Bike ride from Chennai to Venkatagiri
Due to 3day week-end in wake of Independence day, traffic at CMBT was chaotic, it took 25 min to cross Koyambedu flyover from SAF games village. We started our trip at 1:35 AM on Saturday - Aug 13th from Padi Junction. We met Biju & other crew members near Integrated check-post, Tada at 3:00 AM. From NH-5 in Nayudupeta, we stopped for Tea & took left turn towards Venkatagiri town; reached Venkatagiri railway station by 5:40 AM.
Most of the crew barring few had breakfast near Venkatagiri bus station.
To reach the base of Venkatagiri -Durgam peak, we had to cross the entrance of Kona Malleshwara Kona (300 years old Shiva Lingam). We parked our vehicles, unloaded ration(eatables;liquids) required for the trek. 2 villagers agreed to guide us till the footsteps.
After taking water, eatables,etc we started to walk towards the base of the hill at 09:15 AM. After walking for about an hour, we rested for about 10-15min before villagers bid adieu.
The ascend began at 10:20 AM or so we started trekking ............. holding on to whatever possible...........slow and steady ............trying to talk .... offering a hand. We reached a space to rest at 11:10 AM with mix of shade and could feel the sun as soon as the clouds disappear. It was pleasant taking a break for about an hour. We continued trekking stopping at places to take a breather.
Finally around 1:45 PM, we reached humongous rock formation were H2O was available in a spot. The view was spectacular with the hills nearby and still the hilltop looked so far far away. Biju was always sharing his experience and explaining about the terrain. He went down to get few crew members and Rakesh, Santhosh, Arun, etc were always helping the 1st time trekkers. We renewed our trek around 02:40 PM; kept climbing with amazing landscape to look (treat for eyes) for the next 2-2.5 hrs. We reached a place at 05:15 PM where water was dropping in between the rocks, fresh, clear water with the help of which few crew members cooked/made noodles. After fulfilling our hunger with noodles & bottles with water we went-reached-conquered-arrived at our destination Venkatagiri Durgam about 6:15-6:30 PM on Saturday evening. Then walked around for some time before laying down to rest our tired bodies. The view from all four or whatever sides possible are breath-taking. It was a great feeling being on top of the hill.
Over-night stay on the hill was a different experience altogether. It drizzled a bit at 01:30 AM and rained heavy for about 15 min followed by heavy-strong wind till late morning.
In the morning, mostly members looked fresh. It was lovely being on top of the hill.
Due to 3day week-end in wake of Independence day, traffic at CMBT was chaotic, it took 25 min to cross Koyambedu flyover from SAF games village. We started our trip at 1:35 AM on Saturday - Aug 13th from Padi Junction. We met Biju & other crew members near Integrated check-post, Tada at 3:00 AM. From NH-5 in Nayudupeta, we stopped for Tea & took left turn towards Venkatagiri town; reached Venkatagiri railway station by 5:40 AM.
Most of the crew barring few had breakfast near Venkatagiri bus station.
To reach the base of Venkatagiri -Durgam peak, we had to cross the entrance of Kona Malleshwara Kona (300 years old Shiva Lingam). We parked our vehicles, unloaded ration(eatables;liquids) required for the trek. 2 villagers agreed to guide us till the footsteps.
After taking water, eatables,etc we started to walk towards the base of the hill at 09:15 AM. After walking for about an hour, we rested for about 10-15min before villagers bid adieu.
The ascend began at 10:20 AM or so we started trekking ............. holding on to whatever possible...........slow and steady ............trying to talk .... offering a hand. We reached a space to rest at 11:10 AM with mix of shade and could feel the sun as soon as the clouds disappear. It was pleasant taking a break for about an hour. We continued trekking stopping at places to take a breather.
Finally around 1:45 PM, we reached humongous rock formation were H2O was available in a spot. The view was spectacular with the hills nearby and still the hilltop looked so far far away. Biju was always sharing his experience and explaining about the terrain. He went down to get few crew members and Rakesh, Santhosh, Arun, etc were always helping the 1st time trekkers. We renewed our trek around 02:40 PM; kept climbing with amazing landscape to look (treat for eyes) for the next 2-2.5 hrs. We reached a place at 05:15 PM where water was dropping in between the rocks, fresh, clear water with the help of which few crew members cooked/made noodles. After fulfilling our hunger with noodles & bottles with water we went-reached-conquered-arrived at our destination Venkatagiri Durgam about 6:15-6:30 PM on Saturday evening. Then walked around for some time before laying down to rest our tired bodies. The view from all four or whatever sides possible are breath-taking. It was a great feeling being on top of the hill.
Over-night stay on the hill was a different experience altogether. It drizzled a bit at 01:30 AM and rained heavy for about 15 min followed by heavy-strong wind till late morning.
In the morning, mostly members looked fresh. It was lovely being on top of the hill.
We got back to the place where H2O was available, made tea & marched our descend at 11:15 AM after filling our bottles with water. We reached the rest or mid-point at 12:00 noon. We all rested, refreshed, had lunch and started rolling down about 01:30 PM. The descend was kind of some stress-buster; most people kept running watching their steps very carefully. In hardly about an hour or so at 02:30 PM, we stopped at the last place where shade was available to rest. We got introduced & kept walking walking walking towards the vehicles for over an hour - ending the trek about 4:40 PM on August 14th.
Thanks for Biju for giving me an opportunity & organising this Trek.
It was a wonderful first trekking experience with Chennai Trekking Club.
Thanks for Biju for giving me an opportunity & organising this Trek.
It was a wonderful first trekking experience with Chennai Trekking Club.
It is claimed by local people DURGAM is very Windy. I studied the same including the past history of the area. Why not NREDCAP and Private Wind power Companies promote Large Scale Wind Turbines of MW size in this area? Common sense tells us that hills experience high winds. The name 'giri' is associated with wind zone: Venkatagiri,Ramagiri,Udayagiri,Kanigiri,Chandragiri etc.
ReplyDeleteDr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP)
Wind Energy Expert
E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com