Shashi's Musings: March 2023

Having lived in Ghaziabad, UP, in my younger days, I have been thinking of cycling from Bangalore to Delhi for some time. Decided late last year to make this a reality and started planning the tour. In this article, I will attempt to give you a glimpse of my month-long tour via text, pictures, and videos.

Along with giving a sequential rundown of the tour, I will try to organize the story along different themes. This will allow the reader to consume the content in smaller chunks. This Part 1 provides the tour summary and daily details from Bangalore to Nagpur. The remaining parts will be structured as follows:

Part 2 - Nagpur to Khajuraho
Part 3 - Khajuraho to Delhi
Part 4 - Food & people on the tour, technology used, bike & packing details, and few learnings from the tour

The Tour in Numbers

Start date: 26-Jan-2023
End date: 26-Feb-2023
Total days: 32 - riding days (26), rest days (6)
Total distance: 2,800 Km
Total time: 248 Hours
Shortest day: Pattikonda to Mantralayam - 05:30 hours - 71 Km
Longest day: Mantralayam to Mahbubnagar - 14:00 hours - 148 Km
Lowest elevation: 156 Metres (On the banks of Yamuna next to the Taj Mahal)
Highest elevation: 1130 Metres Amarkantak (MP)
Number of states: 10 - Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi
Expenses: INR 48,000 (Stay 31,000, Food & other: 17,000)
Stays:

Airbnb: 3 - Secunderabad, Nagpur, Khajuraho
Friends & Family: 3 - Anantapur, Pattikonda (AP), Faridabad
OYO Rooms: 2 - Rajnandgaon (CG), Vrindavan UP
Government Guest House: 1 - Datia (MP)
Lowest cost: Venkateshwara Lodge, Mahbubnagar (TS) (300)
Highest cost: Hotel Parnika Palace, Kamareddy (TS) (2500)
Worst: Bhatia Lodge, Simga (CG)

The Route

Click to view interactive map

The red markers indicate starting point on each day. On the interactive map, hovering over a red marker will show start time, end time, and total hours on the road. The black markers show fastest, highest, lowest, and finish points.

Daily ride details

Day 1 - 26-Jan-2023 - Bangalore to Bagepalli

Received a warm send-off from Mantri Tranquil residents and left a little after 7:00 am. Met another cyclist Sanjay and rode with him till Vidhan Soudha and took some pictures. Sanjay accompanied me till Mekhri circle and then headed back home. Took a detour to go to Isha Foundation, Chikkaballapur, and saw the Adiyogi statue from afar.

Vidhan Soudha

With Sanjay at Vidhan Soudha

Happy to see RO runoff water being collected for use at a Shell Petrol Bunk

Adiyogi at Isha Foundation

Day 2 - 27-Jan-2023 - Bagepalli to Anantapur

Took a detour to visit Puttaparthi. Stayed in Anantapur at my aunt's cousin, Sagar Murthy's home.

Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi

Sri Sathya Sai Airport, Puttaparthi

Puttaparthi Temple

Bukkapatnam lake fed by Chitravathi river

A typical resting spot

With my hosts in Anantapur

Day 3 - 28-Jan-2023 - Anantapur to Pattikonda

Shorter but difficult ride day due to the heat; however, the ride was made interesting by these:

Met Sunil Kumar, a Telugu teacher, who recorded a brief interview with me to inspire his students.
Met Prabhakar, a Granite worker, who went out of the way to get me coconut water in a bottle at Gooty as there are minimal services between Gooty and Pattikonda.
Three guys on a bike stopped me for a selfie. On asking why they were carrying so many flowers, one of the guys said it was his engagement. He looked too young to be getting married, but he said he was 26.
While having sugarcance juice met two guys and a small boy. We got talking and I came to know that the guy is from Bijapur and I told him that I had cycled through Bijapur on my Bangalore to Mumbai tour. He ended up paying for my sugarcane juice.

Sagar, whom I stayed with in Anantapur, is a consultant with Rural Development Trust (RDT) and he had arranged for my stay at RDT Field Office in Pattikonda.

Gooty Fort

Prabhakar who got me Coconut water

With curious school kids

RDT Field Office, Pattikonda

My hosts in Pattikonda

Day 4 - 29-Jan-2023 - Pattikonda to Mantralayam

A short riding day through beautiful landscapes and happy conversations with people. A person bought me a dozen bananas in Yemiganur and met a person on a spiritual walk from Sholapur to Tirupathi.

