This was one of the wildest trips I'd ever been. I picked the place out of Andhra map and planned the trip... route, schedule, logistics & all. The planned route was Bangalore - Kolar - Madanapalle - Horsley Hills, approximately 160 km, estimated travel time was 3.5 hours. Plan was to reach our destination by 9-30 and have dinner there. The group: Satish, Prithvi, Ganesh, Mama (my maternal uncle Praveen).
We took off at 6PM on three two-wheelers- my Kinetic Honda scooter and two Yamaha RX 100 bikes. We were carrying one 3-person tent, booze, soft drinks, and a 12" Rambo style knife. We had hardly travelled 60km, these guys stopped (against my wishes) at a road-side bar & restaurant on the outskirts of Kolar. The booze session started, followed by dinner. When we settled the bill it was 10PM. Great!
Our journey resumed, we continued towards our destination... Madanapalli & Horsley Hills. We crossed Karnataka-Andhra border and after few kilometers, we had to stop at a fork, unsure of which road to take. And the map was confusing me even more. So we waited for some vehicle to come by... a KSRTC bus came, Satish waved his arms at the driver but the bus didn't even slow down. We were puzzled at the driver's behavior. After a few minutes, an Ambassador car came by, this guy stopped but a good 30 meters away from us. Satish ran towards the car and yelled which way to Madanapalle. The driver quickly told us to take the same road he was on and sped away. We were wondering at the drivers' impatience... it was Mama's doing- he waved the knife at the car driver and done the same at the bus too. Also, who would risk stopping for a gang on a desolate road? Trusting the Amby driver's response, we took the right side of the fork.At 2-30 AM all of Madanapalli was sleeping except for two guys loading some stuff from a shed into a car on the main street. We asked them directions for Horsley Hills which was easy to remember. The road to Horsley Hills was superb, we rode like maniacs, my Kinetic Honda maxed out in 90s, the bikes cruised at 100. Road on the hill was narrow, full of turns and hairpin curves, we rode carefully. We reached the hill-station around 3 AM, the place was sleepier than Madanapalli, not a soul to be seen anywhere. Not a single sign board saying "lodge." The hill was dark, cold & misty. We were exhausted, gave up looking for a lodge. We found a level grassy patch next to the road, pitched the tent.
Prithvi, Ganesh, Praveen, Satish |
Drunk at 10-30 AM |
We did some more sight-seeing before we decided to head back. The down-hill ride was fun, we free-wheeled most of the way, leaning heavily through the curves.
Impressive post. You guys really define adventure!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sbm.McLaren. We did have a great time... that was back in 1992 or 1993. I miss those days.
ReplyDeleteyou guys r really adventorous & amazing
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gayathri
DeleteDo u still hav the Rambo knife
ReplyDeleteNo. It was around for a few years then it went missing.
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