So... I'm going to start with little tale called 'Why I like to travel'. Here we go...
Looking back to the past, I don't remember much of the stuff that I did to keep myself happy and contented with life. The ones that I do remember aren't that great either. I felt so disheartened that I had wasted so much time, didn't have any stories to tell, no memories that stood out. My mind started picturing these stuff that I missed and should have done, in the form of debts, with the currency being time. I only have one goal right now, and that is to fill these past debts with happy memories that I can look back after 30-40 years and think to myself "Yea.. I did those stuff. I'm glad I did". The solution is what I found in travelling to new places, meeting new people, trying their local delicacies, etc.
This trip that I'm about to showcase is my first ever long distance journey(Chennai to Pune) on a bike. I'm about to guide you through the series of events that happened along the way with my not-so-good storytelling skills(Hopefully I can improve), so sit back, relax, and pop open a bag of chips...
2.5 years of 'work from home' meant that my body wasn't physically ready for this long journey of about 1200kms on bike. But the heart wants what it wants. So I planned for the ride to have 3 legs, with an additional day per leg to rest up. Meant, it would take me 6 days to reach Pune. I had just quit my job, and so I had all the time in the world. 6 days were manageable.
The first leg was Chennai-Bangalore. Gmaps suggested me to take the Chittoor-Kolar route, but intuition told me to take Ambur-Krishnagiri route. It was a half hour delayed route, but I took it. 333km to Bangalore it was. I started early at about 5 in the morning, because I didn't want to ride at night in the highways.
My plan was to keep cruising in 70-80 kmph to get better mileage(Again, I had all the time in the world). Apart from the route, I had no plans, no preparations, nothing. I just had to wing it. And boy did it go soo well😇. Whenever I had been on trips, there was always something that became an issue; some weird problem had to occur. I'm gonna go ahead and give you a spoiler that no such thing happened during this trip of mine, and I thank the Gods for it. I prettymuch stopped wherever I wanted to take 5-10 mins breaks, have tea or have something to eat. Occasionally stopping here and there to take a picture/video. One such stop that I recommend is near the Dhamal lake near Kanchipuram.
I reached Bangalore far sooner than I had expected. At about 3pm, I checked into the Hostel(Hackerpacker hostel at Koramangala. Do check it out, it's amazing) that I had booked while I was having lunch. There wasn't anything eventful after this... I just roamed around the city, had a shawarma and some ice cream, got really tired and went to bed. Slept like a log😅
I woke up the next morning and realised that my body wasn't sore or tired. I could keep going without that extra day of rest that I had planned. So I checked out, and started towards Pune. And so, the second leg of my journey began. The idea was to rest up at Hubli, which was farther than my first leg(This one was 416km via Tumkur, Chitradurga and Davanagere). But considering that I had reached Bangalore by 3pm, I had confidence that I could make this leg within sunset as well.
This leg was where the weather started changing. From party cloudy, it went to cold and rainy. There were rain clouds every direction, and it was drizzling very mildly. Perfect road trip conditions. There definitely were patches where it would pour hard, but I actually enjoyed it(I had no rain coat😐). Monsoon was the reason I chose Pune to be my destination, so I was quite happy that I could experience rain along the way.
The best part of this leg was that, the entirety of it was on the 3 lane highway NH48. It was smooth sailing throughout the day, except for a few kilometres near Tumkur where the road had a lot of uneven patchwork. My meal plans were again the same... Just randomly stop at a dhaba whenever I felt hungry or tired.
I did again stop at some breathtaking places to click some pictures. Let me share them with you..
Experiencing Bangalore traffic taught me that I need not go inside the city to find a place to stay 😅. So I found a lodge a few kilometres away from Hubli right on the highway, and checked in to rest for the night.
Once again, I woke up springy and eager to continue my journey. Yet another day saved. I was thrilled, for today was the day I would reach Pune. It was really timesaving that I chose to stay close to the highway. It meant that I could start at a really good pace immediately the next day morning. This leg was about 440km, and it had to be the same as day 2, so I was pretty confident. Except my confidence was broken when the 3 lane highway became a bumpy double lane road filled with trucks and container lorrys once I got past Hubli. It was like this for about 20-30kms and then I regained my confidence when I saw the highway diverge into 3 lanes near Belgaum.
Third leg turned out to be one of the best roads I've ever been on. It was scenic to the core.
As pleasant as the second leg was, this one started out to be the opposite. It was scorching. At the same time I could see rainclouds far ahead, as if pointing me in the direction of Pune and leading me to it.
The journey from Satara to Pune had to be the best one so far... The roads were smooth, the view was enthralling(with the Sahyadri now in sight). There are two tunnels leading to Pune, the first being Khambatki tunnel which is about 500m long, and the second is the Katraj tunnel which is 1km long. Both of these give a thrilling experience.
Reached Pune at about 6pm(took me longer because I stopped to admire the views more often). I'm now planning to explore the nearby places. Will plan to post the story of my return journey as well. Thank you for sticking with me this long, hope you have a pleasant trip just like I did. Cheers🤝✌️
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