing to Lens ;)

Marina beach - Vhennai

Near Marina Beach - Chennai

Near Marina Beach - Chennai

Near Marina Beach - Chennai

My friend Narendar

Happy Reading
\m/  Happy Riding  \m/

A Majestic view of "Shivanasamudra" waterfalls

When: 8th Sept 2012.
Destination: Shivanasamudra (Gaganachukki and Barachukki waterfalls)
How and who all are: Myself(Apachian), Arun(Apachian), Harsha(Fazer), Vidyasagar(Centro) 

Odometer reading: 270Kms.
Route Map: Bangalore - Kanakapura - Malavalli - Shivanasamudra - Kanakapura - Bangalore

Short n Sweet description about trip:

                                    Shivanasamudra falls!! Really feast for eyes.

Travelogue:

As we planned to meet at NICE road Electronics city toll gate, I was the last person to join the team at Assemble point. Initially we thought of taking Bangalore - Maddur - Malavalli- Shivanasamudra route which is 4 lane till Maddur and after that it's of state highway roads. On the spot I've suggested to take Banagalore - Kanakapura - Malavalli - Shivanasamudra route as it is a scenic stretch.

    As we've reached Kanakapura road from NICE raod, since it was busy hours of the day we were forced to ride at 40KMPH speed. This continued till we reached Kanakapura. We had
breakfast in Kanakapura. Kanakapura is a common place to reach either Mekadatu or Shivanasamudra. We have taken Shivanasamudra route. Kanakapura to Malavalli stretch was full of pot holes.. After crossing Malavalli roads were good till Shivanasamudra.

After crossing Malavalli, we could see paddy fiels all around. The stretch was really beautiful.

Myself

Arun

Beauty of  Paddy fields during Monsoon

I caught you babe :)

Apache 180 RTR - My Beast

Sagar

Artistic click

Perfect reflection of Sky n clouds

Royal Enfield of Villages ,

There are two waterfalls in Shivanasamudra. One is Gaganachukki and another one is Barachukki. During our visit Gaganachukki waterfall was not so impressive, so we decided to reach Barachukki.

Gaganchukki and Barachuki are about 10kms apart. We've reached Barachuki in another 10-15 mins. Unlike Gaganachukki falls , Barachukki was at it's peak... You can see only Barachukki snaps in my post.

There were some view points for Barachukki falls. There is a way to reach till the foot of the falls. It was tiring long climb down… Since we didn't want to loose the chance of enjoying in
water.. we descend all the way down and surprised to see the crowd at falls...  As it was holiday and since the falls were at it's peak I could see crowd like ppl in Bangalore malls..:) 

By supporting each other we've crossed a small stream which packed a lot of force, then we've reached a very beautiful falls. It was an amazing spot!! I had to wait till last minute to get the perfect snaps of water fall. 

Near Gaganachukki falls

Near Gaganachukki falls

Shivanasamudra Falls

The ride back to "Namma Bangalore" was very hectic. As it was started raining heavily.. since rain didn't stop even for a second, we were forced to ride back in rain itself. It was raining all the way till Bangalore. Safely we reached Bagalore at 11PM.

Apart from rain this trip was worth and really Shivanasamudra falls were feast for eyes.

Happy Reading 
\m/ Happy Riding \m/