Got three days of leave due to republic day weekend and hence decided to visit somewhere. The first thing that came to my mind was to visit Hyderabad and finalized on it. It's been 2 and half years since we left this wonderful city and shifted to Bangalore therefore excitement of visiting was always there. Plan was to start early morning of Jan 24(Saturday) and again start for Bangalore on Jan 26 (Monday).
Route taken:
Bangalore - Chikballapur - Anantpur - Gooty - Kurnool - Hyderabad (NH7)
Vehicle:- Santro Xing
Passenger:- Me, Wife and my 2 year old daughter.
Kms. done (door to door):- Around 1300.
Fuel consumption:- 75 Litres.
Fuel Efficiency:- 17.3 (70% of the time ac on).
Day1:-
Started from HSR Layout at 6:00 am as planned.
The reason for little late departure was not to avoid the incomming volvos from Hyderabad to Bangalore after Devanhalli since the road is without the dividers after that.
Around Bangalore International Airport
After Devanhalli there are lot of diversions. Four lane construction of NH-7 is underway and only one side of the road is operational.
However the quality of the road laid is new and in good condition. Therefore one can easily speed up if traffic is less. I was able to do around 110 easily but had to often slow down because of diversion. On one downslide I touched 150 for the first time in my Santro.
Somewhere around Penukonda
Railway Crossing
Reached Gooty at 10:15 am and took an hour break at Bharat peroleum Dhaba.
Started again at 11:20 am towards Kurnool.
Just after Gooty town.
Crossing the rivers
Reached at the outskirts of Hyderabad around 4:30 pm, but there was an accident and the road was jam. Due to this reached Paradise circle in Hyderabad at 6:30 pm. At 7:30 went to eat street. Spent there an hour remembering old days. Hyderabad has changed a lot in terms of traffic density within 2 years.
Had biryani at bawarchi and retired for the day.
Day2:-
Spent the time with old friends and just roam around the city visiting our usual favourite spots.
Day 3:-
It was republic day and the traffic was less. Started at 7:30 am from Paradise circle and stopped at Reliance A1 plaza at the outskirts of Hyderabad.
Had breakfast there and started again at 9:00 am. Since there were very few vehicles on the road I could manage a good speed.
Halted again at BP Dhaba in Gooty for the lunch at 1:15 pm. Started again at 2:15 pm and reached home at 6:30 pm.
Some radom pics of return journey:
This was my first time on this highway and I can say that I'm highly impressed with the work going on. I don't know since when it has started but it looks as if it is about to complete. I could see that work in most of the strech was over. Once it is four laned, travelling between this strech will be joy and then one can eaily start in the afternoon from Bangalore and reach Hyderabad in the night.
Sorry for the quality of the photographs as I forgot my digicam and all the pictures were shot from my N85.