53) Pondicherry & Gingee fort: (8’9’/4/2012)

Place: Pondicherry & Gingee Fort.

Distance: 800kms in total.

Directions: Bengaluru – Krishnagiri - Thiruvanamallai - Pondy.

Participants: Chethan(Zethu) > Karthik (Sp).

Bikes: Avenger > Pulsar.

Previous visit: Kanva Reservoir.
Budget: Rs1200.

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

This was one excellent run to the nearest shore from Bangalore. This run was for about 800kms, it was a hot & tiring ride. Food was eaten only once during the entire trip.

INTRO & PLAN: (trust me this is the must read part)

We had planned this trip 4-5 times earlier & every time we planned it turned out to fail until one day we just took our bikes and hit the road. After several flopped attempts we decided to allow time take its course of action. April of 2012 was the month we pulled this run of successfully.

ASSEMBLE: (8^th of April 2012)

Zethu arrived at my place at about 01:00hrs, we crashed at my place and decided to leave early in the morning. We were up at about 04:00, packed & bid adieu to Namma Bengaluru.

TIME: 05:30 hrs.

RIDE 1.1: (Bengaluru – Hosur – Krishnagiri)

This stretch was for about 100kms. We got out of the city in a short time as the traffic was lean during the early hours. After reaching the highway it was pure non-stop cruising until Krishnagiri for some hot tea.

TIME: 07:15 hrs.

 

RIDE 1.2: (Krishnagiri – Pambar dam – Sathnur Dam – Thiruvanamallai)

This stretch extended for about 130kms. But trust me this was one horrible stretch of road. Things to look out for while riding:

i) Huge deep patches covering more than half the road.

ii) If you find a good stretch, it won’t last for more than 500meters.

iii) Do not try to exceed 70kmphr.

So after about an hour of riding we reached Pambar dam.

 

PAMBAR DAM:

Well, this is a neat little reservoir. Very well maintained & less people made our visit to this place a memorable one. We spent a few minutes at this wonderful reservoir had a couple of biscuits and left.

Continuing further on the bad stretch for another hour or so we reached Sathnur Dam.

SATHNUR:

Actually there are many places to visit at this place. We visited the dam premises, Crocodile Park & the deer park. Oh yeah, we were strictly instructed not take any photographs at the Croc park, that made us even more determined & managed to capture a few. The crocodile park is pretty huge, with atleast 100-150 crocodiles of various sizes.

After finishing Sathnur we continued further to reach Thiruvanamallai.

TIME: 11:45 hrs.

 

RIDE 1.3: (Thiruvanamallai – Villupuram – Pondy)

This was a 100kms stretch, but thankfully on smooth roads. We asked directions at thiruvanamallai and managed to get out of the town. After getting out we cruised in comfort via the new route skipping Gingee fort to reach Pondy :)

TIME: 14:00 hrs.

 

PONDICHERRY:

As soon as we entered Pondy, we cruised along the East Coast Road(ECR). With the cool ocean breeze hitting our faces we started searching for a place to crash. But unfortunately places close to the main beach were damn expensive so we moved towards Repo beach.

SAND ATTACK:

Alright we tried taking our bikes into this small alley, where only one bike could fit. The terrain turned sandy & we found ourselves stuck in it. After a long tiring attempt we managed to get our bikes out & we also found our stay for that night.

Stay: Rs 300 for 4 guests. TV & a fan... ah yeah felt like heaven. And the best part, it was hardly a minute’s walk from the beach :)

TIME: 15:30 hrs.

 

PLACES TO VISIT:

After taking a 20mins nap, we decided to finish off all the places. As we were getting ready Zethu received a call asking him to return by 10^th morning as he had presentation :P, so we cut short a few places.

1. Auroville/Repo Beach: as it was the nearest we finished this beach first. We went and slept flat on the beach for about an hour enjoying the waves.

2. Le Café: next stop was Le café; it is a tourist information centre, which also provides food & café.

3. Children’s Park: Ha-ha yeah, this is on the ECR, thoughts of fooling around the place did occur but we continued.

4. The Main Beach: The Bay of Bengal, one of the most beautiful beaches at Pondy. But yeah getting into water is not possible at this place. We just sat on the rocks enjoying the sea breeze.

