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-   -   Srisailam Ritzed (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/66441-srisailam-ritzed.html)

Finally, the wait is over. It was long 1 month waiting period before I could go for a long drive in my new Ritz. I got some odd reason to go for a long drive and I just vouched it. It was not exactly a tourist visit, so the route taken by me was bit longer. It is mixed with my personal needs and a Srisailam visit. Here is the route followed by me:

Bangalore - Doddaballapur - Gowribidanur - Hindupur - Anantapur - Gooty - Aspari - Adoni (Halt)

Adoni - Yemmiganur - Kodumuru - Kurnool - Atmakur - Dornala - Srisailam (Halt)

Srisailam - Dornala - Armakur - Kurnool (Halt)

Kurnool - Dhone - Gooty - Anantapur - Penukonda - Bagepalli - Chikballapur - Bangalore

The plan was to leave early in the morning and reach Adoni by lunch time. So, we left Bangalore on 19th Sep early morning 5:45 and reached Hindupur at 7:45 am for breakfast. The route was not good around Gowribidanur one can find deep potholes. It was a breakfast in our relative's house. Obviously, the time spent was longer than expected!

After a good breakfast, we left Hindupur at around 9:30 am and reached Adoni at 2:30 pm. The road was in good condition till Gooty. From here the expectation was that the road would be average. But to our surpise, the road was good! We halted in Adoni for my personal work. It was totally around 340 kms on this route and I felt happy to for my first long drive in the new Ritz.

Here are couple of snaps I clicked on route:

Snap1: My White Ritz Vxi



Snap2: Kumbakarna somwhere on NH7 near Anantapur (?)



Snap3: Balancing stone, again somewhere on NH7



Next day morning 20th Sep, we had breakfast and left Adoni towards Kurnool. It was a short drive of around 100 kms. The road was good. It was again a surprise! We had excellent Andhra food in our relative's house and started towards Srisailem at around 5:00 pm. The challenge was to reach Dornala before 8:30 pm, because the forest check post for entering Srisailam would be closed at 8:30 pm.

We managed to reach Dornala by around 7:30 pm, but the route between Atmakur and Dornala was pathetic. Everyone in the car were appreciating me for making the right decision of changing to Yokohoma A-Drive shoes instead of JK. Since they were also wider (195/60/R15), I had excellent road grip and they performed well in rain too. The potholes were deep and it was a single lane forest road. Many trucks and buses were passing by and I had to step down the road many times. In some places it was quite deep and I appreciated the ground clearence of my Ritz.

We had a small tea break in Dornala and proceeded towards Srisailam. Gosh, the road was amazingly good. It was fully lit with reflectors and I remembered my trip to Pachmarhi (Madhya Pradesh) 4 years ago. With some struggle we managed to get a room and settled there for the night.

Snap4: Road between Dornala and Srisailam



To be continued...

Since, it was late night check-in, we didn't knew where exactly the hotel was located. On 21st Sep morning, I had a quick view outside the balcony and WOW, it was an excellent view of Srisailam Dam.

Snap5: Srisailam Dam from Hotel



Snap6: Birdie (I had a Sony Cybershot. So, this was be best shot!)



I decided that I should spend more time near the dam and we had a quick darshan of Lord Mallikarjuna Swamy. Thanks to Rs.100/- special entrace, it took only 20 mins. Here are a few snaps of the Srisailam Devasthanam:

Snap7: My son inside the temple



Snap8: Srisailam temple Gopuram



Snap9: Small deer park on route to Dam



Snap10: Near entrance of Srisailam



We reached the dam site after a short drive and the dam was breath-taking. It is the second deepest dam in India, after the Bhakra Nangal dam in Punjab. We established some contacts with the dam authorities and managed to go on the main dam. The person who explained the dam was working there from past 20 years and knew everything about the dam. It was very informative session (close to 30 mins) with him.

Snap11: Srisailam Dam



We headed back towards Srisailam and had some lunch. Now, it was turn to sail on the Krishna River. The boating is located at Patalaganga Rope Way, around 1 km from Srisailam. The ropeway charge was Rs.40/- per head. The ropeway was not very long, but the view from ropeway was excellent. There were both Tourism Dept and private boats. The water is quite deep and I would recommend to go with Tourism dept boats, which had life saving vests. The boat takes us near to the dam and its a good experience. For a much better experience, I would recommend Nagarjuna Sagar Dam.

Snap12: Srisailam Dam from boat on Krishna River



After this wonderful time in Srisailam, we started towards Kurnool. I felt that the road from Srisailam to Dornala was easier in night with lights on! In Dornala, we had a bad experience with Fuel Station. There is only one Petrol pump and the guy said there was no stock :-(

I had to drive atleast till Atmakur and the fuel indicator was blinking. We went to a local shop and got 4 lts of petrol. On way back we went to the same petrol pump and it was shocking to see that he was filling petrol. When asked, he said that he had petrol, but didn\'t have Diesel. Damn! I filled another 10 lts and headed towards Kurnool. It was the same bad roads from Dornala till Atmakur, although it got better towards the end. We reached Kurnool by 9:00 pm and had a good sleep.

Next day, 22nd Sep, I started towards Bangalore and this time it was testing the max speed of Ritz. I was easily cruising at 130-140 kmph and once touched 155 kmph. With stops in Anantapur and Chikballapur, I reached Bangalore at 6:15 pm.

Snap13: Stop at a railway crossing



You can see in the above snap that my Ritz had changed the color from White to Brown. Thanks to the rains and bad roads between Dornala and Atmakur.

Altogether it was an excellent experience and I am very happy with my Ritz. It was 1250 kms drive and I got an average of around 15 kmpl with AC on for most of the time.

Nice place to be in during this time. You are getting a very good mileage too.

Yes, the weather was good, considering that it is a very hot place. But, it was bit crowded because of holiday season. I expect the mileage to improve after the second service.

Hey Sridhar, nice travelogue there. Thanks.

Any update on the car? Have you completed 1st service? Has the mileage improved?

Please post a detailed report in "Test drive and initial ownership report" forum.

Seeing Srisailam dam in the pics, just imagining how fast the flooding must have happened in the first week of October to literally threaten the Dam structure and power house.

Your son's expression shows how much he's thrilled with this trip! And the dam photos were awesome. Strangely I have a fear of dams.. Is there any term (the phobia thing) for that??? lol

Snap2: Kumbakarna somwhere on NH7 near Anantapur (?)
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The kumbakarna statue is on the outskirts on Penukonda town (Anantapur Dist) on NH7.

My 1st service was before the trip. For Ritz, the oil change is in 2nd service, might expect a change after this... I am getting 13 kmpl in city driving with AC on for most of the time.

Srisailam dam is relatively safe as the Krishna river first hits the mountains before heading towards the dam.

Nice travelogue Sridhar.

Which hotel did you stay in, did it have parking facilities ?

Also, how was the weather ( cold ?) when you visited ?

Thank you. I don't remember the exact name of the Hotel, but its starts with Reddy. There is a statue of Neelam Sanjeev Reddy in front of it. The weather was good as it was September. I would suggest to travel during winter. Summer would be very hot.

HI Sridhar,

My best compliments from the bottom of my hear for your great photos like the dam the statues and the labour less free of cost yellow brown pinted chariot of your Family. You can't avoid the dirt in White even I got silky for this purpose but that too become like this.

Special Question for themembers

Can any one give the route details to Nagarjuna Konda from Chennai)