Cotton plant

Locals on morning walk

Person walking from Sholapur to Tirupathi

Mantralayam Temple

Sunset on the banks of river Tungabhadra

Day 5 - 30-Jan-2023 - Mantralayam to Mahbubnagar

The longest ride (148 Km in 14 hours) on this tour. While there was some cloud cover, the going was tough due to climbs and headwinds. Though I wanted to stop earlier, none of the towns enroute had a lodge where I could stay. A few things that made the day interesting:

My first police encounter (not a bad one)
Met a salesman who thought I was a foreigner on a bike
Had Toddy (Palm Wine)
Around 4:30 pm when I was still 30 Km away from Mahbubnagar, a few guys on a bike wanted me to stop to take a selfie. Told them I am running late and I have a lot of distance to cover before it turns dark, hence I could not stop. As I entered outskirts of Mahbubnagar around 7:00 pm, met the same guys and they wanted me to have a drink with them (they were already drunk I think). I accepted the offer but told them that I need to get to a hotel first and they guided me to a lodge in a small lane. I checked in and took 10-15 minutes to quickly freshen up and come down. Looked around, but could not find them anywhere, so ended up having dinner alone.

Mosque on the outskirts of Yeragera

Raichur Thermal Power Plant

First police encounter (Raichur)

Crossing Krishna River

Traveling salesman

Toddy (Palm Wine)

Day 6 - 31-Jan-2023 - Mahbubnagar to Secunderabad

Once I got back on the Bangalore - Hyderabad highway, the going was fast. Met Krishna, a Yoga teacher from Mysore. He is on a 2-year walking tour around India and aims to teach Yoga at schools on his way and also spread the message of sustainable living. Once I reached the outskirts of Hyderabad, encountered lots of road construction and traffic that made the going tough. Reached my Airbnb in Secunderabad by early evening.

Met my old friends Ram and Nagaraju and had some good time with the. Used the rest day to clean & oil the bike, wash the clothes, and buy breakfast food - bread, peanut butter, jam, and instant coffee.

Krishna on his 2-year walk around India

Telangana State Agricultural University

Hussain Sagar, Hyderabad

With Ram and Nagaraju

Airbnb Secunderabad

My Airbnb host in Secunderabad

Day 8 - 02-Feb-2023 - Secunderabad to Kamareddy

It was a good day of riding after the rest day. Some stretches of the road were under maintenance on one side and both sides of the traffic were directed to the other side. As a cyclist I was able to safely ride on the side under maintenance.

Day 9 - 03-Feb-2023 - Kamareddy to Nirmal

Another good day of riding and talking to folks on the road.

First wildlife view

Ayurvedic doctor from Chikballapur

River Godavari

Crossing river Godavari

Farmers picking produce just after Godavari river (Possibly Ginger)

Shyam Ghad Fort, Nirmal

Day 10 - 04-Feb-2023 - Nirmal to Pandharkawada

Started from Nirmal early in the morning just after 5:00 am and within a few minutes realized that I have a few kilometres of ghat climb ahead and that too through a jungle. Reached the top of the climb just as daylight was breaking and had a good view of Nirmal from the top.

Met a few guys traveling in an Innova from Kerala to Kathmandu. Crossed Penganga river to enter Maharashtra in the afternoon.

Nirmal from top of the Nirmal Mahboob Ghats

Sunrise selfie

Selfie with school kids

Brief rest around 10:30 am

Devapur forest checkpost

Crossing Penganga river (Telangana / Maharashtra border)

Day 11 - 05-Feb-2023 - Pandharkawada to Nagpur

Good day of riding today. Was very cold in the morning. Maharashtra Police folks stopped to affix reflectors on the cycle. Met an optician on the road in the evening who had seen a 22 year old cycle tourist going in the opposite direction in the morning. He was pretty amazed about seeing two cyclists - one young and one old - on the same day.

Took three break days from 6th to 8th Feb. Cleaned & oiled the bike, washed clothes, stocked up on breakfast food, and flew to Bangalore to attend a colleague's wedding. Since I stayed in Nagpur at an Airbnb, I could keep the bike safe in the room while away in Bangalore.