[papr23]

This tour was done a few years back with my friend VJ in the month of October. The year does not matter as the places we covered would not have changed much for years before or after our tour!

Being a native of Vizag, I always wanted to tour in the Eastern Ghats but could not do it as it was quite far from Bangalore where I was based out of. Once I moved to Hyderabad the logistics became easy as the ride start point is an overnight journey from Hyderabad.
The way I plan my bike tours is to take the bike in a bus/flight/train to point A to avoid the junk miles. Ride to point B over 7-10 days via interesting places which are closer to nature and having minimum traffic & minimum population. Return back home via bus/flight/train. So the connectivity to start and end point of the tour plays a critical role in choosing the itinerary.

I rode on my trusted tourer- Bianchi Camaleonte Uno and VJ on Schwinn Sporterra. This is VJs first bike tour. Both the bikes are hybrids with 700x35c tyres which is good enough for occasional rough patches of road.

The plan is to take an overnight "Volvo" bus to Rajahmundry and ride through Maredumilli, Donkarayi, Sileru, Paderu, Araku and finally reach my parents home in Vizag. The total distance comes around 500km.

Nearly 400km of the ride would be through Agency Area which is predominantly in occupation by the tribal communities and had a very active Naxal movement until a few years back. So no fancy places or resorts to stay. The food is also going to be very basic.
The availability of food/water/accommodation en route is not at all a problem. The only problem is the fear of an animal attack, especially wild bears which are aplenty here. The goal for each day would be to reach the destination by sunset which is around 5pm.
The climbs are not going to be as tough as the ones in Western ghats though.
The route is going to have gradual climbs on all days except the final day which has an awesome downhill where we loose all the altitude gained to reach sea level at Vizag to end the tour on a high!

[papr23]

Day1: Rajahmundry to Maredumilli ~95km with a gain in altitude of 770mt

We took an overnight "Volvo" bus to Rajahmundry and loaded our bikes in the luggage section after removing the front wheel and lowering the seat. Locked them via cross bars and rear tyres with cable locks to the frame of the luggage compartment so they don't fall sideways. This is the simplest way I figured out to carry a bike in bus. Few scratches are expected though.

Reached Rajahmundry at 7am and started the ride immediately with a short detour to the 4.2km long road-cum-rail birdge on river Godavari.

Our destination today is Maredumilli known for chicken cooked in bamboo trunks. It has a government run accommodation called Vana Vihari which we booked online.
The route has a gentle slope throughout and is lined up with paddy fields on both sides until we hit the hills.

It rained heavily during the second half of the ride so not much pics.
Also, VJ is not well trained for the hills and struggled with cramps as we got close to Vana Vihari.
While riding a bicycle on hills or rolling terrain, the mid-point of a 100km journey is not at 50km. It is somewhere around 80km. The final 20% of the ride will get very tough if you are not well trained!

[papr23]

Day2: Maredumilli to Mothugudem 60km with a total gain of 700mt and descent of 80mt

The bamboo chicken we had yesterday night was oh so yum! So we took a parcel for lunch.

Today's route passed through couple of waterfalls- Jala Tharangini and Amruthadhara, which were crowded as it was a weekend and are better avoided even on a weekday. Nothing special about it. Just a stream of water falling few metres down along its downward path. I wouldn't even call it a waterfall.

We reached Mothugudem after few climbs at 5pm and had to choose between going ahead to Donkarayi which is 30km away or stay back and visit Mothugudem falls the next morning. We chose the latter option.

Sokuleru Vagu

The only place where we could find accommodation for the night was at APGENCO's guesthouse. As this is an Agency Area we had to report at the police station with ID proof as we did not look like "normal" tourists and anything not normal will be looked at with skepticism owing to its violent past due to the face-off between the naxals and the government.

[papr23]

Day3: Mothugudem to Donkarayi 45km with a gain of 350mt

We visited Mothugudem wateralls and spent an hour or so in the morning as today is a short ride to Donkarayi. Short ride because the route is scenic!

Mothugudem Falls

Clear water at the falls


Sileru River

Went back to Mothugudem and had a quick lunch which is a typical meal you find in most places in Andhra- dal, sambar, vegetable fry and a vegetable curry with rice and a red hot pickle.

The roads are eerily silent and passes through thick forests. We encountered zero traffic and no humans till we reached Donkarayi.

We deviated from the road to Donkarayi and rode via Forebay reservoir

Super Passage indeed!






Yours truly. The rider in all the other pics is VJ as I am the one clicking!

There is APGENCO guesthouse in Donkarayi and they asked for any employee's reference to avail a room. We had none and someone suggested to check Panchayati Guest House. It was infested with mosquitoes but we had no other option. All this was done after reporting at the police station as soon as we reached Donkarayi.

[papr23]

Day4: Donkarayi to Sileru 30km with a gain of 400mt

Another short ride today. Just 30km to Sileru (or Upper Sileru Project Site Camp which is again known for hydroelectricity generation) as we are not sure about accommodation in the next 100km.

