It all started at Kacheguda railway station, where a bunch (precisely 10 for now, another 5 would join on the way) of frustrated souls met under the guidance of HATS...!
Why I said frustrated, because everyone was a solo traveler with stories of how their friends ditched or didn’t join them...!
With enthralling expectations of foggy hills, listening to past stories, and playing multiple games the conversations picked up and flow of moments started.
After a tasty chicken biryani dinner, and a running commentary during sleep, all the heavy eyes and stomachs alighted at Anakapally to begin our road journey towards Paderu.
Boarded the APSRTC bus to Chodavaram then to Paderu after having a healthy and light breakfast in Anakapally.
The ghat section before Paderu shooed away our sleepiness and added hunger to our belly a little early...!
After having wonderful lunch and got the dinner packed, boarded the hired autos to reach base village Olu Bedda.
This route offers some great valley views with ups & downs. The ascends forced us to extend our muscle power to the autos power in order to cross the heights. "In simple words, we pushed them...!"
Finally, the trek started through wonderful village paddy fields with an aim to ascend greenish hills.
After capturing some good sceneries with tiring efforts, we reached our first trek stop, a water stream, which quenched our thirst and settled into our bottles.
With rejuvenated energy, the trek resumed and continued until 3/4th of the Hill which was our camping site. This stretch has offered some of the best scenic beauties.
What next, pitch the tents, setup the stuff and start conversations...! That’s exactly what happened till dinner time.
Surprised Astro Schooling session engaged our eyes to the sky to witness the planets, stars, galaxies etc.…! This is the extra advantage of travelling with HATS, especially with Dheeraj...! Not attaching the star gazing pics as it must be felt live.
Funny campfire, tasty but packed dinner and engaging conversations captured the crux of this trek while the night moved on...!
Morning breeze woke us up with chilly winds and funny shivers…! With out much resistance , started ascending the remaining hill to reach Armakonda peak.
While fog forced us to play hide and seek due to minimum visibility, we beat it with our running commentary to spot the direction to reach the peak. Upon reaching the peak, it welcomed us in a foggy way...!
On the hilltop there were two flag posts referring to Armakonda and Jindagada peaks. We assumed they were Andhra Pradesh and Orissa borders
That’s it, task accomplished, filled with satisfaction of ascending the peak and started descending back to our tents.
We cherished those moments with a hot coffee, thanks to the member who brought kettle along with travel gas stove.
After fantastic breakfast i.e Bread & Jam with Coffee, packed our bags with tents and started descending the hill to reach base village.
After following the same trial, reached the base village and got into hired autos to reach Paderu...!
Special mention and thanks to our AK bro for capturing extra moments, and Johnny boy who trekked along with us till the peak, and escorted us back till the base village...!
With stomach full of lunch and adventurous seat capturing technique, boarded APSRTC bus to catch our return train at Anakapally...!
Very light dinner from street vendor, hot tea from tea time and a quick game of ludo along with wonderful conversations, this night too passed and the train dropped us back to where we started 3 days before…!
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