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a lazy sunday afternoon and just after a timely lunch i suddenly start the scorpio and decide to do a mini araku loop alone (my cousins and friends are sensible folks i guess, everybody had more than one reason why they and i should not go about driving to araku via paderu)

anyway i start around kailashgiri and head to simhachalam (via the mudsarlova road)






proceed to pendurti and turn left to head for sabbavaram. this was the only bridge which was broken due to the rains and work was nearly complete (just before sabbavaram) - the bridge is on the left and this path was just a make shift arrangement


got off the beast to ensure no invisible potholes were waiting to swallow the ride's shoes and it turned out that it was just a shallow patch, not much.


the road there on is a single road and not too wide but as the traffic is quite thin so some good speeds are possible in theory at least (the views ensure you move at a snails pace in reality) btw i was out of the beast for a nature break before which i clicked this snap (am sure someone would pounce on me for driving on the right in case i did not mention this)


(the views ensure you move at a snails pace in reality) of course there are always exceptions

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reach chodavaram and then onto the paderu stretch finally.
after quite sometime on this route you will be pleasantly shocked (by the cold draft / zephyr that will send a chill through your cheeks - happened to me at 1400 hrs, btw i drive minus the stereo and have my windows down quite often - miss riding perhaps, i dont know) this is the first sign that you are approaching the ghats. another 4 km or so and you start the ascent. unlike the ghat road on the usual s/kota,tyda/araku route the ghat road here is steeper,shorter straights and my scorpio had to get down to second gear quite often. not too daunting but the scenery is much richer, denser and what you will realize with some apprehension - lonelier. very few vehicles (unlike the tyda/araku road). there are about seven places (dont quote me on that though - maybe be a bit off here) where you can park your car safely (the rest is too narrow and thus unsafe as the straights are too short).









the best is the one where there is a small local folks run shop and a shelter to view the deep valley. finally after the coffee plantations etc pass you by, the temple of the goddess madgula where every vehicle stops to thank her and prays to be blessed for safe passage through this wonderful domain.





the blessed one


i was informed by a local electrician (gave him a lift just before paderu) that the best and only 'dhabha' is a must visit place by anybody passing by - about 2/3 km before paderu town. (seemed cool with cots etc, never stopped though as was short on time and wanted to exit the hills and be back before sunset)

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paderu town

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paderu to araku is stunning plains and the richness/purity of the vistas is spellbinding. the kids playing in the river flowing along the road, the smell of the fresh earth is invigorating and etc etc until - boom, you arrive the outskirts of araku and then realize that this is very different from paderu which you drove through just a few kms back.

this is what greets you before you enter araku at chaaparai

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araku railway station


fun over it was time for a speedy drive from araku quickly past tyda and the ghats to the make shift checkpost (was the cm or some mla's visit to these areas the next day i learnt later) so the extra precautions by the cops - lost time due to these police checks which were being carried out at various places upto s/kota and was back finally in vizag about 1930 hrs.(luckily was stopped just once)

trip odo reading back home


total drive : 282.1 km
drive time : 6.5 hrs (about 1300 to 1930)

anybody who has been in any direction beyond araku please do add your experience here, would love to know