We went on a leisurely trip to Donkarayi reservoir. Steep climbs early in the day. VJ did not appreciate.

Exhausted after the steep climbs, we polished off some piping hot Idlis and topped it with a filter coffee. 10/10

Started our ride to Upper Sileru. As the name suggests, the road became steep as we approached Sileru.

And for the first time in couple of days, we encountered traffic!

...and the traffic was slower than us!

The route was as usual scenic with no more traffic.

Aqueduct

Reached Sileru in the afternoon. It is more populated than Mothugudem or Donkarayi. We did not report to the police station. None of the locals asked if we reported at the police station. We headed straight to APGENCO guesthouse for accommodation and they asked for any employee's reference. Dejected we came out riding on the streets looking for a room and by chance we ran into an employee of APGENCO in a restaurant. He asked few questions about our tour and gave his reference and made few calls to make sure we got a room. Phew!

We quickly dropped our luggage and went to Guntawada reservoir. We were awestruck by the sunset hues at Guntawada!

Panorama of Guntawada reservoir

[papr23]

Day5: Sileru to Chintapalle 70mt with a total ascent and descent of 1300mt and 900mt

Today's ride would be the most challenging ride of the tour in terms of climbs. So we started early at 7am. It was quite chilly and misty and passed through coffee and pepper plantations. The climbs were nothing dramatic but relentless and we could reach Chintapalle only at 7pm after it got dark.

Road side attractions






Power nap


Noticed a slight bulge and a worn out side wall in the rear tyre. Suspecting the overenthusiastic descent on bad roads to have caused this.



Soon we found ourselves in coffee & pepper plantations

After all the climbs it rained and we got further delayed and reached Chintapalle at 7PM. It was dark and as we feared there was no accommodation for us. No hotels. No APGENCO too :(

With no option, we asked the owner of the restaurant where we had dinner if she will let us sleep in her restaurant for the night. She directed her staff to take us to the room where the staff sleeps. Huge relief!

Yup, this is the room. We jumped into our sleeping bags and crashed for the night.

[papr23]

Day6: Chintapalle to Paderu 60km with a rolling terrain throughout

Woke up early, even before sunrise and started to Paderu which is an important town in the Agency Area and has few hotels to stay. It was quite chilly.

Misty morning ride





Finally the sidewall gave in

Chose a quiet spot on the roadside and changed the tyre









We found few farmers cleaning freshly harvested sweet potatoes. We bartered few with chocolates with their kids.

Checked into a basic hotel and went around looking for snacks. Every single shop was closed and then we realized it is Diwali today! Which also means no restaurant for dinner :(
We had the raw sweet potatoes and slept off.

[papr23]

Day7: Paderu to Araku 45km with a rolling terrain throughout

Araku being a popular tourist spot with the highest population in the region, there was little traffic today. Not too bothersome though.

Picked few mulberries from a roadside tree





Soon there were lot of mustard fields on either side of the road


We were told the honey from Araku has a characteristic bitterness as the nectar is sourced from mustard flowers



Araku 0km


Weekly market

[papr23]

Day7: Araku

We stayed at a decent hotel in Araku and pampered ourselves with good food. Went around in search of scenic mustard fields. However it rained and we had to come back to the hotel.

Ragi farm

[papr23]

Day8: Araku to Vizag 112km with a decent of 900mt

The last day of the tour. Today we would be descending from 900mt to sea level in just 40kms! It is for this downhill that we climbed the last few days!
It was drizzling while we cruised through the downhill negotiating hairpin after hairpin with caution and once we reached the base we chose to reach my home without any break riding at an avg of 25km/hr for the remaining 70 odd km. Of course it was easy riding on flat roads after all those climbs.

Today is a Sunday. We took an overnight bus back to Hyderabad and its life as usual from Monday onwards.

[Gannu_1]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Incredible feat! And thank you for painstakingly clicking pics during your ride and documenting it here.

[Thermodynamics]

Fabulous travelogue, crisp narrative and snappy photography. The wetness, the green, the misty frames, those wood fired stoves, you have beautifully captured local life.

Thanks for sharing, rating well deserved 5 stars, please keep writing more masterpieces.

[maverick56]

Super effort guys. We were all over there, Maredumalli, Paderu, Araku and Sileru, but you have shown us the real beauty of the agency area

[blackwasp]

Wow. Awesome trip there and thanks a lot for sharing. I've been into cycling since some years now and this is like a dream trip to me.

A cycling tour give you a feel of the local place rather than seeing is whoosh by in a car. Your pictures have managed to portray it amazingly.

Keep it up and looking forward to more of your adventures.

[KPR]

I've been longing for such monsoon photos from AP. Beautifully compiled. A drive with no AC, no music, no horns, no engine noise but occasional screeches from cycle chain ! I'm fed up and to be frank giving up driving my cycle due to city traffic and the lack of safety for cyclists. There comes this travelogue with beauty. There is always a lonely road for us to cycle.