 

5. Church of the Sacred of Jesus: This is the most famous church of Pondy. Built in 1700, the church still looks brilliant.

6. Paradise Beach: 8kms from Pondy towards Cuddlore, another beautiful beach which can be accessed only by boat,

7. Cunnambar backwaters: Situated on the Cuddlore main road, 8kms from Pondy. Different boat rides available at this place.

8. Pichavaram: I strongly suggest visiting this place. It is about 70kms from Pondy towards south. But trust me worth the travel; it is the 2^nd biggest mangrove after the Sunderbans.

So please make yourself free and do visit this place, I’m pretty sure we’ll hit back to Pondy some day :P

 

So… those were just a few important places at Pondy. A detailed list of places is given at the end. After covering the places, we returned to Pondy at about 19:00. We roamed around the streets of Pondy, grabbed some something to drink & yeah some food too. After doing this we headed back to our home stay. We switched on the TV & started eating our dinner, with the beach a few meters away.

(Trust me I would do anything to re-live that moment )

After a nice meal, which was the first for the day and last for this trip we crashed.

TIME: 23:00 hrs.

SUN IS SHINING: (9^th of April 2012)

I was up at 04:00 to find Zethu already watching TV. We went to the beach at 05:00 & waited for the sunrise. After about an hour or so we witnessed one of the best sunrises till date. We spent another hour walking on the beach & finally left to pack our things.

 

Once the packing was done, we tied up our bags to our bikes and left Pondy. And yes Gingee was a place we had decided to visit on the second day.

TIME: 07:30 hrs.

RIDE 2.1: (Pondy – Gingee Fort)

Well this was about an 80kms stretch & yeah we exited Pondy through the actual/official entrance ha-ha. We cruised along the huge 4-lane highway comfortably & reached Gingee Fort.

TIME: 09:15 hrs.

GINGEE FORT:

It is of the best forts of Tamil Nadu. This fort was called the “Troy of the east” by the British. It includes 3 hillocks which are Rajagiri, Krishnagiri, Chakkilidurg in a triangular formation. Old granaries for storing oil & ghee, temples, mosques, barracks and other buildings can be seen on top of these hillocks.

 

So about our visit, we took about an hour to climb. With the sun directly on top & with bags to carry, the climb was no easy one. We had run out of water bottles which made matters worse. But we continued with sufficient breaks to reach the top. We covered all the buildings and sat flat on the top totally de-hydrated. The descent was fairly a quick one, as we reached the foot of the hills we rushed to a small shop grabbed something to drink and sat at the shop and took rest. Trust me I had never felt this level of dehydration till then. Once the fluids had been restored we hit back the road again.

TIME: 11:00 hrs.

RIDE 2.2: (Gingee – Thiruvanamallai – Krishangiri)

This was a good 150kms stretch. We cruised along at decent pace, taking sufficient breaks without over-straining our bodies to reach Thiruvanamallai. After reaching the town we took some small narrow roads through the market and made our way out of the crowded town.

The next was the horrible 130kms stretch which we named “ass-buster stretch”. We rode slowly but steadily taking breaks very often to cover this long gruelling stretch to reach Krishnagiri.

TIME: 15:30 hrs.

 

RIDE 2.3: (Krishnagiri – Hosur – Bengaluru)

This was a smooth 100km stretch. So it was a huge relief to reach Krishnagiri before the descent of the darkness. Getting stuck on the previous stretch in the dark is like digging our own grave. We had some wonderful tea and switched back to cruising mode on the 6 lane NH-7. We took sufficient breaks on the highway to reach back Bengaluru. We pulled over, sat on the footpath wondering if we had actually covered Pondy in 2 days. Then we thanked each other participating, & left to reach our respective homes.

TIME: 19:00 hrs.

 

CONCLUSION:

“Eyes drained out with solid red nerves, face covered with a thin film of black soot, haha felt so good. 800kms of non-stop riding for 2 days is what we both enjoyed thoroughly. Finishing the jinxed trip which had flopped for 5-6 times gave us that extra satisfaction.”

Zethu: couldn’t have thought of a better person to pull this trip off. Ever cool and his jokes kept us both going.

Sp: Had nice bath and went on a 10kms walk the next day :D

Until next Cia \m/

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