[jeevmenon]

Route:

Onwards => Velachery-kathipara-padi-puzhal-NH5-Tada-Srikalahasti-Tirupati-Chandragiri

Return: Chandragiri-Tirupati-Puttur-Thiruthani-Tiruvallur-Pattabhiram-Porur-Kathipara-Velachery.

Date:14th November 2009

[venki.bala]

Eagerly awaiting updates and photos. one more weekend getaway from chennai.

[jeevmenon]

We started at around 6 am (I will tell you the exact time after I confirm with wifey - she is fa fast asleep right now) on Saturday. Wifey had prepared some excellent idlis+chutney for road-side picnic breakfast. It was a little overcast and drizzled as we crossed into Andhra just after Tada...

[jeevmenon]

Some more snaps... Found the two man-made tomb-like structures on top of a shaved-off (rock chiselled out) hill interesting. I asked if we could climb it and as is the norm in India - "no".

[venki.bala]

Nice photographs.... awaiting for further updates.

[srikanthpotluri]

good snaps, post complete details and pics soon

[jeevmenon]

Just checking if someone was interested or reading it at all ;-) crying baby! Anyway...

We reached Srikalahasti first after the diversion from NH just at Tada. Had a good darshan at Srikalahasti. It was not too crowded. The prasadam being ladoo & puliyodarai.



The parking lot was all slurry and dirty and a little downhill, though Rs.30/- was collected as parking fee there. There was a river near the parking and washing, bathing was going on.

However a good view of the bridge over the river.


Next we proceeded towards Chandragiri at around 10 am. On the road we found the chiselled-hill-with-the tombs. We thought that was the fort. Had some coffee from the flask, it was drizzling outside. Perfect advertisement for the coffee!

We came back to the main road and further away from the Tirupati cutting. Turned right towards the entrance of the fort.


Was expecting a Gingee/Malaikottai kind of climb. But nothing. We were not allowed to climb - the now in disuse hill. We could however see the fort walls all along the top of the hill - one of the typical semi-circular projections from where guards with their canons use to keep watch was also visible. Would have loved to go over to those places. But surprisingly nobody cares. They could have maintained it and allowed people to go up. ASI should have taken up the job, but sadly not.


They are more busy maintaining gardens at the entrance and on the flat land.



Very minimal entry fee was charged to get into the main gate - just to be able to see the Raja Mahal and the Rani Mahal. One of them converted into a meuseum (worth the visit I felt.) There were old revenue stamp-paper with 8 annas/16 annas treaty/deal signed between the rulers then. A model of the whole fort and its surroundings was interesting too.



There is a cafe inside but again in disuse, with just biscuits and chips. It was lunch time and we were hoping to have lunch here.



There is a water catchment area just at the base of the rocky hill, where there was some boats and boating facility. A few college guys and gals were fooling around.



Some more pics as we left the fort...



For lunch we came back to the Tirupati junction on the high-way and pulled over into Hotel Sindhu Residency - meals Rs.90. Nice Hotel with a restaurant below. After lunch we proceeded further on the Chandragiri road but within a km or so took right towards, Tirutani. Nice picturesque road to travel on. Heavy rains on the way back. Will never forget a low-lying water-logged small bridge and the timing of our Sparky and Tavera (?) coming in the opposite direction being so precise that we shared the bridge and our Sparky was fully drenched with the splash that the opponent made - amazing!

It was a difficult ride on the way back thru Avadi, especially from Avadi to Porur, Kathipara...

All in all a great 1 day trip. Reached at 6:00 PM - 352 km.

[jeevmenon]

Sorry everybody, I am still a newbie as far as inserting images in between texts. I will do a preview before submitting henceforth.

[gadadhar]

Thanks for the writeup Jeev, had heard about this fort from old stories/songs and was planning to visit during next Tirupati trip.. From your experience I feel there is nothing great and has dropped the plans. Had heard about a light and sound show (no clues on what it is) there sometime in the evening, did you see that ?

[venki.bala]

Hey Jeev,

Nice photos. it looks like a pleasant place ideal for a one day trip from chennai.

[KESriram]

Great going Jeev - you seem to be hitting the road every weekend after you got your hands on the Sparky!

[KALINGA]

Thanx for sharing. Nice pics dude !!
Kindly post detail route. It may help someone in the forum.

[jeevmenon]

@gadadhar: No. Did not see the sound and light show. Did not know there was one. The smoky mountains were great all along as you can see from some of the snaps. Monsoon drive was good. Less crowded is another plus to the place. Would have loved if we could have scaled it.

@venki.bala: Indeed. We Chennaiites have very less avenues than the folks close to the western ghats and arabian sea.

@KESriram: Thanks, Sriram. Yes, it has been quite hectic on weekends on long drives (longer than we used to go on our Splendor) but the time outdoors is almost the same. And now the little one can have a stretched sleep in the back seat than having to sit and dozing off and I balancing her head in between my riding arms Or shifting her between me and my wife. Rest is almost the same ;-)

@KALINGA: The driving directions are on the google map. NH5 till TADA, take left to Srikalahasti. Take Left from Srikalahasti towards Tirupati - dont take diversion into Tirupati, but carry on further ahead. Very straight forward route. And you can have our usual asking-the-paan-wala. There are opportunities for those at the junctions.

[RajeshK]

Jeev, Nice write up. There is one Chandragiri Fort in Kasaragod (Kerala) also. Does both of this has any connections...?

See the details of this Chandragiri Fort -> Chandragiri fort, Kasaragod

Chandragiri Fort

Thanks
Rajesh

[sidd25]

Good pics.
The green gives a great pleasure to eyes.