Friday, December 26, 2008

Chennai - Tirupati Road Trip

Trip: Chennai - Tirupati (Round trip)
Distance: 165 kms approx (One side)
Time: Total Time - 5.00 hrs, Drive Time - 3.50 hrs
Vehicle: Bajaj Pulsar 150cc.

I started the trip from Tirumangalam, Chennai on 20th Dec 2008 Saturday, at 1.30pm.
After filling petrol for Rs.300 (6.04 ltrs), I headed through the Tirumangalam - Ambattur route via Mogappair. From the Ambattur telephone exchange, I took a left towards Avadi. The road was bad or rather worst till Avadi. After Avadi, the road was good, also there were no traffic.
I reached Tiruvallur, 37.5kms away from Chennai, by 2.25pm. From there after an hours drive, I reached Nagari(AP) by 3.30pm and took my 1st break for a tea - 96.5kms away from Chennai.
Started from there by 3.45pm and reached Tirupati by 4.45pm - 46.5kms from Nagari and 143kms from Chennai.
After having a tea and the vehicle check, I waited for my parents, sis and her husband, who were coming from Bangalore.
After they came by 6pm, we started the upward journey to Tirumala - a stretch of 18kms up the hill.

The uphill drive was so good in that cold weather. The climate was so cool, but I was expecting much more chillness during this time of the year.
After a half an hour's drive thru the twists and turns, we reached the top by 6.30pm.
We got a room in one Varahaswamy guest house near the temple. After my sis' kid's tonsure, we had a darshan that night itself and came back to room by 11pm.
Next day morning we started our return trip by 10am and my brother in law took the bike down hill and I drove his car. From there, I started my journey back to Chennai and they headed towards Bangalore. On the way back also, i took a break at Nagari and also stopped at a few places to take a few snaps.




These 4 rocks were having some conversation....

My bike



Some hill...











Finally I reached back Chennai by around 2pm in the afternoon. The trip was normal, not so eventful, but definitely gave me some good memories to cherish : )