Cont...
We were in Rameshwaram by 4:30 pm which was much earlier than anticipated. So we decided to visit all other near by temples before visiting the main temple.
The first was Kodandaramar temple. The drive upto the temple is absolutely stunning. Just a small piece of road and water surrounding both sides. Its a must visit place according to me
Next we wanted to go to Dhanushkoti, but couldn't because there weren't too many people for the maxicabs to drive there. Instead we just spent time at the parking lot and played in the bay of bengal.
The route towards Dhanushkoti is arrow straight. The road surface is brilliant everywhere. After thoroughly enjoying ourselves in the pristine beaches, we headed back to our rooms and called it a day.
I love this picture
Just look at the sizes of the mobile towers against the doordarshan tower
Day 2 :
We woke up at 4 am so that we could take bath from the 22 wells inside the main temple. Fortunately our hotel was just 200 meters from temple.By 7:00 am we bid goodbye to Rameshwaram and headed to Nagapattinam
Final pictures of the Pamban bridge. This time during sunrise.
We were now on the ECR. This was the first time I had been to these places. The one thing in common everywhere was horrible sticky weather (41 deg at nagapattinam) and mind blowing roads and the ECR was no different. The distance to Nagapattinam was 210 km and was covered in just 4 hrs.
It was here that I achieved my best FE thus far. Driving at a steady 70 kmph and 90 km later, I was able to achieve 31.7kmpl
without AC of course. Later it became too hot and we did switch on the AC. Even so I was easily getting more than 25 kmpl.
After visiting the temples at Nagapattinam we finally were heading to Pondicherry. We had to pass through Karaikal which I didn't know that it belonged to Pondicherry. No wonder there were so many liquor shops at the border.
We reached Pondicherry by 4:30 pm. To be honest Pondicherry came out to be a disappointment. May be I was expecting too much from it or too tired. Whatever the reason might be we spent 1 hr on the sea side and deicided to move to Tiruvannamalai.
The route from Pondicherry to Tiruvannamalai was brilliant as usual. They have widened the road to a 4-lane upto Tindivanam beyond which its a 2-lane road. Was in tiruvannamalai by 7:30 and by 8:30 was driving towards the final destination Bengaluru.
But, the road became worse as we approached Krishnagiri. A few km from Krishnagiri, the road resemebled Shiradi ghat. It was that bad. You know towards the end of a journey you tend to become a little careless or rash while tackling those huge potholes. Thats exactly what I did as I scraped the belly of the linea at a crazy railway crossing. That thing is badly designed.
I wasn't even slowing down for potholes now. Fortunately just when I was about to lose my temper, I could see reflectors. And reflectors only mean 1 thing , you are back on the golden quadrilateral. Such a huge relief.
Finally made it Bangalore at 1 in the morning. It was an extremely satisfying trip. About the car, what can I say, even after driving like a kerala bus driver not even a single squeak or rattle. All the car needed was a thorough wash and it was as good as new. The ride quality is just exemplary. Its everything you want in a car. The best all rounder under 10 lakhs.